Dial - Season 2 - Episode 26

4 years ago

Dial - Season 2 - Episode 26

The screams woke me up!

They were strident shrieks that made me come awake with confusion.

Wearing only a pair of trousers, I rushed blindly through the house. It was quite dark, and I put on lights as I rushed to the door and wrenched it open.

There were a lot of people outside now, and they were screaming because the huge lights had come on. I stopped abruptly, and then I chuckled when I looked at the great number of adults and children screaming and prancing around with incredible happiness.
It seemed most of the villagers had come in already, and I wondered how they were able to overcome their dreaded fear of the nsamanpowmu so quickly.

“You have brought a happiness I have never seen to my people,” came her cool voice in the darkness on the veranda, and I turned toward her.

I had not noticed her in my rush from the house. She was leaning against the wall in the far corner. She had plaited her hair in long trails on her head. Her skirt was just above her knees, and her blouse had small straps. Her incredible figure was accentuated, and her face, devoid of make-up or anything artificial, simply took my breath away.
“I didn’t see you,” I said, quite needlessly. “Who are all those people?”
“Oh, the men went to the village roadside, not into the village, and informed the farmers about this town, and the wonderful things in here, especially the water. They came to find out for themselves,” she said with a gentle smile.

“I see,” I said and chuckled. “Seems to me we need to hurry up with the rest of the buildings.”

“Yes, indeed,” she said with a smile. “Some are going back for their things. They would sleep in the open, they say, to wait for their rooms.”

We laughed softly at that, and then I walked toward her.

“You came back, Adobea.”
“. I came back, but you were asleep,” she replied gently.

“You should have woken me up,” I said, and she giggled and shook her head.
“You were sleeping so soundly like a baby, and not an old man,” she said.
And then, suddenly, at that particular moment, it became very important that she didn’t see me as an old man anymore. It became very important that she saw me as a man, a real man, and not the withered grey-haired man I represented at that moment.
“Please, come in, Abena,” I said softly. “There’s something I want to tell you.”

She looked at me, her eyes troubled.
“Can’t we speak out here?” she asked softly. “The night is beautiful.”
“There are mosquitoes and ticks here,” I said earnestly. “And I don’t want the sight of all those people distracting me.”
She nodded, like she usually did, and followed me inside.