Midnight Robber

Tan-Tan and Antonio reach Junjuh village, where they see men filling calabashes with water from a well. Chichibud defers to these men, which Tan-Tan does not like because the men see him as lesser because he is not human and treat him like a child. The trio heads to the doctor’s office, and Antonio challenges the men, named One-Eye and Claude, who assert they are the authorities in a world where the Anansi Web is absent.

Along the way, Tan-Tan, Antonio, and Chichibud see people and douens laboring. Some douens greet Chichibud, and he dances a little on his sore leg to celebrate his victory over the mako jumbie. The men show Antonio the “tin box” (125) where rule-breakers are imprisoned, causing him to ask for the rules. They swap stories about how they were exiled on New Half-Way Tree and how One-Eye and Claude became sheriff and deputy.

When they arrive at the doctor’s bungalow, it turns out to be Nursie’s daughter, Aislin, who Antonio impregnated. Quamina, their daughter, was mentally stunted because her mother traveled through the dimension veils while pregnant, but she is happy to play Midnight Robber with Tan-Tan. Chichibud returns to the bush.