Chapter 15

The last rays of the sun were disappearing when Asanga reached Oyomabang. In the disappearing light, the whitewashed studio looked more like a large tombstone. Asanga killed the engine of the Qashqai and got out. She stood for a few moments contemplating her decision to come and see the old man.

When Ruth fainted she rushed to her bedroom and undressed in front of her full-length mirror and what she saw made her tremble. The ants had not made holes only on her buttocks but in several places on her back and underarms. She cleaned the wounds and applied plastered gauze over them. Before long, she found more holes appearing on her left thigh. She then reasoned that she should come and see the prophet. He had to know what to do, especially since he knew what to do the first time.

Asanga took in a lungful of air and headed toward the house. She was wearing a black pleated skirt and a black long-sleeved pullover. She wanted to be able to show the old man the holes or undress to take a bath or whatever the old man would ask her to do with ease. She clutched a black purse that contained her phone and money.

The door was shut but there was light coming from the cracks in the windows. When she got closer she could hear voices. It seemed the old man was with someone and they were discussing at the top of their voices in a language she could not understand. As she knocked on the door, her heart started racing.

The voices from within stopped and after a few moments, the old man spoke in French.

"Qu'est-ce?"

Asanga answered in English to indicate that she was the one who had been here with Otafion to see him. After a few moments, she heard the sound of metal clicking as the old man turned the lock and pushed back the bolts on the door.

The room reeked of incense and Asanga had to pause in her step to allow a wave of nausea to pass through her before she sat on the chair which the old man pointed. It was just as it had been when they had first come except that Otafion was not there. The old man was still wearing the same gray threadbare suit with scruffy shoes. Asanga wondered what he did with all the money he received as an offering to God.

"What brings you here?" his voice sounded stronger though. Asanga sighed as she put her thoughts together and started speaking.

"I did everything you told me to do last time. I got the ants out of my body and into a cake, which I prepared. When I went out to buy some other things which I needed my daughter came home from school unexpectedly and ate the cake. Not just her, even one of her friends"

The old man made a sound in his throat but said nothing. Asanga could not tell if he made the sound out of surprise or out of pain. She continued:

"Presently, even Otafion seems to be possessed by the ants and he has been charged by the people in the village to bring my daughter to the village for the final initiation and festival. He tried to put two cubes into my mouth but he did not succeed only one entered. Now I find ants drilling holes in my body."

When she saw a hint of disbelieve in the old man's eyes she lifted her skirt and showed him her thigh. The old man made another sound in his throat. This time Asanga was sure it was for pain.

"Prophet, I need my daughter back. I can't live knowing my child is in that village…" she broke into tears

He thought for several minutes as Asanga sobbed quietly before him. A cockroach nymph crawled towards the yellow bulb that hung like an eye on the wall. A wall gecko followed cautiously to capture it. Asanga followed the two animals with her eyes. The wall gecko made one quick grab to get the cockroach but missed and the nymph fell to the floor and scurried out of sight.

"Make an offering to the Lord"

Asanga hastily brought out a wad of ten thousand franc notes and placed it in the basket.

"What happened to the cockroach?" the old man asked

"What?" Asanga asked confused

"You were looking at a cockroach on the wall right?"

Asanga cleared her throat of the huskiness that was accumulating there. "Yes, I…uh…the wall gecko missed it and it fell to the ground and escaped"

"Okay, so you have a chance," the old man replied and stood up, "Give me a moment"

Asanga looked back at the wall where the gecko had been. It was gone. What did the old man mean by she has a chance? She wiped her eyes with the sleeve of her pullover and waited for him to come back.

*

The sound of the policeman brought Emily back from dreamland. The sun had escaped to the other side of the earth and they were traveling in darkness except for the headlights of the car.

