Episode Transcript
[00:00:02] Speaker A: Locks in the box volume 1 episode 2 $3,000, right?
[00:00:11] Speaker B: Yes. I'm all years, Mr. Quadio.
[00:00:29] Speaker A: Baba. My dad was a good hunter, a good provider.
He was also gifted.
[00:00:38] Speaker A: He didn't have special powers. He was just very diligent, organized, patient.
Very patient.
He knew the terrain, the weather. He learned the habits.
Habits?
Every animal have habits.
What they eat, when they eat, the place they go to and from.
Survival of the species depend on these habits.
I mean everything about them.
[00:01:05] Speaker B: Everything.
[00:01:06] Speaker A: Yeah.
For example, how do you catch a colobus or naguti? Although they do have the same job in a savannah.
[00:01:16] Speaker B: You lost me at kopclub.
[00:01:19] Speaker A: Colobus, Colobis monkey. Skinny monkey with brownish, many black, hairy face. White body when they're babies, but they become grayish, then black. With spiky hair all around the head. With short thumbs as adults.
The short thumb they have. That's why we call it colobus.
[00:01:39] Speaker B: Okay, Clobus.
[00:01:42] Speaker A: So how do you catch it?
[00:01:44] Speaker B: I'm sure you're gonna tell me.
[00:01:47] Speaker A: Well, they both feed on seeds, fruits and shoots.
But knowing what kind of fruits they eat is the secret sauce.
[00:01:56] Speaker B: The clobus like to eat Banana.
[00:02:02] Speaker A: That's a Tarzan like idea that any monkey eats. Bananas. Funny.
[00:02:10] Speaker B: But they do, right?
[00:02:13] Speaker A: Colobus eat all kind of fruits. But unripe fruits.
Why?
Because if they eat ripe fruits, such as ripe papaya or ripe banana.
[00:02:26] Speaker A: The colobus gets sick. His tummy cannot handle the sweets.
[00:02:31] Speaker B: Sweet as in sugar?
[00:02:33] Speaker A: Yes.
He makes them lethargic at first, then drowsy and non responsive to anything.
Then we come and we catch them.
[00:02:44] Speaker B: Oh, clever.
[00:02:46] Speaker A: Like the colobis. The agouti. I think.
[00:02:49] Speaker B: I think I know. It's a small rodent with long back legs.
[00:02:54] Speaker A: Yeah.
They both play an important role in a tropical forest and part of the savanna. Like I said, by eating certain tree barks, plants and fruits. They help disperse the seeds of these plants and these fruits in the ground. After munching on them, they also hide these seeds for little snack in the ground.
[00:03:14] Speaker B: Don't they serve as snacks themselves for bigger predators?
[00:03:19] Speaker A: Sometimes yes.
Like wild dogs, hyenas or leopards.
[00:03:26] Speaker B: Question. Do agouti also eat unripe fruit?
If not, how do you catch them?
[00:03:33] Speaker A: Agoutis are not too selective. But to trap them, we just find the holes of the underground nest entrance and exit holes.
Then we smoke them up.
[00:03:46] Speaker B: They don't like the smoke.
[00:03:48] Speaker A: No one does.
Although smoking aguti meat is. How can I say that?
Delicious.
[00:03:56] Speaker B: A delicacy. I get the point.
So you guys eat monkeys? And rodents.
[00:04:04] Speaker A: Now who is stereotypical, huh?
[00:04:13] Speaker A: Like I say, Baba studied them all in nature.
It took him a long time though, but he got it.
Every single animal of the savanna, he got them all.
But the lox.
[00:04:26] Speaker B: Now we're talking.
[00:04:28] Speaker A: I'm sure you know lox derives from the Latin word loxodonte Africane to describe the extension of the big molar tooth into an elephant tusk.
We also use it as jargon between us hunters. But the lox was.
Is a different animal.
[00:04:48] Speaker A: Contrary to Baba's approach, African governments have tried to catch it by setting safari programs for tourists from all over the world.
And they came with their Jeeps, Toyotas, Hummers and guns.
Really big guns. The commando type guns.
[00:05:04] Speaker B: Commando as in Arnold Schwarzenegger?
[00:05:07] Speaker A: Yes, but this is not a movie, missus.
Each came, each failed.
The failure pushed this organization to stop these cruelties.
Indeed, they were not only chasing elephants, but the Big Five.
