In the village, the day broke. A wonderful sunrise enveloped
everything, casting mesmerising shadows and the light rain that had fallen in
the wee hours of the night, added freshness to the air and aroma to the ground.
Everything glowed anew; the trees, the dogs, the cattle, the goats, the sheep, the
chickens, the children, the women and the men.
Women busied themselves with various chores; some to draw water,
some cooking the early morning meal on their fires, some to the fields to till
the land, some to the forest to collect firewood and some to the maize mill to
have their maize converted to flour.
Let’s follow these women flocking to the maize mill. We see them
approaching the maize mill. We see the owner of the maize mill emerging from
his nearby house with keys in hand and going to the door of his mill. We see
him fumbling with the lock. We see him succeed in opening the door and we
see...
...what is it?...
From inside the maize mill, here comes an apparition, stumbling
about. The assembled women take one look and hysteria invades them. They scream
and scatter about. The owner himself feels his heart jump into his mouth and
involuntarily feels his legs speed away at the sight of the white figure...
⧫⧫⧫
He woke up to the beautiful sounds of the cockerel and the faint
light streaming through the shutters of the building. He could hear the distant
sounds of the early morning activities outside issuing from the villagers. Into
his conscious, came the realisation and remembrance that he had best go as he
the owner of the place would not be pleased with him if he found him there.
But he soon realised that he must have overslept because he
could already hear the sound of keys at the door. Well, there was no help for
it but to face the music. He got up, rubbing the sleep from his red eyes and
stumbling to the open door, he sprang out into the open air...
...and was amazed by the commotion that unfolded before his
eyes. Women were screaming and running away and even the owner of the maize
mill was hurrying away, with a look of fear on his face. Why?
⧫⧫⧫
The owner of maize mill soon regained his presence of mind and
reason reasserted itself over his fright. He looked again at the apparition and
through the whiteness which enveloped the whole being, which he now perceived
was a heavy coat of flour, he recognised the village idiot!
So much for the juicy story of the ghost that turned out not to
be a ghost at all. Still the village spent a whole day tittering about the
terror the idiot had caused.
Peculiar News Compilation
'The Telling Is Mine; The Story Is Not'
© Dingiswayo Allan Sambo 2019
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