Chapter 7

Asanga lay on her bed, half a bottle of whisky beside her. There were streams of tears quietly running down the sides of her face. She had placed the bag of Ebaneck's bones under her mattress while she thought of what to do. She laid out her options on her mind's table and analyzed them.

First, she had called the director to tell him that she was not feeling well and she needed to see a doctor. He had said he was sorry for her illness and said she would resume when she was feeling better. He tried to ask what the whole spitting out ants thing was but Asanga respectfully told him she would explain when she got better.

With the director out of the way, she thought of what to do concerning the ants that were nesting in her body. She could go and see Otafion for prayers or she could go and plead with Nem Taseng.

Plead with Nem Taseng to do what? Nem Taseng had only said she should not have cut down the tree, what if she offered him money so he could change the priesthood? That could work, she thought, but she hated the idea because that Uncle Joe would be there to gloat over her.

No. She shook her head slowly. Otafion would also need money, which she was willing to give, but she was no longer sure if she could trust him. His advice to cut down that tree had led her to her current predicament.

No. She marked a mental red X on Otafion. She had to think of something else.

It was while these thoughts went through her mind that Emily called. She was calling from the school secretary's phone.

"Hello mummy, they said you need to complete the last installment of my fees else I will not write the final examination," Emily said

"How much is remaining?" Asanga asked her voice husky.

"Are you okay, mummy? You sound as if you have been crying" Emily said

"I'm okay." She wanted to tell her that big mammy died but she did not also want to destabilize her mind seeing that the final examination was near.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. How much is the remaining fee?"

"It is fifty thousand" Emily replied

"Okay, I will do a Momo to the bursar. Don't worry"

"Okay mum, don't forget please, they had to send me home it's just that I pleaded that they should allow me to call you first."

"Give the phone to the lady"

"Hello," Asanga said when she heard a sweet and soft voice on the other end. "I just wanted to assure you that I will send the money through Mobile money. Don't send her home please, I will send it now"

The woman said she understood and hung up. Asanga was dialing the codes to transfer money through Mobile money when her phone rang. It was Otafion.

"Hello papa"

"Sister Priscilla, can you come and see me? Please it is very urgent and it concerns the trip we took"

"Okay, papa. I will be there right away"

*

Otafion was in his office. He was dressed in a dark green suit and a black turtleneck. His face was abstemious. Asanga sat facing him. She had picked a red blouse and black tight-fitting jeans. The air smelt heavily of air freshener. There was a small whirring sound coming from the air conditioner. The TV was on but he had muted the volume.

"I have tried to keep silent about this but I have found I can't," Otafion said after they had exchanged pleasantries. "Since we came back from that trip I have not slept a wink. It is nightmare after nightmare. Sometimes I remember what the nightmare is about, sometimes I don't but I always wake up with a frightened feeling"

Asanga swallowed hard. Her heart was beginning to race. She was thinking. Was papa also seeing the ants?

"What did you see sir, I mean in the nightmares you remembered?" she asked

Otafion sighed. "I see a woman wearing a white gown smeared all over with blood. It is always dark, so I can't see her face clearly. I don't know if it is her blood. In each nightmare, she tries to grab me."

He was sweating in spite of the air conditioner. He pulled out a blue handkerchief and wiped the side of his face.

"The one I had last night made me call you. I found myself in the shrine we went to. The woman was there as usual with the bloodstained frock and this time she was cutting pieces of my body and feeding them to the ants. I was screaming but no one came to my rescue. I thought it was just a nightmare when I woke up till I went to the mirror and saw ant bites on my body." He pulled back the sleeve of his suit to reveal tiny wounds on his arm.

Asanga was bewildered. "I have been seeing the same woman. It is my grandmother and she is the one I am to replace as priestess."

"Oh my goodness, what have I got myself into?" Otafion said

"Calm down, are you not a man of God?" Asanga asked, "God will see you through"

Otafion swallowed hard. "This one is more than me. I need to seek a higher power for a solution"

Asanga's hopes rose. If Otafion had a solution then she would not need to succumb to Nem Taseng.

"Who do you have in mind, Papa?"

"There is a man in Oyomabang. He is a prophet. He is very powerful. I called him and he is expecting me or us"

"Us; I am going."

*

On the way to Oyomabang she dialed Amanda's number. She had to know what was happening in the village. The festival was this week and there was no shrine or the shrine had relocated to Yaounde. In spite of her state of mind, she chuckled inaudibly.

After three rings, Amanda picked. "Hello, auntie,"

"Amanda, how are you?"

"Am fine, is jus' that I am still waiting for the money you promise me."

"Oh, I forgot, but don't worry I will send it." Asanga paused, "How is the village? How are you people preparing for the festival?"