[00:05:22] Speaker B: The Big Five? Sounds like a cult name.
[00:05:25] Speaker A: Buffalo or wildebeest, rhinos, lion, leopard and elephants.
When these programs ended, rangers working for this government saw their wallet deflating.
And so they got the cold blooded ideas to carry on the scams to enrich themselves on the black market.
Some still believed it's out there somewhere.
Others didn't.
Didn't really matter. They just wanted to make money.
[00:05:55] Speaker B: So is it, is it a fairy tale or is it true?
[00:06:02] Speaker A: If it was a fairy tale, why are you interviewing me then?
[00:06:09] Speaker A: Rangers are still getting richer. Not the hunters though. Nor Baba.
I was still a kid when my dad decided to go after it. He planned for months, tracked it for weeks, and finally trick it and cut it in the box.
[00:06:26] Speaker B: The box?
[00:06:27] Speaker A: Yes. It's a huge trap hidden in the ground, covered with leaves and branches.
Took him weeks to dig.
It's a trap for big preys, like for the Big Five.
Baba always follow these two golden rules. First, catch the animal off guard while keeping a safe distance.
Second, kill it as humanely possible as you can. If not, the spirits of his animals and past generation hunters could come and hunt you for the rest of your life.
These principles will keep you safe and alive.
[00:07:04] Speaker A: That's what he used to say.
But Baba met his match on that hunt.
[00:07:12] Speaker B: How so?
[00:07:14] Speaker A: Well, Baba trapped it all right.
And he got trapped with it in the box.
[00:07:20] Speaker B: Whoa.
[00:07:22] Speaker A: I'm not sure what happened next, but Baba escaped. So did the locks.
He wasn't wounded, per se.
Little scratches here and there.
As proof, he brought with him a piece of his tusks.
[00:07:35] Speaker B: A piece?
[00:07:37] Speaker A: Yeah, something I'd never seen before in My life so heavy, so vivid, so alive, so iridescent.
I not only saw my reflection, I also saw through was weird.
Changing colors. Ivory one moment, then transparent the next.
[00:07:58] Speaker A: Before I was taken away, my dad wanted to give me the one secret on how to catch the locks in a box.
[00:08:05] Speaker B: How?
[00:08:06] Speaker A: I say wanted, right?
[00:08:09] Speaker A: All I can tell you is it will be challenging because I try to remember exactly. But I.
[00:08:16] Speaker B: You know what?
I got so into listening to you.
You never said or slated your name. So could you please.
[00:08:26] Speaker A: Sure.
[00:08:29] Speaker A: My name is Kwame Kwaju and I'm a proud African hunter.
[00:08:34] Speaker A: In the 70s, Africa had 1.3 million elephants.
Today's number is estimated to be around just below 500,000.
[00:09:09] Speaker A: It.
[00:09:40] Speaker B: You know, we first pick up my call, you mentioned a name, Fatima.
[00:09:45] Speaker A: Do you know where is she?
[00:09:46] Speaker B: Yes. Oh no. I mean the name. Fatima. Who is Fatima?
[00:09:52] Speaker A: Fatima is.
[00:09:56] Speaker A: I.
[00:09:59] Speaker A: You know, the. The first time I saw her, we were just kids.
My father works for the Sierra Leone consulate in Abidjan and speaks fluently English and French.
I was in primary school.
[00:10:13] Speaker B: You mean elementary school?
[00:10:14] Speaker A: I think so, yes.
French and British curriculum schools are somewhat the same, but differently named.
[00:10:24] Speaker B: I was thinking high school sweethearts.
You guys started way younger than that.
[00:10:32] Speaker B: Abidjan.
[00:10:34] Speaker A: Abidjan is the economical capital city of the Ivory Coast.
[00:10:39] Speaker B: How many capital cities do you have?
[00:10:42] Speaker A: Political and economic?
[00:10:44] Speaker B: 2.
[00:10:46] Speaker A: Yes. Abidjan is the economic and Yamousukro is the political one.
[00:10:51] Speaker B: I'm not going to try to repeat that last city's name, but it's like.
[00:10:55] Speaker A: Washington D.C. and New York City.
[00:10:57] Speaker B: Got it.
[00:10:59] Speaker A: I went with my father in Abidjan to meet prospective tourists.
My father was trying to introduce me to his work, what it is all about.
And there she was, sitting in her dad's car, waiting.
Her dad was a nurse.
