The Imposter — Part 5

Many parents in Lubumbashi looked down on wrestling. It had begun as a sport, led by the country’s own version of Hulk: Edingwe, a powerful wrestler who won nearly every match he fought.

Over time, however, Edingwe began introducing elements associated with witchcraft into the ring, and many wrestlers followed his example. Matches gradually became grotesque, occult-themed spectacles rather than straightforward athletic contests.

Before fighting, some wrestlers slaughtered live animals in the ring while invoking spirits. Performers exchanged supposed “air blows” or claimed to “freeze” their opponents, leaving them motionless while they were beaten. Such theatrical antics increasingly defined the spectacle.

Many of the performers were not trained athletes and hardly looked the part. Soon witch doctors, adventurers, or amateur occultists, joined the ranks of wrestlers, and entered the ring while chanting to spirits, their bodies covered with gris-gris.

Despite parents’ concerns, the performances remained fascinating and highly entertaining to many children. The local wrestling industry produced its own local stars, including War Machine, Master Tiro, and Mwarabu. Kids emulated them after school, creating their own miniature wrestling rings behind their houses.

Many parents feared that these spectacles would be a bad influence and forbade their children from watching them. They were deemed demonic. Television stations also became reluctant to broadcast wrestling, increasingly pushing it underground. A fierce rivalry rose between pastors and witches.

At the same time, a revival movement appeared to be gathering momentum in Congo. New churches sprang up, and many people left the Catholic Church to join revival congregations. Yvette, Christian’s mother and Odon’s aunt, had recently joined a newly formed Pentecostal church called Jesus Christ en Toutes Langues (loosely translated as Jesus Christ in All Tongues), JTL in short. The church had split a couple of years ago from another bigger revival church called Viens et Vois, Come and See. The two churches had gained momentum in the city in a short amount of time, to the point of gathering thousands of congregants each Saturday and Sunday. They were both situated in the Central Business District of Lubumbashi, a kilometer only away from each other.

Yvette made her household attend church every Sunday, and a prayer meeting (called cell meeting) was held in her living room every Wednesday. Odon hated these services and was longing for a time he would leave his aunt’s house forever. But in the meantime, he had to put up with all this nonsense. He had to endure his aunt Yvette singing gospel songs when she woke up, he had to endure his aunts Toto and Nono talk about God and the Bible, he had to endure his cousins Mathy and Germaine listen to sermons on the little Sony radio, and most of all he had to share his bedroom that little bratty cousin, Christian. He despised the latter more than anyone else. Weak little soul, he spat. He used to beat him to a pulp, to the great joy of everybody, except Yvette of course. But the other day, Christian, Itsho as they called him, had picked up a fight and beat him up. How? Odon wondered. Since then, he had become stronger in everything. Well, he is not strong in everything, and I’ll punish him for his arrogance. It was a public holiday, and the whole day Odon showed him his best side. He played with him, yielded to his bad mood and his silly demands, taught him how to talk to girls. In the afternoon, Odon stole a bun, hid it in his pocket and brought it to him. Christian could not believe his luck. Why was Odon being so considerate? The remaining of the day, they almost behaved like loving brothers. They even teamed up and beat Dada, the older kid who lived across the street. Around 6h30 it was time for supper. They had Fufu, tilapia and cassava leaves. Him and Christian ate from the same bowl, as the only two boys in the house. Usually, they hurled daggers at each other during meals, but that night Odon graciously smiled at his cousin when their hands touched inside the fufu bowl. He even let Christian eat the last piece of fish. After supper, they settled around the TV, while the girls washed the dishes and cleaned the kitchen. Boys were forbidden to perform “girls’ chores” not only in Yvette’s house, but in the city in general.

Yvette usually slept early for she liked to wake up in the middle of the night to pray, so at 20h00 they all gathered in the living room, switched off the TV and started singing a gospel song. Odon usually sat next to his cousin. As the prayer started, he projected himself out of his body and flew outside. But before doing so, his astral hand touched Christian’s face, and the latter fell into a light slumber. Odon hated the evening prayer because if, for some reason, he could tolerate the heat that surrounded his aunt’s house, he particularly hated prayers because they were so bright they almost blinded him. Therefore, he had to step away for a while. To avoid suspicion, he also made his cousin sleep, so that both would be absent and their sleep during prayer every single night could be attributed to normal juvenile tiredness after a long day of physical activities. On his way up, he gave the two burly sentinels a dirty look, before sulkily waiting for prayer time to end. After the last amen, he returned to his body and woke his cousin up by brushing his forehead. Everybody in Yvette’s living room laughed that the two boys were only sleepy during prayer, and during prayer only.

Just after 21h00, Odon and Christian were kicked out of the living room because the big girls wanted to watch a TV show called Colbis. There were kissing scenes involved in the series, and for these prude and hypocritical girls, kissing equated having sex and was only suitable for a mature audience like themselves. They pretended to disapprove of such sensuality while watching it with delight every night, and even dreaming that they themselves could experience it.

Christian and Odon settled in their bed and switched off the light. Odon noticed that his cousin was still awake in the dark, so he decided to make him sleep again, like he did during prayer. These little spiritual tricks were Child’s play for him. He did not know how he performed them, he just knew how. For the second time that night, he extracted his spirit from his body and hovered above his cousin’s body. He immediately noticed a huge form sitting next to Christian. A dark, tall form of about 4 or 5 meters. Odon’s blood turned to ice. During astral projection, it was not uncommon to encounter negative, frightening entities. But this one sitting next to his cousin seemed to be of another level all together. Even in the dark, it looked darker and threw an even darker shadow on the window. Odon stood petrified. He had never met greater evil before. The entity addressed him with a sinister smile. He wished to fly away in his astral body and never return, but a thin, glistening silver thread linked his spirit to his body. What are you? He managed to communicate to the demon, to which the latter replied: Do not mind me, go on with your business, I’m just a spectator, as least for now. Do what you usually do to the boy as if I were not here. But watch yourself and don’t get cocky, otherwise I will kill you. Odon believed its last words. With a trembling hand, he touched his cousin forehead, and soon Christian was plunged in a deep sleep. Odon returned to his physical body and opened the bedroom window. Then he waited. One thought, though, occupied him the whole night. How did the tall demon sitting next to Christian walk past the two Heavenly sentinels? At one in the morning, two guys, bandits, showed up at the window. Odon grabbed all the clothes he could find, both his and his cousin’s, and gave them to them. Then he returned to bed.

The following morning, around 6 AM, Odon gently woke Christian up and asked: Christian, are you the one who opened our bedroom window and gave away all our clothes? Christian didn’t understand what Odon was on about, he did not think straight very early in the morning, it usually took him time to fully be aware. Uh? He grumbled. No I’m asking, continued Odon on the same soothing tone, because when I woke up, I noticed that our window was wide open and all our clothes are clothes are gone, there is nothing in the wardrobe. This time Christian sat up straight; he still didn’t understand what Odon was saying, but he smelled disaster. It took a few more explanations to understand that he and Odon had no clothes left, other than the pajamas they were wearing. Christian dashed out of the room to go inform his mother of what had happened. Odon remained in the bedroom, a sardonic grin slowly spreading across his thick lips.

Later that morning, two men gave Edo three plastic bags filled with clothing stolen from Christian and Odon’s bedroom.