The House of the Man From Rizq

"Get in," she said, "I'll show you something you've never seen before."

"Yeah, right," Claudette said as she got in the shotgun seat of the somewhat battered Mazda.
I was in the backseat with stuff.  Single people always have a lot of stuff in their cars. I don't know why.  Apartment overflow, I guess. I peered forward at the back of Christina's head. There was a bat tattooed on her neck, and I resigned myself to the fact that a girl with a bat tattoo could probably show me something I had not seen before.  I decided I would be quiet and refrain from commenting on her driving style. The little car seemed to start off spinning and stop sliding, and all cornering was done on two wheels. With clenched teeth I maintained my composure.

"You say we're going to see a pyramid?" Claudette asked.

The girl with the tattoo said. "You got that right!" I knew she liked some rather bizarre architecture and was fond of the pyramid at Magnolia Cemetery in Charleston.

"But there's a lot more than a pyramid," she said. "You just gotta see it!"

We have left Covington, Georgia, and got on the road to Eatonton. The rolling countryside was beautiful in the spring sunshine. The trees had that special bright green of first growth. The little car bounced off the rural highway dodging potholes.  I felt as though we were traveling at an unsafe rate of speed. Of course, I could not let my fears be known without some damage to my male image. I was not in the frame of mind for male bashing which my dear wife and our daughter would have enjoyed.

We were entering open country as our driver said, "It's up ahead on the right!"

"What is that?" I asked.

"A pyramid, of course," Christina answered, "I told you you'd see something you hadn't seen before!"

"Hey, slow down, so I can get a better picture. That looks like the Sphinx and a statue of Isis"

"They get kinda upset when you take pictures," she said.

We were passing an arched gate with some kind of Egyptian hieroglyphics on it.  There were some men in  brimless hats holding automatic weapons guarding the gate. "Those looked like AK-47s to me," I said.

"They call themselves Nuwaubians, and they're always in trouble with the law.  They came here over ten years ago and bought almost five hundred acres of land to build their, uh, settlement on. Some of the local folks say they are waiting for a spaceship from the planet Rizq to come and get them," she was smiling when she said "spaceship".

"Waiting on a spaceship, what a novel idea,' Claudette said, " but it looks like they mostly live in those mobile homes. Christina, what's that sound?"

"That's supposed to be some kind of Egyptian call to prayer or something like the Muslim's call to prayer, I think." said our daughter. The black Mazda with bat decals on the back window was moving at a snail's pace while I made quick sketches.

"I think we better get outta here.  Those men with the AKs are coming this way. Never need to argue with a man with a submachine gun," I said.

She down-shifted and stomped the accelerator pedal, and the little car rocketed forward leaving the compound of the black supremacist.

The girl was right.  I did see something I had never seen before.

Additional Information

• The correct name of the compound was Tama-Re  founded in 1993.
• In 2001 Jesse Jackson visited the compound and pledged his support. 
• In 2002 FBI agents and Putnam County sheriff's officers raided the compound.
• January 2004: Nuwaubian leader Malachi York, 58, was convicted of child molestation and racketeering. He appeared to be going away for a very long time.
• The property was confiscated by the FBI, IRS, and Putnam County Sheriff.  The structures were destroyed and the property sold with the proceeds going to the identities named above.