The Witchdoctor's Bones

by Lisa de Nikolits

  Rydell smiled his odd smile. “And,” he said, “if you were to tell them now, no one would believe you, they’d say you were making up lies.”

  “You’re quite right,” Kate said. “I can’t say anything now. No one would believe me. But what are you going to do, Rydell?”

  “What do you mean?” Rydell was confused.

  “Are you going to try to hurt Harrison again?”

  “Hurt Harrison, hurt Harrison,” Rydell mimicked. “No, Mother. I’m not going to hurt anyone.”

  Kate was unsettled by his sudden and obvious departure from rationality. “I’m not your mother, Rydell,” she said. “How are you feeling, anyway? You don’t look so good today.”

  “Some like it hot, some like it cold, some like it in the pot, nine days old,” Rydell muttered. “Don’t ask me how I feel, Mother, you don’t care, you never have.”

  “Rydell,” Kate tried to keep her voice even and reassuring, “if you don’t want to talk to me, fine. I don’t want to talk anymore either. All I want to do is photograph the camels, okay?”

  Eva, Marika, Richard and Mia came out at that moment and when Marika saw Rydell standing so close to Kate, she rushed up to her and grabbed her by the arm. “I must show you something,” she said. “Excuse us, Rydell.” She pulled Kate into the doorway of the adventure centre.

  Rydell watched Marika drag Kate away and he yawned. He was grateful that the fog was beginning to clear from his mind, and that his body was returning to his possession. He could not wait to frame Harrison as the serial killer of prostitutes; he could imagine the group’s horror and he chuckled in anticipation.

  Rydell had not had time to plan it out as precisely as he would have wanted to, but he was not worried. There was still plenty of time.

  “Yes, dance to your daddy, my bonnie laddie, you shall have a fishy in a little dishy, you shall have a fishy when the boat comes in.” He could not stop chuckling.

  “What are you doing talking to Rydell?” Marika demanded. “You must be more careful — I’m convinced he poisoned the water.”

  “Sssh.” Kate said. “I agree but he mustn’t suspect what we think. That will make him go off the rails even more. I must talk to Treasure, where is she?”

  “Over there,” Marika pointed and Kate went over to her.

  “Treasure, I must speak to you now,” she said. “I’m going to the washroom, please come with me.”

  “Fine, my baby,” Treasure said. She slid off the edge of a dark wooden table where she had been sitting and chatting to a blonde Adventure Centre girl. “Ja, ja Miss Kate,” Treasure squeezed into the washroom behind her and tried not to knock over an arrangement of dried flowers. “What is this matter of such great urgency?”

  “Treasure,” Kate got to the point, “it’s Rydell. He’s in love with you. Or at least, he thinks he is.”

  “I know, my baby. Jono told me. That’s why Rydell tried to poison Harrison but he poisoned Charisse instead. As if he has any chance with me, the stupid man.”

  Kate nodded. “I see you know everything. I didn’t think Jono would tell you.”

  “He told me the whole thing. But it’s all over now, that nonsense. Rydell won’t try anything again.”

  “How do you know?” Kate asked. “I doubt he’s going to give up that easily.”

  Treasure’s eyes filled with tears. “You really think Harrison’s life’s in danger?”

  “Yes, I do.” Kate bit her lip. “You must tell Jono to call the police.”

  “Eish, he will never do that. He will get into trouble with his bosses, the tour people. And the police are the corrupt ones too, and we have no proof of anything. Who would believe that a white man would try to kill another white man over a black woman such as me? Aikona, nobody. Nobody will take you seriously.” Treasure pulled a wad of toilet paper from the roll and blew her nose. She inspected her face in the mirror and wiped her eyes. “Haw! My heart is beating so hard.” She patted her chest as one would a colicky baby. “Later, when we get to the lodge, there is a briefing, come and talk to Jono and me afterwards.”

  “Good idea, let’s both think about what to do and we’ll talk about it later,” Kate said and she slipped out to find Marika waiting.

