Terry Forster
MEETING The WITCH
It was the banging on the outer door that awoke him from his drinking stupor. His legs would hardly support him this morning as he dragged his trousers over his numb legs while precariously sitting on the edge of the bed.
"I’m coming, I’m coming" he bellowed angrily through the locked bedroom door, the banging continued. "All right, all right, I can damn well hear you; you will wake up the whole damned compound with your noise."
Peter groped his way to the bedroom door in the half light of the morning and slid open the three bolts securing it. His feet tripped him and he fell hard against the shower room door and cursed his inability to both see and walk in a straight line.
"That’s the last time I spend a night like last night" he mumbled to himself. Bang! Bang! Bang! On the door.
"All right, I can hear you! I’m opening the damned door; just wait a damned minute please….
"Veronica!, what in hell's name are you doing here at this time of the morning, do you know what time it is, where in hell's name have you been these past months, I’ve looked everywhere for you.’
"I can’t explain to you now Peter, I need your urgent help.’"
Right that minute Peter was stone cold sober and he unlocked and then opened the outer door.
"What’s happened to you, what’s this all about?" Veronica entered the house in a total state of distress.
"‘It’s my sister, I have to take her to Cross River State, it is urgent that we arrive there this very day or we will be too late and she will die."
"Die, what do you mean Veronica, die, what is wrong with her, has she been in an accident, is she ill."
"You don’t understand Peter, someone has set a curse upon her and she is unconscious, the doctor’s can do nothing for her, I have to take her to a Witch Doctor in Cross River State immediately or she will die today, today is the last day of the curse."
Total confusion reigned in Peter’s mind; he still did not understand what the hell she wanted him to do about it.
"You have a car Peter, please take us to Cross River State, I now have the money to pay the witch doctor. The curse is to last until the end of the first day of the North wind, today is the end of the first day of the wind and she will die unless you help me to get her there."
She really believed in this black magic humph. She was sobbing and wringing her hands together in turmoil, her cheeks were wet with tears and her lips quivered with fear.
"All right, all right, let me get some clothes on and I will take you there, where is your sister right now.’"
"She is at my home, I told my father that you had a car and he sent me here to ask for your good help."
"Ok, Ok, I will only be a few minutes dressing and then we will go and collect your sister."
Peter grabbed himself a quick cup of coffee from the coffee pot; it was a day old, thick and very black with a strong burnt taste to it. He dressed as quickly as he could manage without putting any of his clothes on back to front, locked up his house securely and he and Veronica set off for her father’s house in Gboko.
The girl was about 19 years old and totally comatose, she looked as if she had stopped breathing altogether and her skin was cold as ice. Her father and mother were in acute panic when they arrived; both fell to their knees in front of Peter pleading for his help.
"‘Please macauba, save my daughter, I will give anything to you" her father cried at Peter with his deep, strong and overpowering African voice.
"Ok, ok, I will do everything I can to help you, please, get off your knees and help me put her into my car."
The girl was loaded into the rear seat of the VW, pillows were placed at her head and she was covered with two thick blankets.
"My daughter Veronica will accompany you, she knows where to find the old witch," the mother cried as she pushed Veronica roughly into the passenger seat of the car.
They were off to goodness knows where, to see a witch doctor, who would do goodness knows what to Veronica’s sister. It sounded unbelievable, but this was happening to him right now. He had heard of strange things happening among the tribes but this was the first time he himself had encountered such a strange happening. Apparently the girl had been taken to see Doctor Ali a few days ago and after a very detailed investigation he could find nothing medically wrong with her. One of the wise men had visited the girl and informed her father that he had heard a curse had been placed upon the child that would kill her at the end of the first day of the North wind. She had a boyfriend that was extremely handsome and had a good job with good prospects and another woman wanted this man for her self. The woman had paid a witch doctor in the area to place a death curse upon the child and only another witch doctor from another area could lift the curse from her.
It was a two-hour drive to the border, goodness knows how far into Cross River State they would have to travel to find the witch. ‘What in tarnation had he got himself into this time’ he thought as he started the car engine. Peter called in at the petrol station on the outskirts of Gboko and filled the VW petrol tank to its limit; he didn’t know how far it was to the witch or if there were any petrol stations in that area and a full tank would certainly be helpful. Hardly a word was spoken between them in the first hour of the journey and the atmosphere seemed strained to say the least.
