Siphico's Riddle Chap 1 - Nida's Charm

Warp chewed on fresh cheese and crisp tomato between two slices of thick, fresh bread. Siphico’s mouth watered.

Crusted flakes fell like light snowflakes onto the tips of his dirty-brown takkies. Every day now, for the last seven days, Mrs. Kgatle had packed his lunch box with thick slices of bread covered with cheese and tomato and every morning, Warp waited at the school gate, and relieved Siphico of his lunchbox.

Siphico stumbled to the waste bin and threw in the stale bread. Warp crept up behind him, ‘What are you up to?’

Dark, wolf-like eyes, gawked at him. Thin, tar hair ended in a point over the forehead. A black t-shirt and matching black trousers clung to a meaty body. An earring hung off the left ear. Warp’s mind didn’t function well under pressure, hence the nickname. Simple facts confused him.

‘Warp!’

‘Did you throw away your lunch, Kgatle?’ The bully exclaimed for all to hear.

A garden of primrose and sweet scented white star jasmine spread out in waves of fragrant colour that calmed the students, allowed them to focus. Two Taiwanese girls played hopscotch on flat paving. A rigid young girl, ponytail cascaded over the shoulder cowered behind a balloon shaped bush, bible clutched to the breast. A plump, pimpled teenager leaned against the metal door frame with a chocolate ice-cream lodged into the mouth.

Siphico's gaze panned the court-yard. The Taiwanese girls stopped playing hopscotch. The boy stopped slurping against his ice-cream. Every person in that courtyard glared anxiously at them. Siphico’s tongue stuck to his teeth.

Warp leaned into the bin, pulled out the dry bread, handed the food to him and exclaimed,

‘Eat it. Be quick.’

Siphico glared at the bread and the mountainous dry crust. He wanted to say no but he knew Warp’s keen sense of injustice fed off people without backbone.

‘If you don’t eat it, my mom will tell your mom. Your bum will be burning red by this evening. Now eat it!’

The bread cracked in his mouth. He closed his lips and swallowed.

Bite, swallow. Bite swallow. At last the agony was over.

‘And the crumbs, nancy boy.’

Siphico stood up and the anger in his eyes spread out and enveloped Warp.

‘I’m not a nancy boy.’

‘Nah, you’re just a boy, then. Bafana!.’

Siphico’s fists tightened, his knuckles tensed.

‘Go on! Connect. Go on, then!’

A bible connected Warp on the head and he crumpled. The girl who had cowered in the corner clutching her bible, leaped into the air with cat like grace, and pinned him to the ground. Warp lay immobile, momentarily stunned by this onslaught of violence.

‘I say you get away from heem. Okay. You unnerstand me. Comprehendo Amigo? Merde!’ Shit.

Warp’s mouth quivered, finally formed the word yes.

She released him. Reached for the leather bound bible lying open on the floor and kissed it. Turning her solid gaze to the sky, she said, ‘I am so sorry Lord. But as you can see, it served a purpose. Forgive me, but bullies like Warp must be stopped. Amen.’

She turned to Warp and kicked him in the groin. ‘Play with children your own age.’

Warp regained his composure, she stepped aside as he fled. The Taiwanese girls giggled profusely and ran after him.



A hand touched Siphico’s shoulder. He spun around.

The girl with the bible beamed at him, ‘Don’t worry, he’ll get his day. One day he’s gonna pick on the wrong person. Nida Rodriguez. I'm Portuguese.’

Nida held out a sturdy hand. A red tie clashed with the green, pleated skirt and yellow blouse. Her face captured the soft glow of mid morning sun as it peered over the courtyard wall. Her lips leaned into a permanent smile, high cheeks surrounded a delicate nose. The tie destroyed the image.

‘How come you’re wearing a red tie? School rules; it must be green.’

‘Mama cannot afford nothing new. It is the only one I have.’

‘I’ve got two. I’ll bring one for you.’

‘Thank you. It is kind of you to offer. I am in class 8b. I have seen you play soccer. You are good.’

‘Thanks. Anyway, got to run. Next period is English with Miss Tyler.’

‘I have old Badgeman for English. Makes English boring and not fun. Do you have an English name?’

‘No.’

‘What does Siphico mean?’

‘It means, Riddle.’

I’ll call you Reedel. Do you mind?’

‘Yes, I do. Siphico is my name. My mother and go-go calls me Siphico, why do you choose Reedle and it’s not Ree-del anyway, it’s Rid-del?’

‘I have an English name but I’m Portuguese.’

Siphico stared at the girl dressed in a red tie. She had a point.

‘Okay, you can call me Riddle. But never forget my real name and if you meet my parents, be sure to call me Siphico.’

