Spirits of the dead

The day after, the conversation at the school yard during break is always animated.

“Did you hear them” one would ask?

“Yes, the whole neighbourhood came alive” one would answer

“ i was to scared and hid” another one would say

“ I heard my parents say sickness is on the way” another would state.

If you lived near the lake, a water body, you could not escape them and getting rid of them or scaring them away was a community effort.

You heard a whistling sound, the wind howling and blowing and sometimes it was like the wind was in conversation with itself or someone.

Then from afar you heard the clanging of pots of pans, louder and louder as each neighbourhood did their part. 

Like a baton in a relay was being passed. Soon it was your turn to bang as loudly as you all could so that the next neighbourhood would hear you and start theirs.

Fear in your heart, you banged as loudly as you could hoping and praying that they do not choose your house to settle in.

It was always a warning of sorts. The banging was to chase them back to the water, the lake, where they lived.

NYAWAWA, NYAWAWA, NYAWAWA. Spirits of the dead that lived in the lake.