THE 8TH FALL – V

Continued from last week…

There was no little commotion in the city at the break of dawn. Cleo the local paparazzi was back with a bang, this time causing a major stir outside one of the hotels, a favourite spot for many of the city’s prominent politicians. The hotel security had been forced to intervene to keep him at bay in light of the clientele arriving for early breakfast. The area outside the hotel was awash with newspaper vendors inspired by the early bird pulse. Several political and social pundits swirled the proximity in small groupings conversing in hushed tones over the headlines.

The issue had begun a couple of days earlier, with Cleo going up in arms against the local priest.

He claimed that during the mass in a wedding ceremony he had been covering the previous day, the priest had sprinkled his video camera, which he fondly referred to as the masterpiece, with holy water.

This was now threatening to end his career prematurely as he was afraid his water intolerant masterpiece, which was imported and unequalled by all standards, would soon be experiencing technical hitches especially in the lens, claims that upon investigation by the parish council had been found unsubstantiated.

It was alleged that Cleo was exponentially abusing a local brew and was in a perennial mood for fairy tales. In any event, it was a widely acknowledged fact that the bond between him and the brew was a rather intimate one. Cleo would however hear none of it and had threatened to sue all the way to the highest court, asserting his masterpiece had cost him a life fortune and that he would take neither of the allegations-which he strongly termed as distractions, lying down.

There was never a dull moment with Cleo. He was back in full swing this morning, claiming he had had this credible vision in the dead of the night, of an exotic apple shaped airplane with a scarlet dangling staircase that would be landing in the city any time for a major international blockbuster he would be directing. This visiting plane would be under heavy security and would circle the city severally before touch down. He termed its mission as highly classified, well, according to the exhilarating plot.

He had attracted a sizeable crowd in his characteristic elated accent that offered no mean entertainment to his listeners. He claimed his cast would include some thirteen dancers who would be part of the receiving team. A full orchestra that would bring the house down was also in the offing. He however insisted he would remain mum on details surrounding the plane’s occupants until further notice.

By all indication, this craft was yet to enter the earth sphere from the extraterrestrial terrain it was travelling. Having expressed his displeasure at the hotel security, whom he accused of being enemies of development and acutely spiritually blind, he left in a huff. He promised to address the media outside the same hotel later in the day. Top on his to do list for the day was making peace with the priest. In retrospect, he was now reportedly thankful and paying glowing tribute to him for anointing his masterpiece for greatness with holy water at the wedding!