Moments after General Jackson Biwok left the precincts of the cancer ward at the old capital’s premier hospital, he was assaulted by a terrible and nasty smell. It was the odour of death and human disintegration, reminiscent of a savage battle field. The mortuary had broken down again. Giant maggots crawled out from a sewer adjacent to the mortuary, heading for the casualty ward. Overhead, several vultures had taken up pole position. Perched on the huge baobab trees from which the hospital had taken its name, it was as if the rotund overfed scavengers were daring the mortuary to spill its contents.
The general struggled to fish out one of his trademark immaculate white handkerchiefs from his resplendent Agbada robe. As the terrible smell filled his nostrils, shame and misery overwhelmed him. The whole country had broken down, he thought to himself. The nation had become one vast, stinking mortuary.
Commuters screwed their nose at the stench , and as the mood turned bitter and foul, they rained unprintable curses at the rulers of the nation. The general wondered whether some of them had recognized him as a man dressed in cassocks took a swipe at the nation’s former military kingpins and eyed him with bitter malice. “Dem go smell dem mama’s yansh, one day, one day”, a woman cursed in pidgin English at the general’s heels.
Jack Biwok, accompanied by his beloved wife, Elizabeth, the iconic former first lady, and some trusted aides, had gone to the hospital to pray for the speedy recovery from cancer of Princess Edna Iwu-Abangwu, his former beau, much adored sweetheart and confidante. He knew in his heart of heart that it was a farewell visit, a closure-effecting pilgrimage. As a tested officer and a man who has seen his fair share of tragic exits, he knew death when he was in its omnipotent presence. Despite his good breeding and legendary stiff upper lip, he was a man of tremendous, overpowering emotions.
He had almost recoiled in terror and horror as he beheld the former beauty now ravaged and wasted by the most deadly of human afflictions. Here was the fairy princess who had taught him many pleasures, whose cutting tongue often cut too sharply, but whose wit , vivacity and charisma had brought him moments of divine joy. He had begun to weep inwardly, but he had to pull himself together.
He must not betray his emotions, he warned himself, or he must be prepared for a subsequent ferocious tongue-lashing from the other woman who had begun to eye him on the sly with manhandling intent. As a young man, he often wondered why it was his lot to be sandwiched among powerful women. But this was not the time and place for soapy and silly sentiments.
Despite the overarching atmosphere of tragedy and imminent death, the visit had gone quite well. The former lovers had connected brilliantly. Hatchets had been buried. He could see the glimmer of old love and affection in the hollowed, sunken eyes. Oh those beautiful expressive eyes! Let some outstanding issues remain outstanding. Time would heal those. What was important were the shared moments and the honor of having loved such an extraordinary woman, a heroine of love and devotion.
Only God could decree the future, and it was he who knew those who were meant for each other and those who were not. Let fools indulge in idle speculations. He knew in his heart that he was not a cruel, faithless brute. But he felt then– as he felt at that moment– that duty to one’s nation was superior to love. He could live with the hint of personal dishonor.
Buoyed by such sentiments, the old soldier was his preppy and energetic self as they left the ward. He had done his duty to man and God. Let his servant now depart in peace. He was a man of simple, almost childlike instincts which often made him very vulnerable to the hardened amoral sharks in the national pool of piranhas. He would continue to pray for the nation and the bad boys who had shamed his adored military profession. But this broken down mortuary business is a bad omen, he thought as ugly reality intercepted his saccharine benevolence and he began fumbling for his handkerchief. He was not a normally superstitious person, but he felt that the collapsed mortuary was a sign of approaching catastrophe. “God knows I tried my best, but the boys messed up”, he muttered as he covered his face from the stench and shame.
Jackson Musa Nimyel Biwok had every reason to be grateful to God. He had been very kind to him. Very close to three scores and ten years, he retained the fabled good looks of his youth and a sprightly handsome frame. He had never been the best or the brightest, but at every turn in his eventful military career, good fortunes had always smiled on him.
It was this providential preferment, combined with tact and modesty , that carried him on the cusp of turbulence to the leadership of his nation at a very tender age. It also made him the nation’s preeminent soldier. Out of office, his restraint, equanimity and rectitude had also gradually turned him into the nation’s foremost statesman. For a man of his humble background and lowly origins, it had been a dizzying and spectacular climb to the top of the mountain.
A chilly current froze his heart as his mind drifted back to the terrible events that first brought him to national attention several decades earlier. It was the nation’s first military coup. Led by some dissident majors and spearheaded by an exceptional officer he would later describe as a misguided idealist, it was a momentous bloodbath which cost the nation its innocence and political virginity. A whole generation of senior officers from a section of the country had been wiped out. Despite the ensuing revenge coup, the civil war, the carnage and terrible casualties on all sides, the nation had learnt nothing and forgotten nothing.
