O.K.

I just finished reading "A Good Day to Die". What a sad ending! I actually pictured Beau shooting those bastard "Metal Breasts" and running the "White Chiefs" and their "Gary Owen"-singing flops out of the Great Plains, but no, the Indians couldn't help it any longer. This line was heart-wrenching, the last paragraph:

"The Dakotan turned, ran lightly across the road, and vaulted astride his pony. His hand flung up in a gesture which could have been either defiance or farewell.

"Hoka hey!" he shouted.

The squad of picked riflemen up the road were drill-ground proficient. A single volley brought horse and rifle down together."

How sad! Just earlier he had shown he wouldn't lay down his arms after about 300 defenseless men, women and children were massacred in cold-blood. I actually cherished the following lines:

"Do you know what they are saying out there in the macoce sica? They are saying that when a man has only enemies left and there is no longer any God, then that is the day to die. Already their spirits are dead out there. They look at this road they are being made to follow and they see nothing. It leads nowhere...They are still a nation. I will not let them live half-dead!"

And after he said that, then comes the following...

He pointed to the troopers of Easterbrook's escort.

"Those are my people. They know how to kill. So do I. Tell Bear Coat to send me many soldiers, all his soldiers, and he will see. Those are Sioux out there. Those are men. I will bring their spirits alive again. As long as I live, I will live with them. They are not going to be cattle, feeding heads-down on whatever is thrown before them on the grass of their own land. I am a white man. I cannot pay all. But I owe them that much."

What bravery! Most of us know what happened to the Native Indians in North America, though. But I sure love to read all the parts where the Indians fought back and did a lot of significant damage to the invading Whites. For a change, I will read "Red Cloud's Revenge" next. I'd probably get some good, sanguinary kicks from it.

Politics:

On the Int'l scene, can't wait for the bummer Olmert and his looney-team to be kicked outta office (...2, 3, 4). I think the Israelis have had it with him, already...it's just so sad it took this long for it to happen.

And on the local scene, countdown till May 29th...Yar Adua trying to sound all concilliatory, asking for all the other factions to "lay down their arms" and let them all work together towards building a great Nigeria. The opposition, to me, appear like a horde of beaten angry hyenas who at this point are barely hanging on to the little dignity they might have. They might either take the extended handshake, or keep rattling like paper tigers. Don't you just like politics? Hopefully a good number of Nigerians will not be swayed into accepting "money-bags" and then pwnt themselves for some BS-spouting politician who doesn't give a rat's-ass about them but will readily pay them off to their deaths. I can't speak for the illiterate mass, though, who are usually the soft spot for this.

The gist I promised in my second to last post...:

So it was one of those days I had to go out, but gotta car-pool with a friend. I was waiting at this shopping store beside this huge poster of the Indomitables (as I later found out, I was standing at the corner for the promo prize claiming point), and this kid walked up to me with something that looked like a cardboard paper full of stickers:

Kid: Hello uncle, I want to claim my prize?
Me: [wtf look...but trying to look interested] Uh, what prize?
Kid: Well, I've gotten all the characters from the Indomitables together now, and I want my prize [kid shows me cardboard full of stickers from the Indomitables promo].

Well, for those of u who dunno, this noodle brand in Naija did this promo a couple months back called "Indomitables". I wasn't paying attention sha, but that was a slogan I nabbed from the time. So they copied the characters similar to the "Fantastic Four" and formed The Indomitables...the marketing campaign aired that by eating Indomie Instant Noodles, kids could live up to the image of either of their desired heroes in The Indomitables...and you know how the rest works. The kids have to look for a picture of each of the hero character, and fill in d blank on d cardboard. When you have all the characters, you go to a 'Redemption Center' to pick your prize. So that was how fate brought me and the kid to that place o!
sha, I thought he might be a good sport, so I played along...

