When the rain started last Tuesday night around 11pm on 22nd of January, I lay in my bed terrified; thinking and wondering what would happen to these cursed Kaneshie market boys. My heart sank each time the thunder struck and I kept speculating the number of souls that would be washed away before the break of dawn. I just couldn’t sleep so I had to wake up that night to type this out. I left the house around 4: 30pm the previous Monday to get myself a pair of sandals at the Kaneshie market when the incident happened. Even though I had already done my little shopping, I decided to stroll around to see if I could get some few extras to buy. At one ‘selection’ joint under the bridge, I felt a splash on my feet and turned. Disgusting! Raw eggs being crashed on the floor? A curse was taking place right behind me and I had never seen anything like that before. “Anyone who touched the phone should be stricken by thunder anytime it rains” said a fuming young man after each crash of the three eggs. My curiosity grew and I got closer to the scene. It happened that some of the market boys had intentionally hid this sandals seller’s phone and pretended it had been stolen. He searched and asked all those with him at his sandals joint but they denied having it in their possession. Apparently, he thought the phone had indeed been stolen so even before carrying out the ritual; he warned that anyone who had stolen the phone should return it immediately or face the consequences. His colleague traders who were enjoying the little prank they were playing on him kept giggling and teasing him to forget about the phone and buy a new one. They further went ahead to challenge his ability to perform any curse on something as little as a phone. The outraged phone owner could no longer join in the fun and decided to accept the challenge so he went in for three raw eggs. According to him, he will prove to them that he is a man of his words and therefore cannot go back to eat them. So he cursed. Few minutes after the little display, the boys finally brought out the phone and handed it over to him but he rejected it; saying he had already performed the curse so he has nothing more to do with the phone. He would rather go for a new one. Now here I was in my little urban mind thinking aloud; “it’s been long since it rained and I am not sure there is going to be any rain soon so maybe this curse might not take effect” but indeed I was wrong. It rained last Tuesday; just a day after the incident. But before I left the market that Monday evening, some market elders were called to the scene to take note of the incident. I heard one of them say the young man will be summoned for questioning because it is against the rules of the market for any man to curse another. Meanwhile, some market women also suggested that the young man should get a bucket of water to reverse the curse and everything will be back to normal. However, as I lay in bed that night, I couldn’t wait to find out what would happen if the curse wasn’t reversed. I don’t really believe in superstitions whatsoever, so I needed to follow up on this one. The next day, I went over to the market again. After my rounds in town that Wednesday evening, I came to the market to take a walk and to see if the atmosphere would tell me anything but it didn’t. Considering the busy nature of the traders at the time, I knew nothing had happened so I decided to leave without being nosy but fortunately on my way out, I met this jeans seller who apparently was part of the brawl. Alas! I was able to get the full details of what happened by pretending I wanted to buy one of the jeans trousers. Me: (Taking a trouser from him). This trouser looks nice. How much is it? Jeans Seller: It’s only GHC18. How much will you give? Me: Well, I don’t have money on me now but it seems you are one of the guys who were involved in last Monday’s “phone and curse” issue? Jeans seller: (Smiling) Yes. In fact, what happened here last Monday was very unfortunate but we’ve all learnt from it. Me: Well, I was watching your little display from behind. So what happened afterwards? Did the guy reverse the curse? Jeans seller: Of course, we spent about GHC500 that day to buy some items demanded by the fetish priest. Me: Really? You mean five million old Ghana cedis? That’s a lot of money. What did the priest demand and who paid for all that money? Jeans seller: Well, the money was used to buy three fowls, a bottle of schnapp, a white cloth, gin and other items which I can’t remember to reverse the curse. Me: Oh okay. So who paid for the money? You or the guy who cursed? Jeans Seller: I actually paid GHC50 and the guy’s brother also made a contribution but all the other boys here were asked to pay an amount else we won’t be allowed to trade here again. Me: Hmmm, that must really be a big lesson to all of you. I hope nothing of this sort ever happens. Jeans Seller: Yea, we were all summoned by the elders and they warned us not to repeat such incidence here in the market. The guy’s phone has been given to him so there is no problem. Me: Are you sure he took back the phone or he went to sell it out? Jeans Seller: Yes he did. The fetish priest has already reversed the curse so nothing will happen Me: Which fetish priest did you consult? Jeans Seller: We have a fetish priest here in the market so our elders had to go and see him for the ritual. It was done that same day after the items were bought so I am sure everything is fine now. Me: I see. I remembered all about you when it started raining last Tuesday night. So tell me; were you scared then? Jeans Seller: (Smiling). Of course I was. I know the impact of some of these things but since we had already reversed it, I was sure nothing was going to happen. Me: Ok. Next time you should know who you joke with. I can see that young man is very quick-tempered and you people shouldn’t have played that prank on him. Jeans Seller: Yes. Don’t mind him, we are all traders here and he knows how we behave sometimes so we were actually taken aback when he went to that extent. However, I think it’s a lesson for us all not to mess with other people's belongings. I am happy steps were taken to dissolve the case immediately. Me: (Satisfied) Okay thank you. I will buy one of the jeans the next time I come over. Regard me as your customer now. Bye! Okay readers, there you have it. I ‘m sure you’ll agree with me that some jokes can be very expensive. Perhaps, could be worth more than GHC500. mzfady@gmail.com http://www.fadytodaysworld.blogspot.com/