FROM CAVES OF ROTTEN TEETH A COLLECTION OF SHORT STORIES BY A. IGONI BARRETT 2 Published in Nigeria in 2005 by Daylight Media Services Ltd. Copyright © A. Igoni Barrett, 2005 Daylight Media Services Ltd.
[email protected] +234-803-724-4744 All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced without the prior consent of the publisher. Author photograph © Lindsay Barrett Cover incorporates a painting from the collection ‘Douens’ by Leroy Clarke ISBN 978-019-359-6 3 A man said to the Universe: ‘Sir, I exist!’ ‘However,’ replied the Universe, ‘The fact has not created in me A sense of obligation.’ —Steven Crane What is lost cannot be found in the eye, it is a memory of death; it will not die. —Lindsay Barrett (A Memory of Rivers) . hear words stripped of their soul hanging like bats from caves of rotten teeth… —Leroy Clarke 4 For my mother, Eretoru, for the Love and the Unstinting Support, and For my brother, Boma, for being all the things which I am not 5 CONTENTS I PLUCK TODAY TOMORROW’S WILTED FLOWER 6 II POT-POURRI 13 III A LOSS 19 IV IN THE HEAT 23 V THE TEMPEST 31 VI THE FATHER, THE SON, THE PASTOR AND THE HOLY SPIRIT 37 VII A TYPICAL DAY 58 VIII DANCE DOWN A ROAD THAT LEADS NOWHERE 64 IX THE TWILIGHT ZONE 71 X THE PHOENIX 80 XI DOMINATION 88 XII THE MONSTER WITHIN 106 XIII THEY WOULD BE SWINE 115 XIV UNCOMFORTABLE WORDS 131 6 I PLUCK TODAY TOMORROW’S WILTED FLOWER She woke with a start, feeling heavy in head and limb, her eyes wide-open but unseeing, her ears filled with the roar of a heart hopelessly choked with fear: it was her father’s hands nudging her awake.