by Frank Achebe
Someone slapped him hard with a ‘shut your trap’.
‘What is wrong with you Rush? Why should he hit me over that crap? Do you think any sensible person can fight over that shit?’
More slaps, now rolling into a fight. ‘Leave me. Rush. Please leave me. This is not your fight.’
‘You slapped me Atta Boy for a girl that is sleeping with anything that has a dick in this town. Jesus fed five thousand people; Borûn has sucked five thousand dicks. And you can see that she loves sucking them. God knows that they would have castrated her long ago. Look at this idiot hitting me over that heap of dirt? Fuck you! Fuck Tupac! Is it because….’
The words petered off into the distance as the other boys walked Atta Boy away.
Black returned and finished his task with the tapes. He looked ready to kill but his professionalism was still very much there as he got to his job. The boys in the other room dispersed. They seemed to be of the opinion that Atta Boys should not have called Borûn a ‘whore’ and that Black should not have hit him in retaliation.
Zach needed not know any more about Black. The girl, the hunter had told him was Madam Békhtèn’s second daughter. ‘Everything that was said about her is true except the part about five thousand men. It was exaggerated.’
From what he heard, Zach judged that she could be one of those modern women who were ‘radical’ with their sexuality. It seemed to such women that such radicalism was their answer to the woman question. Even such women were not at all that radical, at least not as radical as Borûn was.
Just as it is normal with him, he wanted to understand.
# # #
Black was not one of those men who made much out of their women—or women in general. He rarely even had them. Women were not his thing. His hopes of building his own empire made sure he was rather enterprising than sensual and his dreams gave him very little patience for romance. The greatness of romance and marriage did not appeal to him. He sold his drugs, did his business with dedication and once-in-a-while, got it in with a lady for the night to ease his muscles. He was the one-night-stand-guy. By the time he was twenty-eight, he was certain that he could not love a woman in the conventional sense. It was a fact for him that he did not try to change.
He was a reticent character too. He had a sensitive ego. One of the manifestations of that ego was during the gyming sessions. He loved going in after the rest. He would find out who did the highest number of the dumbbells. He would double that person’s number while the others would cheer him on.
Another and the most important was his impractical obsession with Tupac. Aside the fact that it revealed that the barber had a poetic personality that the rapper helped him explore profoundly, Tupac meant something sacred for him. He represented to him as he did to many others, the spirit of a young man, in its purest and most exuberant form. And he associated with this spirit and took it as his own. Every one of the young Machiavelli’s words rang in the depth of his soul as his. The ultimate dream was going to LA and showing the rapper some love.
He had entangled himself with Borûn in a way that held mystery for him as it did for all those who knew him. He found himself willing to participate in that life. Why he wanted to participate in such a life that was not quite unlike ‘a roll of tissue paper’, he could not articulate. He let the song ‘Can U Get Away’ explain it all. He only wanted her to get away from the life that had imprisoned her, a life that had a fatal end. He had no promises to make. He was still very much insecure in his ability to love anyone. But he was willing to take her with him.
He had told his mother: the only one he could tell. She had not answered him. She had smiled.
She was hopeful.
Chapter Twenty-Four: The Elements
Mwāi walked on with the boys. They all followed him as they would because he led the way. He had told them what his grandmother had told him about the boy and the other twins. They believed him more from the influence he held over them and the credibility they had given him on account of his other stories and explanations, than from the story itself. The explanation was not a matter of fact for them; it was a matter of following the leader. It was also a matter of sympathy for after that bearded stranger, they now had reason to be sympathetic towards the vegetable boy. The man with the beards had seen what they were just seeing about the boy’s situation before hand—he was just a victim of circumstances. And that he had fought so hard to conquer his own fate, never showing any hostility to the powers that had thrown him into such fate.
The lesson strengthened their desire to succeed in their studies. They could change a whole lot of things about the way people viewed reality. The situation now became a fresh mystery to them; they now wanted to know. They could no longer dismiss him as a vegetable. They could no longer take the boy’s situation for granted.
Mwāi led them on not knowing where exactly he was going. When he got to the health centre, he stopped and they stopped with him. He stood there not knowing whether to go in or to walk on by.
They both shared in his uncertainty and waited for him to lead the way as usual.
# # #
Zach and the hunter had left Black’s shop both looking better. The barber had done his job with the usual dexterity that he was known for. A song that made sense to Zach when it came on was ‘Only God Can Judge Me’. He hadn’t heard everything. He was sure that rap music was not musical enough. It required patience. He was also not familiar with the vague terms and expressions but the little he heard made an impression.
A minor incident but curios happened while they waited for their turn. A boy, who couldn’t have been more than twenty had walked in.
He had business.
‘I want a bible,’ the boy had announced. Zach wondered how it was that a bible could be sold in a barber’s shop, not one like Black’s. He could even make his own order.
‘I don’t have money now. Give me two weeks. When I move my chapters and verses, I will pay you. Word is bond.’
Black had ignored him.
‘Black, look I’ll give fifty percent up. Let me ride.’
Silence.
