Creepy's Cow

In April someone stole my African mother’s cow. This sucks since it was my family’s only one. It really sucks because now the rains have come and we’ve been planting our crops. Instead of using a nice sturdy cow to help in our endeavors, we’re stuck with a half-blind albino horse and a donkey who’d rather try taking the skin off your shins than even thinking about working for the man.

Early morning Wednesday July 11, 2007, Fatou Sengor noticed that she saw one of her cows at the weekly market being sold. She could have sworn that that cow looked exactly like hers. Then she saw the man doing the selling. He looked exactly like creepy Babacar, because…it was creepy Babacar (Everyone in Senegal is basically named Babacar). Creepy Babacar is both creepy and a Pular. My village’s ethnicity is Sereer. Sereers and Pulars consider themselves ‘cousins’ and often times make fun of each other. This has gone on for hundreds of years. Pulars are nomadic people associated mainly with being cow herders, or thieves, depending on who you ask. Pulars are notorious for their ability to take things that don’t belong to them. That’s exactly what creepy Babacar did to little Fatou Sengor’s cow. In the middle of the night before market day, he took the cow and hid in the bush. He then tried to sell it off early in the morning before anyone noticed that the cow was missing. Smart thinking for a dirty Pular. Equally smart for a creepy person.

(NOTE: If this at all offends any of my Pular and/or creepy fans reading my blog, let the record show that I in no way intended to offend you. –Management)

Creepy Babacar was shipped off to do a 2 year stretch in a Senegalese prison. Not the one that forgot to lock-up one night, letting all of the convicted felons go free (true story). I’m talking about the maximum security that holds the real criminals, where the sugar smugglers go. If you thought the US prison system is flawed….welcome to Africa. I bet that son-of-a-bitch Pular stole my mother’s cow too.