PRISONERS OF CITIZEN KWEKU (WORK IN PROGRESS)

Chapter 4

THE MORROCANS

The next morning,  as the sisters eat their roasted corn with coconut, they share their thoughts on Naomi's premonitions. They pray together, using Revelation 7: 3 and 2 Timothy 2:19 of the King James Bible. At midday when they walk into the restaurant they are taken by surprise to find it completely rearranged, the square tables no longer in rows and columns but now a bit more spaced out haphazardly, the red themed hall now has glossy white walls and gold drapes gathered at it's large window ends, it has come alive with people crowding the center table, which is actually three tables joined together. Ruth and Naomi quietly help themselves to some food from the buffet, taking their seats at Naomi's suggestion, by a corner of the hall,  to give them full  view of the latest guests.

"You know, Naomi, white is a colour that always looks good on camera. You can't hide in white!"

"Ruth!!!"

"I'm just saying."

As they begin to eat, they observe the little crowd, "Do some of them look familiar to you?" Naomi asks Ruth, who rolls her eyes,

"Certainly! But the real question is, was this just mere coincidence or not?" Of course, there are people here they haven't seen before, like three oldish women huddling close together at one end of the long center table. These three can be beggars, jews, lepers or even witches; only heaven knows. Their strange gleaming brownish skin is more of an angry red than a natural brown, peeking out of bogus gray coverings over their bodies in bits of large wrists, knobby knuckles, patches of pasty, wrinkled faces, and quite feverish, wild eyes, eyes that seem charged by some sort of suspicious wariness. Fanatics? Pilgrims?
What ill wind blew them in? Can they all have been on the same plane, then? And then there are people here whom they've definitely seen before, right in the center of the center table!

The two turbaned Arabian looking men, sans turbans.

Don't Mess With Me.

The dainty one walks into the restaurant looking quaint in a senegalese bubu. This free style, embroidered gown has quite an attractive pattern in a cool lilac colour, but the bright yellow headgear crowning her head seems to make the entire hall hot. Her delicate steps take her to the buffet table, where she hen pecks a few morsels of food unto a plate, before turning around, surveying the hall and it's occupants, then making a bee line for the sisters in their quiet corner. Two vacant chairs were at their table, but they never considered that they would get occupied, not in such a large room, so the sisters watch the dainty one's approach with curiousity.
"Good day to you two, please may I join you on this table?"
"Oh sure! Please do," Naomi and Ruth say together, a bit overwhelmed by her persona.

She takes a seat on the left side of Naomi and introduces herself,
"My name is Chuki karibe, I am kenyan, a YouTuber, currently exploring the African continent... I hope to put out an exhaustive documentary video series of black people, the culture shocks in varying traditions and tourist opportunities available within our borders," she tells them with a gentle voice.
The sisters don't have any prior experience with YouTubers, but it sounds like Miss Chuki Karibe from Kenya, is on a solo information gathering mission, for very public purposes! In a single sentence, she has said a lot about herself without saying a lot about herself.
Naomi and Ruth have learnt in life that the quick footed either stir up the dust, or fall headlong in a ditch!

The two sisters introduce themselves, as well,
"We are Novelists from Nigeria, on a sort of work holiday here," Naomi responds. At this precise moment, someone with the remote controls to the huge tv screen hoistered up on the wall where everyone can see, raises the volume. It's Ghana national breaking news: two Ghanaian women on a business trip to Nigeria have been found, dead in their hotel room, brutally mutilated for suspected rituals, with body parts missing, and the killer or killers, at large.