On the opposite house a sign appeared written:
"Baba Zito; 24hr come inside; all spiritual healing; lost lover,"
I thought:
'What? Lost lover? I just lost one now, let me go inside,'
Baba Zito, the witch doctor was a scary, dark-skinned, and towering guy with a skinny body. His dark aura consumed his face to resemble midnight. He wore a long jacket that came to the knees. His long dreadlocks covered most of his face so you could almost not see his eyes. And the smoke in the house added to the shade. One would believe that he was hiding from the law or something. But again, I thought:
'He could be a wanted from Malawi who came to South Africa illegally, crossing the border on a back of a crocodile.'
There were animal skins around his house hanging from the wall and some on the floor. Crocodile skins, some tiger or cheetah skins were there. And all kinds of tree roots and bottles full of dirty water. The darkness cringed at me with the silent whispers that accompanied it. I wanted to get my thing and go.
"Eh Makhosi, it's a lost lover, Makhosi."
"Makhosi," he responded signaling that he had heard me.
He then opened his bottles and mixed his roots making me something to bring her back. He took an empty nip bottle, filled it with herbs and some kind of dark water, and told me to spit on it. He gave it to me and said I must call the girl's name from the bottle. He took the bottle and said some unknown words from a foreign language while shaking it from side to side, up and down. He closed it and gave it to me. I paid and went for the ritual as he had directed me. I shook the bottle and spoke these words:
"Lindo, come outside. Come to me now, shut up, and let's go."
I threw the bottle behind me so that it could fall on the ground and shutter. After that, I counted ten seconds and Lindo come out of the house. She got into the car, and we drove off to The Point without exchanging a single word. The time of her delivery was exactly midnight, top of the hour.
After a few months on the job that year, I had delivered about lots of girls to The Point without any failure. Thus, I received my first promotion. This delighted me and the following week they gave me my first weekend off. This meant I'd rest and gather energy for my next position which at the time I didn't know. I did not do that instead I drove to Lindo's home. I had been losing sleep wondering what happened beyond the dropping point. At The Point, I would arrive at a closed gate and honk the horn. Their guard would peep from a small hole before opening the big gate. The Point was a factory with dilapidated buildings that had old tanning drums outside. They were almost debilitating but with the running engines sounds of the machines it was evident that the factory still operated. Upon entering the yard, a big gravel field led nowhere. There were stacks of different kinds of hides. Old wooden drums stood against the wall. I'd do a U-turn, drop the guest and move on out without seeing anyone else. The guard would thereafter close the gate behind me. That routine never changed. I never could imagine what happened to people in that place. The more I thought about the setting of The Point the more questions I had. What exactly were those people doing in there? It was a shady place.
When I arrived at Lindo's home to my surprise everyone became happy about her absence. They told me she worked at some island outside the Bay. She called, they said, and sent them money every week.
"It can't be."
"Oh, yes it can," said her sister in a bubbly tone.
"Wow," I exclaimed.
I sat there for a while, speechless and smiling at their cat.
A call came in:
"Hello?"
It was Elijah:
"Brother Gift, we have an emergency and I trust you can help with it."
"What is it, sir?"
"Our driver who had been sent on a special job is in a situation. The driver is being captured by the mob and there's nothing we can do but the girl is still needed."
"Wow, how do you suppose I will get her?"
"Go and see if you can find a chance to steal her by offering her comforting,"
"Okay, send me the location and the photo." I said and dropped the call.
I said my goodbyes and left Lindo's house but like an owl that flew in daylight I fumbled with more questions than answers as I drove off.
When I arrived at my new post Nandipha was indeed crying a cry of death:
I asked someone next to her, "What is happening here, sisi?"
Before she could even respond, I followed up:
"Isn't this Nandipha? Hey, you were my crush at primary, wena. Why are you crying? In fact it doesn't matter. Let's go, just you and me. You will feel a lot better after I get you this."
"Are you serious?"
"Yes, let's go. Jump in."
She wiped her tears and hopped into the car. I left the scene and showed her the bottle of wine underneath the seat. She smiled and asked for a glass. It stayed in the cubbyhole.
"Can you accompany me; I forgot my house keys at work in Markman?"
"No, it's fine. We can go," she replied.
I went straight to the Point.