  “Marika, this is such a dangerous mess,” Kate said. “How on earth did it get like this?”

  “I’ve got no idea but yes, a mess it most certainly is. In fact if you ask me, that’s an understatement.”

  When they climbed back on the bus, Rydell had straightened his clothing and returned to his semblance of normal.

  The group excitedly compared activities. “Enrique and I are going tandem sky diving this afternoon,” Eva announced.

  “Together?” Sofie asked, “as in you are both jumping at the same time, strapped together?”

  “No way!” Eva laughed, “I wouldn’t trust him that much.”

  “And in this case, you’re right not to,” Enrique said. “No, Sofie, we each get our own professional guy to hold onto. I’m going to record my jump the whole way down so you can all see.”

  “I’m breathless with anticipation,” Stepfan commented.

  “I will leave the adrenalin junkie stuff to you young people,” Harrison said. “I’m going to spend the afternoon at the Museum of Swakopmund. I hear it is full of wonderful things. If you like, Eva and Enrique, I can videotape it for you in exchange.”

  “Uh no, that’s okay, Harrison, but thanks,” Eva said, grinning.

  “Everybody, this is the city,” Jono shouted through the connecting window. “Here is the market. Lots of locals trading all kinds of souvenirs. And there is the sea but it is too cold to swim in.”

  “At least Harrison can’t get hurt in a museum,” Kate said to Marika. Then they looked at each other.

  “Or can he?” Kate asked. “Should we follow him around?”

  Marika groaned. “The last thing I want to do, is spend my afternoon in a museum,” she said. “And don’t you think it would be odd, us lurking around the corners?”

  “Yes.” Kate thought for a moment. “Unless we asked if we could join him?”

  “Kate,” Marika said, “don’t get me wrong. I really do care what happens to him but honestly, an entire afternoon in a museum with Harrison, well, that just might kill me.”

  “Yes, I know what you mean,” Kate said. “It’s so strange, you know. If you’d told me at the beginning of this trip that I would end up caring for Harrison and worrying about him like I do, I’d have said you were crazy. But there’s something endearing about him.”

  “Ja nee, well fine, as they say in South Africa,” Marika said. “I wouldn’t go so far as to call him endearing, but I don’t want him dead or hurt either.”

  The bus pulled into a narrow driveway; they had arrived at the lodge. The group investigated the lodge, dismayed to find that there were only two rooms, each sleeping ten people.

  “The beds are so close we could hold hands while we sleep,” Jasmine commented, inspecting the tiny low-ceilinged dormitory, with beds crammed in at every angle and stacked high.

  “At least we are not in the same room as Rydell the Serial Snorer,” Sofie said. “When he dies, he should donate his body to science. I think there is a whole crowd of people living inside his head.”

  Kate agreed and claimed a top bunk, climbing up the cheap wooden frame. She was distracted; there had not been a briefing as Treasure had said there would be and everyone had dispersed in a hurry. “You want to hold hands?” she asked Eva who was across from her. “Jasmine’s right, we could.”

  “No thank you, you weirdo.” Eva said, smoothing out a piece of paper. “But do you want to hear a poem I’ve been working on?”

  “Love to,” Kate said.

  “Remember it’s a work in progress,” Eva warned.

  “Just read it!” Kate said and the others in the room f
ell silent to listen.

  “It’s called The Glass Circus Safari, and it’s about our trip, as you’ll soon see,” Eva said and the others shouted at her to stop talking and read.

  The Glass Circus Safari

  This travelling circus safari,

  this glass house rolling

  taking us further into

  a party of madness

  this hot dusty

  topsy turvy

  winter solstice

  turned upside down

  while

  witchdoctors dance

  on the morals

  of madmen and

  warriors

  where will it take us

  this gusting

  lusty spell

  of accidental madness

  this mystic mayhem

  spinning and weaving

  we walk through

  Eden twisted

  and become

  black against the sun,

  silhouettes

  cut from

  dark cloth

  waiting

  “Well done,” the others applauded and Eva blushed with pleasure.

