Prose II

The following narrative is a piece of historical fiction. Any semblance to real-life individuals is entirely coincidental and unintentional.

A Boy, A Town, and a Rebellion-The Legend of Tezera

Summer vacation was a time of reunion. Those who eagerly waited for our arrival at the bus station would whisk us right away to the Khat market. The leader of the welcoming team would always be Tezera. As summer vacation approached, his rendezvous would be at the bus station. Like many rural towns, tearooms and cafés surrounded the bus station of Jijiga. Tezera was a mysterious and hard-to-read fellow. He was everywhere and nowhere. Short, broad-shouldered with squinted eyes (hence the nickname, Abu ChulChul), and very protective of his interests, he was the river boy of the town. Short of his tallness, Clint Eastwood would be his closest look-alike.

Nobody knew his age, as he had stopped aging at 25. No one also knew when he stopped going to school, if he ever had. He was a rebel from the crib, and due to his mischievous behavior, the school had suspended him before he completed his elementary education. The school suspension had to do with the nearly successful student demonstration he led against the bakery owner. Some say it was to settle an old score, but others opine that it was the rebel in him that triggered it. Later we came to know that it was neither his sanguine blood nor a personal vendetta, but a newsworthy global headline that provoked his anger. Despite his dislike of the bakery owner, he used to work for him. Tezera had watched all the movies coming into town and could narrate every dialogue without missing one. He had a distinctive way of putting texts into context in a remarkably extraordinary manner. When he described a movie he had watched, he made it loom over his listeners’ eyes in a larger-than-life manner. One could hear the sound of horses’ hooves, gunshots, and the eventual demise of villains. From the time I met him (he was a few years older than me), he was on the street. I am not aware of his biological parents, as he was a son of every family in Jijiga and a brother to many of us. I am uncertain where he lived; what I know was that he spent the night where he passed the day. Though anyone may piggyback him the whole week, it was not a free ride, no matter how much one might think otherwise. He would compensate that someone with his jokes many times over what he paid. He would make his stay lighter than Khat Garaba, as the saying has it. He would also update his listeners on events that happened in their absence. He was the secret file holder of the town, and any talk of the city wouldn't skip him. If anyone foul-played him, he always was ready to spill his secrets out to the public. When his friends ran out of cash, he was always there to fill the gap. He would appear with a stash of Khat from nowhere and would make their day. Tezera was a companion of all and a friend of none and a golden heart to many. He also had a unique way of centering himself amid his friends with certainty. Tezera was a character that moved above the prescribed spectrum and fell face flat in a proscribed way. He did so to protect his turf against competing freeloaders. He had branded himself as a product in a buyer’s market with broad segmentation. His rivals were more of moochers than suckers, with their niche market traditionally segmented generation-wise. Needless to write, when the going got tough, they closed ranks and shared whatever they had among them. Both groups needed a stable applecart, and it was not in their interest to upend it.

Somehow, he was hooked up with Tadesse’s family. When hard times fell upon him, he had a place to go for his daily expenses, and he would be gladly hosted for days or weeks.
Despite being a street boy, Tezera was not much of a smoker or drinker. He enjoyed chewing Khat, but that was more as a pastime than an addiction. His permanent presence in every Bercha session would animate the setting, which lasted to the end of the session. The effect of Khat was minimal on him. I had never seen him locked up with himself due to the impact of Khat. I very much doubt if he had a romantic relationship, except for one weak rumor I heard years before I left the town. I have never met a woman at all who accused him of making a pass at her, except the wife of Hailu Gab.

Rumors had it that Tezera had a crush on the daughter of the bakery owner. I am not sure whether he had asked her for a date or not, but the fact that he was hanging around the Mahamoud bakery at ungodly hours of the day was proof of the allegation. The crux of the matter, however, was that the affair had been the talk of the town, albeit a weak one. Rumors had it again that he was carried away with Indian romantic movies, where a spoiled brat from a wealthy family falls in love with a young boy from a lower caste. It was unfortunate that he identified with the flick, an error that tattered the strings of his personality. His romantic trip was the right blend of comedy, action, and thrills. The action part was the most gripping, as he had to fight his way out of the bakery after inconsequential remarks he made to Umma Amal, the first wife of Mahamoud. He was but an average schmuck though a breathtakingly irrational guy, and the daughter of Mahamoud was not his match. Most of his benefactors already knew that the romantic charade could only go so long, and then it would be dead. It was an endgame from the start, and that was what happened. Tezera had not left the blight on his personality unattended, and an event that occurred far away made his vendetta come true. (TBC)