"Where have you been over the past couple of months’" he asked Veronica with concern in his voice? She looked him straight in the eye
"Please don’t ask me those questions right now Peter, if everything turns out for the best then I will tell you everything that has happened to me since I saw you last."
Straight to the point, a seemingly cold hearted answer under the circumstances he thought. They drove on in silence except for Veronica pointing out the countless turn-offs he had to make along the way. They crossed the border with little or no problems from the Police at 9:42am according to the digital watch glued onto the dashboard of his car. The two policemen advised them to be on the look out for bandits on the road, there had been a number of incidents where people had been robbed in the past few weeks. With this advice in mind Peter drove the VW as quickly as it was possible keeping a sharp eye on the road ahead for any sign of problems. The road now was fraught with pot holes and there were large areas of the road where there was no tarmac at all. There had been landslides along the way, most probably due to the past Mango rains and had been partially cleared and narrow areas were free of rubble where a small car could pass through. The sky had become cloudy once again but the air was clear and Peter hoped there would not be any rain this day. Another hour passed by and they were now deep in the Cross River State bush country. Every now and again Veronica would ask him to stop as they passed by a bush village and she went to ask the people there for further directions, they were on the right road it seemed. Half an hour from their last stop on a small narrow track through the bush and just passed an old tractor engine crank shaft suspended on a wooden framework and possibly used as a church bell, they broke into a clearing at the end of the bush road and Peter stopped the car. A large Rondello was situated at the far end of the clearing, there was black smoke bellowing out through the roof and the walls of the building, so obviously there was someone inside this smoke stack.
As the car approached the smoking building Peter’s worries about the situation unfolded before him, a very old and raggedly clothed thing poked its head and upper half of its body out of doorway. The thing was the witch and she was smoking a clay pipe that was about two feet in length, there were more wrinkles on her face and body than on the skin of an old bloodhound dog. As the car came to a stop the old woman walked out of the doorway and stood a little way from the car. What a sight to see, the witch was covered in dirt and filth from head to foot, her body was bent at an acute angle to the left and leaned slightly forward. She walked with the aid of a long wooden pole that had worn carved images along its full length and she had the clay pipe stuck securely between her toothless gums. Her naked breasts hung downward and flat like two deflated balloons. Her once white hair hung down to her waist, now matted with smoke and dirt and looked like it belonged to some kind of wild animal. A piece of carved wood had been skewered through each of her ear lobes and was now as black and dirty as she was herself. She had only two toes on each foot, they were similar to the feet of a pig or a wilder beast and her eyes, nose and ears were covered with flies and flying ants.
"My God’"Peter exclaimed in disbelief at what he saw standing before him, "What inn hell's name is that thing?"
Veronica was already half way out of the car door and speaking in pigeon English to the old woman. Veronica and the old woman went inside the Rondello and Veronica indicated to Peter that he should wait outside. Almost half an hour went by before Veronica emerged.
"We must carry her inside to the old Witch, I have agreed with her a price for the cure but she wants to be alone with my sister."
"You honestly don’t intend to hand your sister over to that old crow do you" Peter exclaimed in horror.
"Please Peter do as I ask, please help me with my sister or she will surely die before your eyes."
The Rondello was one hundred times worse on the inside than it appeared on the outside, a small fire burned in the centre of the single round room and there was a stinking black smoke coming from the fire that invaded every part of the body and soul. The walls inside were blackened by the smoke of the fire that seemingly burned none stop day and night year after year. The smell inside was sickly and overpowering, rotting fruit and animal bones lay scattered across the earthen floor and the whole place seemed, and felt unnatural. Veronica’s sister was laid down on the dirt floor a short distance away from the smoking embers of the hazardous fire, the old woman’s cackling voice ushered them both outside as she pointed to the door opening with her carved and blackened pole. Veronica walked with Peter to the opposite end of the clearing away from the putrid smelling and smoke saturated building. They sat together in the shade of a high bush and prepared themselves for a long wait.
"Wish we had thought to bring something to drink with us, in all the confusion it never entered my mind." Peter moaned as the delayed hangover now took root inside of his throbbing head.
A beautiful bird flew onto a branch close by Peter and started flapping its wings in what seemed a great excitement and singing a beautiful bird song.
