dial episode 42

DIAL
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Sequence 42
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A week passed in a blur.
I stayed in the nsamanpowmu with the witch.
We went to her farm together, and she taught me the ways of the rural life. She taught me how to lay traps for bush rats and squirrels, how to tap palm wine, how to cut and replant foodstuffs like cassava and yam, how to pluck papaya and oranges.
It was a totally enjoyable and fruitful time, and I wondered time and again how I was adapting to a life which, a few days ago, might have repulsed me beyond end.
The only thing that I found a little bit hard to take was the water. She fetched it from a brook not far from the house. She sieved and boiled some, allowed it to cool down, then poured it into an earthenware pot that had been smoked over fire.
This gave the water a kind of nice scent, and made it comparatively good to drink, but I wasn’t very comfortable with its hygienic safety.
I resolved to do something about it.
It was on the third day that we came home from the farm and saw the lone figure of a man standing on the edge of the cocoa trees that led to Maame Ntiriwaa’s home.
She was carrying a basket filled with palm nut, vegetables, fruits and tubers.
I was carrying a half-sack of cassava, yam and plantain, and I was very tired.
We put them down in the kitchen, and then both of us stood looking at that figure up the slope.
“Now who could that be?” she asked with wonder on her face.
“A man, actually,” I said with a puzzled look.
She fixed me with a patient look and smiled.
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“This is the nsamanpowmu, Yao, the land of the dead,” she explained carefully as if to an errant child. “And no one ventures here alone. For any man to come this far is indeed, a great miracle.”
She walked up the incline to see the stranger, and I flopped into her reclining chair in the middle of the yard with weariness.
A few minutes later, she came back with a sad smile on her face.
“It is Tawiah, Yao,” she said gently. “He came back from the hospital in the city today. Her daughter was very well taken care of, and she is strong now. He wants to come and thank you for helping him out.”
I scowled at her.
“If he wants to show his gratitude, why’s he standing over there?” I asked, a little irritated, and she smiled and shook her head.
“This is the land of the cursed, Yao,” she said patiently. “Anybody who ventures in here brings a curse on himself and his family. The farthest anybody could come is the edge of the river. Tawiah has done extremely well to venture out here like this.”
“But they were able to come in here and arrest me?” I asked coldly. “What kind of logic is that, Maame?”
“The Fetish Priest, Okomfo Basabasa, cleansed those men before and after they came here,” she explained. “Anybody who comes here without being cleansed stood the chance of being banished from the village with his family! So Tawiah has done really well to come here.”
“He hasn’t done anything,” I said calmly. “The two of us are here. If he can’t come down here, then I’m afraid he’s wasted his time.”
“Don’t be like that, Yao, please!” she said imploringly. “Go and meet him.”
“I won’t, please,” I said gently but firmly. “He has to come here, or he should go back home. I don’t really need his thanks. I did it for the little girl, not him.”
“And he also says the new ambulance came in today, and new beds, and a lot of medical supplies,” she said calmly. “The staff at the Health Post are overjoyed. Everyone is overjoyed. They want you to come over immediately so that they could express their gratitude.”
“If they can’t come here, let them be,” I said softly.
She could not get me to go up and meet Tawiah, and so she reluctantly went up again to tell him that I wouldn’t budge, that I expected him to come down to the house.
He spoke to her at length, and then he sadly waved at me, but I didn’t wave back.
A moment later he turned away dejectedly and went back through the cocoa trees.
I was so saddened by the depths of their superstitions. I just couldn’t make head or tail of it. So, it was okay for me to go to the village and present them with a car and medical supplies!
It was okay to help Tawiah’s daughter, but they were too afraid to come to where I lived to say thanks. Where I lived now was supposedly evil and cursed, and made worse because I was living with a witch, but they had no qualms accepting gifts from me!
Such a warped world we lived in indeed!
***
The following day, late in the afternoon, two other men came to the nsamanpowmu. They were men I was expecting. They were brought across the river where I was waiting for them, just as I had arranged in the letter I had sent to one of them through nurse Afua Takyiwaa.
