Tokoloshe: When you hear the drums, it's already too late!

by Botha, Johan

Louder and louder they sang. They all became as one as they entered into a state of mass hypnosis.

  The shiny body of the old woman shook and moved; it seemed to the onlookers that she was dancing a magic dance on her buttocks. The bells had their own rhythm as the woman held her hand together. She was suddenly animated, lithe, in spite of her physical weightiness.

  The young girl, who now had an old tobacco pouch in her hands, opened it and allowed its contents, bones, shell, small stones and the tooth of a male warthog to fall into the waiting hands of the Sangoma.

  The old woman kissed this collection in her hands and closed her hand around them as the maiden put the smoldering pipe between her lips. Once again she inhaled deeply until her eyes appeared to roll back into her head. She was both a frightening and colorful sight.

  The pipe was taken away and the Sangoma put her hands against her lips. She then blew the smoke into her cupped hands and murmured something that only she understood.

  “Come father of our ancestors, come mother of the earth, come and tell what us what it is that you want to say to us!” she said slowly.

  She repeated these words until the whole village began to say them after her.

  “Come father of our ancestors, come mother of the earth, come and tell what us what it is that you want to say to us! Come father of our ancestors, come mother of the earth, come and tell what us what it is that you want to say to us! Come father of our ancestors, come mother of the earth, come and tell what us what it is that you want to say to us!”

  Something took possession of her body as she shook and murmured her ancient words.

  The village became quiet as the people realized that she was now talking with the forefathers.

  She raised her fisted hands into the air and shook them while holding the contents tightly. Something took hold of her hands and she felt the cold of a hundred winters go through her. Her eyes grew wide. This was more powerful than she expected.

  It was as if someone threw icy water from the mountain springs over her in the middle of winter.

  For the first time in her long life she felt fear and knew even in her state of trance that this time she was really possessed. Something evil had possession of her and a very strong smell of death was in her nostrils.

  The unseen grip on her hand tightened and the pain brought tears to her eyes. A bone cracked and it sounded like a bullwhip in the soundlessness of the crowd.

  Not daring to move or make a sound the crowd looked on as the woman struggled. Her maiden apprentice seemed frozen in fear, she moved towards her Mistress, but then stopped.

  “Death! It is death!” she managed to scream.

  The old woman’s fear made her stomach heave and all its contents came gushing out of her mouth. Her breasts and legs were covered in the mess but nothing touched the ground between her open legs.

  Suddenly a light from nowhere shone behind the old woman like an unholy halo.

  Flames could be heard crackling as everybody stared at the light.

  Someone screamed hysterically.” Behind her, look behind her! It is the evil one!! Look! Iyeeee!”

  There was something, yet there was nothing. It danced in the light from behind, but cast a black shadow as it came towards the Sangoma whose hands were still held together by some unseen demon.

  The smell of death was now very strong and everyone in the village could smell its rawness. The smell was worse than that of a rotting carcass in the middle of summer.

  The grip on the Sangoma’s hands was released and the contents fell to the ground between her legs.

  The young apprentice looked at the manner in which the relics had fallen in horror and with a scream ran away.

  “Inkosi Umthakati!”

  The old woman’s voice was like a thunderbolt hitting a rock.

  Nobody could move and was transfixed on the Sangoma. She was not sitting on the ground anymore but her whole body was levitating. She was now floating above the skin she had been sitting on, legs still folded beneath her, the light behind her intensified.

  “Inkosi Umthakati!” she screamed again and was lifted higher.

  A raspy voice with the crack of a bullwhip in it came to them.

  “I have returned!”

  The voice echoed through the village and reached into every corner of it. The mist intensified around the trees and was so thick by now that it appeared to be a seemed the solid wall.

  “You will hear of me again, I am the king of all kings, I … I am the dark one. I am the revenge…..I have spoken!” The voice spoke from behind the floating Sangoma.

  The villagers, including Big John, fell as one, to the ground. They bowed low to this otherworldly horror, not by choice, but by instinct.

  No sound came from their lips.

  Big John was the first to look up and ran to the old woman who was now lying on the ground.

  “Mother of the village!”

  By now others had stood up and as he took her in his arms they made way for him to carry the old broken body to her hut.

  Big John put the woman down on her bed gently as if she was a small baby. There were once again tears in his eyes as he yelled for a woman to come and take care of the Old One.

  The young apprentice was the first to appear with a calabash of water and a cloth. She wiped the old body clean while the Sangoma muttered strange words in her unconscious state.