Me: Ah! I see...let me have a look at your collection. [I took his paper and peered interestingly, examining each character stuck on it, nodding agreeably. Nothing you wouldn't do when bored. At this time, I see I've caught his attention and he smiles...]
Kid: Okay, so what did I win?
Me: Ehmmmm [trying to sound re-assuring, at this point, I should've quit messing with the child's head cos raising his hopes and dashing it wouldn't help at all], you see, it's like Santa Claus, eh. Sometimes during Christmas in December, his grotto runs out of gifts stock, so he has to go get more for the kids who haven't gotten any. This is actually the way things are at the moment, I don't have much "prizes" here for you, so you have to wait till...
Kid: [cuts me off before I finished]...where is the aunty that hands out the prize? I came here yesterday and they said the same thing...
Me: [feeling smart, cos I actually spoke for "aunty"] Ah, so you see...I am glad you now know. So who is your favorite Indomitable character?
Kid: [he proudly chips in...] Big Boy! I want to have all that "muzzle" (muscles/bicep).
Me: [smiles] Ah, so that must be why you eat Indomie Noodles, eh? U want to look as big and impregnable as Big Boy (I didn't use d word impregnable sha). Good, just keep eating Indomie, ehn, u'd get there.

Now this is getting really uncomfortable with what I discovered...but before I could make any further statements...

Kid: [mood swing, from bright smile to shitty-droopy look...and that whining sound like he's gonna cry] I want my prize...you will give me my prize...
See me see wahala o! I discovered two things:

1. The boy looked like he's strayed from the main shopping area and his parents might start looking for him. For what looked like a 5-minutes' chat with him, it looks like the kid has "Downs' Syndrome" or one of those kind disease sha. I wonder what would happen if his folks come out, and see me standing with their son sobbing, dem fit think say I be gbomo-gbomo...

2. The whole darn Indomitables thing must've ended months back, or so I believe. How come I din't know? Anyways, I have to plan my exit strategy sharply, or else na wahala I de find so o.
Fortunately, my phone rings and it was my long-awaited partner. So I told the boy "aunty" just came with the gifts and is calling cos she needs help getting them up here. Na so I ja men...

ATM machine:

So I told my friend what had happened and he laughed at me in d car. There and then he told me we have to make a short, outta town trip and the way it is, we'd have to travel that night. Me, I don't have cash on me to get some needs for the trip, and pay fare...unlike some people I know who are ever ready, wherever you meet them: Purse/Wallet cash-filled, all those toiletries go with them in their bags and what not. Just hola and they r jumping in and off you go.

Anyhoos, I got tensed up. Short time notice, so much to do. Not thinking, I thought I'd quickly dash to the nearest ATM I can find, so he pulled over the next one we see. I don't trust these debit card things men, cos I've not been monitoring my spending. I just believed I wouldn't be all out like that.

A short while later, I found myself standing in front of the machine. I slot in my card..."Enter your PIN" it says, I punch...What do u wanna do?...Inquiry...Select A/c type...xxx a/c...."ERROR IN PIN CODE"...Try Again?...Yes....I went through that process twice when I remembered that if I did it one more time, the baga will swallow my card. I gulped...looked up and thought about how TF I must've forgotten it dis kain time. I wanted to act Americana, cursing, punching and kicking the machine, but the security man in d background dint let me act out. Shey na im say make I forget my PIN. I kept my cool and after a short while, before the security man will come over to me, asking whether I'm tryin to bobo their machine, I realized I was doing something wrong with the number sequence, and did what I have to do and got out...

I'll come back with the drama that ensued that evening, during the trip et al.

Y'all enjoy the weekend. And remember, If It's Secret and Elite, It Can't Be Good...i've always liked that line from the Skulls...

PS: And I thought we had it bad with our 'violent' elections...Yeah, no room for cheap excuses and we ought to work to make things much better BUT the Scotts are also smashing ballot boxes and havin' a jolly ol' time of peaceful elections. Just so much for blowing our horns, huh?