‘Ok. I’ll call you Siphico in front of your parents.’ She laughed with a closed mouth.

He walked to the door and turned, ‘Thank you for what you did just now. I appreciate it.’

Nida grasped her hands. Her eyes beamed.

‘The next time I will punch his lights out!’ The words peeled off her tongue in her indomitable Portuguese accent.

He stepped into the corridor brimming with boisterous teenagers and prefects desperately trying to weave order out of the chaos. Before he could take another step, she called after him,

‘Ree – del! What ees my name?’

He leered at her through slanted eyes. Time stopped momentarily. His cheeks fired up. He knew she was a Rodriguez; he’d forgotten her first name.

What was it? Ina? Tina? Dana? Oops.’

Finally he said, ‘Rodriguez.’

She nodded in approval, ‘See you next break. Same place.’

The journey begins

To begin this novel, I need a crossword puzzle that outsmarts them all.

Gregory Tripe is challenged by his peers to enter an adult crossword competition. The winner will journey to the seven wonders of the modern world. The new ones.

So, if any one can help Little Gregory to begin the adventure, he will really appreciate it.

Siphico's Riddle Chap 2 - Word Puzzle

Miss Tyler's long black skirt skimmed the floor. He couldn’t remember a time when she’d worn any other colour. Black eye-shadow. Dash of rouge. Smidgen of crimson lipstick.

‘Settle down! Hogwarts is in Rowling’s world. We’re not in the business of that kind of magic, but we do create magic with words. English magic. This morning we’re going to have fun with everything you’ve learned this year in English. We’re going to do a word puzzle, and later on, crosswords. Who of you have done a word puzzle before?’

Miss Tyler’s announcement gathered dust. Eventually, five students raised their hands.

‘Not many I see. Okay, who knows what a crossword puzzle is? Those who know, keep quiet.'

Benjamin Cohen lifted a hand, ‘Isn’t it one of those funny looking black and white squares in newspapers and magazines?’

Miss Tyler giggled, ‘Yes, Banjo. It is one of those funny black and white things. But a crossword is much more than that. It measures your knowledge of words. The game was invented by Arthur Wynne in 1913 and was called a word-cross puzzle at first. A huge crossword puzzle frenzy hit the world in the 1920’s and since then, crosswords have appeared in almost every daily newspaper, in some form or the other, throughout the world.’

Siphico leaned forward. Crosswords. He’d seen them in the papers but never took note of them. A delightful machine called a television set occupied his mind. Miss Tyler handed out sheets of paper with a simple design.

‘The objectiveof this exercise, is to fill in the missing letters so that each word reads in any direction. Its not easy. There are no clues. See if you can find the answers. Go for it.’


ROTAS
O
T
A
S

Siphico stared at the grid before answering. The words crackled, tweaked, twisted and danced into place. Three minutes later he leered at the answers and smiled. An odd combination of words. He raised a hand.

Miss Tyler collected his paper, scrutinised each letter, leered at him, baffled by the answers he had written.

Fifteen minutes later she collected the last paper and after a few minutes, announced, ‘Siphico, please stand.’

Siphico got to his feet. His fingers trembled. He disliked being the centre of attraction.

‘How did you find the words so quickly, Siphico?’ Miss Tyler asked.

‘They just came to me.’

‘Impressive young man. A little history about this particular word puzzle. It was found in Pompei. It’s unusual because the words can be read in any direction. A little trivia, the ten letter word square has yet to be created by computer or man.’

She opened the blackboard and revealed the answer to the wordpuzzle.

R O T A S
O P E R A
T E N E T
A R E P O
S A T O R

‘Let’s do another, shall we? This time I really want you to take your time and think. Some clues will trick you, others will lead you in the right direction, and others are red herrings…’

The bell rang. Siphico leaped from his seat and headed for the door. Miss Tyler called him back. He glared through large white golf balls with painted black dots.

‘Don’t stress. Would you like to do another crossword? To be honest, I want to see how good you really are.’

‘I don’t mind, Miss Tyler.’

She pulled an envelope from her black bag and it fell out of her hands. Siphico noticed the address an instant before she whisked the envelope away:

READERS WORLD
R50 000 WORD PUZZLE
COMPETITION

She pulled out the puzzle. ‘Don’t read the clues right now. Put it in your case for homework. Think of it as a returnable favour, okay. ’

He nodded and filed the document into his case. At the door he stopped and turned,

“You said "a returnable favour"?'

'Name it?'

'If I do this for you will you write my exam for me?’

Excerpt from
Siphico's Riddle -
Also see
Nida's Charm