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4 October 2009 – Karai

When it comes to construction, things are usually pretty straightforward here. We dig, we stack, we shape, we hoist, we level, we pass heavy things one to another. We obey the laws of physics, as much by inclination as constraint.

Take the karai, as an example.

Elsewhere it might find work as a holy water fount, a hubcap, headgear. But here it is a hauler, a carry all, an humble portmanteau.

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We use it to bring things from this place to that, and to keep order in the process.

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We shovel sand into it.

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Pile it up.

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Load it with ballast

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until it disappears in its task. But the unbending rule is that you must lift the karai and all you have burdened it with.

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In a magical moment it may seem that two fingertips alone are required to balance the load

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before tossing it like a heap of flower petals into the concrete mixer,

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to tumble with water

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and ballast until three equal one.

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Then any old body can scoop and shovel a wheelbarrow full

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send it on its way to karais standing by

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to get the stuff back again

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where it belongs.

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Then, in compliance with hard gravitational , truth,

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it has to be hefted up and dumped in the ring beam form.

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And that’s how it went until one day a stranger with a quick smile and a hat that many thought looked like an older model UFO showed up to work.

He bent down to pick up his first karai just like anyone else,

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but then lifted it…light as a feather

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and, as if it were a pigeon from his pocket…released it.

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And it flew straight to Murafu,

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who took it out of the air

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and dumped the concrete into the ring beam form.

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Then it seemed to hit him, and he examined the strange karai very closely.

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This went on for most of the afternoon. Of course, every now and then one would get away.

and we’d all look to see where it went.

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“Did it go that way??”

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“No. I saw it over there.”

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“Maybe it came from that way and went the other way.” They were so fast it was hard to tell.

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And sometimes one would come buzzing back just over the mason’s head.

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Then the stranger would have a good laugh.

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The events that afternoon seemed to affect people in different ways. Some seemed confused.

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Did I just see what I thought I saw??

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Maybe I imagined the whole thing.

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I’m confused…I need a nap.

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Some wondered what it all meant.

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Others acted like they’d seen it all before, and probably had.

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But the workers, faces speckled with concrete from the spinning karais,

were mostly quiet.

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They weren’t quite sure what had happened.

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For some it seemed a mystical happening.

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But all bore witness to the deeds of the stranger in the hat.

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Who just smiled and then went on his way.

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So long form Area 51,

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David

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A Post Script:

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I was telling a few of the dogs all about it at lunch,

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and one of them reasoned that if he ate his ugali off the ground, on something that sort of looked like a kirai, maybe he would be able to fly too.

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It didn’t quite work out that way for him.

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A Post, Post Script:   All the really good photos are Debi’s.

Comments(8)

  1. Etienne says

    It figures that a stranger with amazing frisbie throwing skills would come up with such a conveyance for the Kirai.

  2. Bonnie Neuer says

    Great story; great pictures, and what building is that being put together? Is it part of the orphanage?
    Thanks!
    Bonnie

  3. Bob says

    Bet you wish Area 51 was really age 51…Bob

  4. david says

    Hi Bonnie,

    The photos were of the building of the Kitchen/admin building and took place some months ago. The building is now nearly complete, with mostly inside work remaining.

    Thanks for following along.

    David

  5. david says

    Hi Bob,

    As the October days slip by, I’d settle for just putting Area 58 in a permanent holding pattern. But no luck yet.

    Slouching toward Bethlehem,

    David

  6. david says

    Dear Stevie,

    This phenomenon, truth be told, was first witnessed on the lawn in front of the Biola Library. There are several surviving, if not exactly reliable, witnesses. You can Google it. Late at night.

    Dayoud

  7. Alberto says

    thanks Dave: Your photos took me back forty years to the peace corps. we built a school house on isla san cristobal, galapagos. burro hauling water, sand, cement, mixing mortar, making bricks, working with the residents of the colonia. thanks for the memories. (alberto guarino, mike carlbom’s brother in law).

    • david says

      Hi Alberto,

      I just saw your comment. Thanks for checking in here. You were working out in Darwin country. Your construction process sounds pretty familiar. I’ve used a burro on only one occasion here and afterward I wanted to send him to the Galapagos. Say hi to Michael for me, and best to you,

      David

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