Bali is deaf. And mute. In one of the darkest countries of Africa, they’d say he’s ‘deaf…and dumb’.
Bali isn’t dumb though.
He is in fact special. Extraordinary, with a unique gift. He hears what no one hears and speaks where no humans can.
In 198_ Bali saved 212 people from an unexpected disaster. It was an event that went without report, a ceremony or a single public knowledge. Like so many good things in life, his gift to this people went to them for absolutely free.
From the moment Bali himself became self-aware, he came to know an ancient fact —that truth is loudest in the speech of silence. And that babies were the keepers of the secrets hidden and spoken in the language of walls.
But what human can unravel the scrambled babble of infants?
Bali could.
–
The airplane nosed into the grey sky and his fate was sealed, and those of the passengers with him. Looking as nondescript as he could muster —white tee-shirt, blue jeans, and a smile that said little about his resignation. And a small brown bag that he held against his chest. Beneath the cool exterior though, Ahmed sweated.
The woman with the baby was looking out the window at the wispy clouds over coastal Lagos. He envied her. He loved to watch clouds, to puzzle over the fuzzy way they gauzed over everything. He preferred the seat by the window, at least to see some beauty before the end. He held his bag tighter.
The baby tried to touch the bag. Ahmed smiled at the infant, the mother apologized.
But the baby was not having it.
Bali, who sat close by, watched it all.
The baby babbled on and on, reaching for the brown bag as though this was breast, and breasts belonged to babies, didn’t they?
Bali, mute, called out to the baby, “little one.”
The baby looked across the aisle, he giggled, “something in the bag is ticking.”
“What do you mean ticking?” Bali asked.
Ahmed, the baby’s mother, both only heard babbles and the mute boys strained and voiceless jawing where the intelligible conversation went on.
“It’s ticking, like the way it does in the films my brother watches at home, right before the boom.” Said the baby.
“Are you sure about this?”
“Yes.” The baby giggled, “look at his face.”
Bali took a look at the stranger with the brown bag clutched to his body —the smile, looking pasted on, was nowhere near his eyes —he immediately knew what the situation was.
“What is your name, little one?”
“Baby.”
Bali smiled.
He went to the man with the bag. He whispered in his ears, “the baby just told me about the bomb in your bag.”
The man froze in his seat.
“He said I should tell you that at death, there’s only darkness, just the way it is before we are born.” Bali said and went back to his seat.
The man furtively reached his hand into the bag and there it stayed.
The baby called to Bali, “it has stopped ticking.”
Bali nodded.
“Does that mean we won’t have a boom?” Baby asked.
Bali shook his head.
“No boom.”
The baby giggled and pulled at his mother’s breast.
Bali sat back and dozed off…
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