GETTING in the LINE of FIRE Part 1

Faith was built in us now; it was a wet rainy morning that brought our fate. The whole day seems to be about us, we have been carrying loads on our head for three months now, laying ambush and being ambushed, we were always a short distance from the real action. During the morning assembly we said both Islamic and Christian prayer to balance the religion equation, the commander gave some advice and encouragements and later a plastic was pull up, we were given some substance for those that were going to battle to rub on ourselves but not all of us did, because they had their own protection. Some of them wore mask that had some special power according to them.

Mask wearing is well known among the 16 tribes of Liberia, it is believed to be the representation of certain spirit that will connect the person that is wearing it with that spirit world. The mask is worn by special members who have the power to make rain fall and strike lightening and do many other powerful things. In the Poro society the mask wearer is known as the devil, and non members are not allowed to set eyes on him or else they may receive some curse, like living and getting rotting,in the case of a pregnant woman, she will give birth prematurely upon seeing the devil. This believe is becoming rare since things are getting modern.

We have been increasing in numbers, so those of us that have been there for long were to be given active duties and the new ones will carry the load.

The commander told us to come forward, we went to him in fear thinking we had done something wrong, our thoughts were broken when he said, "You think you are here just to eat rice? From today you are going to carry arms and be in active duty." Duty which we know is very much in our minds, and our prayer were answered ,for some of us wanting to get enlisted, smiles came on our faces like we have just been given some promotion in rank. After the words of the commander we went away to get our "Gballah" (gun) we all receive it with some form of gratitude, a friend of mine always used to say "there are three Gs that rule the world," they are God, Government and Gun, and this turned into reality for me from that moment because I started experiencing one of the advantages of holding one of the Gs; soon we too started harassing people to get something in our pocket, building our respect among our friends which was one of the most needed things.

We were not to carry armor boxes on our head again. My Gballah wasn't that new but could take lives away 100%. Eagerness was in me to start shooting, even though I have shot a gun before but I could shot my own now, for the next few days I was always at the check point though my name was not on the list to be on guard, we check every passing civilian, a week later I was listed to go on patrol, we went in a pick-up truck full with zealous boys, the mapping lasted for almost the whole day, walking through the bushes securing the perimeter, setting ambush for hours then moving to another position.

I got tires of holding my gun. I could barely feel my arm again. I wish for the enemy to come in sight for us to go into real action but nothing happens. I knew the risk very much, but I just wanted to shoot.

We came back very tired and hungry, ate the available food that was there and went to bed .I was sharing room with Sunny boy, his real name is Sunday boy, Sunday boy was from the Bassa tribe, and this name was given to him because he was born on Sunday. Names are given to children after an event or days they were born, names like Goanue is given to a male child who's mother had longed wished to get a boy child. The name Goanue means "man has finally come" sometimes when a woman has been mocked at for being infertile, she will give names like Ounze which mean " my own" at times when things were not stable with parents they could name the child Yelehkay which is interpreted as " THAT'S HOW LIFE IS?"

Sunday boy kept us up the whole night with his lectures about solale, how sweet is it and how to prepare it. Solale was not strange to us though not everyone have tested it, but Sunday boy was into it too much. I try ignoring him at some point of the night nudging my head with sleeps in pretend yet still Sunday boy will not stop. In fact he will curse whenever he noticed it, it's not that I was forced to listen to his lecture but I was just trying to please him that's all. When I could not hang on any more I told him, "Fuck it, you talk too damn much" and went to bed.
With no one left to pay attention to him, he started war songs the whole night, embarrassing the rest in the room, it got to a point that Rebel Baby got angry and started throwing abusive words his way. I jump in and said, "look Sunday you think you are the only one in this room?"
He was in no mood to listen to anyone until he was pleased. Rebel Baby said, " it's not one woman that have bore a crazy child." He went for his lion head sharp tape, filled it with batteries and started playing music. It went down well with me because the music provided soft playing beat that will knock me to bed especialy the song from the reggae star titled "That's the way." Yet still, others were not satisfied, it went on almost an hour before settling this.

When everyone was calm William grabbed a bucket and started playing the drums with it. Williams problem was when he was sleeping we were disturbing, so it was his time. Someone had to kick the bucket from his hand which resulted into a fist fight. We finally settle it when everyone got pleased. Before I could unfold my first dream I heard a whistle sound in the middle of the town; it was already day and that whistle sound means all arm men should assemble for morning muster. I drag myself until I was finally there.