Dr Fixit (341 - 350)

 

Butterfly

341

'He started banging the trunks of trees,

screaming out loud: "Even if your sting is like a bee's;

you can tie and crush like a python 

or your venom is close to that of a scorpion 

or your weight is quite like a mature redwood,

I've come to seek you out in your neighbourhood

and prove to all I'm the undisputed champ

globally in all-round fight where we'd clamp

our arms like wrestlers, turn our frames

to punching bags like boxers or fly like cranes


342

'"and rain kicks on ourselves like pros

in martial arts. The one with the tussle, kicks or blows -

you're the one I'm here for. I say, come out.

You're a darn idiot if you chicken out!"

When Bragado stopped banging and shouting,

the forest was quiet except for the cackling 

of the Great Blue Turaco telling the time.

The leafage was awashed with bright sunshine.

Bragado again marched forward along the track,

cursing loudly Saucy Pauper for daring to crack


343

'such a senseless joke to his hearing.

If he left the forest and didn't see a thing 

or anyone come close to being a challenger,

he'd sure head back to the poor bugger

and break his neck. He'd put him where

he'd learn to shut his trap and not tear

with his flippant tongue the renown

of personalities like him who was pronounced 

such by dint of hard work. Marching round

a bend, he had upset a cobra on a mound


344

'as it patiently waited for a prey

but seeing the intruder stray

towards him, it raised its head up,

fanning out its neck to ward off

what it assumed could be an attack

as it'd never seen a human before on the track.

"Oh, you're that thing Saucy Pauper 

told me about, the great sniper,

who'd eliminate me and take my crown?

Hahaha, you're a wart-laden clown!


345

'"Take this!" He choked the cobra

with his right hand, swung in the left to shatter 

the serpent's skull. He grabbed it near

the head and tail and pulled till a tear

appeared on the middle section of the snake.

He flung the pieces away and his trek

for more conquests Bragado resumed.

This exploit was too cheap, I presumed.

A cheetah hearing the chaos had streaked 

to get to a safe point but quite weak,


346

'he realized, was his movement 

for Bragado flew in a swift moment 

and grabbed his hind legs, wheeled the big cat

several times above his head and cast

its frame above the top branches of trees

which with squeaks and hisses

broke and were falling heavily on the ground.

But the animal was no where to be found.

"I hope someone has heard and seen how

I whipped to submission my rivals and now,


347

'"would run and tell that smelly-mouthed fellow

called Saucy Pauper and help bellow 

to his hearing that whosoever he tipped 

to unseat me - one or many - the tip or tips

of their feet or boots I haven't yet peeped ..."

He didn't finish his statement when something nipped

his ankle, knees, buttocks and chest.

The ones that rushed up his vest

to the neck region made him scramble 

for a safe space - his fingers hustled


348

'to pick and analyse what suddenly 

sent the shock waves overwhelmingly

from his feet to knees to private organs

and then up the sensitive nerves that ran

up his massive muscled frame;

the points they bit even made him lame 

and jittery. The feelings Bragado had

were quite eerie. And really hard

were the clouts he got from the little bugs

(that was his thinking) and when the snob


349

'decided to acknowledge the presence 

of the army ants, he'd lost his eloquence 

having streaked far away from the arena

that fight was to hold. The army ants did hankerings 

for a showdown with the superman

and followed as they could. Bragado ran

shamelessly away from the forest 

to the safe paths of the town. He made a request

to everyone he met to stop as he stooped

to say: "I thought only my mother's soup


350

'"was the sweetest until I tasted the soup

of another woman today. I didn't snoop

hard enough to know sometimes strength 

has nothing to do with your size. The length 

of a tree, today also I know, has nothing 

to do with the quality of the wood. The thing 

Saucy Pauper told me in the morning 

was true. I, the world's superman, fled the ring

when I met my fiercest opponent so far.

I was beaten by mere ants!" And right after 

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