Leke Leke Finger

Hi Bloggie,

This post is from an April 2015 draft and I thought to post it before delving into stories of the last 43/4 years. I did have a picture of my finger (part of the story) but I didn't upload it and sadly, that phone has gone bye bye. Sigh. Enjoy!

As far as I know, I haven't seen one cattle egret in America. Not a single one. But today, I have a leke leke finger. Can anyone explain to me how this happened? I just glanced down and voila, here it is. Don't know what the leke leke finger is? It's a white line that shows up on your nail and disappears after a few days. Simple right? Ordinarily, I would freak out about something odd showing up. But this one isn't so new and so odd. It made me smile and immediately took me back to my childhood and to the "leke leke song."

Let me explain. As a child, I was told (by someone I can't remember) to repeatedly sing this song, "Leke leke finger, give me one finger," while waving my hands whenever a cattle egret flew by. This person said leke leke would make a white line appear on my nail. I had nothing to lose, so I did it. I later discovered that my friends were given the same instructions and so we believed in the power of the song and wave. As I think about it now, it was more solid because when we followed the instructions, we got results! Sometimes the lines were strong and other times, faint. But there was always a line. I'm not saying I'm superstitious (or I'm not agreeing to it) or anything, but perhaps if the lines never showed up or if we failed once, or if the tale didn't keep coming up, I would never have been a believer. But I was a believer of the white tinted finger nail. Perhaps I also liked it more because I wasn't allowed to wear nail polish. Who knows?

And now after years of education, I still cannot fathom how or why those lines appeared and disappeared after a few days. It couldn't have been due to a medical condition. That would mean either the hand motion or the song or the combination of the two is bad for the body. And what medical condition only comes when you're willing? I'm really tempted to do a Google search to find out if there's an explanation. But my sentiments have won this argument. I'll hold on to the happiness the "leke leke song" brought me even though I can't possibly sing the same lyrics as an adult while yelling singing into the sky. I don't see it going well.

So as I stare at this nail, I want to believe that a cattle egret flew by and without knowing, I asked for my usual and the wish got granted. That has to be the only explanation :D.

What about you? Do you have beliefs from your past you still can't explain?

Have a good week and enjoy the jam below. It's an oldie but a goodie, "Shian Pepe" by Da Natives. One of them is 2Baba's younger brother :).

Tonia