He himself had been targeted by the plotters, and had barely escaped, thanks to providence and quick thinking. He had returned to the country after a course abroad on the eve of the coup. He had disembarked from the M.S Orion, only to be confronted by Edna who had whisked him away in a breach of military protocol. He could not hide his irritation. Love could always wait for duty, but the fairy and fiery princess was having none of that. After a party attended by military echelons at which the army commander was at his hilarious best, Edna had lured him away from his assigned quarters and from certain death. What had she known? Powerful feelings for the dying beauty returned.
“Take me back to that ward, and to the only woman I ever loved!” the general shouted as he broke away from his wife’s tight hold.
“Don’t be such a fool!!” Elizabeth screamed. A proud, powerfully built stallion, she was not a woman to be toyed with. She had always carried herself with steeliness and stateliness. With her regal poise, statuesque and stately bearing, she had brought much honor and dignity to the office of the first lady, unlike the three a kobo successors who had disgraced and desecrated the office. Behind the throne, she was a fortress of strength to her husband and countless were the battles she was known to have fought with aging military playboys who had tried to teach her husband a few lessons in matrimonial hanky-panky.
As the entourage crossed an open sewer, the general struck a huge crater in the middle of the road with his left foot and was finally roused out of his daylight reverie. A searing pain coursed through his body and he let out a weak yell. His wife steadied him, assisted by Israel Ihube, his long-time associate and faithful aide. But he was sure he could hear a small crowd behind him crowing with delight at his discomfiture. The mood of the nation was foul and nasty, not even four-star generals could walk freely about any more, he thought as his mind went back to the dying Edna.
It was precisely at this point, as if on cue, that Princess Edna Iwu-Abangwu slipped into a terminal coma, her brave, heroic soul finally succumbing to the mortal ailment that had reduced life to an existential burden. The pain was horrendous. It was as if a million savage ants were crawling all over and making a huge meal of what remained of her once magnificent body. With characteristic nobility and generosity of spirit, she had already shared out her remaining pain-killers among the tribe of afflicted. It was doubtful whether they could have helped at this point.
In this state of delirium, she saw herself as a bride in a classy, shimmering wedding gown being taken to the altar by her beloved Jack. In his ceremonial uniform, the handsome colonel was quite a sight to behold; so was the best man, the boyishly good-looking Major Joe Akahan. She had curtsied with customary élan in the direction of her parents who were a picture of urbane graciousness and cultivated restraint.
Thank you sir, she seemed to say as she blew a kiss in the direction of the Governor General, the great Zik of Africa. It was a gathering of who was who among the emergent power-brokers. There were so many officers that she lost count, nearly all of them athletic and dashing. Those were the days when men were men and officers were officers.
As she sank deeper into unconsciousness, her mind went to the memorable night of mayhem when she had saved her beloved lover from certain liquidation. In a sense, she could claim that she had given Jack to the nation and the world over and above the competing claims of ethnic solidarity. She could live with the consequences because love was superior to everything. Love was the greatest gift of God to humanity. To hell with revolutions and revolutionaries.
Two nights earlier in the turbulent capital of the nation’s most politically explosive region, she had overheard the final briefing of the inner caucus of the impending revolution. In terse militarese which they thought no one could decipher, they had shared out the principal objectives. Jack had been penciled for elimination because he was to take over the command of a critical battalion. The other reason was that he had been a major beneficiary of the feudal and colonial pestilence that had laid the country low, having been promoted over the head of his peers and seniors alike.
The great Amazon had affected stony ignorance, but immediately came up with a daring rescue plan for her beloved. To have betrayed any knowledge would have meant instant death. The revolutionaries were in a mean mood. One of them was later to boast that they could afford to waste a million people from the surplus population. Later that night as the couple went to bid goodbye to the army commander after a party for a visiting dignitary, Edna was happy that the stiff, strait-laced colonel had not disobeyed her.
A bluff, genial and immensely likeable man, General Agolo-Urensi was in his usual good mood, cracking heavy jokes as he scooped chunks of stock fish and downed it with enormous swigs of Scotch whisky. When Jack asked for permission to fall out, the general winked and furrowed his eyes at the couple.
“What you need is permission to fall in”, the general crooned.
“Thank you sir”, the colonel replied with coy chastity. Then the general grabbed the colonel by the arm in an avuncular but soldierly manner.
“Colonel Jack, make una jerk your woman very well ooo,” the general croaked.
“Thank you sir”, the colonel replied, giggling like a girl.
Because as my people say when two dogs make love standing the product is not very palatable”, the general whispered and kicked the air, laughing with wild relish.
By now Edna Iwu-Abangwu had reached the final gate of transition. She remembered complaining to Jack about the general’s bawdy jokes and arrant vulgarity. With great prescience, Jack had replied that the old soldier might actually be collecting intelligence while pretending to be tipsy. Many of his drinking buddies were to perish later that night.
And then Edna noticed the hospital attendants stuffing her nose, closing her wide luscious eyes and covering her with a white spreadsheet. Why were they doing that to her? She was not dead. So, this was how they buried people alive in the country? What a country!!! But by then the fairy princess was beyond anger, only a celestial bliss and everlasting peace.
- First published fifteen years ago.
