Rise of the Jumbies by Tracey Baptiste

Author:Tracey Baptiste
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Algonquin Books
Published: 2017-07-26T22:35:40+00:00

23

Two Stories

Kahiri wiped the tears from his eyes and the snot from his nose as he walked the curving road to Manu’s house. His mother had been angry. He slipped away, knowing it would make her even angrier, but he had made a promise, and he was going to try to keep it. He flipped Dru’s coin into the air, once, twice. It fell on his palm with a light tap. It was heavier than a fifty-pesewas coin, but about the same size. This coin was from another time, and only Manu still told stories that stretched so far back.

He came to a small house with faded green paint. He pushed open the wobbly gate and went up to the verandah, where an old man sat in a rocking chair carving a small figure.

“Mema wo aha, Kahiri!” the man said.

“Agya mema wo aha,” Kahiri said. He sat on the floor in front of the rocking chair and watched Manu dig the tip of the knife into the wood with quick twists. When he stopped and blew off the dust, he had carved one eye on the little figure. He turned it to Kahiri.

“What can I do for you?” Manu asked in soft Twi.

Kahiri flipped the coin to Manu. “I will tell you a story,” he said. “And then you will tell me one.”

Manu squinted at the coin, and then at Kahiri. “All right,” he said. “Begin.”

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