  Big John bent over and put his ears next to the woman’s lips so that he could try to make out what was said.

  “Careful….death…. danger.”

  She clutched the pendant on her chest and put it in Big John hands.

  “Save…. He is … Save him… he was good for us. No more ….grieve…”

  Her breathing became harsher and then calmed down as she fell back into unconsciousness.

  “John! John!” Lettie, his wife, called to him from behind the crowd, “It’s Peter!” she called “There’s a fire!”

  Chapter 5

  The small town of Hill Valley consists of only a few shops. During the festive season and other school holidays people come from inland to visit. The shops and the people of Hill Valley then make enough money to carry them over for the next year.

  Business is not very good at other times of year but nobody complains and everybody can afford a decent living.

  The town consists of a school that teaches grade one to grade ten and those children who wish to finish high school go to a boarding school in a nearby town.

  The town also has a bakery that serves as a café, a chemist, a barbershop, a small town bar, a clothing shop, a bank, a small community hall, two restaurants and a soda shop that is very popular with the local youngsters.

  Most of the children go to boarding school in Durban. On Sundays the school bus picks them up in front of Milky Ways, the soda shop, and drops them off on Friday afternoons again. The parents make good use of this time going into town on Friday afternoons to do their business while waiting for the bus to arrive. A lot of the farmers also brought their folk in to town to do their own thing on Fridays, so the town was always bustling with people on the weekends.

  Today was a special day.

  The grade 12 students were on their way back after having just completed their final exams. Some of them were going to varsity or college the following year while the rest were either going to look for jobs in nearby towns or help their parents on the farms.

  There is a festive atmosphere in the bus, as they all try to talk to each other at the same time, making arrangements to see each other during the holiday and arranging parties. A special party was to be held at Jenny van Greunen’s house, ‘New Beginnings.’ The Van Greunens has a huge farm next to The Guardian and Jenny has already made arrangements with her parents for that Saturday.

  Jenny is a very popular girl in school and was also crowned Miss Hill Valley Junior during the previous year’s street party, organized every year by the town council between Christmas and New Year’s eve.

  Her br
other, Johan, one of the best athletes to ever attend the school, finished school the previous year and is currently studying to become a vet. He would also be home that Saturday and his sister knew that he would be very pleased to see some of his old friends.

  Everyone was on the subject of the party as the bus drove into town and came to a stop in front of the Soda shop where the 40-year-old, Big Bert Collins, the owner was already waiting for his customers.

  Bert loved children and has lost his own together with his wife in a car accident four years back. He was then living in Johannesburg. Alone and broken hearted he sold everything and came to Hill Valley to start over. Under the shadow of The Guardian Mountains seemed to be a good place to begin again.

  He had nobody in his life although rumors would have it that he and his skinny assistant, Mavis Longtree, had a thing going between them. Then again, in small towns like this everybody gossiped and nobody ever knew what the truth was about anything.

  Bert was very popular in town and everybody supported him, saying that he made the best milkshakes in the whole of Natal.

  Now as the door opened and the customer bell rang he sent a prayer up for energy to survive the next hour or so as he did every Friday.

  Tired but happy Bert closed his door a few hours later as his parents collected the last youngster. Bert enjoyed his lot.

  Bert wiped the sweat off his brow with his sleeve and in the same motion stuck out his hand to turn around the close sign.

  He froze in mid-air and a cold chill ran down his spine as he looked through the window. He could not believe his eyes.

  “Jesus …!”

  He staggered backwards against the counter and could do nothing but stare at the red blood oozing down his windows…like a stage curtain being drawn downwards. FUCK! He cursed silently.

  He closed his eyes and wiped at his eyes.

  As he looked again at the windows and this time they were clear. He felt a rush of relief go through his trembling body. Shaking his head, he took a deep breath and looked around to insure no one saw his startled reaction.

  “I must be getting too old for this business.” he said to himself as he turned the sign around.

  He didn’t hear the rumbling in the mountains as he climbed the stairs to his flat above the store. A slight tremor ran through the whole town but it went unnoticed by the villagers focused on their daily lives.

  At New Beginnings, Jenny was setting out food as her excited friends began arriving for the big party.

  There was a happy mood in the air and everyone was glad that at last they were finished with school.

  This party seemed to be the final goodbye to childhood and a welcome to the beginning of adulthood; the first step into an unknown world and the rest of their lives. Full of possibilities.

  A lot of the youngsters were going to take up responsibilities on the farms, farms that have been in their families for a few generations. While some of them would be more daring and go into the big cities like Johannesburg, and take up life in the city of gold, glitter, sex an’ drugs.