"It’s a honey bird’ he exclaimed in utter delight. I thought they were only present in South Africa, I’ve never heard of any being here in Nigeria. It wants us to follow it to a bee hive it’s found where there will be honey and we will have to reward it with some honey when we raid the hive." Veronica sat solemn faced and silent with just a quick glance at the beautiful bird.
"I am sorry little bird; you will have to find someone else to get your honey for you".
The bird took to the wing and flew away, possibly to search for someone else who would raid the hive for it and obtain some honey as a reward. Veronica sat silently upright, unmoving and staring at the witch’s house. He realised that she was not going to tell him anything until either her sister was cured or dead so he sat as patiently as he could beside the woman he had fallen in love with and smoked almost half a pack of Marlborough cigarettes!.
It was almost 3:15pm before there was any indication of movement from the house. A long solitary cackling laugh could be heard emanating from the smoke house and soon after Veronica’s sister emerged from the doorway. Before Peter could say a single word Veronica jumped up and ran at an amazing speed toward her sister, they threw their arms around one another, jumped up and down and danced together as small children would do while dancing to a nursery rhyme. Peter’s presence there was now alienated from them both, he was an outsider looking on with curious amazed interest and unable to understand what was going on or what had taken place.
"It’s beyond me" he muttered to himself as if it were just a figment of his imagination.
The two girls walked hand in hand across the clearing laughing and giggling together and Peter stood up as they approached him.
"This is my sister Peter, her name is Rose and she wishes to thank you for saving her life."
The girl’s voice was young, sweet and rhythmic as she spoke in her Ti v language, it was difficult to understand some of her words but Peter indicated that he understood what she was saying. The girl fell before him and spread-eagled herself in subservience with her hands touching his shoes.
"You should touch her head" said Veronica. "It will tell her that you accept her and it will make her feel even more thankful to be alive."
Bending down, Peter lightly touched the crown of the girls head with his hands; she caught his hands in hers and kissed them both quickly. The sisters were as one at this moment; they hugged and kissed one another, prayed to the Lord God and asked his forgiveness for their lack of his Christian faith. This was truly something Peter had never witnessed in all his life, that something good and unique could have come out of a dirty smoking Rondello and made two sisters the happiest two people in the whole wide world.
We could hear the distant cackling sound of the witch laughing as her cure of the curse had been realised.
MEETING The WITCH
It was the banging on the outer door that awoke him from his drinking stupor. His legs would hardly support him this morning as he dragged his trousers over his numb legs while precariously sitting on the edge of the bed.
"I’m coming, I’m coming" he bellowed angrily through the locked bedroom door, the banging continued. "All right, all right, I can damn well hear you; you will wake up the whole damned compound with your noise."
Peter groped his way to the bedroom door in the half light of the morning and slid open the three bolts securing it. His feet tripped him and he fell hard against the shower room door and cursed his inability to both see and walk in a straight line.
"That’s the last time I spend a night like last night" he mumbled to himself. Bang! Bang! Bang! On the door.
"All right, I can hear you! I’m opening the damned door; just wait a damned minute please….
"Veronica!, what in hell's name are you doing here at this time of the morning, do you know what time it is, where in hell's name have you been these past months, I’ve looked everywhere for you.’
"I can’t explain to you now Peter, I need your urgent help.’"
Right that minute Peter was stone cold sober and he unlocked and then opened the outer door.
"What’s happened to you, what’s this all about?" Veronica entered the house in a total state of distress.
"‘It’s my sister, I have to take her to Cross River State, it is urgent that we arrive there this very day or we will be too late and she will die."
"Die, what do you mean Veronica, die, what is wrong with her, has she been in an accident, is she ill."
"You don’t understand Peter, someone has set a curse upon her and she is unconscious, the doctor’s can do nothing for her, I have to take her to a Witch Doctor in Cross River State immediately or she will die today, today is the last day of the curse."
Total confusion reigned in Peter’s mind; he still did not understand what the hell she wanted him to do about it.
"You have a car Peter, please take us to Cross River State, I now have the money to pay the witch doctor. The curse is to last until the end of the first day of the North wind, today is the end of the first day of the wind and she will die unless you help me to get her there."
She really believed in this black magic humph. She was sobbing and wringing her hands together in turmoil, her cheeks were wet with tears and her lips quivered with fear.
"All right, all right, let me get some clothes on and I will take you there, where is your sister right now.’"
"She is at my home, I told my father that you had a car and he sent me here to ask for your good help."
