Mahmoud barges into the flat
Babbling bungo this, bungo that
"You English want some bungo?"
Affecting beginner English
For the benefit of a strange man
Who skulks in the corridor a while
Before eventually following him in.
Mahmoud makes himself at home,
Emptying a Cleopatra straight then
Lacing and replacing, stuffing it full.
"Bungo make you very lazy,"
He adds as two bungo virgins
Look on with mixed feelings.
Once sparked, it passes around
Quicker than stepping on hot coals,
Smoke-throat-tickling as it goes.
Mahmoud and crony hold back,
And when pressed reason that
They've already reached the heights,
Adding that "English" need to get to their level.
Minds alter after repeat lip rocket launches
Have left their exhaust fumes in lungs.
The two opposite converse shadily in alien,
And when I turn, Ben has been abducted.
"Where's he gone?" I ask fake casually.
"Are you OK?" Mahmoud asks, serious face.
"You need to come back to the normality..."
Shoulder glance reveals no sign of Ben still.
"Come back to the normality... come back..."
Suspect agendas run amok in my head.
I counter with shrug-it-off laughter.
"Don't laugh... We are taking over your mind...
Come back to the normality."
"Where's Ben?" Fake casual again.
"Don't worry about him. Worry about yourself."
I chair-scrape stand like a new-born fowl and
Venture into the depths of the flat,
Finding Ben spread prostrate on the floor
Chalk outline awaiting, vomit in the toilet,
Only grunting when I nudge him, and
After baby-stepping back to the abductors,
They announce that they must go and leave us,
Abandoning me to navigate my way semi-delirious.
YOU ARE READING
Bad Ambassadors
Non-FictionIn 1995, when I was eighteen years old, I began a gap year overseas. My experiences in Egypt were character-building to say the least, and I have many fond memories of attempted muggings, freight hopping, jumping off moving buses, being stranded in...
