by Leye Adenle
‘Moses, is that you?’
Brother Moses stepped forward with his arms spread out. They embraced and rocked each other back and forth as the rest of us watched. They separated but still held each other’s hands. She looked into his eyes with the fondness with which special friends look at each other after they’ve been apart for a very long time. He smiled a smile that I’d not seen before.
‘Moses, Moses. Why did you sneak in like a thief? Why didn’t you send word that you were coming?’
‘It has been a long time. I didn’t think you would remember me.’
‘How could I forget you? You were the first magician I ever knew.’
‘You are queen now.’
‘Yes, I am queen now. And you are still performing. I’m glad you changed your mind.’
She held his hand up to her people.
‘This man is our friend. He came here with his magic show when I was a young lady. They were here when we had problems with the banks. One of his young magi- cians was an accountant; he looked into the accounts for us. Another one was a lawyer; she represented us in the court case. They all helped us. They did it free of charge. And this one here, he had just got his scholarship to go and study in England, but he stayed with us for a whole year and helped us until we won the case. They are our magician friends that the old people talk about. Without them, the banks and the government would have taken all the money from our accounts that they froze during the civil war.’
She turned to Brother Moses.
‘Why didn’t you say who you were? You could have been turned back last night. We have been having problems with foreigners lately.’
‘Is that why you have the warnings outside?’
‘You saw them? Youth coppers keep trying to get our girls pregnant and pastors keep trying to collect money for their church projects. We are having a tough time keeping the city people away. There are too many bad people around these days.’
‘They showed us a hole in the roof.’
‘Oh, that.’ She laughed. ‘When the government posts male coppers here, that is the place we give them to stay. We show them the hole so they will be afraid to touch our girls.’
‘So, spirits didn’t snatch up any youth coppers through the hole?’
He was looking at me when he said it.
‘You of all people know that is not possible. You told me that there is no real magic. Oops. I shouldn’t say that out loud.’
They both smiled. There was definitely something in the way they looked at each other.
Adesua had climbed out of the lorry. She stood beside Brother Moses. Odedina walked up to her and did his handshake that was dripping with swag. I looked about for Rachel. I found her behind us. She was standing close to the lorry, her shoulders hunched and arms folded across her body, and she was staring at me with a forlorn look on her face. As I was about to go to her when Brother Moses started introducing me to the queen.
‘This is my new apprentice, the amazing Mr Magic. He will be performing today. And this is his assistant, the amazing Adesua.’
We shook hands with the lady.
‘And who is that one?’ the queen asked, looking at Rachel.
‘That is his girlfriend,’ Brother Moses said. ‘She travels with us when we are on the road.’
My eyes darted to Adesua as he said it. She also looked at me. I wasn’t sure if it was in reaction to me looking at her.
Brother Moses waited for Rachel to walk over and take his waiting hand then he presented her to the queen. ‘Rachel, meet Her Royal Highness, the Queen of Faka fiki. Queen Modupe Adeola.’
‘Is anything the matter?’ the queen asked Rachel. ‘You don’t look too well.’
We all held our breath waiting for her answer.
After an uncomfortable few seconds of silence, Rachel said, ‘It’s nothing. I mean, I think I’m coming down with something.’
‘In that case I will ask our new doctor to see you. He arrived this morning. Just like you people he was sent by the government. They sent us a white doctor. Can you believe that? His first name and his surname are the same. Dr Titus Titus.’
Chapter 31 The White Death
Rachel gasped. Her knees gave as she fainted. The queen, Brother Moses, Adesua, and I all reached out to catch her. It was a tussle between Adesua and me after the others had left Rachel in our arms, but Adesua eventually also let go and I alone bore the weight of Rachel’s unconscious body.
‘Oh dear, oh dear,’ the queen said, ‘we really must take her to the doctor now.’
Adesua and I looked at Brother Moses. He spoke for us.
‘No, no. That won’t be necessary. She just needs some water. She’s very tired, that’s all.’
‘Let me be the judge of that,’ a male voice spoke from behind us. I recognised the voice and went weak with fear as I turned to look. My arms lost their strength and Rachel began to slip from me. Adesua caught her just in time and helped me secure my hold on the limp body in my arms.
Titus Titus walked up to us, his hands folded behind his back. A man and a woman followed him closely behind. They were dressed in the white tops, white trousers, and white shoes of nurses’ uniforms. The man was tanned and looked well built under his clothes. His blonde hair was in locks that scattered over his shoulders and he had light stubble across his chin. The woman was Asian. Her silky black hair was pulled tightly from her face, with just a few loose strands drifting over her forehead. She looked like a no-nonsense kind of person, the way she looked straight ahead without blinking or moving a single muscle on her face. They all had their hands behind their backs.
Titus Titus stopped in front of me. He looked at Rachel.