One was a huge, bearded man called Brian Acquah, and he was the top engineer in my construction company. The other a tall lean man in spectacles called Kuuku Dawson, and he was my top manager in my estate company.
I was very sad that day, because when they got out of the canoe and I went to meet them, they just stared at me without any hint of recognition. And then I spoke gently.
“Hello, Brian and Kuuku, welcome.”
And Kuuku was so startled that he jumped and sat flat on his buttocks on the ground. Brian gaped at me and took a step back with a shock so complete that my heart beat with sadness.
It had not occurred to me that I looked that hideous.
“Mr. Biko?” Kuuku asked, still sitting on the ground, his face refusing to believe what he was saying. “Who the hell are?”
“Get off the floor, Kuuku, goddamn it!” I said irritably.
“Yeeeeiiiyi!” he shouted, but kept on sitting on the ground.
“What happened to you, Boss?” Brian asked, his lips trembling with horror. “You look…why are you so old? Is it a costume of sorts?”
“Rare hormonal and pigmentation imbalance, Brian,” I lied with a heavy heart.
“And it is making you grow old, sir?” Kuuku asked from the ground.
“Oh, get off the ground already, man!” I said, getting angry. “What’s the matter with you anyway?”
He got to his feet slowly, brushed his hands, and stared at me with stunned eyes. He shook his head dazedly.
“I’m sorry, sir,” he said with sudden firmness. “You do have the voice and mannerisms of my boss, but I can’t accept this.”
“What do you mean you can’t accept this?” I asked, trying hard to keep my boiling anger down.
“Yeeeeeiiii!” he shouted again and took quick steps back from me.
“Would you cut out that nonsense, Kuuku?” I asked angrily.
He brought out a pen from his pocket and took a sheet of paper from his small briefcase, and handed it to me.
“And what is this?” I asked, now angry.
“Please, sign it, sir,” he said, pointing to the paper. “Sign your signature, please.”
“What’s the matter with you, man?” I exploded furiously.
“If you don’t sign it I’m getting out of her right now, and I’ll report you to the police, I swear!” he said stubbornly, his shocked eyes not leaving my face.
Brian put a hand on my shoulder.
“Sorry, sir, but…the change is too drastic, and if it is really you, we need to be sure, because you always told us to take precautions,” he said, trying to be calm, but I saw the horror in his eyes.
I sighed deeply and shut my eyes for a moment.
“I won’t sign anything,” I said slowly. “Kuuku, I slept with your daughter four years ago, and you caught us doing it in your living-room, and I laughed at your pain. I never apologized. I put her name on a personal list of conquests…I’m sorry, man. I was a damn bastard, and I know the pain has been in you all these years. I’m very, very, sorry. Please forgive me, my friend!”
Kuuku gaped at me, and then his lips trembled, and tears came into his eyes.
I put a hand on Brian’s shoulder.
“Brian, four years ago you introduced Kate to me as the girl of your dreams,” I said, and my face was full of shame. “I offered her a job as a translator, took her to Paris for a week, and slept with her. She broke up with you, and I saw your pain for many years. I don’t know if you ever found out about us.”
Brian nodded with a bitter smile.
“She told me about it, sir,” he said softly. “I loved her too much, and forgave her. I wanted to quit the job, and still wanted to marry her, but she was too distraught, and couldn’t forgive herself for cheating on me with my own boss. But it’s okay, sir. I’m a Christian, and I forgave you. I’m married to another woman now. With twins. Hey, it’s okay, boss.”
“No, it’s not,” I said sadly, and then I did something I wasn’t even aware I was doing.
I slowly got down on my knees in front of them; my heart was breaking.
“I’m sorry, please,” I said in an unsteady voice. “I was a jerk. An unfeeling bastard, a man who went on his way to destroy lives. I know I gave you guys pain, hurt you bad, destroyed your relationship, Brian. I ask for your forgiveness now…I’m so very sorry! Please, find it in your hearts to forgive me!”
