The Sun in the Rain

“And all the lights showed the different angles at the which the rain cut this city into bits; into jig-saw puzzles, in restrained African razzle-dazzle; and through the beams, there was yellow rain and white rain, but most of the vast stretches of wall where the concentrated light could not reach were shadows, were black rain”-Search Sweet Country, by B. Kojo Laing.

 

Rains come and go. They drizzle in a mild brush or plainly pour down with vengeance. Juba is a gift of rain. But it is the sun in the rain that makes Juba what it is, a city. When the sun gets in the way, there is a story to tell. It is the sun in the rain.

“Will I not be pregnant one day? Do you hear me, sweetheart?” she whispers into his ears like a wasp.

“Cut that small talk, my friend’s sister. Can I ever stop seeing you naked by my side?” he whispers back like a witch at work.

The boy seals her lips with a kiss. He tries to make a clever joke. Their spirited conversation takes its course. It keeps them well-oiled all along. Little by little, their sounds die down in the peace of the evening. They save the left-over bits for another day.

Aya and her boyfriend Dekori then part ways. It has been a long day for both. He has a woman’s body. But stripped down to his underwear, he is no such thing.  She cannot get along with any other man. Dekori has a job as an undercover agent.  He is in love with his friend’s sister, Aya. Dekori is fine with his friend’s disliking at times. Keliona tries and picks away at him. Dekori has never shown any sign of backing down. Keliona knows too well that Dekori is a big uppercut to his sense of joy as a friend. The two uneasy friends often take a smoke break together behind the back of Aya. So they see this one ending well for all.

Aya is back home in Hai Tarawa, an oasis of mud-bricked, grass-thatched houses and a tree-drunk neighbourhood with undulating stretches of houses, off Gudele Road. It is a sprawling quarters of new comers from all over Juba. On a cool summer’s night like this, she is dying to take a bite of roasted sweet potato with groundnut paste and rinse that all down with a cup of mud-pot water. She can’t miss a whole episode of good times like this. She had better start the clock tonight. This won’t last long. A carpenter has been at work just next door. The softwood shavings in the carpenter’s place smells so nice after the rain tonight.

Quickly, Aya folds her laundry and sits down to eat alone. She will then get a restful night of sleep. Her brother, Keliona, is spending the night on duty. He is a CID guy. He does criminal investigation in the Police. She has over 3 years of being alone at night under her belt.  She got to know her Dekori from her brother. What a sweet little face he has!

Aya is a nail-biter. She changes things in a heartbeat. But she seems to change these days. Aya gives Dekori the credit for the turnaround. When he comes around for a chat, Dekori always salts a few wry quips into his comments. 

“Sit down for a cup of hot tea” She will invite.

“My nose is beginning to itch” He will say. His dark suit makes him look slim and trim.

Aya needs that laugh today and tomorrow. She likes it. She loves him for it. When he is gone, she will soak her hands in dish water with merriment.  She is one busy lady. Her dream beat grows louder.

They will go out together at times. You will see them like chickens crossing the road.  Like in the morning today, they have got up at dawn to head out on the town. Her elder brother in Australia has sent the family a whooping 7, 000USD for a business start-up. Dekori is the one to go with her outright. It cuts way down on many hassles. A security man is befriended by all at a moment’s notice. Keliona likes this babble by his young sister. No problem.  He jokingly says there is a lion on the loose.

“Stop or I will say stop again’, she chuckles.

“Just trying to tighten up the leash on my little one”, he remarks.

“Here one day, gone the next day. It is hard to sugar-coat your objection!” she will say.

“At least, I don’t feel lazy to go to church, sister”

“More signs of the End Times, brother!”

Aya fondly recalls that conversation in the morning. She turns to the spray of stars across the night sky.  She remembers when Dekori and she have pulled up alongside the FOREX in Downtown Juba. He wears a light blue jacket.  She wears this cloth with a big slit that almost bares it all and a hairpiece tucked inside her hair. Her dress’s sparkle catches eyes like a flash. She has enjoyed the trot in his old Mark II car.  She blushes at what he does to her inside the car. Dekori sneaks his hand to touch her laps. She just melts away. He has one of these and nobody else does. But Juba is drowning in cars.

The air has smelt like fresh water on ripened mangoes. All this aside, they have exchanged the Dollars into Pounds. Keliona and Aya are going to buy a Hiace Minibus to turn in more money on Juba-Konyo-Konyo bus route.

As Dekori and she leave, Down-town Juba is recycling its crowd. It never runs low on people. This is the business center of the city.

“Come to me. My door is open” says Dekori invitingly.