‘Looks to me like we need to take her back with us to the clinic,’ he said. His companions unclasped their hands and moved out from behind him. He stepped back, so that they stepped in front of him, ready to take Rachel from me. There was no way I was letting them take her. The woman reached for Rachel. I swung away from her. Like a cat, she hissed at me. I looked at her. Her eyes were un- blinking. She hissed again, but her lips didn’t move. It was in my head. She was hissing at me in my head. I growled back at her. Her eyebrows raised. I saw the surprise in her eyes. I had broken the stillness of her face. I was in her head too. She hissed again, and I, like a lion with its head raised to the sky over its territory, roared. A single sound had not departed from my still face but the force of my roar lifted the strands from her forehead and blew them back over her head. She stepped back and looked at Titus Titus. The man stepped back as well. Titus Titus came forward to try to take Rachel from me. He brought his tattooed fingers close to her body. I showed him the lion I had become. He snatched his hands away and locked them behind his body.
Looking up, he said, ‘I better not touch her. Nobody should touch her. She might have the same illness that took out your former doctor and his staff. These two must be quarantined now.’
The townspeople stepped back.
‘What happened to your former doctor?’ Brother Moses asked the queen.
‘They all fell ill last night. We found them all unconscious in their clinic. We had to break down the door. We took them to the magnetic garden but it didn’t help. Luckily this morning the new doctors arrived. That is why the men were dressed like that last night.’
‘Yes. The magnetic garden is not as strong as it was when I was a child. Then, it could rip your earrings from your ears and bury them so deep in the soil you wouldn’t be able to dig them up. My mother talked about a time when it would draw the iron from a man’s blood through his skin. Long before then, it swallowed men whole. But is has been getting weaker as the years have gone by. It still heals, but it has become so weak it couldn’t heal the doctor and his nurses.’
‘Where are they now?’
‘We left them there, under the shade of an Agogo tree, so that the flowers would sing to them. We are hoping the garden can still heal them.’
‘What time did you find them at the clinic?�
��
‘About nine o’clock.’
‘Do they normally work that late?’
‘No.’
‘Isn’t it strange that the doctor and the nurses fell ill last night and this morning new ones arrived?’
Titus Titus answered. ‘Like I told the queen, before the doctor passed out he managed to contact the Global Centre for Disease Control and Prevention. One of his nurses had visited a neighbouring town. While there he treated a sick infant. He must have picked up the disease and brought it back here with him. The doctor knew that he had become infected along with the rest of his staff. They all gathered in the clinic and locked themselves in there so they wouldn’t infect anyone else. They are heroes.’ The queen continued. ‘Dr Titus Titus and his staff are experts on infectious diseases in sub-Saharan Africa. He thinks he’s seen this before. He said it’s called The White Death.’
‘White Death?’ Brother Moses said.
‘Yes,’ Titus Titus said. ‘The White Death. I don’t name these things, I just treat them.’
‘And how is this White Death contracted?’
‘Who knows? It’s a new one. We are still doing studies.’
‘Shouldn’t you be in the town where the sick child lives?’
‘Another team is already there.’
‘Yes? Ok. How can our friend be sick with your disease?’
‘My disease? My disease?’
Titus Titus held his hands out and swivelled round to his companions. With over-enthusiastic incredulity on his face he spoke to the queen: ‘Your Majesty, who are these clowns? If they don’t co-operate with us, I’m afraid they’re going to spread this virulent disease all through your kingdom. A public gathering with lots of people is exactly what we don’t want right now. You cannot let them do their magic show till we know they’re not sick. The little children, the aged, and the infirm will be first. Soon it’ll take hold and there will be no home left untouched. We have to quarantine these people, at least until we know what’s wrong with the girl. There is no cure for The White Death. I don’t want to die. Do you? Do you want your subjects to die? They must not do the show or else people will die.’
The queen might not have heard it but Brother Moses, Adesua, and I got the message. The people of Faka fiki had become hostages, but they didn’t know it. Titus Titus believed I was Mr Magic. He believed I would discover it when I performed for the children. He would sooner kill the townspeople than allow me to become more powerful than him. He was afraid of me.
‘I will go with him,’ I said.
Chapter 32 Through Innocent Eyes
Brother Moses placed a hand on my shoulder and shook his head.
He said, ‘You are not ready.’
I had never felt more ready in my life. I did not know exactly what I was going to do, but I knew what had to be done. I had to protect everyone, including Rachel, and the only way to do so was by going with Titus Titus and his accomplices. It was me they wanted. But when Brother Moses looked at me with an expression that was a mixture of pride at my bravery and pity that I did not know to be rightfully afraid, I considered my lack of a plan and felt really, really stupid that I had offered to sacrifice myself. Let’s face it. I might have roared like a lion, but these people knew real magic. They lived on the moon, for crying out loud.
Rachel moaned. I renewed my hold on her. It was the first sign of life from her, apart from the steady breathing I’d established when I placed my finger under her nose. She began to stir. The last thing I wanted was for Titus Titus to be the first person she saw when she woke up. I swung around with her body in my arms and it was as if Adesua had read my mind. She took Rachel from me even as her feet and hands began to search for the ground and for a point of reference.
Titus Titus and Adesua exchanged snarls that no one could have missed, then he looked at me and said, ‘Well then, let’s go.’
The queen stepped forward. ‘The girl is ok. It can’t be The White Death. You said the victims never recover.’
‘Maybe it’s not, but we still have to be cautious, you understand?’
