Part 2 (1)
Suzie and uncle Bibi were unable to find the lumberjack anywhere around the compound. He had mysteriously disappeared from their view. So they gave up on their investigation, at least for the moment, and rejoined big momma inside the house.
The matriarch was as usual relaxing on the rattan chair while sipping a cup of hot Chai, a beverage composed of boiled water, black tea, cow's milk, ginger, and black powder pepper.
"Big momma, I see you have made Chai already,"Suzie spoke to her grandmother and the latter nodded.
"Well, that's great! I will serve a cup of this marvel to uncle Bibi too." She added while holding the jar of hot Chai in her right hand. She poured some of the liquid into a cup and handed it over to her uncle.
"Thank you, darling!" He said to his caring niece, then tasted the delicious flavored water.
He quenched his thirst with a few drops without pronouncing a word and after a moment, he broke his silence and uttered to the two women in the parlor: "Now I am returning to the other twin chalet to take a nap."
"We had a very agitated afternoon." He explained. And in one shot, he swallowed the rest of his Chai, then retreated.
Suzie and big momma were now just the two of them in the house. They had their eyes locked on each other. And as if they were communicating by telepathy, they declared with emphasis and in perfect harmony: "We have to find that lumberjack."
This was a powerful statement to ascertain their determination to get to the bottom of the unfinished business.
Babida who had randomly discovered the whereabouts of his crush in the east of Ekule was now fleeing from her and the glorifying crowd. His true identity had been unconcealed. He was not a regular woodsman like the others. He was Babida the lumberjack, killer of the Monster of the forbidden mountain.
From that moment, he was conscious that his life in Ekule and even beyond, would no longer be as quiet as it was since his coming back to the empire a year ago.
He walked back to his home in the south of the village, his kufi hat lowered to the level of his eyebrows so that people would not recognize him. He knew news in the region spread like wildfire.
The woodsman arrived in his humble two-piece wooden cabin. He removed his leather sandals and kept them on the shoe rack on the left side of the door, then went to the center of the room and lay on the perfumed wool carpet.
He stared intensely at the ceiling above his head till he lost himself in deep thoughts. A moving light showed up and formed a circle in the middle. An image of the young maiden in a pink dress, the beautiful Suzie resurfaced. She was smiling radiantly, blinking stars, and blowing tiny bubble kisses in the shape of a heart with her right hand.
The enamored lumberjack dove even more into the depth of his dream until Burrrrrr…
