My eyes open to the ray of light piercing through the space between the curtains. I feel weighted down with weariness, they say in the morning it'll be alright but I swear I felt better last night. The air is still, the sun has already come up and the birds are chirping at my window. This morning I'm irritated by their constant shrill sounds, I just want to go back to sleep and dream. They must have read my mind because they fly away.
I'm drifting off to sleep again dreaming of distant lands when I hear the sound of water beating against a steel bucket. Those children have come again this morning.
"Come here, there is plenty water in this tap!" One of them yell to the others, completely jolting me out of my sleepiness.
I am angry.
Very angry.
"Yes...yes I did" Mama Joe said a bit surprised, this line of questioning was unanticipated. How could he have known that she went out?
"And where did you go?" the sergeant asked almost impatiently.
"I went to dispose of the bin"
"Around what time was this?" he asked gruffly.
"I'm not sure, maybe around past ten" she said.
"And what happened then?"
"Just as I stepped out to take out the bin, I heard gunshots so I got scared and ran back in" she said gesticulating with her wrinkled hands.
"Madam do you usually take out the trash by 10 pm?"
"No, but yesterday I got carried away by a film I was watching"
"And the trash couldn't wait till this morning?" Sergeant Fofah queried
"Officer is there a crime in taking out my trash at whatsoever time I please?" she retorted
"No, but it is suspicious that on the night of a chase, you coincidentally happen to be taking out your trash at an unusual time" he responded coldly.
"Young man I've had enough of your insinuations, accusations and insolence. If you want to arrest me for taking out my trash please do, and if not kindly get to your point or get out my house!" she said firmly
So I have received reprimands for not posting yesterday (I'm sorry)! This is the continuation of Gloria's story and as always the series continues next week. Please remember to share the link with your contacts.
P.S: It's my birthday tomorrow so please shaaaaare!
Mama Joe as she was popularly called had been disposing of her dustbin when she heard gunshots and saw the fragile girl running wildly towards her. Her first instinct was to run back inside the house, but there was something about the girl that made her decide to take her in. Looking at her lying on the carpet in her living room she saw that she had made the right decision. The girl was painfully thin and she could see from her healing skin that she had been brutally beaten. What kind of thing had this frail young girl gotten herself into?
"Unbelievable!" Madam B hissed disgustedly. "I was suspicious of that girl. I knew something was not right about her toilet story. Damn it!"
"Beatrice just calm down..." the Inspector was saying
"Don't you dare tell me to calm down!" she yelled. "This is all your fault. Who knows if both of you have planned this?"
She froze, rooted to the ground. She had heard Madam B dismissing the boys for the night, the Inspector liked his privacy. Who then could be behind her, it was a voice she wasn't familiar with. Madam B would definitely kill her if she got caught, the last person who tried to escape had been taken away and no one had seen her again.
"I said where are you going?" the voice called out more sternly.
"I heard that some of you are grumbling, you don't like this place and you want to leave. Listen and listen carefully! There's nowhere for you to go, you're all mine." Madam B thundered, looking at the girls disdainfully and taking a minute to wipe the perspiration on her upper lip with a sparkling white scented handkerchief. The ceiling fan was rolling at the highest speed but it could not stop nature- Madam B was a big woman.
"You young girls are not at all patient and you have no foresight because if you did you would know that we are moving into a new house soon. Not just any kind of house but the one built by Senator Brown. Very soon you would all be glowing, he is also making sure that all of you get a change of wardrobe and of course that means a higher class of customers like politicians" she paused observing the effect of this new information on the girls and wiping her upper lip again.
"So I'm warning you to be very careful and not test my patience. I don't want to hear of any grumbling again and before any of you decide to be smart, remember the oath!"
Gloria sat on her bed and bit her lips nervously, she had to get out of this place.