‘We will take her to the magnetic garden, just in case.’
‘Do what you like, but he still has to come with me.’
‘Why?’
‘Because no one here is safe if he doesn’t come with me.’
‘And why is that?’
The men slowly panned out and surrounded Titus Titus, his sidekicks, and me. The queen had clocked that there was something amiss and so had her subjects. Odedina in particular had been paying close attention. He stood closest to the queen. His fingers were formed into fists.
I felt Brother Moses looking at me. He nodded, even though I didn’t know what he meant by it. He moved away from the townspeople and joined us in the circle the men had formed.
‘And now, the Amazing Mr Magic will perform his first magical spectacle for us,’ Brother Moses declared. He spoke as if the circle was a stage. He held his hand out to me as if I should know what to do. I didn’t.
Titus Titus threw his hands up. ‘Your Majesty? Really?’
The queen was as surprised as he was. As I was, for that matter.
She looked at Brother Moses for an explanation.
‘He must not do any magic here,’ Titus Titus said through gritted teeth.
Brother Moses addressed the crowd. ‘You have all come out to see a magic show today, haven’t you?’
The children in the crowd cheered.
‘Well then, a magical extravaganza you shall see.’
He thrust his hands in the direction of the lorry. A puff of blue smoke shot out of his sleeves, rose and expanded in the air, obscuring the vehicle and drawing gasps from the audience. As the smoke thinned, the back carriage of the lorry unfolded and retracted under the vehicle, revealing a small red and gold structure on the back of the lorry. It was a little shed with a single door and no windows. The walls were red and the door and the domed roof were gold. Golden stars of various sizes swirled around the bottom half of the structure.
Brother Moses clapped at the audience and they clapped too.
‘Mr Magic,’ he said. ‘Mr Magic,’ and it became a chant that the children picked up and clapped to with vigour and with excitement.
Brother Moses nodded at me and swept his hand towards the stage.
I looked at Titus Titus. His snarling face dared me to go up. I looked around.
The children clapped and chanted, ‘Mr Magic, Mr Magic.’
It all became clear to me. I had to become Mr Magic if we were to defeat Titus Titus. The only way to become Mr Magic was to perform on stage and we were running out of time. I walked to the lorry. The crowd followed behind. I began to climb onto the back. I looked up and Adesua was already there waiting for me. She reached down and pulled me up.
‘Where is Rachel?’ I said.
‘They’ve taken her to the magnetic garden.’
‘Why?’
‘The garden heals. Come with me.’ There was urgency in her voice. She took my hand and led me into the red hut.
It was dark inside. All around the walls there were narrow tables covered in red cloth that also covered various objects on the tables. I couldn’t make out from their shapes what they were. I thought the inside was bigger than the outside.
‘Take off your clothes,’ Adesua said. She took off her hat, pulled her scarf away, wiggled out of her coat and started unbuttoning her shirt.
‘Hurry. Take off your clothes now.’
‘Why?’
‘Just trust me.’
She threw her boots aside and pulled her tights down. She looked up at me still fully dressed and she looked pissed.
‘Now,’ she said.
I began taking my clothes off. She waited for me to finish. I dropped my shirt on top of the rest of my clothes and stood in front of her in my boxers. I saw that she had taken off her pants and bra.
‘Everything,’ she said. ‘We have to be quick.’
I hesitated.
; ‘Now,’ she said.
‘Why?’
‘Now.’
I bent down, pulled my boxers down and stepped out of them. I threw them onto the rest of my clothes, put my hands over my groin, and looked to the side so as not to look at her. .
‘Don’t panic,’ she said. ‘Look at me.’
I looked into her eyes. I tried to decode the new look on her face. There was something soft, or kind, or gentle in her eyes. She was almost apologetic. With our eyes still locked, she took one big step forward so quickly that she would have made both of us fall over backwards as I didn’t have enough time to ready myself for her weight. I froze in place as my brain tried to decide whether to brace for the fall or make a late attempt to catch her in my arms. But she didn’t crash into me. Air was sucked out of my lungs as she stepped right through me. I did not feel a thing, except a temporary sensation of being off-balance, which was probably due to the reflex reaction to get out of her way.
I heard her feet on the ground behind me. ‘Don’t panic’ wasn’t enough warning for walking through a person.
I turned round and looked for the edges of the mirror that was not there, for I was looking at my naked self looking back at me with a straight face. I was standing in front of myself! I was looking at myself and it was not like looking into a mirror. This was a real flesh and blood, breathing, seeing, hearing, feeling person, with my face and my body, standing in front of me. Another me before me. ‘Don’t panic’ was definitely way, way, way too insufficient to prepare me for this.
Then I thought, ‘If she is me, who am I?’
I held up the backs of my hands before my eyes and they were hers. I looked down at myself and saw breasts from an angle I had never seen them before. I brought my hands, her hands, to my breasts, her breasts.
‘Don’t you dare,’ she said with my voice. My hands froze.
‘Get dressed. We have to be quick. They’re waiting.’
Indeed the children were chanting and clapping for Mr Magic, but unbeknownst to them they had been cheated out of the most fantastic magical feat they could have witnessed.