She is on hand with an answer. “A run of good days, sweetie. I can’t miss out on this”

“What are we supposed to do with our afternoon?” He underscores, spreading out his arms wide.

That is how she has ended up in his place for a great deal of that day. One smile and she has walked on. Alone at home this night, she whisks sweet thoughts between Dekori’s place and her house in under 2 hours. It is no small thing that she has been with her man. He talks as if a shield goes up all around him. Dekori is just enviable.

“We will marry when we find the time” Dekori has sounded like a little pope. All the while, he rocks her back and forth. He loves her curves and the fact that she never wears underwear on Sundays.  He cups her cheeks in his hands. She loves his deep breath and sweet words. She has a bit more to hang on to, too. He has swept her off her feet.

The money is here with her, too, fresh Dollars smelling better than money. She can’t wait Keliona to be back home tomorrow morning.  She knows she has a long way before. It is about 9 hours of darkness over Juba. They will go out to buy that minibus, license it and whine about being rich, too. This is Juba.  You should make the right noises or else no one will pay attention. People are sure to roll their eyes for this mini-bus; Aya and Keliona are going to have.

Keliona and she will be fine with just about anything.  She will do her brother a twist on meat and potatoes once they are back with the bus. Aya feels so content, calm and happy. She falls asleep, not knowing she is starting that dream out with a lie. Something happens before dawn the next day.

She suddenly wakes up with a start. It seems like someone who has had a few too many beers is banging on the door. Could it be that her neighbours are already here to get their first look at the minibus?  Things are going to get real unsettled. Whoever is knocking won’t stop.

“Who goes there?” She shouts in a quivering voice.

That is for a man, not her. All of a sudden, it falls so quiet outside that she begins to doubt if she can even speak of this as things going wrong outside the room.

Yes, she hears footsteps outside. It does not take long before she realizes she has thugs outside. They pick up a bevy of shouts at her.

“Open the door or you are dead!”

She falls back behind the wardrobe.  They are going to dive right in here and have her among other things. But they must have come for the money, too. 7, 000 Dollars.

“We will pull the trigger, lady”, one of them shouts impatiently.

“Do yourself a favour. We can understand some tears”, another one says persuasively.

“What do you want from me?” She stammers a cry.

“Now, cut off the dirty jokes!” roars the third.  He is a straight-ahead guy. He tells his peers so. Aya can hear them talking to each other. Anger is mushrooming outside.

She must get her Dekori in on this. He is a security man. Dekori can stomp a boot in these thugs’ faces. She quickly scrambles to get back on her feet. The pool of her time is shrinking fast. She pulls out her mobile phone and rings up Dekori. The thugs have started to surge around the door and windows of her room. Dekori will be here at a moment’s notice. But it is taking ages for the phone to ring.

It finally does. Where? Right at her doorstep!  She is better off dead. Dekori is here with the thugs! This is the cliff-hanger at the end.

“Is that you, Dekori?” she trembles.

“This where I get off the bus, darling”, Dekori chimes. He circles his fists in the air, enjoying his playboy ways.

“Give us that money and you will be alright”, he blows a few kisses towards her.

“Iam urged not to answer the door” She is trembling with her jaw clenched.

“What a finish!” Dekori exclaims.

Everybody outside is amused. It draws a reckless laughter. She wins a nod from them. Soon they are breaking the door like drunkards with a hangover touch to shake off.

“We have this cut out for us, darling. You are keeping my boys on their toes.  They never run out of targets, mind you. Well done!” Dekori shoots his mouth off about it now.

Aya scrambles for cover and dials up Keliona’s number. But Keliona’s phone is off. This is fast coming to a head. She will soon be dead. Her head is spinning. They will force their way in and bludgeon her, bleed her to dry. Much to her horror, Dekori is one of them. She can hear him. He is angry and dark in the night. He is for something before he is against it.

The first two night-time robbers just break in. One is a big fellow who looks like one after being run over by a truck.

“You don’t mind getting beaten, mum?” the big fellow punches her in the stomach and asks a trembling Aya.

She turns away from the door and goes for the window. Bang!  The big fellow shoots her in the back. She lets out a bloody cry of pain. In a moment, she is running around.

“We have a chicken with its head cut off here, Boss”, laughs the big fellow.

He gives way for Dekori to enter into the room. He kicks her in the groin.

“Where is the money, Aya?” He folds his arms and leans forward.

“Over my dead body, Dekori!”

“Find a better lie, Aya”

He pours two shots into her belly. Everything falls dead silent. Heart beats sound like clocks’ tick-tocks.

