Dial - Season 2 - Episode 33

4 years ago

Dial - Season 2 - Episode 33

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I had a really good sleep that night, and would’ve slept for a very long time if a pounding in the door hadn’t drawn me out of the delicious folds of my luxurious sleep.
With a groan I dragged myself out of the bed as the pounding continued. Draped in a big cloth and naked underneath, I padded to the living-room and threw the door open, and found Brian and Kuuku standing on the porch with calamitous expressions on their faces.
“What’s biting you two?” I asked dourly.
“Look,” Brian said and pointed behind him.
I looked, and my jaw dropped open with surprise.

The compound was filled with a lot of people!
And they were carrying all sorts of luggage and other stuff.

“What the heck is going on here?” I asked, aghast.

“Word went round,” Kuuku said in a dazed voice. “All the villagers are coming in to claim their houses. They’ve overrun us. They refuse to leave, even when we begged them that progress is still ongoing. They say they’ll sleep on the ground. What the hell is the matter with them?”
A broad grin split my face.

This was what I had planned as my revenge; all the villagers would live Etwe-Pe-Kote and settle in the nsamanpowmu community, and leave that vile king and his evil fetish priest and the wicked elders in the village.
I had thought that their acid fear of the forests being an evil and haunted place would keep them away, and that I would have a hell of a time convincing them to come and settle here…but here they were!

Their sheer numbers baffled me greatly. I had not thought the village was that populous.
“What are we going to do, Yao?” Brian asked. “They’re not prepared to leave!”
I grinned at him.
“It’s a problem, so use it to your advantage,” I said with a chuckle.
“How can this be an advantage, Yao?” Kuuku asked with raised eyebrows.
“You need more labour, don’t you, to make the project go faster?” I asked quietly, and suddenly Brian’s face lit up.
“D--n!” he said with a rueful smile. “I guess this is why you’re the boss, Yao.”
“Yep, that’s why I’m boss,” I said with a chuckle. “Employ them. Most of them are fishermen, and farmers. Give them a good per-day rate. They’ll be happy for the extra money as they work to secure their own houses.”

“That’s a brilliant idea, Yao,” Kuuku said with a sigh. “But where would they stay? Where would they sleep? They’re not willing to leave!”

“Put up two or three enclosed sheds on the outskirts, with tiles on the floors,” I said. “A shed for men, a shed for women. A temporary home. It’ll be better than most of the clay houses they live in anyway. You can partition another shed for those with families. Let them help, and soon the houses would be up, and allocations made.”
“You’re the boss!” Kuuku said, smiling, and then both of them shook my hand and turned toward the people with brighter expressions.

I stood gazing at that lovely crowd, and when I turned away I was smiling happily.
I was very happy. It was payback time, oh yeah!

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