The sun was setting, and so the heat that had nearly made breathing impossible earlier was now gone in a light breeze.
When the crowd, which stretched impossibly far, almost to the end of the compound walls and included many more people than what Kerry had seen outside, saw her, they began to cheer, “Torkwase! Torkwase! Torkwase! Torkwase!”
Kerry looked at Nzingha, who said, “It’s what they’ve named you. It means queen.”
“Brothers, sisters,” Brother Krishna spoke. “You are here to witness the arrival of our torkwase!”
The crowd went wild with cheering. Toward the back Kerry saw men holding cameras who were recording and taking pictures.
Brother Krishna went on, “She has come to us to show her support for our revolution. For our community. She is here to let us and the world know that her heart is with the Fihankra. Just like the great Oba.”
When he said this, the crowd’s chanting changed to “Oba! Oba! Oba!” Drums played in the background. Sisters who resembled Auset and her crew at the jai
l danced before the brothers playing the drums.
Nzingha whispered in Kerry’s ear, “That is the name given to Brother Jamison. It means king.”
Kerry saw the woman with the baby in the crowd. She waved and this time Kerry waved back. It was almost magical, rather extraordinary to just be there and feel their energy all coming toward her. Brother Krishna was still speaking, but Kerry was busy waving and feeling rather inebriated by the wine of being so exalted.
“. . . And she is here to let you all know she has seen Jamison, she has visited with him, and all is well. They are strong. They are ready to unite and help us prepare for our next phase,” Kerry heard when she checked back in to listen again to Brother Krishna.
She turned to him. “What?” she asked.
Nzingha whispered in her ear, “Just nod. We will explain.” “No—I—” Kerry started to say, but Brother Krishna cut her off.
“Sister Torkwase will now simply say good night to you. I hope you all understand. She has had a long journey to be here with us.”
Brother Krishna turned to Kerry as the crowd began to cheer her given name again. Somehow those distinctive Yoruba syllables put together in a word that was used to identify her, drove Kerry to some purpose that was not her own.
As soon as Kerry looked like she was about to speak, the crowd went fully silent. Even the children did not use one word.
“Greetings all,” she said, with her voice suddenly mirroring the dated and rather regal tone Nzingha and Brother Krishna used.
Val was behind her cursing and questioning her tone.
“I am happy to be here to see you. Your home is wonderful. So beautiful. I support you—I mean this. But I have not—”
“That is all we have time for,” Brother Krishna said, much louder and overpowering Kerry’s speech.
Nzingha expeditiously grabbed her arm and pulled her back from the Juliet.
Brother Krishna quickly closed the doors.
“What the hell was that?” Val snapped as soon as the doors were closed.
“Why did you say that?” Kerry followed up, looking at Brother Krishna. “That I saw Jamison? I haven’t seen him. And I don’t know anything about what you’re preparing for. What was that? Why wouldn’t you let me speak?”
“I will explain in time,” Brother Krishna said.
“No! We need to know right now, because this is some bullshit,” Val said. “What’s going on here? You just lied to those people. All of them. Kerry hasn’t seen Jamison.”
“But they needed to hear that,” Nzingha spoke up, but Brother Krishna shot a stare at her that silenced anything further.
“What?” Kerry asked. “What does that mean?”
“What Sister Nzingha means to say is that we had some confusion with our scheduling today and the people were expecting the Oba to be here to greet you. So, we merely needed you to say that so they weren’t troubled,” Brother Krishna tried to say nonchalantly, but he was clearly covering something up.
“That doesn’t even sound right. Look, I’m from Memphis and I’ve known the best liars with the best lies and that didn’t even come close. You need to come harder to impress me,” Val said, getting up in Brother Krishna’s face, but then Nzingha made it clear that whatever Val thought she was going to do to him wasn’t going to happen without her stepping in.