Ajira

Chapter 2

“Fire! Help!” Exclaimed Ajoke. Ajira switched off the electric cooker and sprayed off the fire with water to relinquish it, heat coming out of the kitchen like a furnace was reduced. “Ajira! What have you done? Have you lost it? Are you out of your senses or mind?” Asked Ajoke. Ajira does not know which and how to answer the questions asked by her sister in-law, she kept mute and let silence provide the answer. “The gas cooker, electric cooker, and water tap were all at work and you have the gut to be carried away by your thought, do you want to burn the house? You want to burn us all? You this ingrate” Ajoke protested angrily. She walked towards the electric cooker to check if the jollof rice on it is done in order to eat and placate her fuse. She opened the pot and stood back shockingly like someone who just suffered an electric shock. She opened her mouth with drools coming from her mouth to the pot. She was surprised by the change in color of the food, the supposed red rice had changed to red and black, she moved closer towards Ajira to land her raised hands on her cheek, but she returned it back to the pot handle she was holding. She gathered the red color in the food flask and gathered the black one in a separate bowl. She called out to her children and served them their dinner from the food flask.

“And for you Ajira, I had known you will bring nothing but bad luck into this house since the day you stepped your foot here, you are nothing but woe!” She yelled on her. Ajira looked straight into Ajoke's eyes sadly, her eyes was red as scarlet, then her eyes water obeyed her.

“What’s wrong with you? Do you wanna beat me? Don’t ever look at me like that again, am I the one who sent calamity to you? That’s your food inside the bowl, take it or leave it, I don’t wanna see you on the dining table, dine here in the kitchen with your woe” Said Ajoke.

“How do you want me to eat this with Allen’s plate? Despite that the food was prepared by me, do I deserve this? Ajira retorted.

“Are you asking me that? Go back to your house and knock the ground to ask your parent, they would answer you” Said Ajoke

“Don’t drag my parent into this, don’t ever mention my parent again” Protested Ajira.

“Okay, you wanna beat me, right? No problem” Said Ajoke.

She moved towards the food and helped it from the ground, glancing at the poor girl weeping.

“Reserve that water for another day, tell it not today, because you’ve drawn the battle line between us already” Said Ajoke.

She let the food solace on her head and whistled to summon Allen, Allen didn’t waste time, it four legs were as fast as bullet. She placed the food on the tiles and left it all to Allen to battle with it. Allen displayed a naughty habit to begin the battle, it dipped it mouth directly inside the plate, eating like a glutton. Well the fault wasn't on Allen, for that’s the only way it could eat the food.

Ajira was stagnant by the stony words said by Ajoke, she began to weep profusely. She looked up to heaven searching for God’s face, because to her, it seems God has hidden HER face from her, that God has forsaken her. She opened the refrigerator weakly and dived for the leftover of her Eba she reserved on the night before. She brought out the two morsels of Eba and gob with the little okra soup in it, regurgitating for a partial satisfaction, drinking her eyes water as water and her thick running nose as ponmon.

After she had finished the food, she walked out the house to play with the stars under the mango tree beside her uncle's house. Her eyes was fixed to a particular star.

“Hey you star, I know you’re mine, don’t dare move towards the cloud, for it would do you no good but harm, it would cover you from shinning. My dear star, hurry and become big like that one beside you, please don’t die” Ajira muttered to herself with her eyes closed.

“umm umm” Muttered a voice. Ajira was fixed, she looked every nook and cranny of the area to search for the possessor of the voice but she could not locate it, her heart was overloaded with panic, shivering and sweating profusely. The heavy footstep she later heard behind her dropped her on the floor half dead.