Vernon Mooers writes

THE WHITE MAN'S GRAVEYARD 

chapter 14 (3) 

They were led into a small room and sat down. "Paper," the policeman remembered and went back out to find some. The door was open. They could see Alhaji standing at the desk. He did not look happy about all of these problems. A few minutes later the policeman brought back a note pad. He was trying to look very official.

"A biro," he said and started to leave again.

"I've got one," he answered and brought out a pen from his back pocket.

"Lafia. Write it."

"Write what?"

"The statement. What happened." The policeman left then.

He started writing. He revived the events with Jeannie and let her write a page also after. There were almost four pages.

"The boy is not hurt," she said. "They should let us go now."

"I don't know if they're going to."

"It's past ten o'clock now. It wasn't even our fault.  They can't charge you with anything."

"I don't know. I don't know the laws. Who knows what they'll do? Alhaji doesn't look too happy. He shouldn't have let that kid ride the bicycle on the road anyway. I should be the one who's angry for him causing us trouble."

"He's probably got thirty or forty kids over there all running around," Jeannie said, always disgusted with the polygamy and treatment of women.

"Yeah. That's how it is. Lucky you got your ticket. I gave my passport to Aleli. If I get charged you can contact the High Commission."

"If they let me go..."

"You're just a witness. I'm the one who's in trouble."

The policeman came back and took the papers without looking at them. "He probably couldn't read them," she laughed.

"Can we go now?" Alex asked the policeman when he returned.

"Come," he said. They went out then. Alhaji had gone. The sergeant was still there.

"How is the boy?" the sergeant asked.

"I think it was just a bump," he answered.

"We have to wait for the Commander. You can wait outside. But don't go anywhere."

They went outside to the bench again. They waited more than an hour. By now it was getting past eleven-thirty.

He got impatient and went inside. "It's almost twelve o'clock. We have to be in school tomorrow." He was agitated. "We gave the statement. What more do you want?"

"Go and find Gabriel then," the sergeant replied. "Hassan, go with them. See what he says."

They went out to get in the car. The Commander lived in the Low-Cost out near the school. "He better be there," Jeannie said. She knew Gabriel. He was Yoruba, from the South. He'd been bothering the teachers and had asked Jeannie out also. Gabriel liked her. She'd told him where to go.

They drove out to the Low-Cost. Hassan, the policeman, showed him the apartment. There were lights on inside.

They got out of the car. The Commander and another policeman were drinking. Each held a bottle of Star in his hand. King Sunny Ade blasted from a tape-deck. They came over to the car. They had their shirts off in the hot night.

"We hit a boy. We made a written statement. They took my papers. It was the boy's fault," Alex blurted to Gabriel.

"Well, madam. We meet again," Gabriel smiled widely.

Jeannie scowled at them.

"They said to check with you," Alex stated.

"I will take care of you madam," he laughed looking at Jeannie. More seriously he added, "Look, take Hassan back to the station. Go home and come in tomorrow at nine o'clock." He was in charge. He would be the big hero.

"Thank you," Alex said.

"Madam, not to worry. You can stay for a drink if you wish."

"No thanks," Jeannie said disgustedly. Gabriel laughed.

"Come in the morning," he said.

They got back in the car and dropped Hassan off at the station. "You better stay out at our school," Alex said. He drove back up the highway toward the school. A couple of taxis sped past. Men pushed carts loaded with supplies by hand-cart to the town from the railway warehouses. The light from the slaughterhouse shone dimly through the dust. It was past one o'clock. He turned down the dirt road to the school and the m'guardie had a fire lit outside the gatehouse. He honked the horn and waited. The m'guardie finally got up, annoyed at losing sleep. He snapped the headlight switch off and the m'guardie shone a light at the car and then took his time opening the gate. He pulled the headlight switch back on and drove through.

The lights were off in all the houses except for the outside security lights. The m'guardie's dog barked across the way at the Principal's house. The old man sat up on his mat where he had been sleeping on the porch.

Alex opened the door, turned the lights and fans on and went straight to the medicine cabinet where he'd put the tranquilizers he'd bought off a vendor in the market. Now he really needed them.

"Do you need valium?" he smiled, tossing down two 10 mg. pills.

"I'm O.K.  Can I take a shower?"

"If there's water...I'll get a towel. You can sleep in the end room. There's sheets in there. Just put the fan on. There's no mosquitos in this house." Jeannie had to use nets in her house he knew, since there wasn't electricity. They hadn't put screens on her windows yet either since they were new houses. It could be years before they were finished.

What would happen in the morning now? They could throw him in jail and make it really difficult. The boy could die before the night was out. There was no way out. There were no roads through the desert to Niger, even though the border was only twenty miles away on paper. If they put him in jail he might get someone to pay off a guard, maybe get a horse or catch a cattle truck over in one of the villages and get to Agadez or Niamey. Anyway, someone would have to contact the High Commission. Maybe they could straighten it out. Tomorrow he'd have to face it. 

He was lying in bed. There was a drum beating in the village by the railway. Sound travelled far at night across the maize fields without obstruction. He always heard the trains pulling out. Now there were just crickets and the drum.

He heard the shower on. What a hassle for Jeannie. He had been just taking her to market. They'd been friends since she'd come last year. Now she was in trouble too, even just as a witness to the whole thing. He had always taken care of her.

The shower shut off. Alex heard the echo of her tongs flip-flop on the cement coming down the long hallway. She stopped, knocked on his door, and opened it.

"Can I sleep in here tonight?" she asked.

He didn't answer. She threw the towel she'd wrapped around her onto the chair and flipped off the tongs. Her body was glistening with water droplets. She slid in beside him.

She snuggled in and they made love and then she fell asleep. Alex lay there, thinking how he hadn't noticed how attractive she really was. They had always just been friends. The accident had drawn them together. Their relationship had changed now. She was only 23, young, vibrant; he, nearly forty.

They got up early and drove directly to the police station. There was a buzz of activity there then. They had to sit outside the office and wait for the District Police Officer.

Finally they were called in and recounted the story. There was no fooling around. He was brusque and asked what happened. The D.P.O. sat calmly, then leaned forward.

"If Hausa people know you came to help them, they will forgive you," he said directly and solemnly.

"It wasn't my fault," he said faintly. Apparently, fault was out of the question.

"They will forgive you, bature. It's just clearing it up now." He spoke in Hausa to the other man in the room, then said, "Check on the boy. See that he is O.K. The mother is fine. You take some mangos and pray for the boy."

"O.K. He wouldn't protest. They had to be humble.

"Good. Report to Gabriel."

That was it. The D.P.O. was like a military man. They gave orders, people followed them.

He told Gabriel what the D.P.O. had said and he told them to go and do it and come back after. 

They got mangos in the market and he bought a book for the boy. At the hospital the boy smiled. The mother greeted them also. Again, he tried to tell the boy he was the one who had hit him but he didn't understand. The mother seemed grateful.