"Ok, Ok, I will only be a few minutes dressing and then we will go and collect your sister."
Peter grabbed himself a quick cup of coffee from the coffee pot; it was a day old, thick and very black with a strong burnt taste to it. He dressed as quickly as he could manage without putting any of his clothes on back to front, locked up his house securely and he and Veronica set off for her father’s house in Gboko.
The girl was about 19 years old and totally comatose, she looked as if she had stopped breathing altogether and her skin was cold as ice. Her father and mother were in acute panic when they arrived; both fell to their knees in front of Peter pleading for his help.
"‘Please macauba, save my daughter, I will give anything to you" her father cried at Peter with his deep, strong and overpowering African voice.
"Ok, ok, I will do everything I can to help you, please, get off your knees and help me put her into my car."
The girl was loaded into the rear seat of the VW, pillows were placed at her head and she was covered with two thick blankets.
"My daughter Veronica will accompany you, she knows where to find the old witch," the mother cried as she pushed Veronica roughly into the passenger seat of the car.
They were off to goodness knows where, to see a witch doctor, who would do goodness knows what to Veronica’s sister. It sounded unbelievable, but this was happening to him right now. He had heard of strange things happening among the tribes but this was the first time he himself had encountered such a strange happening. Apparently the girl had been taken to see Doctor Ali a few days ago and after a very detailed investigation he could find nothing medically wrong with her. One of the wise men had visited the girl and informed her father that he had heard a curse had been placed upon the child that would kill her at the end of the first day of the North wind. She had a boyfriend that was extremely handsome and had a good job with good prospects and another woman wanted this man for her self. The woman had paid a witch doctor in the area to place a death curse upon the child and only another witch doctor from another area could lift the curse from her.
It was a two-hour drive to the border, goodness knows how far into Cross River State they would have to travel to find the witch. ‘What in tarnation had he got himself into this time’ he thought as he started the car engine. Peter called in at the petrol station on the outskirts of Gboko and filled the VW petrol tank to its limit; he didn’t know how far it was to the witch or if there were any petrol stations in that area and a full tank would certainly be helpful. Hardly a word was spoken between them in the first hour of the journey and the atmosphere seemed strained to say the least.
"Where have you been over the past couple of months’" he asked Veronica with concern in his voice? She looked him straight in the eye
"Please don’t ask me those questions right now Peter, if everything turns out for the best then I will tell you everything that has happened to me since I saw you last."
Straight to the point, a seemingly cold hearted answer under the circumstances he thought. They drove on in silence except for Veronica pointing out the countless turn-offs he had to make along the way. They crossed the border with little or no problems from the Police at 9:42am according to the digital watch glued onto the dashboard of his car. The two policemen advised them to be on the look out for bandits on the road, there had been a number of incidents where people had been robbed in the past few weeks. With this advice in mind Peter drove the VW as quickly as it was possible keeping a sharp eye on the road ahead for any sign of problems. The road now was fraught with pot holes and there were large areas of the road where there was no tarmac at all. There had been landslides along the way, most probably due to the past Mango rains and had been partially cleared and narrow areas were free of rubble where a small car could pass through. The sky had become cloudy once again but the air was clear and Peter hoped there would not be any rain this day. Another hour passed by and they were now deep in the Cross River State bush country. Every now and again Veronica would ask him to stop as they passed by a bush village and she went to ask the people there for further directions, they were on the right road it seemed. Half an hour from their last stop on a small narrow track through the bush and just passed an old tractor engine crank shaft suspended on a wooden framework and possibly used as a church bell, they broke into a clearing at the end of the bush road and Peter stopped the car. A large Rondello was situated at the far end of the clearing, there was black smoke bellowing out through the roof and the walls of the building, so obviously there was someone inside this smoke stack.
As the car approached the smoking building Peter’s worries about the situation unfolded before him, a very old and raggedly clothed thing poked its head and upper half of its body out of doorway. The thing was the witch and she was smoking a clay pipe that was about two feet in length, there were more wrinkles on her face and body than on the skin of an old bloodhound dog. As the car came to a stop the old woman walked out of the doorway and stood a little way from the car. What a sight to see, the witch was covered in dirt and filth from head to foot, her body was bent at an acute angle to the left and leaned slightly forward. She walked with the aid of a long wooden pole that had worn carved images along its full length and she had the clay pipe stuck securely between her toothless gums. Her naked breasts hung downward and flat like two deflated balloons. Her once white hair hung down to her waist, now matted with smoke and dirt and looked like it belonged to some kind of wild animal. A piece of carved wood had been skewered through each of her ear lobes and was now as black and dirty as she was herself. She had only two toes on each foot, they were similar to the feet of a pig or a wilder beast and her eyes, nose and ears were covered with flies and flying ants.
