GUARDIAN ANGEL

I remembered that there was a place in Lindi where they sold wood. So I drove there. They sold beams, boards and roof battens. Somewhere in between those I discovered two slats - exactly what I needed. I picked them out, paid them and put them on the roofrack of my car. Gosh! I had only one rubber band in the car to tie them. „It’ll do,“ I decided, „the two slats don’t weigh much.“ I tied them once in the middle and set off. Twice I heard the slats rattle, twice I stopped the car to check. The rubber band held tight. On the way out of town I picked up two colleagues, Bob and Amani, who also headed for home. Halfway, when I was driving up the slope before Lindi airfield I heard the rattle again, loud and clear. I decided to have a closer look. Having reached the top I drove to the side, got out of the car and checked the roofrack. I pushed and pulled the slats. Everything held tight. I got back into the driver’s seat and turned the key. „Klack!“ I tried it several times more, only to hear the same annoying noise. I opened the bonnet to check the engine. It looked as usual: dust covered and peaceful. Nothing indicated a problem.

Some men had gathered around my car, fervently discussing the trouble I had. One of them had brought his tool bag, from which he produced an enormous wrench, which he - workmanlike - put down across the battery, touching both poles at once. "Bzzzzzt!“, the battery made, with sparks flying everywhere.

"Sio betri. - It’s not the battery.“ he said, quickly pulling away his wrench. Disgruntled I thought, "I could have told you so, before you attempted to set my car on fire!“

Bob meanwhile had rung the project farm. They would get on their way to us, two men and the service car. They also had called Kahawa, our car mechanic in Lindi, who also would come. The sun had already set when they all arrived on the scene. Kahawa turned the ignition key only once and then decided, "We tow the car to my workshop.“ Then we swapped cars. Bob, Amani and I climbed into the service car, Joel jumped into mine, which Kahawa had already tied to his. Before we took off, I secured my „picture frame“.

Three days later Kahawa said, "I do not understand that Alex had stopped the car right in the moment the timing belt came off the pulley.“

Innocently I asked, "What could have happened?“
„The engine seized.“ he answered. "You would have lost control over the car.“ He showed me the motor. The pistons had nailed six of the valves to the cylinder head.

I understood. My guardian angel sat on the spare tire attached to the back door and tapped the slats to draw my attention and signal me: "Alex, stop!“

(Guardian angels are often invoked to explain a series of coincidences that mysteriously work out for the good. I believe there is God, who usess these occurences, perhaps insignifficant for themselves, like the repeated rattling of the slats, to call for attention. But on our part it takes attentiveness to listen to God’s soft voice. In the end it is God Himself at work — even by sending His angels.)

^*) wageni = guests, foreigners,
wenyeji = natives, locals

Alexander Breitenbach