Kelani wiped his face with a dirty face towel and sighed. His polyester flower patterned shirt clung to his sweaty body, he had rolled up the sleeves and undone the first three buttons revealing his hairy chest and protruding belly. The light turned green and he drove frantically, trying to go beyond the traffic light before it turned red again. He felt another vehicle bump into his but he was more concerned with getting out of traffic, he made a mental note to check it later. He was seven cars away when the light turned red. He hissed angrily and wiped his face again, he couldn’t afford to be stuck in this traffic, he needed every naira he got these days and every moment spent in traffic was a waste of time, money, and fuel. He leaned his head against the headrest and wondered when he would get out of the holdup, he was approaching an intersection and he could see that the cars that had passed the traffic light were at a stand still. Even when the light turned green, they were going nowhere soon.
He looked at the sidewalk and watched a pregnant woman waddling on, he knew he should take pity on her because it was a very sunny afternoon and she was very heavy but he felt nothing but contempt for her. He turned away from her, his wife had dared to tell him she was pregnant again despite the fact that they already had four children
It’s raining, long lines of
transparent liquid falling on the cement floor. The raindrops falling on the
roof create a din that soothes me, I’m alone with the rain, the thunder and lightening
and that’s fine. I’d rather be here looking out my window than outside with my
parents. It’s cold so I grab my blanket and resume my watch at the window
staring at the rain and hoping it never stops.
“What do you mean by that?” my father
shouts angrily
“I’m asking you to tell me the
truth!” my mother shouts back.
I block out their argument, they’re
always fighting so I’ve perfected the act of shutting them out. She’ll never
hear the truth from him; she ought to know that by now. Lightening strikes.
“The neighbours have been telling
me things” my mother says emphatically
“Then maybe you should stop
listening for once!”
“I’m tired of making excuses for
you…” my mother says wearily. I think she has reached her breaking point. The argument
will soon be over; whenever she reaches her breaking point there is silence for
a long time and then she’s happy again. I wish I was a mermaid, part human and
part animal so that I get to choose when I want to be in the world and when I want
to be safe under water. If I was a mermaid I would also be beautiful and
wanted, I am ugly now and no one wants me.
There is silence now just as I predicted
and I wonder what they do when they are quiet. Do they just stare at each
other, walk away, think or fall asleep? I know when I’m quiet I think, there’s
a lot to think about and when I’m done thinking, I fall asleep. I yawn and my
eyelids are starting to close, it’s easy to succumb to the coolness of the
rain.
She went about like an automaton;
kneeling, smiling, and talking when necessary. She laid out the dining table
and stood back to inspect her work, the flowers looked withered so she took
them away to replace them with fresher flowers. She proceeded to the guest room
and surveyed it, the bed was made and the bathroom was clean with freshly
laundered towels and the necessary toiletries; everything seemed to be in place
until she noticed a vague stain on the bedsheet, she pulled it off the mattress
to get a cleaner one from the wardrobe. She spread out all the bedsheets but
they all had the same satin, and were in the exact spot as the one she had
pulled off. What was going on? There were clean ones in her bedroom, she would
get one of those.
Her children were playing in the
passage way and for some reason it upset her. “Go to your rooms now!” she ordered
as the children scampered to their rooms. She smiled a lopsided smile and went
into her bedroom where she found a clean bedsheet that was free from the stains
of the others. She sat on her bed and cried into it like a mother whose child
was going away to a far country “I will miss you” she said patting the bedsheet
lovingly.
Dear reader, this is the end of the series Tales of a year. I sincerely hope you have enjoyed it and you have an idea of what my experiences were, please feel free to post your comments and suggestions about the series. I appreciate all the comments, suggestions and shares; every kind word has spurred me on. Tomorrow there will be another story so please don't be a stranger!
Patrick Oko sat down quietly,
amused by the corp members popularly known as corpers. He had followed one of them after school to Mama Dennis’
joint where some drank beer while others waited for a ride into town. They
talked about everything between their individual experiences in the village and
with the villagers to their expectations after their service year ended. They
were completely oblivious of his presence, freely expressing their disdain of
some of the villagers. Patrick was greatly amused; what seemed strange and
disdainful to them was the norm to him, it was the only way of doing things.
