Mangohead and the Zaboca Thief S01E11

The Final Episode...

***

It had been a week since Anita's unfortunate accident in the San Marcos forest. The entire village had heard of her untimely wounding and had chipped in with support and prayers and gifts. At the Caura Hospital, where she was warded, her room was always filled with flowers and candies of all sorts of descriptions. The Kurmaman and Madame Lani would go visit Anita often and Mangohead would not miss a day to check up on how she was.

Mangohead and the Zaboca Thief S01E10

FIRST EPISODE
LAST EPISODE

Now, The penultimate chapter in Mangohead's first adventure!

MANGOHEAD 10

"Allyuh waking?" Mangohead called inside as Two and Four walked out, Four still rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

"Yeah, we here," Two replied. "Yuh ketch him?"

"Nah, he run in de bush," Mangohead responded. "Lewwe go get him."

"We?" Two asked suspisciously. "You French or what?"

"Look," Mangohead said roughly as he rounded on his friend, "if we doh do something to ketch this thief, he going to terrorize we until it ent have no more zaboca in the tree."

"Ammm," Four said slowly, "I doh think it have any more zaboca in the tree anyway?"

Mangohead sighed. "Look, do this for me nah, help me ketch this thief so we could find out who it is and what they doing with the zaboca."

"Well that obvious," Two said as he scracthed his head. "They eating the zaboca."

"So that mean allyuh go help me?" Mangohead pleaded.

Two rolled his eyes. "Alright ehh Mangohead, but yuh owe me one for this and I go come to collect one ah these days so you better be ready for it. What you want we to do?"

"Arrite," Mangohead said as he outlined his plan tot he youths. Quickly they set off into the night as he cautiously prepared to re-enter the dark forest.

The leaves of the forest gave off a thick, strong scent that seemed to rise when the sun went down. As Mangohead made his way slowly through the undergrowth, he could hear the crickets and cicadas calling out into the night. The light from the moon was bright but at the edge of the treeline he could see nothing but darkness. Steeling his resolve, he ploughed deeper into the shadow that outlined the forest.

Mangohead and the Zaboca Thief S01E09

FIRST EPISODE

LAST EPISODE

And Now Onto Our Story!

Mangohead took a deep breath. He shouldn't have to worry about Anita. She was a big girl; she could take care of herself. As much as he wanted to go find her, he knew that his duty lay with Ma Procop's zaboca tree. With a heavy heart, Mangohead set back off up the road to see how best he could plan for the evening's zaboca watch.

The breeze was tinged with the scent of burnt bush. It was likely that something had caught fire in the forest and the wind was wafting the smoke towards the village. It wouldn’t be the first time that a fire would have threatened the outskirts of San Marcos. In years past, fires had gotten very close to consuming the village’s main street and all the buildings there. Ma Procop had told Mangohead about some time in the ancient past when she was just a girl that the fires had raged along the forest and had almost burnt down her house. She made it sound exciting, but Mangohead knew that, faced with the same situation, he would probably would have turned tail and ran, house be damned.

Mangohead and the Zaboca Thief S01E08

PREVIOUS EPISODE

Now On To Our Story!

***

As Mangohead burst into the sitting room, he saw Anita pointing at the wall. His eyes followed her frantic gesticulations to perceive the biggest spider he had ever seen making its way up the wall. Mangohead was no stranger to big spiders, but this one was much larger than anything he had previously encountered. It was at least two of his hand spans across, the legs long and spindly, covered in sinister black hair. It was a tarantula, colloquially referred to as the 'hairy-spider' in Trinidad. He had been bitten by one not so long ago, and had no intention of adding to his current injuries.

Mangohead and the Zaboca Thief S01E07

LAST EPISODE

Now On To Our Story!

This was certainly a pickle. Never would he think that he would find himself in the middle of a confrontation like this. Tony was coming down the road, cutlass in hand, ready to possibly kill Dale, who was heading up the road for him with his tire-iron in tow.

Mangohead and the Zaboca Thief S01E06

Episode I

Episode II

Episode III

Episode IV

Episode V

Now On To Our Story!

"Oh Gosh," Mangohead thought. He couldn't hang on forever. Already his fingers embedded in the bank were beginning to lose their tenuous grip. From what he knew, he would have very little chance against the caiman, especially since they were both going to be in water. The roseau bush looked a lot more inviting than the certainty of losing a limb.

Mangohead and the Zaboca Thief S01E05

Episode 1

Episode 2

Episode 3

Episode 4

Now on to our story!

As Mangohead lay awake, tossing and turning in the bright moonlight that washed over him, the only image that came to his tired brain repeatedly was the rag with the scrap missing. Could the Kurma man really be the one who was haunting Ma Procop's zaboca tree? He wasn't even sure. Looking at the old man hobble up the road that evening, it didn't seem likely. Still, he liked to be thorough and decided that to ease his own conscience and to clear the Kurma man he would have to investigate the situation. Slowly, he fell into a restless, fitful sleep.