Patricia Clarkson

Chapter 1

A LOUD BANG

Once upon a time, in a small village on the west coast of Africa lived a boy named Haji. He lived with his parents in an old board house on a cattle farm. It was a quiet place where nothing exciting ever happened.

Late one night, while everyone was asleep, ten-year-old Haji lay restless, unable to sleep, especially with rain pelting down on the rooftop. Haji got out of bed and went to the window. A chill ran through him as he looked into the rain. It was dark, and he could barely see a thing outside, apart from the faint glow of dim lights from his friend Salif and Lucy’s houses in the distance.

“I hate the rainy season,” said Haji. He sighed and slumped back onto his bed, miserable. His bedside light flickered, and he glanced over and saw his favourite book, an old book from his granddad, on the bedside table. Haji took the book and sat up in bed to read.

It was a story about Foday Bemba, a spiritual healer and great warrior chief from his community, who healed the sick and fought many battles for the people of his village many, many years ago.

Foday Bemba was a strong man. He wore a red tribal warrior attire with a cape and a red feather attached to his thick afro hair. He rode on a white horse and held a cutlass and an ivory shield. The people believed the ancient warrior roamed the night.  He was their hero, and every boy wanted to be Foday Bemba.

While reading, Haji had an idea to pretend to be Foday Bemba and act out one of the war scenes in the book. Haji jumped out of bed, excited. He had done this before with his friends in school, and it was fun.

Haji raised his fist and, with a fierce face, he charged forward into battle with invisible enemies around the room.

“Bish! Bash! Slap! Kick! Bang!” Items flew up in the air and landed with a crash here and there as Haji charged around and deliberately knocked things down. He was having so much fun and forgot about falling asleep.

Suddenly, there was a loud bang, and the house shook. Then, a weird sound followed. Haji panicked and rushed back into his bed and pulled the covers up to his eyes. He froze and listened. Sure enough, the sound came again, and it frightened him. He had never heard such an odd sound before. It was coming from the kitchen downstairs.

BUZZ-BEEP-BEEP-BOP!BUZZ-BEEP-BEEP-BOP!

Then it stopped, but Haji stayed still under his covers. After a while, a bright light seeped in from underneath his door into his bedroom. Then he heard something in the corridor. He was relieved his parents were awake. Haji wanted to go to them, but as he stepped out of bed, the sound returned.

BUZZ-BEEP-BEEP-BOP! BUZZ-BEEP-BEEP-BOP!

Haji slipped back under the covers, frightened. The light flickered, and he heard footsteps run back toward the staircase.

Could it be the Rainy Season Monster coming to get him? Haji’s friend Salif had told him a scary story about a Rainy Season Monster who came out during the rainy season and stole young children from their families. The short, blue monster wore rags and was ugly and had massive ears, big hands and feet with an enormous blue afro, and smelt like a rotten egg.

What else could it be if not the Rainy Season Monster? Haji didn’t want the Rainy Season Monster to get him. He was puzzled. He had never been this frightened in all his life and wished he’d fallen asleep earlier. 

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