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Excerpt 4
The street was filled with hawkers selling sweets, flavored ices, fried morsels
and all sorts of alcoholic concoctions made with the local moonshine, cleren. A
man ringing a small hand bell was slowly making his way down the street, his
face painted with charcoal and chalk. The man’s shirt was cut in ribbons. At the
sound of the bell, children and grown-up alike went to him. The man had a box
the size and shape of a shoebox, held waist-high in front of him and secured by
a rope wrapped around his shoulder.
A good size crowd quickly formed around him. They all wanted to see the
contents of the box. The man was playing on the level of curiosity of the crowd.
He teased them by making as though he was about to lift the cover. Then he
negotiated with the crowd for the amount of money to be contributed. He had
worked the crowd into a real frenzy. People in the back were pushing to get a
better look at the now enticing content of the box of this lamayotte man. He
finally collected a few coins from those closest to his box. Still he wanted to
sucker a few more coins from the crowd. When it looked like that there would be
no more money, he again lifted a corner of the box. The crowd surged closer.
He closed the box. The disappointment was evident, but no one was offering
another penny. He jerked the lid one more time. Then he opened the box
completely. The inside was lined with a shiny piece of black satin. The box had
a bed of cotton balls. A huge lizard, its eyes wide open, filled the box. It seemed
as though it was about to jump out of the satin lined prison….
Suddenly a crack was heard from around the bend in the street. As one, they all
stood to get a better look. The people on the street had also turned toward the
sound of the cracking whip.
“Here we go,” said the man standing behind Carl, craning his neck trying to see
around the corner. “The carnival parade is here.”
A second crack broke the air; then another one soon followed. The source of the
whip cracking could now be seen coming around the bend. A group of some
twenty people dressed to look like bulls were walking down the street. They had
oversized bullhead masks, complete with longhorns. Their costumes were
made to look like white steers with black patches. Their tails ended in a little tuft
of hair that was dragging on the street. The ‘Bulls’ would swing a long cowhide
whip above their head and pull back hard to produce the crack. The ‘Bulls’ might
have been wearing fake heads and horns. But the whips sounded real just the
same. The street cleared rapidly.
After the ‘Bulls’ came a troupe of forty ‘Indians’ dressed like Indian chiefs, with
full headdress of long feathers and mirrors the size of dimes placed all over the
headdress. They sported long braids of black hair attached to the headpieces.
Their clothing were covered with sequins. The ‘Indians’ danced back and forth
across the street, rhythmically blowing on whistles, using their fake long tresses
to keep the headdress from falling.
and all sorts of alcoholic concoctions made with the local moonshine, cleren. A
man ringing a small hand bell was slowly making his way down the street, his
face painted with charcoal and chalk. The man’s shirt was cut in ribbons. At the
sound of the bell, children and grown-up alike went to him. The man had a box
the size and shape of a shoebox, held waist-high in front of him and secured by
a rope wrapped around his shoulder.
A good size crowd quickly formed around him. They all wanted to see the
contents of the box. The man was playing on the level of curiosity of the crowd.
He teased them by making as though he was about to lift the cover. Then he
negotiated with the crowd for the amount of money to be contributed. He had
worked the crowd into a real frenzy. People in the back were pushing to get a
better look at the now enticing content of the box of this lamayotte man. He
finally collected a few coins from those closest to his box. Still he wanted to
sucker a few more coins from the crowd. When it looked like that there would be
no more money, he again lifted a corner of the box. The crowd surged closer.
He closed the box. The disappointment was evident, but no one was offering
another penny. He jerked the lid one more time. Then he opened the box
completely. The inside was lined with a shiny piece of black satin. The box had
a bed of cotton balls. A huge lizard, its eyes wide open, filled the box. It seemed
as though it was about to jump out of the satin lined prison….
Suddenly a crack was heard from around the bend in the street. As one, they all
stood to get a better look. The people on the street had also turned toward the
sound of the cracking whip.
“Here we go,” said the man standing behind Carl, craning his neck trying to see
around the corner. “The carnival parade is here.”
A second crack broke the air; then another one soon followed. The source of the
whip cracking could now be seen coming around the bend. A group of some
twenty people dressed to look like bulls were walking down the street. They had
oversized bullhead masks, complete with longhorns. Their costumes were
made to look like white steers with black patches. Their tails ended in a little tuft
of hair that was dragging on the street. The ‘Bulls’ would swing a long cowhide
whip above their head and pull back hard to produce the crack. The ‘Bulls’ might
have been wearing fake heads and horns. But the whips sounded real just the
same. The street cleared rapidly.
After the ‘Bulls’ came a troupe of forty ‘Indians’ dressed like Indian chiefs, with
full headdress of long feathers and mirrors the size of dimes placed all over the
headdress. They sported long braids of black hair attached to the headpieces.
Their clothing were covered with sequins. The ‘Indians’ danced back and forth
across the street, rhythmically blowing on whistles, using their fake long tresses
to keep the headdress from falling.
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The Excerpts