Zombie Mushroom

Its small. Its a loner and doesnt grow in colonies like most mushrooms. Usually it grows in the east coast of Africa, mostly around March, just around the Harmattan season when the winds howls and picks up relentlessly. Because of its rarity, it has magical properties. In Voodoo or Juju, its known as zombie mushroom. The formulation goes something like this, its air dried in a dark room till it turns vermilion, then its powdered with dried puffer fish entrails and when its blown into the face of the dearly unfortunate by the magician…..poof! He’s knocked out cold. I don’t mean he takes a nap. He’s a goner for days and at times it even goes on for weeks on end. The heart beat goes right down to maybe less than ten digits per minute and if the physician isn’t familiar with the sinister under world of African life where angels fear to thread, he might even sign off on the death certificate and have no hesitation in pronouncing the man clinically dead as a door nail…..I haven’t seen this little bugger for close to thirty years! I just cant figure out whats it doing here….how did it even get here? Might it have remained dormant all these years secreted in some old boot that I once wore and walked on this estate? Or maybe my mind is playing tricks on me……maybe its not really there. Maybe I got too close to it and breathe in some of its mind bending spores and now its whrilled its way deep into the darkest reaches of my brain.

Maybe I have become the undead….a zombie!

Zombie…Zombie