"My God’"Peter exclaimed in disbelief at what he saw standing before him, "What inn hell's name is that thing?"
Veronica was already half way out of the car door and speaking in pigeon English to the old woman. Veronica and the old woman went inside the Rondello and Veronica indicated to Peter that he should wait outside. Almost half an hour went by before Veronica emerged.
"We must carry her inside to the old Witch, I have agreed with her a price for the cure but she wants to be alone with my sister."
"You honestly don’t intend to hand your sister over to that old crow do you" Peter exclaimed in horror.
"Please Peter do as I ask, please help me with my sister or she will surely die before your eyes."
The Rondello was one hundred times worse on the inside than it appeared on the outside, a small fire burned in the centre of the single round room and there was a stinking black smoke coming from the fire that invaded every part of the body and soul. The walls inside were blackened by the smoke of the fire that seemingly burned none stop day and night year after year. The smell inside was sickly and overpowering, rotting fruit and animal bones lay scattered across the earthen floor and the whole place seemed, and felt unnatural. Veronica’s sister was laid down on the dirt floor a short distance away from the smoking embers of the hazardous fire, the old woman’s cackling voice ushered them both outside as she pointed to the door opening with her carved and blackened pole. Veronica walked with Peter to the opposite end of the clearing away from the putrid smelling and smoke saturated building. They sat together in the shade of a high bush and prepared themselves for a long wait.
"Wish we had thought to bring something to drink with us, in all the confusion it never entered my mind." Peter moaned as the delayed hangover now took root inside of his throbbing head.
A beautiful bird flew onto a branch close by Peter and started flapping its wings in what seemed a great excitement and singing a beautiful bird song.
"It’s a honey bird’ he exclaimed in utter delight. I thought they were only present in South Africa, I’ve never heard of any being here in Nigeria. It wants us to follow it to a bee hive it’s found where there will be honey and we will have to reward it with some honey when we raid the hive." Veronica sat solemn faced and silent with just a quick glance at the beautiful bird.
"I am sorry little bird; you will have to find someone else to get your honey for you".
The bird took to the wing and flew away, possibly to search for someone else who would raid the hive for it and obtain some honey as a reward. Veronica sat silently upright, unmoving and staring at the witch’s house. He realised that she was not going to tell him anything until either her sister was cured or dead so he sat as patiently as he could beside the woman he had fallen in love with and smoked almost half a pack of Marlborough cigarettes!.
It was almost 3:15pm before there was any indication of movement from the house. A long solitary cackling laugh could be heard emanating from the smoke house and soon after Veronica’s sister emerged from the doorway. Before Peter could say a single word Veronica jumped up and ran at an amazing speed toward her sister, they threw their arms around one another, jumped up and down and danced together as small children would do while dancing to a nursery rhyme. Peter’s presence there was now alienated from them both, he was an outsider looking on with curious amazed interest and unable to understand what was going on or what had taken place.
"It’s beyond me" he muttered to himself as if it were just a figment of his imagination.
The two girls walked hand in hand across the clearing laughing and giggling together and Peter stood up as they approached him.
"This is my sister Peter, her name is Rose and she wishes to thank you for saving her life."
The girl’s voice was young, sweet and rhythmic as she spoke in her Ti v language, it was difficult to understand some of her words but Peter indicated that he understood what she was saying. The girl fell before him and spread-eagled herself in subservience with her hands touching his shoes.
"You should touch her head" said Veronica. "It will tell her that you accept her and it will make her feel even more thankful to be alive."
Bending down, Peter lightly touched the crown of the girls head with his hands; she caught his hands in hers and kissed them both quickly. The sisters were as one at this moment; they hugged and kissed one another, prayed to the Lord God and asked his forgiveness for their lack of his Christian faith. This was truly something Peter had never witnessed in all his life, that something good and unique could have come out of a dirty smoking Rondello and made two sisters the happiest two people in the whole wide world.
We could hear the distant cackling sound of the witch laughing as her cure of the curse had been realised.