The other day, our neighbor’s ceiling collapsed with a crash into the living room. The roof had been leaking for years, so the plywood ceiling finally yielded. So our neighbor, who lives and works 50 km from here and only comes home on weekends, commissioned some carpenters to redo the roof.

The day they came to remove the roof was hot and humid, and Toussaint told the guard to put all the furniture in the big garage to make sure it wouldn’t get rained on. The guard told Toussaint that he would hold back the rain, so no reason to worry. Some people here claim to have the spiritual power to hold back or unleash rain. When Toussaint nonchalantly mentioned that renowned fetishers had said the same thing and then got thoroughly rained on, the guard almost got mad at him. “Do you know where I come from?” he asked. “We have the power to hold back the rain!” So Toussaint shrugged his shoulders and went back home.

Toward sundown, the sky became dark, some drops fell, and we heard thunder in the distance. Toussaint went back to our neighbor’s house and helped the guard, who finally gave in, to put couches, mattresses and electrical equipment in the garage.

It rained all night and drizzled until almost noon the next day. This is very unusual for this time of the year. Rainy season hasn’t started yet, so there only should be an occasional downpour for an hour or so. This is not the time for long and steady rain. It was as if God wanted to make sure the guard got the point. He came by in the morning, his pants rolled up to his knees, sheepishly complaining that it had taken him hours to get all the water out of the house.

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