 “Check in with your doctor, sweet thing”, he licks his lips and wriggles his foot.

Aya falls down like a sack of salt and faints.  A few moments, the search is on for the cash by fits and starts. Soon Dekori announces the cash to cheers and applause. They are gone in the next second. Dekori carries himself with a trickster swagger. He has it all, money and trickery.

She regains consciousness for a few minutes. Her mouth is as dry as a bone. Aya mumbles through attempts to explain what has befallen her. The reaper is at the door. She knows she is dying minute by minute. Fear of dying keeps her awake. But she is losing blood, red precious blood.

No one is going to come to her help.  Neighbours here fight like cats and dogs. When they fight at the bar nearby, they turn each other into a sea of glass. Amid the crying, she sees angels in white falling out of the sky. They don’t take too kindly to her. That has her throwing up blood. Why Dekori?

He is a tough, rugged boyfriend with a few trifles she has clung to. Surprising in the least? Yes. He has the disdain of her and her brother. She could not know that the boy has been up to no good.

“I will never worship a god that cannot fight”, she remembers his joke.

By sunrise, she will be dead. She can hear the drizzle right now. It is going to rain heavily again. She may get some peace and quiet. The sun in Dekori’s rains is different from this. With him around, she can die laughing with tears.

Girls in Juba are falling all over themselves to have him. The column of admirers rolls through the city like the rain does when the sun is high in the sky. Shafts of Dekori’s sun cuts through the rains. He is handsome and popular. He watches girls run circles around him. Any girl he touches crumbles. With his bag of tricks, he hangs them on the high side of boyhood.

Aya realizes that she has picked a rotten time. She has come across him as a friend of Keliona with a firm handshake. From there he has slithered onto her. At first it has set off a war of words between Keliona and Dekori. Like two peas in a pod, the friends have found a common ground. Love my sister and marry her. Dekori has promised to get sober over this.

But Dekori has it all. He talks out of both sides of his mouth. Let the adults worry about reality, he has chuckled. Nobody young as him would like to lose sleep over this. He has a beautiful Aya for a woman. That will keep him busy for a while.  He is so full of himself. Let the rumour mill do the talking.

Dekori knows it is a bluff.  Keliona is as dumb as a box of rocks. Truth is only coming back with Jesus. He will pay off everybody to keep quiet over this.

As she recalls this, Aya winces out in pain. The world is sick of Dekori. He will never count for something. Nothing, she says with a shrug. It is locking into 2 years since she first met him. This has been an expensive wait. He is her killer now. She is the sore loser on this side of the line. If she could, she would feed him to a beast. True stripes are revealed when it is too late, at times.

Keliona and she have gathered energy for a new try. They want to defy the way how the calendar of poverty falls. Their elder brother in the Land Down Under has thrown some cash towards that. Aya has a degree under her belt but has not been able to land a job. It is like winning on one good leg.

Suddenly, good luck looks like it. Everything starts coming due for them to be happy like others. With 7,000 Dollars sitting on their laps, they seem to have won the coin toss. They will now have much elbow room at work in this tiresome fight against being just poor. They are fed up with the deluge of hand-outs.  Suffering dulls the will.

“Chomp down on your bone”, she hears the voice of poverty dying down. Keliona’s face has hurt that day from laughing so much. He is happy they have something to start a big business and earn money.

Alas, it has all gone up in smoke. It is her boyfriend who is laughing his backside off now. Dekori and his boys have the money. Aya is lying just about dead in her blood. Because of her, their fortune has scampered over to the side of a crooked boyfriend. 7, 000 Dollars have parachuted into the hands of a thug and his boys. Even a rat knows not to poop in its own hole. She has confused love with money. Her Dekori has sniffed along that dotted line, nose to the ground. She feels taken advantage of. Her shock has turned to horror. She is dying with his baby. He even does not know she is pregnant.

Aya yearns for the oblivion of death. As she swings at the end of the ropes in her trance, she trails off a list of names. These are people she will miss. These are the dying throes of a lady. Hers is a tale of a hard-luck b***h. She will spare a thought for Keliona, a true brother. She knows he will fall flat on his face when he learns of her death. 

Who does she answer to? She is poor and just about gone. She hopes poverty will not continue its weird grind across this land, her people. Money has done Dekori and her part. It is hard to pin things down. The writing is on the wall for all to see. Money does what honey cannot. She would rather watch grass grow.

At dawn, Aya heads home to sleep. She pads off to the great beyond. She has a face not even a mother could love. The sun rises with a downpour. It is the sun in the rain, again.

 

Joseph Eluzai

August 2013