"Békia!...Békia!...Békia, békia, békia!"*

[wayfaringwordhack]

Sitting on the balcony, having breakfast, I watch people come and go on the street below. The air is cool, and the dusty eucalypts are blurred by a typical morning haze. In the distance, rising above the other street noise, comes the call of "Békia!" Pretty soon, I can hear the click of a bicycle chain, and out from beneath the canopy of flamboyant trees, the cart of a cargo tricycle appears, empty. The tricycle is being pushed, instead of ridden, by a mustached man in stained, baggy clothes that are the exact same greens as the dust-caked flamboyant leaves and the same dark browns as the damp, dirty tarmac. 

"Békia!...Békia!...Békia, békia, békia!" he calls, looking up and around, hopefully.  

He spies a red five-liter jug discarded in the gutter. After checking it for holes, he tosses in the cart and trundles his tricycle down the road, repeating his calls at regular intervals.

We live at a star-shaped crossroads, and the man reappears later, coming from a different direction, going of in another, his call for broken things, unwanted things, any things at all, echoing throughout the neighborhood

In the afternoon, comes another "Békia;" but the accent placed a little differently, a syllable held a little longer, lets me know it is someone else.  Soëlie repeats after the man, saying, "Hékia! Hékia!"** as she leans against the balcony bars.  Soon, the long gray ears of a work-worn donkey peek out from under the tree foliage. This man has had more luck. Or worse, if he has been going at it all day and only has a ratty blanket and an old toilet to show for it.

________________

* I don't know how the word is actually spelled.

**We first thought they were saying "hékia," and so that is what we would repeat around the house. "Hékia" reference, for us, comes from a song sung in an awesome video about how all noise is rhythm.  I'll have to ask J the name of the video and see if I can't find something to link to.

ETA:  The video is "Filo; There is no movement without rhythm" 

Watch on YouTube

Comments

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

Thank you, thank you mnfaure. You make me *see* it and hear it. The street: tarmac, with dirt on it, the flamboyant (I love that you describe them so!)eucalyptus leaves with dust on them--and then the photo! The donkey cart alongside the cars.

[mnfaure.livejournal.com]

I'm happy to share. I'm trying to take it slow, talking about little moments. Easier that way not to get lost in all the detail and impressions at once.

If I'm reading you right, you think I'm describing eucalypts--or at least their leaves--as "flamboyant," but flamboyants are actually a different kind of tree, also called flame trees, I believe. Let me see if I can find a link. (Here--http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delonix_regia-- or info and here for more a spectacular image: http://images.travelpod.com/users/naomi7/1.1256921116.flamboyant-tree.jpg) I'm pretty sure this is what the trees to the northside of our apartment are, and the ones to the south are eucalyptus. I have to wait for May/June, when they are supposed to flower, to find out for sure.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

Ah, you're right; I totally took "flamboyant" for an adjective describing the eucalyptus--how cool that they're actually their own tree! (Very pretty, too)

[mnfaure.livejournal.com]

Yes, the first time I ever saw them was in Mayotte. They have very nifty seeds that I've used in necklace-making in the past.

[frigg.livejournal.com]

Send him to my stables! I have a lot of Békia!

Oh...and you MUST be writing inspired in those surroundings. I saw J's photo yesterday and the first thing that popped into my mind was "Perfect for Miq's writing!"

[mnfaure.livejournal.com]

I want to be writing. Just hasn't been coming yet. :(