‘Black, you are losing grip on your members. Truth is these boys won’t come to you for their sermons any longer. Not with what happened a while ago. They are asking questions. Let me ride on this one. Let me put it to them. You won’t lose anything. You supply, I distribute.’
Black stopped and collected the wad of notes. He then excused his customer, disappeared through the small door and reappeared with a cello tape-wrapped pack the size of a medium bible.
Zach and the hunter had looked on. While they were on their way, questions were asked. The hunter did not have any answers.
Zach could now buy a toothbrush and a tube of toothpaste. He also bought a bar of toilet soap. He had almost forgotten the taste of toothpaste. He wanted some new underwear, a new shirt, a new trouser and a new coat. He needed a new change of clothes.
They had set off towards the town centre where there were shops that could supply those demands.
A few steps into the journey, Zach had stopped. He had just had a Hééb-feeling. ‘Where does Hééb live?’
It was a ten-minute walk from their present location.
‘Good, let’s go and see his mother.’
‘She’s a market woman. I doubt if she will be at home by this time of the day.’
Zach contemplated it. He insisted and so the hunter had led the way. There was no harm in trial.
# # #
They arrived a small bungalow with a large compound and low walls. They knocked on the gate and waited. ‘I must advice you that Hééb is a true son of his mother.’ The hunter had advised irritably while they waited on the gate to be opened to them. Zach understood.
They had waited a while. The woman, in her early sixties had taken the gate.
Zach took charge of the situation: ‘We are looking for Mr Hééb, ma.’
Zach saw some pride in her eyes, the same he’d seen in her son�
�s eyes and instantly, he knew that she was the one who urged him on. She was the one behind him. He could not have been that clever or strong-willed all by himself.
Her pride made sure she kept her job as a market woman even though her son was earning enough to put her off the marketplace.
It seemed in that moment that the woman saw in the stranger’s eyes the same thing that her son had seen in Zach the first time they’d met. But she was more experienced and of course her sensibilities were stronger.
‘Who are you?’ She recognized the hunter even though she would not do as much as look at him.
‘My name is Zach. I suppose you have heard about me.’
She smiled. She surely had. She held the leaves of the gate open to them. The hunter was not at all comfortable and he wouldn’t go in.
‘I’ll wait outside,’ he’d said, to Zach.
The woman had led her visitor on till they were in the veranda of the bungalow. She offered him a seat. Zach was not certain why he should be sitting but he sat nevertheless.
She drew a seat and sat facing him. Nothing in her face suggested acrimony. She appeared mischievously cheerful at seeing him.
That one encounter assured Zach that she was a dramatic character. He even fancied that living with her would be fun for a child.
‘Once upon a time, the elements gathered together in a council. Fire spoke to his brothers thus: Men have ignored me. All they now have to give are the husk, the nuts they keep for themselves. All they have to give is the dross, the gold they keep for themselves. I cook their meals. I warm their bodies but they show their ingratitude by giving that which is not worthy of the Fire. Let fire fall from heaven and burn them. And there was fire!
‘Then came the Earth. She said: Men have ignored me. All they now have to give are their corpses; their bodies they keep to themselves and to the ones they love. I grow their crops. I build their houses but they do not consider me worthy of anything but the crumbs that fall off their tables. Even when they give the crumbs, they do so with grumblings. Men are ingrates! Let the earth under them swallow them up in death. And there were earthquakes!
‘Then came the Wind. He said: I give men their breath but the bone and the meat they keep to themselves. They say to themselves: Let the wind have the smoke. But the Wind would send them diseases and drought.
The Water spoke to his brothers. He said: Men have ignored me. All they have to give is the sweat on their bodies and the urine in their bladder. I house their fishes and hold their bodies together. Curse me if I do not bring justice upon them…. Tell me, Mr Zachariah what you think Water would do?’
The door to the house opened and a teenage girl called out to the woman: ‘Ma, the water is boiling now…’
The woman stood. She smiled at Zach. ‘My son is not around, Mr Zachariah. And if I were you, I will let him fulfil his destiny. Gooday.’
# # #
His pensiveness was back. All thoughts of getting the change of clothes passed from his mind. He was certain that he’d seen that face in the nightmare. He had. He was sure of that.
He took out money from the wad and gave to the hunter. He could be useful with getting the clothes. He then hastened to see Kuniā and tell her of what he’d learnt and find out more from her.
He had a stop to make at the hospital.
The band of boys, who were now about to go after Mwāi had failed to lead them past the doors of the hospital, turned to see Zach walk up to the doors. Up till that time, they’d stood pointing, looking and whispering to themselves. The only one who wasn’t was the other boy, Mwāi.
# # #
Mwāi had doubts but they did not seem to stop him from following the bearded man into the hospital—without a lingering thought. The other boys followed him closely.
Chapter Twenty-Five: A Smile And A Song
‘This is not a place for kids,’ the stout and fat nurse reprimanded the kids. ‘Go on, get away. Go home to your parents.’
They stood there embarrassed. But Mwāi would not go away. He stood and the other boys stood with him.
