part 4
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Mr. Hurst did not waste time in scribbling a telegraph the following morning. “I have seen a strange iguana boy with three testicles, who also levitates effortlessly. Any interest?”
He gave the note to Arhwinahwi to go and send from Warri, the nearest port town, which was two days of canoe rowing. The message was to his boss at the American Anthropological Museum, telling him of his discovery. Throughout the four days his assistant was gone, he did not sleep. Many things ran through his head as he came out everyday to seek the boy among playing children.
Three months later his boss wrote back, ordering him to do everything humanly possible to bring the boy with three testicles to America. Without any doubt in Mr. Hurst’s mind, he knew there were many obstacles to accomplishing the daunting task. He should have kept his enthusiasm to himself and just show photographs to his boss upon getting to America. He had never spoken to the villagers since he came to their harbor three and half months ago. How would he now communicate to them that he wanted to take their son to America? Not even Ahwinahwi, who was from another village, spoke the language properly. Every quarter of a mile here was another culture and another language, as the anthropologist had found out.
Mr. Hurst resolved to use sign language and if that failed he would use force. He had some British friends who could send him some resident soldiers, he concluded. Taking Ahwinahwi with him, the anthropologist left his tarpaulin tent and walked towards the homes of the villagers one late afternoon. As he approached a family of five, he stopped and laughed warmly but nervously. His neck burnt in trepidation, insects mounted and dismounted his bare and hairy arms. He pointed to himself and the iguana boy, whom he had seen standing among bystanders, and made a motion towards the mouth of the river. Upon several attempts and Ahwinahwi’s broken interpretations, the villagers understood what the anthropologist was alluding to. But they could not communicate to Mr. Hurst that the boy must not leave the village, no matter the circumstance. They tried explaining to Ahwinahwi to interpret to Mr. Hurst that their son was the Ozigono River high priest, chosen by the river goddess, Olokun, through the oracles. Without the boy to perform the annual ritual of feeding the river eggs, they would starve to death. The river would refuse to give them fresh water and fish for their sustenance. The river could even revolt and overflow its banks, completely bury them alive. They would perish. But Ahwinahwi kept forcing the anthropologist’s wish and desire on them, ignoring their stories. Arhwinahwi even threatened that there could be worse and dire consequences if they refused to yield the boy to the white man. All the villagers could do was shake their heads vigorously in disagreement and refusal. After a negotiation that seemed forever and the sun started going down in a ball of orange fire, Mr. Hurst left for his tent in frustration, swearing under his breath at the early lazy missionaries that did not get to this side of the delta to break these natives before his arrival. If only they had some form of Christianity he could persuade them that there was no nonsense river goddess, he thought. He walked slowly to his tent with his porter behind him.
This was his own discovery and he cannot let things slip through his fingers. But first he must make notes in his notebook. He looked for one that still had good clean pages and noted:
My latest discovery is a boy priest, I would say about 12 years of age – it’s hard to tell. I will call him Iguana Boy because he carries with him a large iridescence iguana that looks like a giant chameleon. Like magician, he can levitate effortlessly, up to five feet high as if is about to fly. Though a youth, he seem important to this people, maybe some form of high heathen priest. Also, the iguana probably means something else, since nobody else carries pets around. No dogs. This afternoon he led a ritual performance, though not as barbaric as I had expected things to be, yet it is strange. I may not have discovered Siamese twins, but I am certainly the first to have seen a boy with three triple-testicles, who can also fly without wings.
As he covered the notes because he could not write any further, a certain anger overwhelmed him again. How many times in my life time will I find a levitating boy with extra…, his thoughts trailed off. Thinking himself a failure, Mr. Hurst got up abruptly and walked straight to where he believed was the boy’s hut.
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