They were the strange ones. He enjoyed being in their company though; he even
considered it a priviledge that they would bare his company. It was like being
in the company of higher beings who knew everything, he had just heard a new
word, ‘swag’ and brought out his notebook to write it down (as was his habit) so
he could look it up later.
Mary was excited, the future held
a lot of possibilities. She had just completed her WAEC and very soon would be
going to the university. No one in her family had a university degree; her
father who was a clerk in the local government office had only attended the
college of education. She was a brilliant student and was therefore confident
of the outcome of the examinations. She could already see herself dressed like
the university girls she saw in the home videos, she would finally be able to
use the lipstick her school forbade girls from using. After four years of studying
Banking and Finance, she would “serve” and then work for two, no, one year in a
bank in Lagos like Mr Ode’s nephew did then she would marry Emma. Ah! Emma. Now
that was another reason to be excited.
She had met him at her friend
Patience’s house during her grandmother’s burial ceremony. What a party that
was! There was enough beer and goat meat for the entire village and all the big
men from far away Lagos had even been in attendance. Emma and his friends had
been drinking and laughing boisterously while she and her friends giggled in
admiration, when suddenly he looked straight at her. For a moment, time froze
as she looked into in his brown eyes. He was so handsome! She looked away,
blushing and lowering her eyelids. No one had ever had that effect on her.
One month later, they were dating
and she was the envy of her friends. Emma ran two businesses; he owned a kiosk
where he sold mobile phone components, spare parts and recharge cards, and he had
a bike which he used for commercial purposes. He was the ideal man for a lot of
the girls in the village. He bought her new clothes and cheap jewelry
especially when he went to Otukpo on business. Her mother approved of him, how
could any mother not when she received countless gifts from her potential
son-in-law. Her friends in the Peace Society recently complimented her new
wrapper at Mama Maureen’s daughter’s wedding.
Mary really liked him, but
sometimes she had her doubts about him. Sometimes she desired more; she looked
forward to leaving her village and living a better life but she wasn’t so sure
that Emma shared this dream. Right now though, she was excited because Emma proposed
to her two weeks ago. She had told him of her dreams to further her studies and
live a better life and to her greatest surprise, he had not only promised to
wait for her, he also promised to sponsor her education. What more could a girl
ask for? It was even possible that he would change his mind about living in the
village, she was sure she could convince him otherwise.
It was the market day and she
approached the market feeling lighthearted, basket in hand. Suddenly, several
hands grabbed her and carried her to a waiting vehicle. She struggled fiercely,
screaming at the men to let her go while the market women cheered. This could
not be happening! She had explained! She suddenly became weak with fear. Her
captors laughed, teasing her and telling her not to worry. It was almost dark
when they got to their destination and as soon as she set her feet on the
ground, shots were fired from locally made guns. Out of nowhere, young men came
at her, rubbing ashes on her chest.
She was taken into a bedroom and
left alone. “I’ll reason with him. He loves me, he would understand’, she
thought. Finally the door opened and Emma stepped in, clad only in a wrapper.
“Mary” he called huskily, a
lustful smile stretching his perfect pink lips.
“Emma, what is this? This is not
what we agreed upon” she said furiously, unable to contain her anger.
“Did you really think I would let
you run off to the university? Don’t worry, I’ll lake care of you like I
promised” he said, his voice heavy with anticipated passion as he walked
towards her.
She struggled initially,
screaming with rage, fear, then pain but finally gave in when she realised he
had conquered her. She lay silently, enduring his unbridled desire throughout
the night and cried. She mourned her aborted dreams, full of despair at the
bleak future that awaited her. This was the custom. He had taken her
maidenhead, he had infact married her and her father would never allow her to
divorce him. She was sure now that she would never see the four walls of the
university she had dreamed of, there would be babies soon and the house to
tend.
In
the morning she arose and swept the family compound as was the custom, while
her husband and his family prepared her dowry which by now her family were
eagerly expecting.
