By Neil Primus
BASIL and Thelma were heading home from the farm after a long exhausting day of work. It was around 4pm and the canoe was loaded with fruits and provisions harvested from their farm. The breeze was brisk and pushed at their backs as if it were encouraging them to hasten home. Birds swooped towards the water scooping up fish and animals in the jungle on both banks of the river screeched and cawed to make their presence known. The black opaque water glistened in the fierce sunlight. The couple kept paddling. They still had far to go. Soon the light began to fade. Darkness crept in quickly eating up the light.

From a few hundred yards away the water seemed to take shape. A ripple became a surge then the surge grew into a small wave. Pretty soon the small wave took on gigantic proportions. It looked like a local tsunami and it was gaining speed and heading for the couple who were in the middle of the river.
Their only response was panic. They both knew that they stood no chance of reaching the safety of either bank. They were caught right out in the open. As the large wall of water approached, Basil could see a huge figure behind it. He knew right away that it was a Masacura Man and it was about to make a double kill.

Thelma began to wail and bawl at the top of her voice. She had a very loud voice and the sound of her crying crashed into the bushes on either side of the river causing pandemonia among animals that had already settled down for the night.
Basil looked at his wife and wondered how she could scream so easily. He had often been at the receiving end of her short fused temper and constant nagging. He knew he was no Saint. He would often drink too much piwari and go home drunk and disorderly.

Now both their lives were about to be snuffed out. In desperation Thelma implored him to give the creature anything it wanted in order that their lives be spared. Basil shouted at the top of his voice so that it could reach beyond the wall of water.
“If yo spare us we gone give you one whole boat load of food!”
The wave dissolved. They had struck a deal. An oath had been made.
From down the river in the direction the wave had come, came the sound of voices raised in drunken argument. One voice tried to croak a song. This annoyed all the frogs in the neighbourhood. They all croaked their disapproval which made things sound as if the frog Kingdom was under attack. This horrible confusion of sound seemed to trigger an immediate response from the creature.

All at once a small ripple formed. This grew into a wave which then exploded into a giant wall of moving water. This mass of destruction sped toward the boat in which the three drunk inhabitants lay sprawled. More importantly it went away from the terrified couple
Crash!
The water hit the boat so hard that it cracked open spilling its content into the water and straight towards the now angry creature. Screams were heard as the wave rolled over the craft.

This was the opportunity that Basil needed. With desperate strokes of the paddle, the couple rowed for the nearest river bank. When they got to the bank, Basil was about to throw the provision and fruits into the river
“Wat you doing?” you mad or wat!”
Thelma gave him a sound tongu- lashing. She called him stupid, fool and idiot. The other names cannot be mentioned because of their spicy nature.
In order to please her and have a little peace he agreed to keep their entire load. Thelma called the Masakura Man all sorts of names and laughed at how easily it had been fooled. They settled down for the night. They would continue their journey the next morning. The journey was completed the following day without any further incident. Soon their experience was completely forgotten.

One month later Thelma was returning home after visiting friends up river. As she paddled towards the approaching darkness, she saw a movement in the water. A ripple became a wave and the wave a great wall of water. Behind the wall of destruction was a creature out for revenge. This time poor Thelma had nothing in the empty canoe to bargain with. Her screams echoed across the dark landscape.