Donigspain - S01 E80

Story 2 years ago

Donigspain - S01 E80

Read Story: SEASON 1 EPISODE 80

I met my cousin on the way to

their house. “Nna, I heard you

came back with a girl” was the

first question he asked as soon

as I was a hearing distance.

“Who told you?” I fired back out

of curiosity. “Dey dia na. The

news don go everywhere,” he

replied amidst laughter. ‘D--n,

this village people sabi carry

rumour,’ I cursed under my

breath. Anyways, that’s not my

headache. We walked around the

village like we normally do during

Christmas season.

I noticed some of the girls we

met on the road had this

suspicious look in their eyes

whenever our eyes met. It was

when we met one of my village

‘friends’ that I really got to

understand what was going on.

“Spain, hmmm, your wife is fine

o,” Amara had said. She had

always tried to get my attention

whenever we came back for

Christmas but I never did

returned the favour partly

because I found her unattractive

especially with her muscled arms

due to farm labour. “Which wife

kwa? Ohhh, I understand. Thank

you,” I had replied. She left after a

while. I noticed she was not

really her usual self. Is she

jealous? That’s her cup of ‘zobo’.

Ifeoma and I had little contact

until in the evening when I went

back to my mother’s side to see

how things were going. I met

her helping out in the kitchen

with the ‘Ndi Ada’ (First Daughter

Group). She was washing the

parboiled rice with my elder

sister in preparation for the

wake-keeping. I was about to call

her out for a little chat when I

saw my mum – her eyes

bloodshot. I went closer to

where she was standing and

overheard her discussing with

one of my uncles. They were

talking about the room in which

my grandmother was lying in

state. They were talking about

the room having bad electrical

connection which resulted in the

fan that was put for the corpse

not working. The village

electrician who did the

temporary wiring had already

gone. The consequences of

having the room without fan

means that the corpse will likely

turn very dark by the next day.

My grandmother does not

deserve such treatment. It’s true

that she will be committed to

mother earth in no distant time

but the welfare of her corpse, at

least for now, is still a top

priority. I won’t like to hear

stories from people talking about

how we ‘bad looking’ my

grandmother was.

I called my mum aside and asked

her why other young men have

refused going in. She said those

who had been contacted

expressed fear since the room is

already dark and they will likely

be working alone. ‘Spain, why

don’t you just do this for your

grandmother?’ I heard a little

voice ask within. I told my mum I

will be going to work inside

there alone. She asked if I can do

it. She wasn’t asking if I can get

the electricity fixed. No, she

already was aware of my

ingenuity when it comes to

technical matters. She was rather

inquiring if I had the heart to

work in the room alone. I

reassured her of my not been

afraid of my own grandmother.

I took some working tools and

marched into the room like a

soldier sent to Maiduguri.