Tuesday, December 18, 2007

april fool: part 1















4/1/2003:

in this town. on this hill. in the middle of this road... since the Germans first opened it. if not since the Lord first put it there. there has been this rock. right there. never moved. sometimes it’s been half-buried. sometimes only a small, small part is all you can see of it up above the road. but it’s there. and if you’re from this place. or if you’ve lived here a bit. or even just pass through on occasion, but use that road. then you know this rock. you know where it is.

now, why on one particular day. a bright, clear day. with this particular rock exposed a foot high, a foot wide and two feet long. with two clear and wide lanes to either side. without a vehicle or a person anywhere near this rock. why on this particular day, one particular teenage dare-devil moto-taxi decided to leave both the right side and the left side of the road wide open. decided to, quite cautiously and deliberately, drive this motorcycle (not his motorcycle) over this rock is beyond me. i don’t know???

i do know that i was sitting behind him. on my friend Muhammadu’s bike. taking all this in, in slow-motion. thinking, “he will soon shift. he will soon turn. he will soon stop. great! we’re air-borne.” then i am up on my feet. i am fine. i was wearing my helmet. but i cannot move my left arm. it hurts. it is broken. i know. what just happened? i don’t know??? was he sleeping? could it be? did he do this to hurt me? what in God’s name?...

i am pissed. he is there. writhing. clutching his head. should i go there? no... i am angry. i will beat him. i walk away. as always. i walk away. down the hill. toward where i was going. i run my errand. i must reach Bamenda now. then Yaounde for sure. i cannot believe this. i cannot believe this. my arm is broken. i just got back. i cannot believe this.

1 comment:

  1. IMAGE: a cartoon from Nigeria that I found on the web a couple of years ago. the incident that inspired the cartoon, a Nigerian airplane accident, isn't funny... but that many years after my own accident (3-4 years?), I saw the humor in airborne african motorcycle taxis.

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