  Johan van Greunen waited at the front porch with an air of expectancy as his date for the evening arrived. She said goodbye to her parents as they dropped her off and they both watched the rear lights of the car as they disappeared into the darkness.

  There was a mischievous grin on Johan’s face.

  Lust in his eyes. Little did they know…

  Johan walked over to Tracy Botha.

  “Happy Birthday,” he said in a lowered voice. He’d practiced this voice in the bathroom; he thought it sounded older, sexy.

  Tracy turned around and before she could reply he kissed her on her soft round lips. Her heart nearly stopped as she responded warmly. This was not just a birthday kiss. It was hot wet and promising.

  She pulled away and smiled shyly. Her heart racing like a formula 1 car.

  “This is a very big surprise! When did you… how did you organize this? Is this for me?”

  “Are you happy?” he asked with a sly look on his face.

  “Yes man, it’s cool. And I never expected this from someone like you.”

  “Hmmm…” he laughed and winked at her, giving her another kiss on the cheek.

  All her other friends came around and began congratulating her on her birthday while Johan got them some punch.

  If only you know what I have in store for you young lady. He thought as he poured her glass of punch, heavily laced with vodka. While the cats are away… Johan thought, his mind wandering to his parents who were going to dine and dance while the youngsters had their party at home.

  Johan poured more vodka into her glass of punch and hid the flask quickly before anyone noticed it.

  He felt the sensations of expectancy in his groin as he turned back towards Tracy.

  Johan, at only nineteen years old, had finished school the previous year where he at excelled in cricket and rugby. He was a handsome athlete, used to getting what he wanted. He could pick and choose the girls, and after being out of school for a year he was still well known and talked about.

  Parents thought of him as a future son in law and girls were only too willing to give in to his needs. Without the parents’ consent of course.

  All except Tracy.

  She was a challenge to him like no other girl that he had met before.

  The whole reason for this party was to make her more vulnerable towards his advances.

  As he handed her the drink he had to look away from her big blue eyes for fear of her seeing his desire. During the first hour he made sure that he always stayed near her, keeping her punch cup full at all times. Music was playing and after a few dances he kissed her slowly and his heart raced when she responded without hesitation.

  “Let’s go for a walk to the river.” He suggested as the dance finished.

  They were hardly noticed as they left the party.

  Darkness fell slowly over the crowd dancing, and laughing, making memories of their own.

  The moon was in full splendor as it rose up, throwing its light over the farm.

  Shadows danced between the trees. The silent ones were having their own dance here in the semi-tropical bush of Natal.

  A small rabbit looked up and its eyes glowed in the darkness. Its ears were pricked up and moved around as it picked up the sounds of the party.

  Something else was in the air. The animal sensed it and it scurried to its burrow for safety. There it moved in to the deepest corner and lay down.

  Its whole body was shivering with fear and its eyes still glowed in the dark. The ears stayed pricked trying to catch any sound from the outside.

  Something had taken control of the darkness.

  Something bad…

  The silence was deafening.

  It moved between the trees and over the tops of the trees. It moved on the ground and in the water.

  ****

  The young couple on the banks of the river had their minds on other things and so involved were they within their thoughts that primal instincts did not warn them of any danger.

  Between them was a tense expectancy. She knew what was coming and knew that this time she was not going to stop it.

  They did not notice the dead silence around them. Nothing scurried in the bush and the night birds did not make a sound in the air. It was like a cemetery; quiet with the devil walking in it.

  The movement in the air went by unnoticed and the humidity increased and became heavy around them.

  Tracy giggles as Johan pulls her towards the riverbank.

  “Look,” he points, “how cool is that?”

  His voice is soft and seductive as he points to the water, touched by the moon’s orange light.

  A fish jumps in the water causing a ripple that does not complete its full length of waves. Tracy jumps a little and laughs nervously.

  Johan pulls her down to sit beside him on the grass at the edge of the riverbank; he could barely wait to taste her. He was kissing her even before she tou
ched the ground.

  Johan’s lips covered hers quickly, wet, soft and full. He touched her face and somehow pushed her into the grass at the same time, he tongue deep in her mouth, caressing her tongue. He took control quickly, not wanting to give her a chance to think too much about it.

  A groan of desire welled up in his throat as Tracy responded to his approach, her inhibitions abandoned quickly. Her mouth relaxed and her back arched slightly, as his hand found her breast through her thin blouse.