He had to forget. In Bath no one knew a thing about Onitsha or the river. No one cared a thing about Onitsha or the river. No one cared a thing about those names which were so important there. When he arrived at the school, Fintan spoke pidgin, inadvertently. He said, "He don go nawnaw, he tok say"; he said, "Di book bilong mi." That made them laugh, and the house master thought he was doing it on purpose to create a stir. He ordered Fintan to stand against the wall for two hours with his arms spread. That too, he had to forget, those words jumping and dancing in his mouth.
He had to forget Bony. At school the boys were both childish and very knowledgeable; they were full of cunning and suspicion and they seemed older than their age. Their faces were pale and unattractive. In the dormitory they spoke in hushed tones, saying things about women's sex organs, as if they had never seen one. Fintan remembers how he looked on the boys at first, with a mixture of curiosity and fear. He could not read their expressions, he did not understand what they wanted. He was like a deaf-mute, watchful, always on guard.
[Onitsha, Le Clézio, J. M. G.]
No comments:
Post a Comment