14
“What?” Sikiokuu lashed out the following day when Kaniürü called to report the goings-on at the banks of the Red River.
“Just what I told you. They are not real women. They are shadows out of a mirror—mere reflections. That’s why, now you see them, now you don’t. Like the women dancers at the ceremonial opening of my office. I have never seen or heard of them again.”
“Is that what Vinjinia told you? Those shadows—who creates them?”
“The Wizard of the Crow. Through his mirror. Something like a hologram. What they now call virtual reality.”
“Wait a minute. The women who beat men, alias the women of the people’s court … Are you saying the Wizard of the Crow sent them as holograms or virtual reality to actually beat up Tajirika?” Sikiokuu asked with a touch of sarcasm. “Is that what she told you?”
“Yes.”
“You know, don’t you, that Tajirika’s wife beating took place after, not before, his release from police custody?”
“Yes.”
“And you know that it was only after he beat his wife that he himself was beaten?”
“Yes, by those women, certainly. With clenched fists, lashes, and open-handed blows,” Kaniürü added, laughing, as if giving an eyewitness account. “Powerful magic indeed.”
“This is no laughing matter.”
“I know, and that’s why I need a squad of plainclothes policemen to attack the shrine and arrest the Wizard of the Crow together with all those who work for him or who go there for healing. The police will then burn the place down. Witchcraft hates fire like nobody’s business. We need to act quickly, unexpectedly, before his magic can react.”
“Hold it. Not so fast. One thing at a time.”
“Yes, Minister.”
“Vinjinia: did she tell you that she herself went to the shrine?”
“Yes. And that’s why I believed her. Her tone betrayed no lie. She freely admitted that she had gone there in person to ask for help. Her admission is significant because, although many people of our class, like you and me, will go to see a sorcerer at night, they would never admit it, not even if you tortured them day and night.”
There was a pause, as if each was pondering what had just been said, while both considered their respective encounters with the Wizard of the Crow. Kaniürü himself had lied about his own visit to the wizard. And Sikiokuu was wondering, Does this Kaniürü know anything about my meeting with this Wizard of the Crow in my office? Who would have told him?
“Listen. We are not talking about the poor or the rich, this or that class. We are not communists. What I want to know is this: did Vin-jinia tell you that she and the Wizard of the Crow met face-to-face?”
“Yes.”
“You are very sure—I mean, that she said she had seen him with her own eyes?”
“Yes.”
“John, you are very highly educated, went to university?”
Kaniürü did not detect irony in the question. He took it as a compliment.
“Yes. And was later a lecturer,” Kaniürü said proudly, trying to embellish his educational achievements.
“And so you know the proverb that a woman’s word should be believed only after one has slept over it?”
“Yes, and that’s precisely why I didn’t bother to tell you about it right away. I wanted to review her claims to see if there were any holes in her story. I did not find any. I believe that I did tell you about my hunch that this Wizard of the Crow is the one mostly behind much of the strange things happening in this country. And if I may speak the truth and shame the Devil, that man has peculiar gifts. I don’t even understand why you did not arrest and detain him for questioning when I first told you about him. If you had done so we would have known quite a lot by now. Mr. Minister, give me the force I need and I will show them how to turn the Wizard of the Crow into a lamb.”
“And what if I told you that Vinjinia’s story is an impossibility, that the Wizard of the Crow could not have been involved, that he’s not even around?”
Kaniürü felt belittled, humiliated by this revelation. Sikiokuu had been toying with him. He was angry but directed his anger at the absent Vinjinia.
“When I catch that woman …”
“Don’t touch her,” Sikiokuu told him. “I asked you to look into the identity of the women who beat up Tajirika. Instead you kidnapped his wife. Kaniürü, I don’t need to remind you that this is the second time that we have detained this woman, and all because of your mistakes. Tajirika has been calling me and is understandably furious about the treatment of his wife; even I felt embarrassed by my lame excuses. I don’t want to aggravate Tajirika further. I need his cooperation in other matters.”
Kaniürü was not exactly amused to hear that Tajirika now occupied a significant place in Sikiokuu’s scheme of things. Why is this minister changing like a chameleon? Was he about to dump him despite his loyal service? He fumed: he had no way of voicing how angry he was with Sikiokuu, Tajirika, and especially Vinjinia.
For a few seconds he recalled Vinjinia’s voice in the moonlight by the banks of the Red River, swearing by all that was most sacred to her that she was telling the truth when she told him that she had met with the Wizard of the Crow. He remembered testing her by asking her to describe the shrine, and she was able to tell him details of the place that he himself already knew.
“The Wizard of the Crow: where is he?” Kaniürü asked. “Is he dead, or …”
“You ask too many questions,” Sikiokuu snapped back. He was not very pleased with Kaniürü ‘s critical tone about his own dealings with the wizard. “Take my advice and give up the habit. And while you’re at it, please give up your belief in mirrors and fantasy. I want the women themselves, not their shadows,” Sikiokuu said, and hung up.