Buju and Johnny Baw

It's a short story about a funny man and his funny son.

Chapter 1

Father and Son

 

      An elderly man known as Johnny Baw lived with his teenaged son Buju in a run-down house on Wellington Road. They were underprivileged people of the ghetto. Even though Johnny Baw was a strict disciplinarian, Buju was not a well-behaved boy. Moreover, he acted like a clown. Johnny Baw was a retired electrician, but he occasionally did some work. The skilful man had an old, squeaky bicycle that he rode everywhere he went.

      Mischievous people in the neighbourhood called Johnny Baw “Lumpis” He did not like that nickname, so he would curse anybody who called him that name. Furthermore, he would throw big stones at them. Johnny Baw and Buju were funny persons, and some people in the community enjoyed the natural, comical dramas that they performed daily. There were no father and son like Johnny Baw and Buju in Kingston.

 

Chapter 2

Eating Contest

 

      On a Friday afternoon Buju was coming from school, and he saw some friends staging an eating contest in front of a shop. The eating contest had a difficult challenge. A contestant must eat six water crackers without water or any other beverage in one minute. The winner would receive a cash prize of one hundred dollars. That was an impossible thing for a human being to do.

      Now Buju was very hungry, and he had an idea. He told his friends that he could do it and he entered the eating contest. Someone gave Buju six water crackers, and a crowd of young people gathered around him to watch the event. The host started the stopwatch and said, “Ready!” Buju began to eat the water crackers slowly. This puzzled the spectators because they expected Buju to eat as fast as he could.

      When Buju’s one minute was up, he was still eating the third water cracker. Everybody laughed at him. “You’ve lost!” they shouted. “How did you expect to win when you were eating so slowly?” they asked. “I didn’t enter the contest to win. I was hungry, so I just wanted the six water crackers to eat,” Buju replied. In the end, Buju had the last laugh, and he went home.

 

Chapter 3

The Game

 

      Johnny Baw sent Buju to the shop to buy kerosene oil. Buju took the money from his father, and then he picked up the kerosene pan and walked out of the yard. On the way to the shop, Buju saw a group of boys playing a game of Ludo on a table in a bar. Ludo is a board game that uses one die or two dice and counters to move around the board. When a player rolls a six on a die, the player automatically gets another chance to throw the dice again. The boys were playing the game with two dice.

      When Buju heard the excitement, he stopped to join in the fun. Buju put the kerosene pan beside a utility pole on the sidewalk, and he went into the bar to watch the game. Time passed quickly, and Buju forgot that his father had sent him to buy kerosene oil.

      Johnny Bar was wondering what was taking Buju so long to come back with the kerosene oil, so he rode his bicycle down the road to look for Buju. When Johnny Baw was passing the bar, he heard a loud noise coming from inside. Johnny Baw parked his bicycle on the sidewalk and went into the bar, and he saw Buju playing Ludo with some boys. Nobody in the crowd saw Johnny Baw come in because they were so engrossed in the game. Johnny Bar discreetly blended in with the crowd and observed what was happening.

      The spirit of the game enticed Buju. “I want to play,” he said. “Yes, let Buju play so we can give him heavenless and bornless,” one player said. The other players agreed, and they accepted Buju in the game. When it was Buju’s turn to throw the dice on the board, he shook the cup with the dice and said, “Hungla wangla, hungla wangla, six!” and he rolled a six on one die. Furthermore, he uttered many obscenities.

      The other players were silent. Buju got another go because he rolled a six on the dice. He repeated the action four times and the same thing happened. The crowd was cheering him on, and the excitement was building. Buju rolled a six on one die five times in a row and it was still his turn to throw the dice again.

      Unfortunately, Buju did not know that his father was standing right behind him. While Buju was shaking the cup with the dice, his father touched him on the shoulder. “Let go of my shoulder and give me room to throw the dice,” he shouted. Moreover, he hurled obscenities at the person who touched him. Johnny Baw touched Buju on the shoulder again.

      Buju looked around and saw his father, but he thought he was hallucinating. He said, “Hungla wangla, hungla wangla, six!” and he rolled two sixes on the dice. Buju looked around again and saw his father, but he still thought he was seeing things, so he shouted, “Double six!” and he uttered a stream of expletives. At that moment, the boys including Buju realised Johnny Baw was there and silence filled the place.

      Johnny Baw overturned the table and broke up the game, and then he grabbed the collar of Buju’s shirt and pulled him out of the bar. “You rolled a six on one die five times in a row, and on your last go you rolled double six on the dice, I didn’t know that you were a magician,” he said. “Since you’re a magician, push this bicycle down the road and don’t let it fall,” he added.

      Buju was foolish enough to attempt to do what his father said. He gave the bicycle a hard push and it ran a short distance down the road and crashed into a utility pole. The impact damaged the bicycle, and the onlookers laughed boisterously. “Oh, so you’re not actually a magician,” Johnny Baw said. “I just repaired my bicycle and look what you did to it,” he shouted. Johnny Baw took a pair of pliers from his pocket and gripped Buju’s right ear, and then he got on his bicycle and rode away while pulling Buju along with him. Buju had to run fast to keep up with the bicycle.

 

The End

Author's Note

Enjoy the reading.