As I have attested previously, mangos are dangerous. Yes, they are a physical danger; I have been smacked square in the temple by one of the little bastards. But, they are a psychological danger also.
People go mental for mangos here. I'm constantly shooeing kids out of my backyard like those hamburger flies that loiter around the picnic spread. You flail your arms about, "Acaa, Acca!"......still there. In my tree. My sister says "Junkung, n su dutoo." while she's still eating a mango. I've seen my brother eating one still fresh with a layer of the dust/coos/chicken poop mixture that coats the concrete floor of the compound. But, several days ago things went from just mental to completely insane when I witnessed domestic violence because of these little guys.
Everyone was lying around the compound under the big mango tree in the afternoon; as is the norm, because it's too hot to do anything else. One of my sisters was doing laundry with a couple of her friends. One the girls, Fatumata, apparently saw some mangos she liked up in the tree and started picking them. Rule #1 of mango etiquette - DON'T TAKE SOMEONE ELSE'S MANGOS. A few minutes later, my brother Ismaela, King of Dragon, walks by and sees the mangos. Pure rage. He starts screaming in Olof, grabbing for them. She resists. This continues and I learn the mangos are not ripe. Rule #2.... broken. Eventually, he takes control of the mangos and storms away, still screaming.
Apparently, Fatu thought she was entitled to these adolescent fruits, because she chases after the King of Dragon (why would you mess with this guy?) and tries ripping them away from him. He smacks her. She smacks him. He hits her. She hits him back. He grabs her braids. The hitting continues. At this point, I'm thinking "Should I break this up?", but no one else is stopping it. Not my father, mothers, brothers...anybody. Is this how things work here? Girls fighting boys? The King assumes his Jackie Chan fighting stance. They tumble some more. Fatu is a big girl, and she could easily kick my ass. King of Dragon is massive; he tickles your elbow when you shake hands. Somehow she rips his shirt off. This is the cue that things are serious and someone should intervene. Fatu's friends step in and he stomps back to his hut. Fatu trots out the compound gate.
Silence.
Ismaela comes back outside, carrying a pair of European boots his friend brought from Switzerland. They are magical and endow him with the power of a Swiss dragon from ages past. His jams his feet into them, still cursing, and runs out of the gate of the compound. More silence. Two minutes later, he bursts back into the compound, empty-handed. No blood, no severed body parts of the enemy. It's over. Every goes back to their afternoon nap as if nothing happened.
Mangos.
-Junkung
Friday, May 21, 2010
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