They watched it again. And then a third time.
“Ayaan,” Cabdi said, his voice soft. “Those men in the film… the Golmaal ones. They are liars. They are cowards. They break everything they touch.”
“What is this Goal-mall ?” asked Cabdi, squinting at the cover. The picture showed a group of strange men with wide eyes and open mouths, one of them looking backwards, another holding a chicken. “Are these the cursed Jinn of the forest?”
And so, the next morning, the search for Qaali the camel began. It was a mess. It was chaotic. They got lost, they argued, they blamed each other. But for the first time in seven months, Cabdi was not alone. golmaal again af somali
“Again, Awoowe?” Ayaan asked.
“But they never leave a brother behind.” Cabdi paused. “Even when the brother is a ghost. Even when the brother is a fool. They fight, they scream, they hit each other with sticks… but when the night comes, they sleep in the same room.”
It was not a small laugh. It was a deep, guttural roar that shook the tea cups. He slapped his thigh. “Look at this fool! He is hiding inside the well while the ghost is looking for him outside the well! This is exactly like the time I told your father to look for the lost goat inside the house, while the goat was eating my turban on the roof!” They watched it again
The movie began. A haunted mansion. Ghosts. And then, the four heroes—Gopal, Madhav, Lucky, and Laxman—appeared. Cabdi’s face remained stone. He watched as these grown men ran from a floating woman in a white saree.
“Yes. From the part where the fat one tries to climb the tree to escape the dog.”
“Yes, Awoowe.”
The village erupted. Soon, everyone was translating the Hindi into Somali for the old man who was hard of hearing. The young men were mimicking the character “Lucky” who could see ghosts. The women were arguing over which hero was the most handsome.
He was looking at Golmaal again. But this time, he was living it.
“Bring the DVD, Awoowe?”
Ayaan leaned over. “See, Awoowe? He is like a Somali elder. He is negotiating. ‘You give us the treasure, we give you peace.’”