No Pain Like This Body by Harold Sonny Ladoo Page A

to die, he began to piss in a great hurry.
    Nanna took the piss and rubbed it on Balraj’s hands; on his face; some even went into his mouth. Balraj spat; “Man Nanna, pee does taste wost dan skopian meat I tell you!”
    With Balraj it was easy, but Nanna had a great deal of trouble with Rama. His feet were trembling; he was almost too weak to stand, but he was strong enough to piss.
    Then Balraj and Rama settled on the wet ricebags again. Balraj was silent, but Rama was going kohok kohok kohok like a dog.
    Nanna looked on with worried eyes. He believed that some evil spirit was causing Rama to cough like a dog; the evil spirit
    was making the poison work too. Nanna started to recite some
    mantras from the Hindu scriptures; he was trying his best to drive away the evil spirit. But the spirit was upon Rama alone,
    because Balraj was not coughing like a dog; only Rama was coughing like a dog and getting on. Nanna stopped, then he told Nanny and Ma to go and get some scorpion bush.
    Nanny took a cutlass, and Ma held a flambeau; they went behind the house to look for the bush. The rain was still
    falling. They saw the night bolted against the sky; they wit­nessed the total darkness rebelling against the light and life; the night loomed and loomed and loomed as a mountain of wet coals before them. They heard the wind ripping Tola as a claw from the shapeless darkness; there was the thunder too, reaching through the night as a potent god to clout them. In the darkness they felt the fear pinching their hearts.
    â€œCareful de drain,” Nanny said.
    Nanny spoke too late. Ma fell splash! inside the drain. Nanny helped her up. They walked on.
    Water came from the riceland and covered up most of the yard. Most of the scorpion bush was covered by water.
    â€œAll dis gobble,” Ma said, “and me husban not know not-ten. He by some rumshop drinkin rum. But by de help of God, me chirens goin to come man and woman in Tola.”
    â€œStupidness! Leff de man.”
    Ma said she was not going to leave Pa. She was prepared to stick with him somehow.
    â€œDat is because you stupid,” Nanny said.
    Ma and Nanny kept on looking. They heard the frogs croaking in the yard, and they heard the night birds beyond the river going craw.
    Sunaree and Panday took out their eyes when Nanna said that an evil spirit was causing Rama to cough like a dog; they were afraid of the evil spirits, especially the ones who didn’t like children. They believed that the spirit came from the forest because of the rain; the spirit was really strong on Rama, because the rain was falling and falling and making the spirit mad. Sunaree and Panday stood close to Nanna and looked on.
    Nanna closed his eyes as he recited the Sanskrit verses; he was begging the great sky God and also the minor Aryan gods; he was begging the gods; begging them to forsake their beds and their wives in heaven; begging them just to look down from the sky through the rain clouds on Balraj and Rama. He was talking to the gods like a child. He was asking them to drive away the darkness and the rain and beat the evil spirit out of the house. He believed the gods were listening to him. He opened his eyes and blew three times on Balraj. He closed his eyes again, disturbed the gods again, blew three times on Rama too, then he closed his eyes again. . . . Suddenly he asked Balraj, “How you feelin?”
    â€œI still sick.”
    Just as Nanna was about to pray again, Nanny and Ma walked into the house with the scorpion bush. Nanny handed him the bush saying, “We had to look like hell for dem bush.” “We go use de bush later,” Nanna said.
    â€œWhy?” Ma asked.
    â€œBecause de prayers have to work.”
    Nanna stood up. He closed his eyes tight, and started to pray hard hard; he was not quarrelling with God or anything; he was just begging him to beat the evil spirit and drive away the rain. Nanna prayed and prayed and prayed, but God was