"Everything is go on well. They say they are waiting for you to come"

"Did they notice that I cut down the tree?"

"I don't know but nobody is saying anything"

"Okay. I will send you the money."

Asanga hung up.

The prophet in Oyomabang lived in a studio constructed out of mud bricks but plastered with cement and painted with whitewash. He looked eighty or more and so tired looking that Asanga thought he was supposed to be dead. He wore a gray threadbare suit with scruffy shoes that begged him to go on retirement.

"Is this the lady you spoke about?" he asked Otafion. His voice was weak and cracked. They sat in his parlor, which he used as a churchhouse or a meetinghouse of some sort.

"Make an offering to the Lord," he said pointing to a rattan basket that was between them. Otafion had informed Asanga to bring enough money.

She dropped two bundles of one hundred thousand francs into the basket.

The man started speaking in a dialect. Asanga and Otafion watched him in silence. His ranting went on for about fifteen minutes and after that, he sat silently with his eyes opened but seeing past or through them for another fifteen minutes.

When he finally spoke, he asked, "What brought you here?"

Asanga answered. She explained about the death of big mammy, how big mammy had named her the next priestess and how Otafion had suggested they should cut down the tree. She told him about the ants she had been seeing in her phlegm and other bodily discharges. She told him about the event at the office. She told him about Ebaneck but she did not say clearly that Ebaneck was now a bag of bones under her bed. She said just enough to let the prophet know the ants hurt him.

"You cannot find a new tree for the ants, but you can transfer them to another person. That is the only possibility. I will tell you what to do so listen very carefully."

He paused to clear his throat. Asanga wanted to bring out a pen and paper to write down what he was about to say. She did not want to discover later on that she had left out a key detail. She ferreted in her handbag for a pen and paper. She could not find a pen.

"You have to make something sweet, very sweet. It has to be a substantial quantity. The more you make it the better. When you have finished making it, you take it outside at midnight to a place that has an open sky. You must be completely naked. You must not have on even earrings."

Asanga listened with dread rising in her.

The old man continued. "You must go alone and no one must see you. When you are in a good location, place the sweet thing you cooked on the ground in front of you and say these words"

He proceeded to say some words in the dialect. Asanga tried her best to pick up the most she could.

The words did not sound like any language Asanga had heard before. Then he said:

"Say these words while standing over the food: Ants leave my body and go into the…add the name of the food you cooked. After that wait a while for the ants to leave your body." He sighed.

"What about him?" Asanga asked jerking her finger towards Otafion "What will he do?"

"Not much, it is because of you that he sees the things he sees. Once your problem is solved he will have no problem," the old man said

Asanga let out a sigh.

"Whoever eats the food containing the ants will have the ants transferred to their body. You must decide carefully whom you will give it to because once it is done it cannot be undone," he continued, his eyes meeting with Asanga's in a stern look.

"You will now take a bath. Follow me," he said

He stood up and entered the lone room in the house. Asanga hesitated, looking at Otafion who shrugged lightly in resignation.

"A bath?" Asanga whispered, "I am not sure I can do this"

"You have to, we are in a life or death situation here," Otafion whispered back "go on, it's just a bath"

"Just a bath…" Asanga stood up and followed the old man. The doorway led to a dark room lit only by three candles standing on a table. In the middle of the room was a round black hole that glittered in the dim candlelight. The hole was about a meter and a half wide. The old man stood behind the table and motioned to Asanga to take off her clothes.

Asanga hesitated only for a split second before she stripped herself of every piece of clothing she had. Just a bath naked in front of a strange old man.

The old man watched with an expressionless face. He had probably seen thousands of women undress before him, Asanga thought.

When she stood naked before him, the old man pointed to a tiny basket, which Asanga had not noticed before. It was made out of cane and it contained a sponge and a piece of soap. The soap looked more like a piece of volcanic rock and the sponge had once been a piece of a rice or flour sack.

Asanga picked up the items. The old man pointed to the black hole.

"Go in"

The water had a pungent smell and felt slightly slimy.

The old man started muttering some words as she bathed. The soap did not foam and the sponge felt harsh on her tender skin.

She was in the pool for about twenty minutes before the old man finally motioned her to come out. He picked up a towel from the table and handed it to her. Then he left the room.

Asanga hurriedly put on her clothes and followed him, holding her shoes in her hands.

She found Otafion sitting in the position she had left him.

"Where is the old man?" Asanga asked

"I thought you went in there with him"

"Yes, but he came out here after I took the bath"

Otafion shrugged. "You know these men of God and their strange ways."

"So what do we do now?" Asanga asked

"I think we should get out of here. He must have finished what he needs to do"

"Let's go then"