I saw tears in their eyes.
“I wanted to kill you, boss,” Brian said and wiped tears from his eyes. “Oh, I so much wanted to shoot you dead and spend the rest of my life in prison. But, your words now have brought a healing to my heart. I’ve been in so much pain since then…but I’m okay now, boss, I’m okay.”
“Thank you, Brian, my brother,” I said in a choked voice and looked at the stunned Kuuku. “Are we fine now, Mr. Dawson?”
He did a strange thing.
A look of sheer hatred came to his face, and he drew back the heavy metallic briefcase he was holding to smash my face in. He would have hurt me really badly if he had smashed me, but I didn’t make any attempt to dodge or flinch.
He brought it crashing forward, but at the last moment he stopped, and slowly lowered it.
And then he scooped a handful of mud from the ground and pouting strangely, he smeared it on my T-shirt.
Kuuku then stepped back, looked at my dirtied T-shirt, and nodded with satisfaction.
Obviously, for many years he had wanted to do something to hurt me bad, and this simple act of revenge really got to me, and brought tears to my eyes.
And then his shoulders heaved, and be began to cry softly.
“You bastard!” he said as he cried. “You damn bastard! My daughter…my daughter! You could’ve had any woman…why my daughter? Used her and dumped her like trash…you bastard, sir!”
“I’m sorry, Mr. Dawson,” I whispered tremulously. “I’m so, so, sorry!”
After a moment he gave a shuddering sigh and nodded.
“You could’ve saved us years of pain by this simple apology,” he said, and smiled sadly. “It’s okay, sir. I forgive you. But Angie needs to hear you say sorry too.”
“I will apologize to her as soon as I hit the city again,” I said.
They helped me to my feet, and then they each hugged me, and when they smiled I knew their smiles were genuine. There was a new spirit between us as I took them deep into the woods and we explored the
nsamanpowmu and I made my plans known to them.
Brian had a frown on his face.
“You know this is without profit, right?” he asked calmly. “You never do anything without profit, sir.”
I smiled sadly.
“You’ve always told me to give back, to be kind, Brian,” I said. “Why are you now looking worried.”
He looked me straight in the eye.
“I don’t know whether it is this strange disease, or whether God has created a new heart in you, boss. But you’re behaving in ways I’ve never seen you behave before. If you want this for these poor people, then I’m mighty glad to stand with you. Well done, boss. It shall be done.”
Kuuku put a hand on my shoulder.
“I’m happy, sir,” he said. “This is beyond my expectation. Are you sure you’re alright?”
“I’m fine, Kuuku,” I said.
“Will you get well?” Brian asked suddenly, and the note of concern in his voice touched me. “This disease, is there a cure, sir?”
I shrugged.
“I don’t know, Brian,” I said painfully. “But that’s beyond me, so whatever will come can come, as they say. But let’s make this work, gentlemen.”
“Oh, yes, we’ll get to it immediately.”
“You must be hungry,” I said. “Let’s get down to the house and find you something to eat.”
“Oh, no, sir!” Kuuku said with a broad smile. “We have to go immediately and begin planning this project before your old bastard self comes back!”
We all laughed heartily at that, and I saw them off to the riverside again.
I noticed, as they were rowed across, that the beautiful canoe of the royal princess was on the riverbank, and that her entourage was milling around. There were the ladies, and there were the bodyguards, but there was no sign of the princess.
Not needing another encounter with her, I waved to my men and turned hurriedly back into the trees.
When I got home I saw Maame Ntiriwaa sitting pathetically on the veranda with a piece of cloth around her, and tears were streaming down her face in torrents.
She looked so heartbroken, so shattered, so much in pain that I felt my heart beating with compassion for her.
I knelt by her side and took her arm.
“Maame!” I said with. “What’s wrong, what happened to you?”
The tears simply streamed down her face, and her lips simply trembled as she wept bitterly.
I drew her into my arms and held her tightly…
And then I heard a step behind me and turned.
The royal princess came out of the room, and she glared at me fiercely with her hands on her hips…