EXCERPT FROM "SOUL SHAKEDOWN" BY KWAME REUBEN

"Wah..." the spliff almost drop out of Jackie hand, he in such a hurry to reach the bookcase. He start pulling out thick tome after thick tome and stacking them up pon the table. 'The Egyptian Book of the Dead', 'The Tibetan Book of the Dead'... is how many books dead people got anyway? Bout six different versions of the Bible, The Bhagavad Gita, Tao Teh Ching, "Man and his Symbols" by Carl Jung, "How Europe Under-developed Africa" by Dr. Walter Rodney, "The World's Sixteen Crucified Saviors", "Black Elk Speaks", "Ubik" by some bannah with the unfortunate name of Philip Dick... a whole heap of books. He done completely forgot about the spliff now and I pull it from he fingers and take couple draws. He rifling through the books and mumbling to heself. This weed so hardcore I starting to feel like me own soul gon leave me body, when he look up from the books with he eyes as wide as Chinee eyes could get.

"Comps," he say, "You remember I been tellin you bout this book here... 'OAHSPE'?"

I remembered. Is one blimp-size book that got "revealed" to the author by some kind of angelic beings or something. I never read more than the first page which was confusing to rass, but to me it sound like the guy just make the whole thing up. I wasn't in such a skeptical mood now though. "Yeah...?"

"OK, well in this book, right, it talk bout all these different levels of reality or wuh'ever you waan call it. When you die, you gone to this higher level, and you thinking is angels and demons and ting around you, and you meet up with a higher being and you think is God, but no! It got a higher level still, with a even higher being, and it jus keep goin on like that, right?"

"Right," I said dubiously.

"Well, Compton... that makin me think." He lean forward now in he 'serious thinking' position....... "Now, I done tell you is wah all dem petroglyphs in Guyana mean, right?"

"Refresh me memory."

He sucked his teeth. "In one ear and out de $%*!in other, eh. Is like nobody respect my people. I guess we is just stupidee buck-people to y'all, right? We is de original Guyanese, son, and y'all fi know it!" I let he run through he tirade. You would think Jackie was a full-blooded Arawak born in the bush, the way he does talk. Or better I say "Lokono", I forgetting that Jackie does always insist that Arawak is not the proper name, is just that Columbus been so stupidee that when he reach to the Caribbean, he think he find the Sarawak people from somewhere in Southeast Asia.

"Anyway," Jackie say, running out of rhetorical steam. "Anyway, the reason de Amerindians carve dem pictures in de rocks is this. You notice how is a lotta animals they got carve in deh? Well, every time they use to hunt, they keepin a tally of how many animals they killin. That is cos they takin the animals' souls, right? Now, when you die, they use to put yuh bones in this big cauldron kinda ting, and put it up in de hills. De hills is where de animal spirits does live, OK? Now, according to how much animals you kill, you gah fuh gi' de animal spirits a certain number of *your* dead, right, so de animal spirits now feed offa dem in de next world, you sight? Is like a tit for tat. Now when you tell me bout how these souls suppose to operate - feedin offa something and then s**ttin out we personalities into we - it got me thinkin bout that kinda ting. Got me thinkin bout a *food chain*. Yo, pass me de spliff nuh." He sucked on it like a scuba diver sucking on a air tube.

"Yeah, Comps, a food chain," he finally repeated, smoke still trickling out he nostrils like vaporized snot. "If these souls feedin offa something then something mussee feedin offa dem, and so on and so on til you reach de top ah de chain." He start nodding he head vigorously like he cuing me to agree with he. I ain' really seeing the point of all this speculation but it kinda interesting still so I go along with it and nod.

"OK, so is what it eatin? It got to be *other souls*. Cos think about it - we can't eat rocks. We gah fuh eat something kinds like we. Even if you's a vegan like me, vegetables does still be mek up of the same stuff as we. De same DNA and cells and ting, right, otherwise we couldn't nourish offa dem, sight?" He mussee taken me bewildered half-nod as agreement, cos he leff that topic like is over and done with and veer off in a whole other direction. "Now Compton- if these scientist boys keepin de souls lock up, maybe they could still eat, me ain' know. But-" raising a finger, "-if they ain' inside nobody body, *where do they s**t*?"

I totally lost now. All I can manage is a "Me ain' know.".........................