REMOULDED

The white man arrives

The old black jeep announced itself with a pack of the morning dust as it finally found a spot to stop. The morning was still fresh and hatching,the clouds were still in their strict hurdle preventing the show of any early morning sunshine. Few birds were up to the sky,flapping their wings in appreciation for another day,the palm fronds waving their gratitude just as different heads bow in their closets worshipping that unseen man that wakes everyone to life with his merciful breath.

There were few farmers out as well,handling their cutlasses and whistling to their farmstead. They barely look at the spot where the jeep was parked and the few that actually did just took a glance and hurriedly continued their walk. The truth was,they were already late for the farm works,very soon the morning sun will force its way out of the defiant clouds and will certainly punish them the more if they tarry to have a sight of what the sudden visitors were all about.

Only the little children had filled the gap,it was in their very sight that the jeep had driven into the village while they luxuriate on the heaps of sand awaiting the first morning sunshine. It was always a sweet experience for them after a cold night characterised with chilly winds and scary night sounds. The first morning sunshine was always cool and soft and maybe has an healing effect also as testified by some of them. As usual,this morning,they were sprawling on the sand waiting for those benefits before something else came to distract them, yet with another benefit of watching some strange people smartly dressed in outlandish clothes.

They alit from the jeep and everything that came to view about them was weird except that they are humans and not spirits. They were three,plus the driver who looked old and perfectly like one of the village men; Two ladies adorned with bizarre hairstyles, white tops and sensible shoes and faces and fingers beautified or horrified with paints. The man and their third member was a bit simpler with a pock marked face,a cloak,baggy trousers and a cigar stuck between his fingers.

The three of them were smiling broadly as the numbers of kids that surround them continue to double and each time they offer a hand for a shake,the kids would run back to their huts telling their mothers they had seen some strange beings and the mothers, out of their concerns would peep out of the huts and then withdrew their children inside. It was the white man. That beast. That angel. That human captor. That man that continued to cause controversy among the inhabitants of Oge'.

"These people are strange" Said the white man,raking his fingers into his finely cut goatee.

"Why are they closing their windows?" Asked one of the ladies,the thinner of the two and a bit uglier and taller.

"I think they are funny set of people" Said the other lady with a glow. She was a bit plumb,beautiful and blessed with an immaculate height.

"No,they are just strange and ignorant. They think we are some spirits,trust me" The white man lectured after he had had a lungful drag of smoke. He was a journey man,he had been to a big part of Africa and the output was never different. Africa was,to him,generally flooded with naive and helpless illiterates.

"Spirits,that's still funny" Scoffed the beautiful lady.

"I'll still not say it's funny. They've never seen what we put on before,the hairstyles, the shoes,the white skin" The white man said in a manner that showed pity but his face was doing otherwise, a smile forming on his face as he released a pall of smoke into the air.

"Don't they have anyone from the city?" Asked the thin lady. If there was ever anything she knew about African villagers,it was that they love to send their kids to the city and boast of their success in the far land.

"Who knows" The white man shrugged,finally giving way for a broader, tickling smile. In his belief,there could still be some conservative people in this modern world who would still not,out of ignorance, allow their people to move to the city.

"That means we are in for an easy job here" The beautiful lady gave a hint and the white man supported with nods.

"The easiest,Isabella,the easiest" The white man chuckled and then guffawed.

"It works best with mass ignorance, we barely have to stay for weeks before making a hit" The thin lady gave her own tickle.

"I would have said days" The white man chuckled again.

"Weeks or days,are we staying here all day" The beautiful lady said in the most impatient voice,maybe it would take days or weeks to accomplish their mission was not really her bother presently. Right now, she wanted to meet with the so called king,discuss a few things with him and get her day settled as fast.

"Pray we find any sensible one to take us there" The white man joked as he found a spot to sit under a pine tree.

"I think we can locate it ourselves. A little walk down there, it won't be too far" Suggested, the beautiful lady,her level of impatience not ready to go down.

"What if we land in the school and not the palace" The white man pulled another tease,enjoying the warm exorcising of his cigar.

"Think someone is coming" The beautiful lady said with hope when something blared through the silence and the emptiness of the village.

"Our white friends" A voice cried from afar just as an old bicycle emerged through the dust. The rider was a teenage boy who would not stop grinning until he had his bicycle near the jeep.

"Oh,my friend" It was the white man that reacted first,offering a hand for a shake and for the first time in the day,it was not rejected. "We've been here too long,maybe waiting for you. Your people here are acting so strange"

"Yes,I know. I've been watching you people since" The boy said, yet with another grin.

"Really,from where?" A glance round the huts and there was certainly no shutters opened.

"Do we need that now?We are heading to the palace, can you help us out" It was undoubtedly the beautiful lady's voice coming up.

"Yes,I'm here to take you there" The boy bopped his big head.

"Oh,you're a darling,what's your name?" The thin lady asked.

"I'm Koto" The boy grinned,"Koto the rider"