I was confused. Which one is Southpaw? I thought Scarecrow was strange enough, now I was hearing there was another cult group named Southpaw.

“Doesn’t southpaw mean a left-handed person?” I asked Tony.

“It means exactly that. That’s why Southpaw is a cult group for only left-handed people.”

“But you’re not left-handed.” I said.

“I am,” he replied, “I am ambidextrous; I use both hands equally well.”

“I didn’t notice that.”

“I shoot better with my left hand.”

“Since when have you been a cultist?”

“I’m a three-year-old Southpaw.”

“What is the relationship between Scarecrow and Southpaw?”

“These two are sworn enemies. We kill each other in multitude. A Crow and a Paw cannot stay in the same room; it’s either one leaves the room for the other or they kill each other.”

“Then why haven’t a Southpaw killed Pain.”

“Pain is a ranked Crow. It’s very hard for him to be killed.”

“I don’t see anything hard in walking up to him and shooting him point-blank.”

Tony smiled at me. “That’s what a civilian cultist would do. Then again, no civilian cultist must dare it. They would be wiped out entirely. Did you read about the 2008 federal massacre? All the members of Nacet were killed in all the schools around the country. A drunk Naceter mistakenly stabbed a ranked Crow; all the members of Nacet paid dearly with their lives. We even joined in the killing, it was fun. But Scarecrow and Southpaw, they have class. We don’t kill each other that way. If any ranked member of either cult must be killed, a herald would be sent to deliver a message of doom.”

“A herald? How is that done?”

“If a ranked member of Scarecrow would be killed by the Southpaws, a lower ranked Paw would carry a scarecrow to the territory of the Crows and set the effigy ablaze. In the same vein, if a ranked member of Southpaw would be killed by the Scarecrows, a lower ranked Crow would take the left hand of a mannequin to the territory of the Paws and stab the hand to the ground. This has never happened in a long time because it always ends in disaster.”

“Well, I’m not a Southpaw or a Scarecrow. I am Kanu and I am going to kill Pain and those bastards who raped my Jumai. To hell with ranks.”

Tony stared at me, smiled broadly again and said, “Good luck with that. I will render my assistance anyway I can. Killing Pain will be doing a lot of people a great favour.”