Point of no Return

More Strangeness

Six

More Strangeness

As they walked the sandy area in a straight file, Tile, who was second to the last in the line of eight, began to pick some more attributes of his new neighbours. Following from behind, he noticed that the females all had tails. Long dog-like tails with a greenish mane. A small space was carved roundly from the leather and locked with odd-looking buckles from which the tails extended. He quickly summed that the males too had tails but were covered in the furry cloaks. They all had a sluggish gait, almost bending over as they took one lazy step to the other.

The one Tile was following directly on the line was female. She kept glancing back at Tile, almost with a familiar look as if they had known for ages. Tile noticed that she was the one who had held unto his clothes earlier. She had large scrawny feet that fitted oddly in her sandals. Tile now understood the reason for the drool gait. He had read of Neanderthals and their physical attributes, but none of these creatures looked anything close to a Neanderthal. Were they even hominids? Tile again wondered what made their slimy skins smelled so sweet. Whenever she turned to look at him, a streak of shyness struck in the lulled eye. If it were in the human world, she’d been something around twenty-one or twenty-two. Her lips were deep crimson as if she had rubbed lipstick, and so it was for all of the females.

The one behind him kept grunting under his breath. He clearly disliked Tile, for all he could see. He held something like a long lance that he stuck to the ground with every tired step. He looked older than all of them, including Boju, and a stint of experience was evident in his large eye.

They walked until they came to the edges where the tall forest began. Tile noticed an odd looking contraption balanced steadily at the edge of the sandy area. It was a shiny metal box but roughened with crusts like the gadget Boju was holding. It stood on heavy iron stands that looked like they were actually planted into the ground. Boju who was leading the line seemed to be operating unto another gadget he wore on the wrist like a watch. Soon, the box sprang to life, with all kinds of rainbow reflections. Then a large door flew open to the ground that served as a climber unto the box. They all climbed steadily and stealthily onto the box. When it came to Tile’s turn, he had no choice but to climb too.

As he got into the box, he could not help but to commend these primitive-looking beings for their technological advancement, or whatever they called it here. The metal seats were shiny and absolutely clean. Tele-screens were mounted on most sides of the walls and there were diverse displays on it. Tall birds that looked like giant flamingos, rock-size toads that looked like one could easily ride on, and several other one-eyed strange-looking creatures. It seemed like a display of their wildlife on television. Another Mugulubu was seated in what looked like the driver’s seat. He had not come down with the others and had stayed here waiting. They followed each other in an orderly manner as they sat on the metal seats, none leaving the line as it were. Tile followed obediently.  

As they were all seated, the driver did a few operations where he sat. Tile could not get a good view of him, but soon the vehicle began to lift from the surface and levitate high into the dull amber sky. As it got to a certain point, it stopped midair and zoomed forward in a flash.

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Jennifer woke up with a pang in her head. Her short sleep was grossly haunted by horrible dreams that were too scary to remember.  At least she slept. She had gotten to her flat about only an hour before daybreak and had decided to go straight to bed just to rest her head. She felt so odd and awkward both from hangover and stress.

As she got up from the bed, the pang continued to yank in her brain, so she went straight to her small but clean and comfortable lavatory and took a quick bath. She returned to her bedroom and dressed in casual pants and sleeveless top to match. She sprayed herself with her exotic perfumes and headed out towards Tile’s flat. She hoped that somehow she’d find him there by now. “And he better had a good explanation for this misbehavior”, she thought. But as she approached the door her hopes began to dash. This was already past 9:00am but Tile’s door was still tightly shot. What in the hell…

Without deterrence, she went to the door and knocked. There was a lull silence within. She went to the backyard and called through the window but no answer came through, save the re-echoing of her voice from the window pane. By now, the panic had left her and in its place, there was a calm resolve that whatever happened, there still was a way out of this. She retraced her steps back to her flat to use her phone.

She first called Kennedy to inquire if Tile had somehow gone to his place, but that had not happened. She decided to do a quick breakfast. But when she got to the kitchen, she changed her mind from what she had intended initially and just had tea and bread. As much as she tried to put up an appearance, even to herself, anyone who had known her would quickly notice that her usual gregariousness had left her. She sipped the tea thoughtfully as she went over the events of the previous night in her head.

Her phone began to ring. She picked it up and saw that it was Alex Atir calling.

“Hello pretty lady, how are you doing today?” but in his usual manner, the faint voice in the receiver did not wait for an answer, then he added, “come to the club with your friend by 12noon, I will be waiting up. You know where to find me when you get there yea.”

