him with his legs and arms uncovered.
They of course did not tell the children about what they had done. Though the children noticed their mother’s youthful looks and firm breasts and maybe even thought them a little strange, there was nothing completely out of the ordinary about Vinjinia. But when Gaciru saw her father naked as she was going to the bathroom to change, she thought that she was seeing an ogre and suddenly her mother’s transformation acquired a different meaning. She could hardly run to her for protection. Perhaps these ogres had taken over the bodies of their parents as ogres almost certainly did in stories, except that this was not a story, and her solution was to run away, beckoning her brother to follow, no questions asked. That was when she got stuck in the Lake of Tears.
In church one day, Gaciru had whispered to Maritha and Mariko the reason she had tried to run away, and they in turn had whispered it to Nyawlra, who whispered it to Kamltl.
“A permanent clown,” observed Nyawlra.
“A man in a permanent state of transition,” commented Kamltl.
4
Baby D’s Aburlria was full of ironies resulting in daily wonders of tears and laughter. There was a year when people were told that the official celebrations of the Ruler’s birthday involved their going to the nearest bookshop in the morning to pick up yet another special gift from the Ruler and then repairing in the afternoon to the Ruler’s stadium to commemorate some sort of anniversary of Baby D. But whyr Everyone knew how much the Ruler loathed books and writers who would not sing his praises.
Curiosity drove Kamltl and Nyawlra to the shops, where they found stacks upon stacks of a newly minted book,
In the book, whatever ills had befallen Aburlria during his reign, like Rachael’s disappearance and the attempted coups by the likes of Markus Machokali and Big Ben Mambo, were blamed on the late Wizard of the Crow and the Limping Witch, and that was why the State had sentenced the already dead sorcerers to a second death and burned their effigies to make sure that even in Hell they would suffer more than the other inmates.
“Our deaths are confirmed in a book,” commented Nyawlra. “If you ever hear the name Wizard of the Crow mentioned, you must not respond by look or gesture.”
“This applies to the Limping Witch also,” Kamltl said. “Maybe that is what Vinjinia was telling us. That we let those names die.”
They looked at each other, feeling sad that the characters Wizard of the Crow and the Limping Witch would have to be no more.
5
It was soon after this that leaflets bearing the symbol of a viper and a two-mouthed ogre with the slogan Let Them Not Kill Our Future were scattered in every village and town. It was the first open and mass challenge to Baby D. Every upheaval during the regime of the Ruler, like the drama of shame, had been preceded by leaflets.
The Ruler summoned his most trusted counselor, the Minister of Defense. Tajirika had just returned from yet another trip to Washington, where he had concluded an agreement on joint military exercises in Aburlria. The discussion touched on a whole range of other matters, for instance, the leasing of land at the coast for permanent American military bases, and he came out feeling that he was being appreciated not only as the Ruler’s Defense Minister but as a leader in his own right. He had even had a private dinner with the retired ambassador Gemstone, attended by leaders of the business community, including defense contractors. The dinner was so secret that even his own bodyguards did not know about it. In his talks, Tajirika had it be known how close he had been to the late Machokali, his friend- in fact, Tajirika had been his protege, which seemed to go well with Washington and emboldened him to repeat the same claims in London.
“What do you make of all this?” asked the Ruler.
“It is the curse of the Wizard of the Crow.”
“Even as he lies in a grave?”
“Yes-revenge of the daemons.”
“But we burned their effigies.”
“Nyawlra’s daemon must have merged with his,” Tajirika, who never liked Kaniuru’s getting full credit for dispatching the sorcerer, further asserted.
“Male and female daemons working together, eh?” the Ruler asked. “Giving birth to a new wave of pointless resistance?” he added.
“Female daemons are unpredictable.”
Tajirika paused, remembering that that very morning Vinjinia had told him she wanted to be relieved of managing the Mwathirika banks to concentrate on running their farms and Eldares Modern Construction and Real Estate. He told the Ruler of Vinjinia’s decision, fearfully expecting the Ruler’s anger at such crass ingratitude.
“It is all right, let her retire,” the Ruler said rather quickly. “Jane Kanyori shall move from the Central Bank to the Mwathirika banks.”
Tajirika knew that Dr. Yunique Immaculate McKenzie, who had now combined the roles of official hostess and comptroller of the State House, had been complaining about Kanyori’s frequent visits to the State House to report on the goings-on at the Central Bank and yet was not the governor. With Vinjinia’s retirement the Ruler had found a smooth resolution of the conflict.
“Yes, Kanyori can handle it,” Tajirika said quickly, not to seem as if he was second-guessing the Ruler’s decision.
“But we cannot lie down and just wait for the curse of the Wizard of the Crow to thwart us,” said the Ruler, returning to the subject of the leaflets. “Or let female daemons walk all over us, in silence, without retaliation,” he added, recalling Tajirika’s cowardice in letting himself be thrashed by women. “There must never be another People’s Assembly on AburTrian soil. We are okay with the military chiefs. Wonderful Tumbo has been superb in alerting me of any signs of anti-Baby D feelings in all branches of the armed forces. Most conscientious. And he does it while maintaining the friendliest of terms with the forces. I appreciate your advice on his appointment.”
“Thank you for trusting my judgment.”
“But where do we stand in the eyes of the Global Bank, the Global Ministry of Finance, and the West as a whole?”
Tajirika cited the coming joint military exercises as one more piece of evidence of the Ruler’s return to favor. He had found similar positive dispositions in his contacts with European capitals, London included.
“Our friendship is back on track thanks to the birth of Baby D. Even Gemstone has good things to say about you in his recently published memoirs,
Knowing the icy relationship between Gemstone and the Ruler, Tajirika did not mention his private dinner with Gemstone attended by key leaders of the corporate community including defense contractors.
“And he has no shame in stealing my ideas?” said the Ruler, aghast at the ambassador’s impertinence and irreverence.
“We should have registered the name Marching to Heaven and reserved the copyright,” said Tajirika. “Still, you should rejoice that the West is embracing your ideas. However, it is said that a good reader is the one who casts his eyes ahead to see where lies a comma, a question mark, an exclamation point, or even a full stop. We should do the same. The Global Bank and the Global Ministry of Finance are clearly looking to privatize countries, nations, and states. They argue that the modern world was created by private capital. The subcontinent of India, for instance, was owned by the British East India Company, Indonesia by the Dutch East India Company, our neighbors by the British East Africa Company, and the Congo Free State by a one-man corporation. Corporate capital was aided by