They had reached the checkpoint at Batchuo. It was the checkpoint before they would cross the bridge that separated Meme from Manyu. The control was mixed. There were three gendarmes and three policemen. A gendarme and a policeman came towards the car while the others remained seated in front of a makeshift hut constructed from old aluminum sheets.

"Can I have the documents of your car?" the gendarme asked. He looked fresh from gendarme school. He could be at most thirty and his uniform stuck to his body like a swimming suit. His bald head that reflected light from his comrade's torch was freshly shaved and he had spent more than a minute applying a greasy substance to it to make it shine. His voice was flat and emotionless.

Otafion pulled out the documents from the pigeon hole and attached a ten thousand franc note below it and handed it to him.

He scanned through the documents with his eyes with the aid of his torch. He resisted the urge to smile as he felt the money between his fingers. He reasoned that since the driver was already handing out a bribe it meant he had something to hide. It could not hurt to make him pay more, he thought.

Meanwhile, the gendarme whispered in his ear that there were two teenage girls in the back seat. He signaled to him to inform the others. Another car, a nineteen-seat bus, approached and two of the others (a policeman and a gendarme) went to take care of it

"Park and come over there," the policeman said and walked over to where the aluminum hut was. The night was hot and the air hung like the air in a stuffy warehouse. Otafion muttered a curse.

"What did he say?" Emily asked

"He said to come over to the zinc house" Otafion replied "I already gave him a choko, I don't know what he wants"

Jessica hissed. "That is how they are, they want more money"

"Are the documents in order?" Emily asked

"Yes. I just added the choko to sweeten him up, just as we have been doing. I don't know why he is complicating" Otafion replied

Emily shrugged. "Go and see him then"

Jessica made a growl in her throat.

Otafion got out of the car and walked over to where the police were. After several minutes, which seemed like hours, crawled by he was still talking with them.

"Merde, are we going to sit here till grass grows on our buttocks?" Jessica asked slumping in her seat. "Ems do something"

Emily did not reply but got out of the car and walked over to where Otafion was.

"Excuse me, sirs, can we go now? We are in a hurry to be at the festival in the village. Why are you delaying us?"

"Who is this man to you?" One of the other gendarmes who had not been to the car asked.

"He is my bodyguard. He is taking me to the village for the festival. You people should not ask us for more money he said he already bribed you nah" Emily said

"Young lady watch your mouth or else…"

"Or else what? What will you do? A bunch of corrupt officers. People cannot travel in peace because you people want money. Don't they pay your salary? Answer me do they not pay your salary?"

Emily felt a warm sensation on her face and it took several seconds for her to realize what had just happened. The policeman who had the car documents had slapped her across the face. It had to be him because he was the closest. She did not care who had done it, in fact, it did not matter because all of them would pay…

She opened her mouth as if to scream from the pain but instead of sound, a thick black stream of ants poured out. Some flew in the air to cling to the police and others fell to the ground to crawl up their legs. Her mouth was a dark tunnel on her face from which pain-inflicting ants spurted.

The policemen and gendarmes were taken aback. They screamed and brushed off the ants which were quickly replaced by others. They scampered about, opening their uniforms to fish out ants that were biting them in their crotches. More ants came out from the ground and the surrounding bushes and before long there were ants everywhere.

The police and gendarmes scampered in different directions. The one who slapped Emily tripped on something and fell. Within a few seconds, the ants had formed a pile on him, gnawing and tearing the flesh off his bones.

"Have mercy on them please" Otafion said

The people on the bus screamed as they saw what was happening. Their driver started the engine and drove away. Otafion picked up the car documents which the policeman had dropped.

"Emily, please," Jessica said, she had come out of the car and pulled Emily's arm gently.

"Let's go" Emily finally said and turned toward their car. As she did so the ants receded into the bushes and underground.

The other policemen, though still hurting rushed to their colleague's side. Most of his uniform and flesh were gone. He was no longer screaming, he only made gasping sounds.

As Otafion drove away into the darkness, he wondered if the policeman would survive.