The Whistler

The magical column

It did not escape notice, in fact people had began complaining about the bad omen brought forth by the introduction of the magical column in the Juba Monitor newspaper. Stories had began to emerge, stories that would be better unknown than known. First it was the story of the Ugandan woman turned into a snake near Malakia police station after stealing a witchdoctor's money then came the story of the the Yurol vampire associated with the disappearance of two small villages adjacent to Ramciel. Nobody wished,not even in their wildest dreams to hear of these stories and yet the CEO of Juba Monitor newspaper claimed that it was in the best interest of public security that the magical column of the Juba Monitor had been founded. Mr Baboya Sebit was quoted as saying that South Sudan is a magically diverse country and that it was best to keep the public informed about the on goings in the magical world.

Mr Manut Uchen and his wife Adut Akec woke up on the morning of  6th March 2014 and went about their daily morning routine,each preparing to go to work. They woke up at six o'clock in the morning as usual. Their daughter, Immaculate Akello, woke up too. She had to go to school. Mr. Manut worked at Konyokonyo Market where he ran an automobile shop,Doshi Motors. His wife worked at the Juba police hospital.
“Imma," Mr Manut called to his neighbour's son
“Coming uncle, ” Imma replied and came running
“Get me the newspaper, Make it Juba Monitor today."
Imma got the money and hurried off towards  Suk  Sita market. Mr Manut's wife  emerged from the house. She looked surprised
“What do you want Juba Monitor for?”
“What a question,"  Mr Manut returned shortly
“Why Juba monitor of all newspapers? "
“Now look here woman. Why make a fuss about my choice of a newspaper... Come on, get yourself a copy of the Juba Eye if that's what you like."
“No,stop being smart Mr. I know what you are after. ”
“What?”
She lowered her voice as if gossiping, then whispered,
“The magical column. ”
“Ah alright. Correct guess...a look at what Mr Baboya is so enthusiastic about won't hurt,will it?”
“I warned you Manut,I warned you. No magic will be done or mentioned in the this house " She was almost shouting now
“Come off it. This is one of the reasons why I'm self employed. I have hated taking orders since I was a kid.Off you go before our emotions get the better of us.”
“You promised, you said would never have anything to do with magic...that you were never a magician yourself but I had my doubts though. No Jurchol man does not possess those evil powers....I saw your daughter-”
“Shut up Adut! will you?"
Imma came hurrying with a newspaper and handed it to Mr Manut with the change.
“Good boy, keep the change.”He said handing forty South Sudanese pounds to Imma who took it and muttered,
“Shukuran-thank you.” and ran off
Mr Manut opened the  the newspaper and scrolled through it with his eyes. Now and then he exclaimed. The rebels have captured Bentiu! 2500 strong white army coming towards Juba! But it was obvious he hadn't reached what he was looking for because curiosity was still written allover his face. Meanwhile his wife sat on a sofa opposite his and organized her hospital equipment:syringes, needles, tablets and all.

“Aha! what is this? Er ... this should interest you Adutie." Mrs Adut simply waved him away. He shrugged and read it out loud to her.

UNREPORTED MAGICAL HORRORS;
     SUK SITA HAS DARK MAGIC
       Writes our columnist,
       Well Vision Deng Diing
Residents of Suk Sita area were on Thursday thrown into a state of shock and uncertainty as two huge cobras crawled about in the midst of the Suk  Sita market. Witnesses said that the cobras had a feather each protruding from the the top of their heads,a symbol of the darkest magic yet seen in this country. Nobody dared to tamper with their progress because even the fearless SPLA soldiers were seen cowering with their guns on their shoulders.‘there was something human about the snakes,' said an unidentified witness,‘two ordinary cobras don't slide in the midst of a market in daylight and crawling side by side at that.' Mr Taban Deng,professor of history at university of Juba says he doesn't remember when such an event ever occurred in this country. Other witness said that they saw the two cobras disappear near the home of Mr Logonnyo of 24th Avenue although Mr Logonnyo rubbished such claims and said that his family was purely christian.

Mrs Adut gasped and covered her mouth with one hand. No,it can't be!
Her mind raced back to the past,she remembered her daughter young Immaculate Akello,then nine months old and the images were vivid. At that time, they were living in Alok,a town South of Aweil centre. She was weeding in the garden and had left the baby to crawl about in the compound . But while she was hard at work,she heard a whistle at the back of the second hut. She looked back at the narrow compound, baby was not there. The whistler,whoever it was,must have carried baby Immy.
Mrs Adut hurried towards the back of the hut from where came the whistling. When she reached however, she couldn't believe it. Her Immy,baby Immy was whistling eerily and stroking the necks of two fat Cobras upon whose heads protruded slender white feathers.She fainted. When she recovered consciousness later,baby was crawling happily in the compound. Bad dream,she had thought but she checked and sure enough found the traces of the cobras. Curved paths in the soil leading towards the nearby bush.

“Adutie,Adutie!" Mr Manut's voice woke her from her deep thought. She looked wearily around and muttered under her breath,
“Evil child " Her husband who was used to that kind of talk  picked up his car keys and went out of the house,tacking the newspaper under his arm.
Immy emerged from her room where she had been listening attentively to her parents' talk. She had was dressed in her Comboni uniform; blue skirt and white shirt. She said good bye to mama who simply looked up at her and muttered under her breath again,
“Evil child ”
Immy grinned as she went out.
Evil is good for fighting evil.