  “People in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones?” Jasmine asked, thinking back to the night of Stepfan and Charisse at the pool.

  “Or glass because something’s going to break?” Sofie asked.

  “You’re certainly right about us being a travelling circus,” Marika piped up.

  “I don’t know what I mean by any of it,” Eva shrugged. “I write stuff down as it occurs to me and I’m happy to have my poems back again.”

  “Did you see that Mia and Richard got a private room all to themselves?” Sofie asked. “They paid quite a bit but where obviously in the mood for romance.”

  “Good for them,” Helen said heartily. “Now listen, everybody…”

  “Yes, Jono.” Ellie called out and Helen threw a pillow at her.

  “You must be on your guard at the market. Be sure to watch out for…” and she listed a number of things to which the girls paid scant attention as they sauntered down the gravel driveway.

  “We are in little Germany,” Sofie said, pointing out the buildings that lined the street. “Only, with a colonial sort of feel. I am feeling positively Bavarian.” She skipped, kicked up her knees, and swung Eva around.

  Eva untangled her arm. “Better than negatively Bavarian,” she said.

  They walked down to the beach and turned towards the market, no sooner rounding the corner when they were accosted from all sides by a thick wave of aggressive sales vendors shouting with raucous cries. “Me madam, look at me, good prices madam, look at me,” the vendors shouted, holding carved giraffes, hand-painted wall hangings, masks, jewelry, ostrich eggs, stone sculptures, wood artifacts, ivory, jade, feathers and ornaments of twisted metal.

  “They could easily get violent,” Helen warned. “There are too few buyers and too many hungry families, so be vigilant, I’m serious.”

  Even Marika, a seasoned African market shopper was taken aback by the vigour with which they were approached.

  “These people are so desperate it’s frightening,” Kate whispered. “I’m sorry but I don’t like this. Are you going to stay and shop?”

  “Yes,” Marika said, “but don’t stay if it doesn’t feel right. I’ll be fine.”

  “Thank you.” Kate felt relieved. “I’d rather try the souvenir shops in town than brave this. I’ll either be at the Internet café we passed, or at the lodge. See you later.”

  Marika waved goodbye and dove into the fray.

  Kate paused near a stall at the edge of the market and looked back. She saw Helen talking to a couple of shady characters and she was surprised — after all of Helen’s dire warnings, she expected her to be with Sofie and rest of the gang. Kate half-heard a stall vendor shouting his prices in her ear as he thrust an ivory bowl at her. She turned and bumped into Rydell who smiled wetly. For a minute Kate stopped breathing and her heart pounded hard.

  “Think you’re so clever,” he hissed at her and then he smiled again. “Little Miss Muffet sitting on your tuffet, so high and mighty. Be careful of spiders who sit down beside you.” He snickered.

  Kate turned and strode off, shaking her head. Despite her intentions to not be alarmed by Rydell, there were times when he truly frightened her.

  The sky was cobalt blue, and powerful waves crashed onto the beach as Kate walked by but she barely noticed the scenery. She could not understand why no one had mentioned Charisse or Bree. None of them had asked her anything about the drive to Walvis Bay or what the doctors had said, or how Bree had been. It seemed disrespectful to her, as if the most important things in life had been put aside; civilized human responses had been stopped by the press of a pause button, with “play”to be resumed after an intermission of superficial pleasures — or perhaps never to be resumed by some at all.

  She found an Internet café and logged onto her email, quickly scrolling through the messages. Rachel wanted to know how she was. Her father was also keen for an update — apparently her parents were having a great time with their new life in Florida. Mum was playing a lot of tennis, Dad was reading the classics and they were taking salsa lessons at night with another couple they had befriended. He hoped Kate was safe and being careful. There were also close to ten emails from Cam. Kate stared at his name, feeling utterly dislocated from the man she had once loved; she could hardly summon up a picture of what he looked like. Cam was deeply sorry for what he had done. He would make it up to her, he said. Bethany had used him to make her ex-boyfriend jealous and now she was back with him and not even talking to Cam. He said he felt very bad for having upset Kate.