“Alright, see you soon,” was all Jennifer could say.

After the call, the worry began to creep back. This was one of the most difficult situations she has had to handle. If only she had an explanation to give Alex. Clearly, there was none. What would he even think of her? Even though paying the money may not be an issue, she was still going to lose most of her savings in doing that. And for what?! Just because she got emotional with some guy in the neighbourhood and she was here to pay such a mega-price? How could she be so stupid to even trust a guy that had clearly shown no interest in her. It was clear now that he had chosen to play along just to lay hands on the five million and vanish. Perhaps he was even in some hotel room with the one he loved at this very moment. Or perhaps they had even eloped to some nearby state or country. How was Mr. Alex to trust her again?

Even with these speculations going on in her head, something was telling her that she was getting it wrong. Tile was a gentleman. They’d known each other for a good number of years and had stayed in the same neighborhood for that long. Five years maybe. He was mature at heart too. What must have come over him? Or was it true what Ken his friend had said, that money had a certain spirit and as such it must have changed him suddenly? Whatever the case was, she decided not to wait till twelve noon to look stupid in front of a business-minded Alex. So she dialed Ken.

“Where are you?” she asked with a panic as soon as Ken picked the call.

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Ken was speeding on top gear out of town when he picked the call. But it seemed Jennifer could barely hear him, so he said he was going to call back shortly. He turned on to the dirt road that had now become so familiar. Ortwar was puffing profusely on his smoking pipe when Ken got to his compound. He was perched delicately on a wooden bench like he didn’t have a care in the world.

“Baba, I guess you must have known why I am here this morning,” Ken said solemnly as he sat next to the old man.

“Yes I do my son. Your friend’s mistake has cost me more than I bargained for”, the old man replied. But as he spoke, what Ken heard was not a carefree man talking. There was a reverberation of melancholy echoing in his voice. Deep regret. “I should have gone on that journey on his behalf. There is a way we do it. But he seemed to be mature of heart, that was why I let him go. But now, the spirits are angry, and they will take me away sooner than you think.” As he said these words, he rose painfully on his rickety legs and waddled indoors. All Ken could do was to stare. He was now hopeful that somehow, the old man knew exactly what to do to bring back his friend.

It was almost an hour later when Ken realized something else must have been going terribly wrong in the old rickety building. He had been waiting out here for God knows how long. So he decided to look things out for himself. He had not even returned Jennifer’s call yet, in hopes that Baba was finding solution. But it was taking eternity. So he strode gently to the doorway and peeped into the entrance. It was all dark within. He was scared to enter inside as he was conscious that the abode of a man that dealt in a business of spirits was not to be invaded under any circumstances. By now, his heart was almost galloping up through his mouth. His hesitation was not helping either. It was best for him to just enter and find out what was wrong and to get answers for Jennifer, and of course for himself.

An unknown courage glided him into the dark haven. He stood there for a while to acquaint with the darkness. This room appeared to be a sitting room of sorts, or perhaps where he hosted his spirit friends to dinner. There were several carved wooden chairs scattered in no orderly manner across the room. There were three or four rafters tied to the old noggin of raffia that held the old rickety zinc in place. The floor was however swept clean such that one could see an ant as it made one of its several trips of carting food into its tiny holes to the wall side. Several other unmentionable paraphernalia lay heaped against the walls. Some were in sacks, perhaps corn or even sawdust. But that was not his business here. He wondered how possibly this structure was still standing, given the several, heavy, wide cracks in the walls where agama lizards gradually began popping up heads to the increasing heat of the sun, getting ready for a s*x battle for the day. There was an old picture on the wall of Ortwar and a very fine woman and two boys, supposedly his family. It must have been in his heydays, possibly the colonial era, especially because he took a pose in a white suit, hand in the pocket and with a sleek pipe perched to his mouth and a long line cut into his afro hairstyle. The picture looked dusty and so very old. Clearly he was elitist in his day or perhaps a cook for one of those missionaries or something close to both. “But where was his family now”, Ken wondered. He had never seen them.  

He began to tip-toe into the larger belly of the room until he came to a door to his immediate right. There was no hinged door attached, only an old darkened cloth for a curtain. The cloth was a white yard in its bridal days, but now it seemed to regret ever having existed at all, due to the sufficient maltreatment it had undergone. The cloth squeezed and scuttled almost halfway up the doorway. One could now easily count the threads with which it was woven. He parted the dirty curtain and peeped into the room. What he saw was the shocker of his entire life.