Garin Mazugal

Chapter 4

They laughed with groggy throats,throwing their hands in sky,wiggling to sounds they hear from their heads. Hard drugs have this ability of making someone feel super and hyperactive. It makes people believe in the infallibility of their means, giving them a delusional sense of territorial authority. It gives them "energy and inspiration"; a classic response they always give when prodded on the merits of taking it. Arguments has been given to agree with this pestilential posture. The energy it gives them, is a drawer for nostalgia. A man after taking hard drugs,went back home in the dead of the night. Everyone was snoring the night away,moving their bodies around the comfort of their beds. He went into the toilet and started scrubbing out dirt. He washed the toilet to very last stain and proceeded to bath the dog kept in the house. That's the kind of energy it gives them.

Almajiri Ado. The name was synonymous with righteousness in Mazugal. The bearer is a man of knowledge, piety and humility. He added the " Almajiri" prefix to his name to show people that titles and adulations were things he clearly wasn't after. He walked with pristine meekness,carefully putting his feet down as though he is scared of hurting the earth with his weight. An ever expanding smile beautified his face. Almajiri Ado was a paradigm of a good person... at least outside. At home,with his wife,he was something else. Little things that were of marital significance was of no use to him. He lied about his earnings, treated his wife like a surbodinate and children, females weren't sent to school while the males were to bring home a specific amount of money for upkeep once they clock 10...
"Children nurtured under this system will grow into a very hardworking person" .

Almajiri Ado's line of defense anytime this issue is raised. He wasn't reminded of the various hazards children face at this age. Their education was of no immediate concern.
Almajiri was seated on a broken bench one evening. He wore babban riga with his century year old prayer bead(Charbi) in his right hand. He sat down such that passers by will be of the "he is praying" impression. Meanwhile, Almajiri Ado was munching Suya he bought from Dan gata. He was obviously enjoying himself,licking his fingers, smacking his lips and nodding his head, oblivious of when his Charbi fell down.

    "Amma yaron nan..this Dan gata boy..wallahi he knows how to so suya! Kai! I didn't know when my Charbi fell fa!"

    "Baba"

Almajiri Ado was shocked. He could recognise the voice of his first daughter,Rahma even in his dreams. She was the least of what he was expecting. The girl, a very stubborn and rebellious one at that,wasn't like other kids. She wasn't easily thrown off her horse. There, her father,after lying about being penniless, sat eating Suya to the point of soliloquy. She wanted to hear his excuse this time.

  "Baba..gaisuwa fa na ke yi.(Greeetings) You're not answering.."

"Wait what do you want to hear? Have I not answered you?"

  "Baba ayi hakuri...I just wanted to ask you ..."

"Ke! " He thundered. "Wallahi I'll slap you now! .Better go away. "

  "Toh baba. I'll go. I'll tell Mama that I saw Baba eating one bag of Suya from Dan gata. And when we asked him for money, he swore that he had none. Ko kuma,on our lucky days,he'll buy beans and red oil only. He can't afford Maggi.Or the days we're very lucky,he'll buy tomatoes and Kashin Miya.."

Almajiri knows his daughter. This threat wasn't an empty one. He had to do something to win her over; buy her silence sort of.
 
"Rahma!! Haba! Oya take.go and buy yours. Come back here so we eat together. I have things to tell you."

"Allah mai iko (Able God)! Who would believed that a day will come when Almajiri Ado will offer bribe??!"

          

Rahma walked away leaving Almajiri Ado shell shocked."What was she going to do now? Report me to her mum? Disgrace me? What really is this all about?"

These questions kept gushing forth,swivelling around every inch of logic domiciled in his head. He lazily picked himself up, bedecked in thoughts and emotions in preparation for the journey home. His pace was characteristically slow but this time he bowed his head lower than usual. His thoughts were interrupted by a quick fire discharge of greetings from somebody he barely knows. He replied, returning the smile that regaled his face when things were going well.

"Whatever it is,I need to be calm.A man doesn't excrete on his body because of the stench coming from the toilet.. He simply looks for another"

Mal Goni was walking home obviously happy with everything. A man of voluminous ignorance with a commendable power of poetic suasion, he has seen his pocket bulge daily as a result of the line of business he specializes in. Most Mazugalians believed whatever they hear about him. They said he has the power to transform into whatever shape he wants to. The chief guardian of Mazugal,his knowledge of the unseen was unmatched. He has the power to cure whatever illness. Mal Goni was purely a business man however. His speciality is to lie to unsuspecting people on the number of spirits (Jinns) inhibiting their progress. Payments will then be made to him to rid them of these Jinns. Every lieing model was used. Different exploitative models was invented. Mal Goni was ruthless. The speed of his thoughts was most times dependent on the amount of money he aims to make in a day. So he turns every inch of logic in his senses,bringing whatever will earn him money however obnoxious that is. Safety of his patients wasn't his business.

"Malaria is caused by a Jinn who once loved a woman. The woman however broke his heart so he swore to avenge his loss on any being that bears similitude with his woman. The buzz they make in your ear is a rendition of the song they sang when they were together. Why do you think Malaria victims enjoy being cuddled? Its still that love affair.....!"
   

   "Ayoooooo"  They'll reply. Unsuspecting and garrulously ignorant. Mal.Goni was on the other hand to  happy to exploit this. All he had to do was to call the name of Allah and HIS prophet before doing anything. They'll gladly hand their lives over.

Hajia Rumai met Mal Goni on his way home. Garrulous and loquacious,her reputation of  knowing the blend of additives to happenings was known to everyone. She was a gossipmonger with a touch of professionalism. Her prints was all over divorce cases in Mazugal. She was always at the forefront of giving advises to newlyweds; a camouflage she uses as testimony when her behaviours is called to question.

"Mal Goni likitan karya (fake doctor)!"

"Ah ahn" He said smiling. She was the only one with true knowledge of what he is doing.

"Hajiya Rumai makaryaciya (liar)!"

They bursted into comical fits of laughter frenetically absurd for description. A sorority of evil would apt a heading.

"Where are you headed, Mal ?"

"There's a patient that needs my attention"

"Toh likitan karya...just know you'll die one day"

Mal Goni couldn't control himself. He laughed with strength and vigor obviously surprised by Hajia. He said,in between fits of laughter
"You Haj?..You've killed about 25 marriages with gossips!
How dare you talk to me about death?"

His face was serious,at least a bit. Haj was a little bit startled by his immediate transition from laughter to anger but didn't show it.

  "Ni dai na gaya ma gaskiya.I've told you the truth"

"Na ji (Noted).Your people are very lazy. They don't know that everything is changing now. Their idea of knowledge is for a man to learn how to farm and the woman knowing how to keep her a man. They're stubbornly ignorant people with zero appetite for learning..If they choose to keep being ignorant, we'll have no choice than to keep making money off them. What now? You want to expose me isn't it?  Tell them want you want but they won't believe you
.And even if they do,I'll just ask for forgiveness,reading Qur'anic verses. They'll believe me but you?! They won't.Nobody respects you here. Your reputation of being a liar is graining new grounds. Go ahead,talk!...."

     Haj Rumai listened to with rapt attention. The reality of what Mal.Goni was saying was very evident. Her people were progressively declining. She nodded her head,knowing that she is an active contributor to this decline.
"This is business " She reassured herself. "If they want to continue being stupid, we'll continue making money off their stupidity."