He got hired by the tourists to go with them just in case someone got sick or hurt.
I thought she would stay in the Ivory coast forever. But their father decided to send her in one of the most reputable universities in Abuja to study business and finances and to find a wealthy husband.
[00:11:37] Speaker B: Did she?
[00:11:39] Speaker A: Last time I heard, she got married.
And yes, with.
[00:11:46] Speaker A: She.
[00:11:49] Speaker A: She strangely looks like my mother.
But I.
[00:11:53] Speaker B: That would be incestuous.
[00:11:56] Speaker A: I think you have an expression like feeling hard.
[00:12:03] Speaker B: You fell hard for her. I get it.
[00:12:08] Speaker B: She must be a very special gal.
[00:12:11] Speaker A: Yes, she is.
And now so much has happened.
All because of me.
[00:12:20] Speaker B: I believe you are. We're on the time crush here. We will daydream a little later.
So do you have the peace or do you know exactly where the peace of ivory is.
[00:12:35] Speaker A: Technically speaking, I know where the piece is. Yes, I know.
[00:12:40] Speaker B: Technically speaking.
[00:12:42] Speaker A: Well, toward the end, things got messy.
[00:12:45] Speaker B: Messy? With your dad? How so?
[00:12:49] Speaker A: No, with me.
I guess happen near Yankari Game Reserve.
[00:12:55] Speaker B: That's. That's in Nigeria too. Middle of the country.
In the Belch State. Right.
[00:13:03] Speaker A: Whoa.
Someone has been studying the locations and the migration path of elephants. I see.
I'm impressed.
And yes, you're correct.
Elephants are kept and counted in national parks and reserves. But sometimes they ignore these man made boundaries.
And when they do, it's all fair game for hunters and poachers.
[00:14:11] Speaker A: I was in one of the bungalow VIP bedroom of a hotel near the Yankari reserve.
The one kept for tourists like you.
[00:14:24] Speaker A: Oh, Fatima.
Beautiful Fatima.
This Sierra Leone Wonder earned a PhD in Finance from Afe Babalola University at Ado Ekiti in Nigeria.
[00:14:38] Speaker B: A smart one.
[00:14:40] Speaker A: Yes.
She was humming an Afrobeat song with a towel wrapped around her goddess like chest and another towel wrapped around her gorgeous black hair.
She came out of the shower into the bedroom.
[00:14:55] Speaker C: What?
[00:14:55] Speaker A: And looked up. What are you doing here?
She ran toward the side of her bed, enriched her purse and took out a small gun.
She indecisively pointed it toward the both of us.
[00:15:09] Speaker B: Both of you?
[00:15:11] Speaker D: The question is, what are you doing here?
[00:15:16] Speaker A: Me?
[00:15:18] Speaker A: I.
I didn't know what to say either.
This was a very uncomfortable situation for me, for her, and for him too, I'm sure.
I had my undershirt on my boxer when Sharp Teeth got there.
[00:15:35] Speaker B: Sharp Teeth?
[00:15:37] Speaker A: Yeah. You'll catch up. Just listen.
I went there on a business trip to warn him of his looming situation, but he refused to see me.
So when I came in our room, I surprisingly tricked him and I positioned myself behind him. Well, it was his hotel, his bungalow, his VIP room. He's one of the few hunters who became extremely wealthy selling boomslang spit worldwide.
Not hunting, but selling.
The guy is smart, always elegantly dressed up, stylish but selfish.
[00:16:12] Speaker A: Him seeing me with her, I mean, she's his wife.
[00:16:19] Speaker B: Oh, so that's the wealthy husband she married.
And boomslam. What?
[00:16:26] Speaker A: Boomsling Spitz.
[00:16:29] Speaker B: I'm sure you'll tell me what that is.
Oh, so to recap, you're having an affair with a married woman and you got caught.
[00:16:39] Speaker A: I wouldn't say that. It's.
It's complicated.
[00:16:43] Speaker B: It always is.
Go on.
Sorry.
[00:16:48] Speaker A: Boomstring spit is a vicious venom that Sharp Teeth commercialized and sold to many places.
Made a lot of money with it, I bet.
[00:16:58] Speaker B: What has your Personal life has to do with these locks, though.
[00:17:07] Speaker B: Are you still there, Mr. Kwame?
Do you need a moment?
[00:17:15] Speaker B: Okay. Okay.
So things happened, right?
