The Salty city Predator

Chapter 1

The sun rises to brighten a small humble coastal city and the stories of whoever was brutally mugged last night are the talk of the morning as dead bodies from the illicit liquor dens are brought to the mortuary leaving thousands of blind victims behind. The tides in the ocean come towards the coastal town and back in a rhythm carrying the bitter, salty water of life towards the city so as its occupants could also have a taste. The beach urchins wade the coastal strip to look for their daily bread which is always in the hands of lonely tourist or other local dwellers of the town that may fall victim. Tales of the night are still fresh in the mouths of the dwellers who are now busy going to work in other parts of the city. Fishers are working at the sea with their fishing canoes, and boats trying to make a hefty catch in the deep salty waters. Sea turtles are trying to wade back into the salty water before the sun rises.

Huge passenger planes hover across the city’s sky some departing while others arrive at the Tillimenza international airport. Many foreign passengers arriving at this airport are greeted with the traditional dancers to showcase the deep rich culture of the country after a long flight. They arrive mostly as tourist but others come on business. The visitors are treated to the scenic view of the airport at their arrival bay with the sculpture of a Lion that has pounced on a zebra’s neck with blood oozing from the deep canines of the predator on the neatly kept grass next to the country’s flag.  The sculpture was made in an attempt to symbolize the country’s flag and give its black, white, red and green colors a touristic view of the many game parks and proof that our country is an amazing tourist destination. The poorly paid airport cleaners who dwell in the slums of the salty city have a different interpretation of this work of art. The lion represents the government and the court of arms on the flag. The grass represents the rich land that is green. The black and white stripes of the zebra represent the people of the city where the black color represents the people while the white color represents the peace as they are being devoured by the political and ruling class. The red color on the flag is symbolized by the blood oozing from the zebras neck as its being devoured.

 Occasionally the huge green prison bus arrives at the Airport ferrying prisoners who come to provide the free labor to substitute the overworked and underpaid airport workers who are either on strike or threatening to go for one. The prisoners are dressed in striped white clothes like the zebras in the sculpture. The prison wardens are dressed in mixed artier; some jungle grey like the lion but others in spotted uniforms resembling something between the leopard and the hyena’s skin.  The bus will proceed to take the other sick prisoners to hospital. The prisoners have a chance to smell the freedom at the airport and also see the real thieves and economic terrorist in the country from the corrupt government minister to the influential business people arriving after ensuring the overseas accounts are in order. Almost all the prisoners are innocent and could not afford a lawyer or could not afford to purchase the highly coveted justice at the legal auction in the courts. Some were out-bided while others committed the crime to afford a meal in the salty city of dreams. They are others who were flamed for a crime because an investigating officer was too lazy to do his job or has been paid to cover the real criminal they are now just zebras to be devoured by the corrupt, greedy and hungry justice system.  The bus will return later at exactly two to pick the prisoners back to their incarceration before their days meal is served.

The women from the local slums are seen carrying cans on their backs as they are going to look for water in nearby streams that drain their fresh water into the ocean, which is a distance away from the city away from the sewage pollution of the city. Some men with their donkey carts are following behind with an aim to sell the precious commodity to the privileged dwellers who are not socially excluded or to motels and shops back in the town. The more privileged part of the city receive piped clean water from the municipal council. The water projects in the slums are sabotaged by the water barons in the city and the dwellers are left to purchase the expensive commodity with blood and sweat some pay the ultimate price via water borne diseases in the d**g-less coastal general hospital where health workers are always on strike. The donkeys only receives thrush after thrush from the lazy owner who is seated at the back of the cart. At the watering joint tales of how a certain slum block caught fire last and the way the municipal fire engine arrived to watch as the whole thing burn into ashes. Some also claim how they were able to salvage costly commodities from the flames but instead of giving it back to the fire victims they brag of how much they made from the local dealers. The fire becomes a field of prey as the empty fire engine helplessly parked and victims aimlessly hopeless beside it.

 Many dwellers of the city just as the water flows were once dwellers of the interior but came to the coastal town bringing with them the fresh labor and fresh dreams that are later drained into the salty city where they are no more only shackles, and the bearer of the dream is left as a person different from his shadow. Having lost hope he starts his voyage of the salty life in the salty city from one liquor den to the other until he succumbs to his death if not he is sentenced to death by an angry mob who act as the jury, judge and executioner and receives blows and dies like the rest of the street fighter and embrace’s his ancestors just because he stole to only afford a single meal in this jobless city. Some young girls and young mothers are coming back to their shanty homes in the slums to grab some sleep after a risky night full of uncertainty in an attempt of feeding their families.  They bear the burden and the brutal reality of the salty life in this city. Some bodies are being dumped into the sea from the illegal liquor dens. Some clients decided to drink their way to death after drowning the concoction as some are left blind by the same liquor. The bodies will reappear on another part of the island and cannot be traced back to these dens of death.

The salty taste of the sea is diluted during the long rains in the mountains when a lot of water flows towards the salty sea and the convectional rains by the seashores. The water is freely available, and residents are freed from going to the river early in the morning. At the river next to the vast Arabian fort built in early civilizations where tourist pays homage. It is at this fort where slaves were captured and detained. It was at this fort where the slaves were castrated and shipped to work on different farms during the early civilizations. Huge hotels have been built on this part of the island to accommodate tourist. Many tributaries from all over the interior originating from the highlands join to form the great Crocodile River that empties its water in the vast ocean in a huge beautiful scenic fall near this fort. The river carries with it all the evils of the interior some of the highland communities believes, towards the sea others worship the river and make rituals at the banks of this great river as it passes through their territories. The magnificent waterfall is believed to prevent the contamination of the river’s water with the bitter sea water. This river is the only source of fresh water in the city. The waterfall also provides the electricity for the salty town making it the sole lifeline for the industries in the city. Many of the members of the interior upcountry villages blame the city for taking all its energetic young men some of which never return while others come back in coffins.  The sea is slowly rising claiming more land as people flock into the city from the inland as the global warming continue to rise.

