Stones and metals

By LAWRENCE CHITERI
Published September 13, 2009

Gofu is in dire pain, but struggles to his knees. He is still indignant and laments the brutal treatment. He is hopeful that this boss might intercede, and probably admonish his officers. “Why do you do that? Why the violence?” But Zake the boss is impressed; after all his guards know how to take cues from him, the kind of thing that an adversary is never likely to perceive. These were faithful, and reliable protectors of his station, and haven wrapped into one.

Zake picks his pipe, and puts it between the left sides of his lips. He inhales a deep one and then meticulously exhales the smoke, interspersed with his majestic strides, and snobbish mien toward Gofu. “Lesson one, never enter my office like it were a bush. Lesson two, when you come in here, speak only when spoken to. Thirdly, this is my hospital you criticize, my staff!” Zake prides in setting his rules, the look in the nurse, and the guards are now reassured, after they thought Gofu’s entry and outbursts would land them in trouble with their boss.

Therea is wriggling on the rug in dire pain now, as Gofu rises up to plead with Zake, he tries to speak:  “Please sir, help, this is my wife. ” But an unmoved Zake, still pacing up and down his office, quickly replies: “This? Is this your wife?” He moves toward Therea, looks her up scornfully, then back to Gofu before blurting out to Therea: “ Is this the man you married? This bam, this dolt, this village door mat?”

Zake gets angrier and orders his staff:  “Get these village bumps out of my office, quick!” They quickly comply. The guards are now even rougher with their handling of Gofu, who harshly resists this brutal, inhuman treatment. He is yelling at the top of his voice: “Are you human, will you not help my wife? You are so mean, please help.”  But to no avail. In this melee, a nurse who has been dragging Therea out, realizes that things are a little more complex than she thought. She runs back to Zake and whispers something in his ears, but Zake barks out loudly: “Not here, let it not happen here!”

With this finality coming from Zake, the nurse and the guards manage to shove Therea and Gofu out of the office, and onto the outer pavement of the office. Therea moans more painfully but there is no hope of a change in heart. The guards and staff have taken their positions, and are busy doing their other duties, when Gofu decides there is no respite. He quickly solicits a wrapper from one of the waiting patients, and together with a few female sympathizers, helps Therea deliver a baby on the pavement of the hospital; and in the full presence of the public, say for Gofu’s use of the wrapper to conceal the details of the act.

Many people castigate the hospital, their staff and proprietor for this dark spot on their reputation, but this is the very stuff of which Zake is made. He has instilled an attitude of stone and metal in the psyche of his workers, and associates; he is ever ready to side step a responsibility from which there would be no direct gain, or favour. Gofu appreciates the offer of the wrapper, which he uses to cuddle the new born, and as the sun begins it journey to the west, he decides they must catch up with the free ferry transport back to the other side of the island.

This is going to be the last shuttle ferry in the day. Therea is definitely weak, but adversity knows no bounds. Gofu carries the new born as he uses the other hand to lead a totting Therea across the path, to the road four miles to the ferry.

They get to the ferry, just in time to see the second last anchor withdrawn; they are fully aware that a night on this side of the island would mean spending the night in the cold, on another pavement. With a weak mother, and a new born, this was going to be disaster. Gofu rushes forward. He calls out loud, and the ferry crew hears him. They are used to local residents coming in late, and they decide to wait. They are a pair of excited youth, who are definitely intoxicated. They have been plying the two sides of the island since five in the morning, and in between breaks sipping local brew.

Gofu arrives at the edge of the entrance, and notices the ferry is carrying double its capacity. “Is this the way you carry? This is nameless overloading,” he chides, but the crew will not hear of it. They quickly retort: “Come on in, there is enough room to sleep!” Gofu is torn between taking the risky plunge;  he is definitely in a catch twenty two situation. This was obviously a tricky one, either enter an overloaded ferry and risk life, or let it go and sleep in the cold. As he debates this, the crew is impatient and as usual hurl obscenities. “You think we have not seen babies. We have several in here, come on in man, you are not special.”

Gofu grudgingly decides to take the risk. He leads Therea in and then squeezes himself in, as the anchors are released, and the ferry begins its trip across the water. Things seem to go on well, with other customers speaking in excited tones, after they had helped the crew to blast at Gofu and his wife earlier. However, barely 10 minutes into the 30 minutes ride, and with the ferry way out of sight from the nearest land, there is a sudden loud bang, followed by inconsistent swaying of the ferry. The waves begin to take control of this ferry, and pandemonium breaks loose.

To be continued

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