The First Cackle.
The morning light seemed a little too bright for the early hours at which I had hoped to rise, it was a school morning, and to think Mrs. Okafor's cane might get a better part of my butt jolted me out of bed so fast that I stumbled on my feet as I headed for the bathroom. Where the hell was my mom?, she wasn't this careless with household care at least I would gladly take an awakening thunderous slap than the wicked swish of Mrs. Okafor's favorite Wooden pain-inducing machine she called " Ogwu" translated as Medicine in my native tongue. The cane was as thin as Mrs Okafor's herself and had the ability to make a circling twist that hugged your bum in a spark of pain and tingling.
Standing at the bathroom door I could swear I heard voices coming from the sitting room, it might be a little late for me to be up at this time but it sure was too early to be entertaining visitors at such odd hours. What sounded like masculine voices were coming in such hushed whispers you could swear they were holding some kind of occultist gathering. Father wasn't supposed to be seeing anyone, mother had said so. How else could we be having male visitors?. I was just 14 but I sure trusted my intuition enough to know something wasn't entirely right.
On tip toes I walked towards the noise source as I approached the dining area I made sure to stick to the walls and slowly peered through the wall edges so I could see and not be seen. I couldn't see my parents only a bunch of pot bellied men but I could swear I heard my mother's voice and it sounded so weak not her usual assertive singsong voice, one of the men had a beautiful blue rosary hanging around his neck I could have sworn I knew him from somewhere, my Eidetic memory never fails me. Peering more closely with caution slowly in the dim light of the sitting room I could make out Mr. Agbaje my neighbor and two other men I recognized from the church and when the last face came into focus I withdrew with shock; my catechist was in my house. Quickly I retraced my footsteps and climbed into the bath tub all the while contemplating this sudden gathering.
I had barely rubbed enough soap into my hair when I heard a very familiar demonic laughter it sounded almost like something a crazy person was capable of doing, but this voice wasn't capable of such I mean my father wasn't a man know for such unchecked behavior. He was the usual humorous and quiet man capable of bringing people to tears with his puns while he himself managed only a small Smile that threatened to let all his teeth out. What could be so funny this morning that made him let out such emotion while the others from my ears could tell shared in no such humor. I managed to run my soap laden hand over my body before washing off with so much haste that standing in front of my mother's full length mirror I could see that I had left a significant amount of soap on my head, rushing right back I quickly ran my hand over my head while I poured some water and that was when I heard my father scream loudly " I said am Fine, what is your problem?, Biko hapu m aka"
Mandy must have heard the shouting as she came up behind me eyes startled while scratching her pretty little head, she was five and quite smart for her age standing there in her princess Sofia night wear it would take more than a commanding tone to get her to not go out to the sitting room to find out for her curious self what was wrong.
" Nna, whose shouting? ,where's mommy?" she said with a bit of tiredness in her voice, it just dawned on me that she should have been dressed for school. What the hell was wrong this morning?. Was there some kind of Nationwide strike I didn't know about?. Why wasn't Mandy dressed yet?. Father wasn't supposed to be out until tomorrow and here he was attending to visitors at an odd hour. My catechist is in my house at this odd hour of the day, is father Ill?.
" Mandy, mommy is talking to visitors, oya come and take your bath, go and pull your night gown you hear".
" I want to sleep joor leave me alone, my mommy will bathe me"
Mandy's tantrums were the last thing I wanted to deal with right now plus I had an already pending problem of having to escape a potentially teary morning at school.
" Ok ooo, let mommy come and see you are not ready for school she will spank you"
Mandy simply raised her nose slightly with a motion of her mouth we called ' yinmu' at school a sign that you didn't fall for a person's lies or tricks.
" She will not beat me I have done my homework, ntoorrr" she replied showing me her tongue.
The Hushed voices were raised as Father's voice grew louder Mandy who was already walking away from me towards my mother's room simply turned on her heels and said in an excited voice
" Daddy oyoyo" I knew there was no stopping her as she darted past me towards the sitting room all the same i bounded after her in an effort to stop her before she interrupts the meeting. It was too late as Mandy simply made it past the dining area with me in pursuit. My mother must have heard Mandy squeal and the shuffled feets as we came into view me clutching at Mandy's pajamas while she made running motions.
" What is it?, leave her alone" my mother said with blazing eyes that looked teary while the other men looked on. I mumbled quick good mornings at each of them making sure not to lock eyes with Mr Peter-Mary, my catechist. Slowly I retreated to my room to finish up my preparations for school, digital clock above my bed head stand read 7:30. I sure was in acceptance that today wouldn't be any good for me starting off with Mrs. Okafor's caning and heading on to sit for 45 minutes in Miss Wendy's boring class of ICT and not to talk of the gnawing feeling of something being wrong today.
It took me another 10 minutes to get dressed for school, I had always been meticulous about preparing for school the night before, now all I had to do was put on my uniform and head out. I had barely tied the last knot on my shoe lace when Mandy low tiny voice came behind me.
" nna, mommy said I should give you", she said holding out a crisp Two hundred Naira note. This was double my usual cash, an indication that I was going to have no break fast today. It usually was a Friday ritual where I went to school without breakfast with only cash to help me get snacks at school break since we closed earlier than usual school days but today was Thursday, further confirming my suspicions that something was wrong enough to have made mother not prepare breakfast which also served as lunch. Turning to Mandy after slinging my overweight bag over my shoulders I noticed she still had her pajamas on so I asked
" Are you not going to school, Mandy?"
" My mommy said she'll carry me to school with her car the school bus has gone"
Mandy's school was a good 25 minutes drive from the house. Mother had insisted that she got enrolled at the school close to her office at the law firm. So she could pick her up after school hours and bring her home, most times the school bus brought her to the office themselves. Her defense had been Mandy's school closed earlier than mine and she would not hear of her waiting out my return at the Agbaje's partly I knew it was because she never really liked the Agbaje's considering their ethnic origins she frequently referred to them as "ndi ofe nmanu" contextually it referred to the fact that the Agbaje's being Yorubas ate soups made up entirely of palmoil and lots of very chilly pepper another reason was they had rough children about four of them, 3 boys and a girl about Mandy's age who constantly dished out 'wakas' —extended hand showing a widely ope palm, to all and sundry. Her perpetually running nose was an entirely different matter.
Quickly I shooed Mandy out of my room locked it and made sure to place the key in my hiding place. Not like I had anything to hide but it was a matter of keeping out Mandy who had made it a constant practice of walking in and helping her self to my books leaving it one or two pages less than she saw it, my Atlas had suffered the most because of it's pretty pictures and colors. I made a mental note to buy some ' Minimie' as I stepped out. The constant growling in my stomach was becoming an even more unwelcoming sound than that of Mrs Okafor's cane swooping sounds going on in my head.