The coastal city has a very interesting tenancy where the filthy rich live mostly in the estates north and west part of the town leaving the east and south as places of middle income with their extremities having massive slums. In the slums are a place for stunted dreams and social exclusion where all the fishermen, street vendors, and the cities manual laborers live. The slums suffer from many incidents of fire accidents as one of the many tenants may forget to turn off the stove, or many landowners attempt to evict their non-appreciative tenants. Slum dwellers are now used to waterborne disease caused by the water scarcity. The city is a field with people of all kinds from all over the country all professional are well represented in this city. From the jobless graduate to the school drop out all come to this city to look for a living. In the city, there are very many educated rich men, but there are also uneducated tycoons the sun shines on all equally whether rich or poor, educated or not. The city has too many dynamics of survival some term the city unfair others term it as luck. The city only chooses the best, and it’s merely survival for the fittest. Many people from this town eat their sweat while others risk their lives just for a plate of food others unfairly benefit from the hard work of others and there is still some who reap huge profits from the misery of others in the salty city. Life is so unfair they say, but we cannot all be equal its nature there are ridges and plains mountains and deserts even God gave us different gifts.  The coastal strip is dived among the rich and huge beach hotels leaving the commoners to enjoy the most congested part of the coast known as the pirate’s beach. The rich hate the crowding and the city’s economy clearly spells the boundaries and leave the wealthy to enjoy their comfort away from the misery and suffering of the city’s peasants.

In the coastal city is a big port found on the southern part of the island this is where all export and imports get into and out of the republic. Where many young people from the slums earn a living from loading and offloading. Here smuggling plus other port-related businesses take place here this is the busiest part of the city it operates night and day. Many people in business from all over the country spend nights in local hotels around the port waiting for their cargo to be cleared by the corrupt customs officials or to arrive at the port. Not far from the port is the international airport where tourist, foreign businessmen, and lucky locals use to visit the city or travel to other destinations across the world. The port is divided into sections, one part is for international and the other sections are for local voyages. The international section is treated with great precision and a lot of scrutiny as the customs official look for the non-compliant goods or passengers, this is due to the governments need for duty or to subsidize the meagre salaries to turn a blind eye. The many imports and few export goods have to go through this section. This is the busiest part of the port and the highest revenue earner in the country.

Top students all over the country come to join the prestigious city university to pursue their dreams. Their education is paid for via tooth and nail by their folks back in the villages. These students carry the dreams and aspirations of their families to go seek the expensive key to unlock the door of poverty and free the whole family from its shackles. These young and brilliant students come to the city with purpose and ambitions some are washed away by the salty ways of the city and don’t make it to the graduation list. Those who endure are vomited back into the city as trained, qualified and jobless graduates. When they remember the sacrifice their parents made to educate them and they were the only hope and ticket for a better life for their parents they feel ashamed to go back home. They end up washed up in the salty city and in the ghettos job searching day and night.

From the other side of town away from the cities noise are the administration offices. The high court is just opposite the commissioner’s office and outside the court is a fountain with a sculpture of a n***d boy urinating. Judges and legal practitioners are busy walking up and down these murky corridors of justice. Many protests against injustice ends here after the activists disturb the whole city just to file a petition here. The petition lands on the deaf ears and helpless hands of the courts bound by corruption and the assassinations of judges who dared defy the unjust system. Convicts are ferried by the prison’s or police vehicles to be arraigned in courts for their case mentions. Other victims of the cities justice system are the traders who were arrested the previous day for violating the municipal bylaws but their true offense was trying to feed their families against all odds in the salty city. Their real crime according to them is that they could not afford to entice the greed of the arresting officers who have already confiscated all their stock of trade. They are arraigned at city hall after a night in the municipal cells to be fined those who cannot afford to pay these fine will be forced to clean the municipal hall. As some of these traders are cleaning they come across some of their municipal representative who were fellow traders and promised to change their welfare but after joining the wolves pack they forgot everything. Next to the municipal’s assembly hall is the country’s parliament. This national assembly is composed of elected members from all over the nation as an interpretation of the democracy in the country’s constitution. Just as the municipal representatives the members of parliament promise heaven in the inland constituencies to be elected but after elections they leave for the salty city to legislate and represent they deliver hell in form of more taxation laws to afford their luxury in the salty city.

Earning a living in this coastal city is no walk in a park. Some pretend to be blind, lame or sick to have a valid reason to lay down on the streets to earn a livelihood. They spend the whole day there only to miraculously get better in the evening and join the rest of the population in the clubs and night pubs washing away their hard day’s en-devours and hoping for a better tomorrow. At the heart of the city is a sculpture of Jabari one of the most celebrated legislator from the city. Streets and roads in the town are also named after great men and especially freedom fighters. This is the only way the town remembers its heroes and tales of their greatness are rumored occasionally by dwellers and some politician while their families languish in dire poverty. Along the street are people waiting to prey on the newcomers from the islands who come to visit the salty city some to look for a better living while others are visiting for leisure. It easy to differentiate them from the local dweller due to the mode of dressing as they timidly alight from the country bus their predators easily pick them out. The predators pretend to easily offer them help for direction and orientation in the city to steal from them. This is almost always the most likely visitor’s cold welcome to the salty city of dreams.