[00:17:19] Speaker A: Right. I.
I used what was available to me at that very moment.
Two open valves full of the venom that I brought with me. A sharp pencil on a table before me. I quickly opened them while I was holding Sharp Tiff in a chokehold position. I meant. I deepened the pencil inside the valve containing the slimy substance in my other end.
And gently rested the tip of the wet pencil on Sharptief's temporal bone. He froze because he knew the effect of the venom.
I tried to reason with him, but.
[00:17:55] Speaker D: I will kill you.
The both of you.
[00:17:58] Speaker A: Sharp Tiff.
[00:18:01] Speaker A: Listen to me. It's not what you're thinking, brother.
Your life, our livelihood is about to drastically change.
[00:18:10] Speaker D: Is that so?
You and her, huh? Is it the reason why you were so eager to talk to me?
You are and you will always be a bushman. A hunter is still a bushman.
I'm a businessman now. I don't have time for your nonsense meeting.
[00:18:26] Speaker A: I think it was a mistake on our part to carry on the division of lands. Divisions similar to the first European settlers.
The Green Coast, Slave Coast, Ivory coast and Gold Coast. Including your territory.
Territory that we respectfully don't hunt on. So we need your approval before.
[00:18:45] Speaker D: I don't give a flying fucking if this part of your business becomes non profitable. It's my territory and I do what I want with it.
[00:18:54] Speaker A: Then give it up. Give that territory to someone else who will help flourish it. You.
[00:18:59] Speaker D: You are way too naive, my brother. What? Don't you see that there is no future in hunting no more. You have to seek other avenues to advance your ambition.
[00:19:11] Speaker A: Even if it means to destroy everything we know.
Our traditions, our ways.
[00:19:16] Speaker D: We don't speak the same language.
[00:19:20] Speaker D: Besides, she's my wife and you knew it.
A childless wife nonetheless. Still mine.
[00:19:28] Speaker A: Have it your way then.
Maybe your multiple concubines will be glad to bear your seed.
I am through. Fatima suddenly took her wedding baby off her finger and threw it on the floor.
She fumbled with the gun for a second. Then she got a hold of herself.
She pointed again toward both of us. Fatima.
Fatima, please hear me out.
It's going to be fine.
Just put the gun down.
Leave this place.
Go as far as you can. I don't.
I can't.
[00:20:06] Speaker C: What will I do?
[00:20:08] Speaker A: What can I do?
[00:20:10] Speaker C: What about me?
[00:20:13] Speaker A: Us.
[00:20:14] Speaker D: Oh, how romantic.
[00:20:19] Speaker D: Oh, how romantic.
How romantic you are.
You always be my property, dear. Do you hear me?
And you.
You are dead meat. But you already knew that.
Hey, bushman.
I will enjoy every bite Jacqueline will take on your flesh.
[00:20:42] Speaker A: Fatima. Yes you can.
Fatima.
Fatima, listen to me. As I told you before, this life, this cycle stops with me today.
Now then, Fatima rose the barrel of the gun toward us and and.
[00:21:13] Speaker C: You have been listening to Locks in the Box Volume 1A Patrick Cavarty presents Production Locks in the Box has been created, written and and produced by Patrick and Wendy Cabertee.
Recorded at Soundbox LA West Hollywood, California.
Executive Producer Wendy Gabberty Original sounds by Pixabay and upbeat IO Edited by Miguel Soul at Soundbox LA Casting by Patrick Caberdy Directed by Patrick Caberty Starring Kirk Taylor as the Priest J Teddy Garces as Young Baba Baba and Tony Joanima Diaby as Harris Frances Edda Moby as Youssef Shailimar Garba as Mother Fatima Young Woman and Catalia Emma Garba as Young Kwame Omri Caberty as Young Harris Mel Uche as Sharpteeth and Juliao AJ Lubskin as Suggest.
[00:22:25] Speaker C: Charlotte Chang as Zhao Patrick Caberti as Kwame and narrated by Patrick Cabertee.
[00:22:36] Speaker C: Credits read by Sydney and Omri Cavarty.
Special thanks to Tim, Michelle and Miguel at Sandbox la, West Hollywood, California.
Box in the Box is a Patrick Cavarty Presents production.
For a full cast list, go to patrickcaverty presents.com and listen to the next episode.
Follow us on Social Media thank you for supporting Patrick Cavarty Presents Production and thank you for listening to Locks in the Box.