  He was sorry he had upset her? Kate laughed as she read his increasingly panicked emails but she also felt angry. He had done a lot more than upset her. Then again, if he had not done what he had, she would never have taken this trip.

  She wrote long replies to Rachel and her father, omitting the parts about Charisse and Brianna. She ignored the messages from Cam. She logged off and walked around the town, sticking to the politely-staffed and brightly-lit stores, secretly ashamed for being frightened by the chaos of Africa.

  She arrived back at the lodge to find the room buzzing with happy chatter; gifts and purchases spread out on every available surface. Marika had two large bags stuffed with tribal masks, ornamental carved gifts, hand-painted blue-and-orange batiks and all kinds of trinkets, and even the usually-contained Helen was bubbling with excitement as she held out a necklace she had bought: silver ovals linked with elephant hair.

  “It is lovely,” Sofie said, “I also want one. I didn’t see any like that at the market.”

  “I got it in the town,” Helen explained. “I’ll take you tomorrow, if you like.”

  “Please.” Sofie said. “Is there time for a quick shower?”

  “Probably not,” Ellie told her, “because only one of the two showers is working and there’s a big lineup.”

  “Good grief,” Marika said. “Where’s Harrison? He’d tell management what’s what.”

  “He’s probably inspecting the kitchen to see if breakfast will pass muster,” Jasmine said.

  “Pass muster?” Ellie enquired. “Since when did you use words like ‘muster’?”

  “Since I met Harrison,” Jasmine retorted. “Observing him and his obsessions has brought out the muster in me.”

  Kate lay on her stomach and watched all the activity, hoping that Harrison was safe.

  The Seventh Night

  LATER, THEY GATHERED ON THE LAWN, waiting to go to dinner. “Where are Mia and Richard?” Jono asked.

  “Doing the naughty, I would think,” Rydell stuttered.

  “The naughty?” mocked Stepfan. “You bad man, to even mention the naughty.”

  Rydell blushed a fu
rious purple.

  “Yes, Stepfan, the naughty,” Sofie said, “or has it been so long since you did it that you have forgotten what it’s called?”

  The others laughed and Rydell looked relieved.

  “Don’t you worry about me…” Stepfan said, catching a look from Lena and falling silent.

  “I bumped into Mia and Richard at the market,” Ellie said. “He bought an evil-looking mask that he put the whole way over his head. It was one of the expensive ones, with cowrie shells and beads and cloth, and it had things drawn onto it, like black and white zig zags and triangles and patterns. He looked like a monster with it on.”

  “It sounds like a dance mask that Richard was trying on.” Jono was thoughtful. “From Zaire. If I am right, then the mask is of a beautiful female spirit, named Ngady aMwaash, who was the incestuous sister wife of Woot. Woot was the first human on earth and creator of the world. It is said that the skin of the people at this time was white but Woot dyed them black so they could hunt better, because their white skins were too visible to animals. When Woot became king, he said that only kings should have the privilege of living with their own sisters; that ordinary people had to mix with other clans.”

  “I thought woot meant ‘we own the other team’ on a video game,” Enrique said, “Or if you think something’s cool, you say woot. Kind of like wow.”

  Jono laughed at this. “But you know,” he added, “Richard should be careful because it is said that when you put on a mask, its spirit takes over.”

  “I get the impression that’s exactly what he wants,” Gisela commented.

  “They were buying so much stuff,” Ellie said, “other masks, and carvings, and a really huge box covered in cowrie shells. I even asked them how they were going to fit it all on the bus but they said they were going to post it all home tomorrow.”

  “Clearly they’re not coming to dinner,” Jono decided, “so let’s depart.”

  On the way to the restaurant, Helen sidled over to Rydell who regarded her with suspicion and disinterest. He was concentrating on the ground to avoid watching Treasure smiling at another man. Treasure, with her hair newly braided in cornrows; his Treasure, beautiful in a bright yellow sundress.