A Fool's Knot by Philip Spires

them.”
    Janet looked at the man, who had shuffled even closer. He seemed to sense that she was growing nervous and thus had detected a weakness he could exploit. She had hoped that her gesture would have satisfied him and sent him back to his seat, but she now found that each comment or action from her merely ratcheted up his interest and provoked longer and stronger replies. She was still the centre of attention. People clearly expected her to respond.
    Before she spoke, the man’s expression changed. The superior, if detached, smile vanished from his face and his lips set pursed around his open mouth. With eyes glazed, he stared at Janet like an animal ready to seize his prey. As he moved now uncomfortably close to her chair and bent over her still staring, she felt raw fear for the first time in her life. No one else seemed perturbed by his actions, so she still did not move. Everyone still watched, still smiled, apparently unaware of Janet’s growing fear.
    The old man’s cloudy, bloodshot eyes stared down at her. Compulsively she returned his gaze. He raised his arms so that his hands rested directly over her head. Unnoticed until now was a length of string tied to his left thumb, but this now dangled uncomfortably close to Janet’s face. A great shout of laughter filled the room as she tried to avoid it by moving her head to the side. Mutuli now seemed not to know whether to smile or worry, but Kitheka still joined in with the audience and laughed hard.
    Breathing a laugh and a grunt, the old man took the end of the string between finger and thumb of his right hand and then stretched it out to its full length, bending lower over Janet at the same time. Then again he threw his head back and shouted whilst his hands tensed, slackened and re-tensed the string, before finally letting it fall with a flick of the hand. It looped, brushing Janet’s face as it fell. As the man bent forward, he breathed deliberately directly into her face and she instinctively winced at the smell. Still everyone giggled, but now Janet was extremely frightened. Quickly she rose to her feet and, in the same movement, pushed the old man to one side. Everyone was suddenly silent as she sat down again.
    â€œMutuli, will you tell this man to go away? If he is asking for money then I will give him some,” she said, trying her best to sound in control.
    Kitheka spoke before Mutuli could speak. “Mutuli cannot give this man orders! He is mwana wa mungu .”
    Mutuli nodded in agreement. Janet did not have the time to ask what this meant before the man returned to stand over her again. Repeatedly he shouted at the sky and bent forward, each time pulling out the string attached to his thumb to its full length before letting it go. Janet again pushed him away, this time with some force. She now looked frightened and the man’s expression changed again. Still the glazed eyes stared, but now the malice disappeared and the smile returned. It was as if he now felt he was in total control. Again he advanced towards her with his string and his shouts. No one seemed to take him seriously, she thought, as she looked around for support and finding only what she saw as gentle amusement on people’s faces.
    This time, the old man reached out and touched her. She tried not to flinch. Again everyone laughed. “ Mwana wa mungu ,” said Kitheka again. Janet tried to stay calm and ignore him as the ritual shouting and string pulling started again. She asked Kitheka, by far the bigger of the two students, to tell the man to go away and leave her alone.
    â€œI cannot,” he said. “He will do whatever he wants.”
    â€œYou are afraid of him,” she said, her fear now turning to anger.
    â€œNo,” he replied. “Not afraid…”
    Hearing this, the old man quickly turned to face Kitheka and leaned across the table towards him. Kitheka and Mutuli immediately sped from their chairs and out of the