‘Didn’t you hear what I just said? Should I repeat myself in German?’
Nurse B walked into the reception to their great relief. She asked questions and Mwāi still leading the boys told her that they had come to see the vegetable boy.
Nurse B was more than delighted to let them have it. She led the way to the wardroom where Zach was observing the boy who was now awake. Kuniā had put him on a treat. There were three food flasks beside his bed. But he was not eating.
The boys walked in and the two other pairs of eyes turned on them.
The sick boy recoiled like a snake at the sight of the boys. His face dropped. He seemed to be in pain at the sight of them.
# # #
Mwāi had accomplished his mission and the feeling of being in that room with all those boys and with that one boy would live with him for a very long time.
A moment of silence followed. The sick boy was shy and retreated at the sight of them.
The silence was interrupted when Nurse B walked in. ‘Seems like you have influenced some people.’ She observed to Zach. Now the attention turned to him.
# # #
Zach blushed. A more penetrating silence followed. He felt he should say something. ‘Last week, as I sat eating in a tavern, I heard the sound of beating. I went out to see a boy to whom many people did not think his life was worth a plate of food. You see, you all share your boyhood together but until now, he has had no one to share in his with him. On his behalf, I….’
Zach did not have to continue for the sick boy was now crying. It was not crying more or less, he was making low-pitch sounds, one that was peculiar to dumb people. He was facing the wall, in a bid to hide his face from the small crowd that now attended to him.
Zach didn’t have to proceed with his little speech for the boys crowded Pûjó’s side. His example was all they needed to see that he was one of them, and as Mwāi had assured them, a victim of a society’s sense of reality.
Initially, the boy kept a blank face as they shook his hands in turn, smiled at him, and tried communicating with him with their fingers turned into various signs.
But in time, a smile appeared in his face. It was a painful smile, one that told the two adults that saw it that it was an event for the owner of the face.
Zach looked on as they managed to even make the boy laugh. Things had changed for him as well as for them.
# # #
When Zach explained the parable to Kuniā, she had no idea what it meant or what it could mean. She was disappointed to hear that it was Hééb after all. Her brother had not been raised like Lazarus, at least not yet.
Zach would not indulge her anxieties and hopes for her brother. Therefore, he kept the evening talk away from the boy. Or tried to.
‘How is your father doing?’
‘He’s getting worse. I don’t know. I feel like he has given up all hopes.’
‘The child?’
‘I don’t know. He has not said anything about the child since then. I tried speaking of it but he was silent. What would Hééb be doing with my brother? Is he trying to blackmail my father?’
‘No, he is trying to take full advantage of the situation. Give it up to his mother. He is acting at her word. There is a grand scheme of hers in the background.’
‘I could have her arrested. Shake her up. Get her to talk.’
‘That would be pointless. She is playing everyone like a game. She seems to me an opportunist. They are trying to take advantage of the situation.’
‘I’m afraid for my father. I’ve not told him about what Hééb did. I’m not sure he would like the sound of it. There is still some hopefulness about him. If the boy turns out good, he may yet recover full use of his faculties. But now, I’m afraid he’s losing them.’
‘I will visit him tomorrow. I will be needing some new clothes.’
# # #
‘Brother, I’m scared,’ Brim whispered
to his brother.
‘Shut up!’ was Money’s retort. ‘You think picking five thousand in a day’s work is a joke.’
The younger of the two brothers kept on with their load, trying not to trip on the stones that lay about the whole place. In front of them, a short man walked. His heart was beating very fast and the distance he kept from the boys was to hide his own fears from them.
That man was Hééb.
Hééb had come to the elder of the two brothers for a ‘favour’.
‘That’s not true Hééb and you know that.’
‘Know what?’
‘That I don’t do favours.’
Money never liked Hééb. No one did. Hééb had never done him any favours. Hééb never did anybody favours. And he had never done Hééb any favours either. ‘I don’t do favours, I do jobs instead. I work for you, and you pay me. That’s my work ethic.’
When Hééb had told his favour, Money had smiled at him. ‘That would go for a thousand.’ Hééb paid and Money was obliged to go with his brother.
They had gotten to the hospital. Money had seen the boy and his reaction was: ‘Jesus, Hééb! I and my brother, we are not touching that corpse for anything less than five thousand.’ He was enterprising and people like him could sense desperation in other people and every ounce of desperation meant double the price. Or in this case, five times.
Hééb had wanted to protest as did his younger brother. However, he had his mother’s word to keep. ‘Alright. Let’s get it on. I’ll distract the nurses.’
‘We are not getting it on without them bills.’
Hééb had fumbled through his pockets with shaky hands and had taken out the bills and given him the balance.
‘You ought to be learning now, you block head.’ He had told his brother who was excited at the prospect of having that kind of money. They could travel to the moon with that kind of money.
That was last night though.
‘What is Hééb doing with that thing?’ Brim had asked on their way back.
‘None of your business.’
‘One thing is certain: he is acting on his own. This has nothing to do with the mayor. Did you see how shaky he was all through? He was dabbing off the sweat on his face all the way.’
