The Anjenu's Count

by Samuel Kozah

The Gurara count opens with Gwomshe, son of Audu, of the north settlement: sixty-one years of morning contact with the main current, death in February, body returned to the earth three days after his last contact with the river. The long-counted. Entry complete.

Barde, a child of the south bank, waded the second crossing in January, ankle-deep. Living-touched. Entry complete.

The burial cloth of Hajiya Mairo, carried to the north bank and rinsed before her interment in the fourth month. Burial-washed. Entry complete.

Tafida, daughter of Maigemu, of the western compound near the second crossing.

She washed the burial things of her youngest son Pwajok at the second crossing, seventh month, four years prior.

Pwajok, seven years, water-claimed at the second crossing. Entry complete.

She walked into the current to her waist.

She stood there for a long time.

She walked back out.

Living-touched: she entered the water and drew breath throughout. The entry would not resolve. She carried burial cloth of the recently dead.

Water-claimed: she entered the crossing. The entry would not resolve. She walked back out.

Burial-washed: she washed burial cloth of her youngest son. The entry would not resolve. Tafida is alive.

Entry held.

Among the water-claimed: Makami, son of Danko, of the eastern bank, who drowned at the north ford in the third month, his body settled two hundred meters downstream. Makami tallies under the water-claimed. Entry complete.

The count returns to Tafida, daughter of Maigemu. Entry held.

The count remains open. The Gurara runs below the crossing stones.

Duniya, wife of Ezra, of the eastern compound, whose daughters carried her body to the second crossing at dawn before burial in the fifth month, the cloth moving through the current above the crossing stones. Burial-washed. Entry complete.

The count returns to Tafida. Burial-washed: she washed burial cloth of her youngest son. The entry would not resolve. She is alive. Water-claimed: she entered the crossing. The entry would not resolve. She walked back out. Entry held.

The count closes when all entries resolve.

The count returns to Tafida, daughter of Maigemu, of the western compound near the second crossing. Living-touched, water-claimed, burial-washed. No category presented.

The entry will not resolve. Name: Tafida.

The crossing stones sit dry above the Gurara's current.

Samuel Kozah is a pharmacist and writer based in Kaduna, Nigeria. His fiction is rooted in the landscapes and communities of the north. His work has appeared in Brittle Paper, with forthcoming pieces in Horrific Scribes, Amethyst Review, and Neither Fish nor Fowl.