We’d had a lovely day. It had been hot and
humid, but lovely all the same. I was happy; it was a wonderful way to spend a
day in a beautiful place, with beautiful souls. Though, this beautiful place is
now, more often than not riddled with all that is ugly in this world. I guess it
is the irony of the world.
After all the day’s activity, rightfully, I was
sleepy and I began to dose on his lap. I think I was smiling in my sleep.
All of a sudden I could hear raised voices, and
the car was at another one of the numerous and infamous road blocks. But this
time we didn't move on after paying the precursory 20-50. In a sleep infused
confused state, I woke up to look questioningly at him. He said not to worry,
we had done nothing wrong. I could see his face structure had changed; defiance
was now prominently etched on each line of his face.
We were not okay. His face said it all. He was
not going to go “silently”.
I looked outside the car window and saw the
policeman with his AK-47 casually draped over his arm. It made me uneasy. I
couldn't understand what they were saying but apparently as the car went by the
road block, they saw a young lady lying on the lap of a gentleman; and well,
that couldn't be right. My stomach clenched and weirdly I felt shame, where a
moment ago there was none.
He left the car and still in his defiant state,
sat right across the boot (trunk) of the car. He spread his legs out, adjusted
his watch in a fashion, rich with swagger, which was quite unlike him by the
way, and patiently looked upon the policeman waiting for him to come to his
senses and let us by.
The deceptive calm in his aura worried me. I was nervous, this could go either way and I
wasn’t sure we would emerge as victors in this kerfuffle.
Here I was thousands of miles from home, my father’s
advice still ringing clear as crystal in my ears, “Be careful wherever you go
and do, you can’t be so trusting there.” See, this was very unlike my father.
He never once gave me such advice in the numerous trips I undertook abroad that
year, so it took me aback and until today, I still remember his casual warning.
The policeman started throwing words around;
flailing the hand that was not burdened by his larger than life AK-47, which was
now slightly bouncing from side to side, due to his aggressive movements. I grew
wary, and wondered whether I should ask him to come back to the comfort of the car.
That maybe we would be safer there, that is until the policeman haphazardly decided to let
us by. But the defiance was still there, seemingly more pronounced than ever.
All of a sudden the policeman gestured to the
driver that we were permitted passage.
However, he still sat there on the boot of the
car, silent and unmoving. Gazing cynically at the policeman, like the man had grown
an extra head in those few minutes; I could hear his derisive thoughts, “See the
protectors of my country?”
Again he adjusted his watch, jumped off the
boot with unrehearsed drama, and got back into the back seat of the car.
I can still remember him grabbing my hand and
squeezing it reassuringly.
We were okay it said, we won.
This time.
“For how long though?”
