The Magician’s Wand…
AARON ANSAH-AGYEMAN
ATO NA BAWA SERIES
THE MAGICIAN’S WAND
EPISODE 2
Suddenly, Bawa’s eyes widened with horror.
“Goodness me, Ato! Don’t tell me you have boils between your legs!”
“Oh, shut up about boils, would you!” Bawa exclaimed. “Is that all you can talk about this hot afternoon, boils, boils, boils?”
“Then why are you walking in that funny way?” Bawa persisted.
Ato lifted his shirt and pulled out the magician’s wand.
“Because of this!” he screamed.
Bawa stopped in his tracks and looked at his friend with horror.
“You really stole the magician’s wand!”
“I didn’t steal it,” Ato shouted.
“I’m only borrowing it! When I conjure up enough money to last us a lifetime, I’ll return it! Here, touch it, there’s real power in it!”
Bawa shied away from the wand.
“What have you done, Ato?” Bawa asked in an unsteady voice. “Why did you steal it? Now you’ve brought all the dwarves into your life!”
“Dwarves? From where?” Ato asked, and he sounded a bit uncomfortable.
“Do you think the wand does all the magic?” Bawa asked in a scared voice. “The teachers were sitting behind us when the magician was performing, and the Maths teacher was telling the others that the magician uses invisible dwarves to perform magic! He said the wand summons the dwarves! Now you’ve stolen it, and right now we might be surrounded by wicked dwarves!”
“Cluck, cluck, cluck, chicken!” Ato said. “You must be brave! This will make us rich!”
They had now reached the huge kiosk where Ato lived with his father.
Ato waved the wand and spoke: “Abuma dama, kuugu bamba!”
“And what evil language is that?” Bawa screamed.
“Shut up!” Ato shouted. “That’s what the magician said each time he was doing something magical! I’m trying to conjure money! Keep quiet!”
Bawa stared at his friend with startled eyes.
“Are you sure they are the real magic words?” he asked uneasily. “Don’t conjure lions and pythons or something worse, Ato!”
Ato began again.
“Abuma dama, kuugu bamba, money and more money in my kiosk!” he said as he waved the wand.
“So, where’s the money?” Bawa asked softly.
“Didn’t you hear me?” Ato said. “You want the money to appear outside here so that our greedy neighbours would come and steal it? Let’s go inside the kiosk! The money is in there!”
Ato opened the door and they went inside, and then they saw a green leather bag lying on Ato’s small foam mattress.
Ato and Bawa stared at each other, and then they gaped at the green bag.
Trembling, Ato opened the bag.
It was filled with crisp cedi notes!
“Eiiiiii!” Bawa exclaimed with shock. “Is that money?”
Ato’s eyes were bulging with sheer joy.
“It worked, Bawa Ahmed! The magic worked!” he cried out.
Ato pulled out two fifty-cedi notes and stuffed them in his pocket.
“What’re you doing?” Bawa asked hoarsely.
“Let’s go and buy some toys, my brother!” Ato said in an all-important voice. “We’re rich! I told you, didn’t I? You don’t have to worry about money again! I’ll take care of you, and your mother!”
“First let me go home and put my bag down,” Bawa said uneasily.
When they got to the wooden structure where Bawa lived with his mother, Ato suddenly stopped.
“Are you not hungry?” he asked.
“You know I’m famished. Mother left me some kooko and kose, as usual. We can share it.”
A broad grin split Ato’s face from ear to ear.
“My brother, your days of cold kooko and oily kose are over! From today you’ll eat like a king, like a President, like that rich man ICT master told us about … oh, what’s his name, Bobby Door?”
“Oh, you mean Bill Gates,” Bawa said.
“Yes, yes, that Gate man. You’ll eat like Billy Gateman! Just watch me! What food would you like to eat this afternoon?”
Bawa swallowed his saliva uncomfortably.
“Some waakye, maybe rice balls and groundnut soup, or fried plantain and beans, or”
“Oh, you greedy Oliver Twist, you want food variety?” Ato asked with a huge grin.
“Don’t worry, brother, your wish is granted! I’ll give you food variety!”
Ato waved his wand again.
