The Forbidden Question: A Journey from the World of the Dead

He had carefully marked the entry point he used to enter the forest. There was a tree with a huge trunk and buttress roots and three big logs whose appearance showed that they had laid there for years. He started walking. He could run whenever he came to points where the road was fairly flat. At around two o’clock in the afternoon he reached the place. He identified the tree and the logs without difficult. He entered the forest. “I stepped a big stake which got frightened and took off. As I tried to run a black bird slapped me in the face,” Gahima recalled some of the problems he faced in his efforts to find his money. He searched for the place many times before he could exactly locate it. Luckily, he saw the place. He had hanged an old belt on a branch of a tree, twenty metres away from the sackful of money. He straight away went to the place. The bag that was covered by creeping plants was still in proper order. Apart from the fact that the money was wet, not even a coin was missing. “One of my happiest moments in my childhood is the time I found my money in the forest,” Gahima said, “I cried in joy as I lifted my riches”. He removed Frw30, 000 and put it in the shirt pocket. When he reached the main road he saw people who were selling amamesa (traditional cooking oil extracted from some tree species in the Democratic Republic of Congo). It is yellow in colour. He bought some two tins of the stuff. He smeared the sack till it all turned yellow. He continued waiting for a taxi. After about twenty minutes, a special hire stopped. “I do not give lifts, this is not an ambulance,” the driver roared at him. Gahima was shocked by the man’s statement. He kept quiet. “Young man do you have the money? Do not look at me; I am not a television screen for you to watch,” he said. “Yes sir,” Gahima replied. “Where are you going?” “I am going to Kigali sir,” “Kigali….you will pay Frw35, 000 only,” he said as he started he car, “That stuff will dirten my car”. “I have twenty five thousand francs only,” He reversed the car and opened the boot. Then, he put the sack inside. He ordered Gahima to show him the money first. “Do you work? Where and how did you get all this money?” the driver asked. “Dear driver, I will answer any other question but what I will never tell you is where and how I got that money. Never ask me again that question. That is a forbidden question,” Gahima said. Ends