Something happened today. I was walking with my brother Lanre, 8, and my sister, Sade, 5. We sell ice, wrapped in little bags, balanced on a tray on our heads. Then, we walk all over Lagos calling out, “Iced water! Come and drink iced water!” If we don’t have enough money to buy water from the ice company, we beg. Sometimes Mama comes with us. Other times, she doesn’t. Today, she didn’t.
“Iced water! Don’t let the heat take you! Iced water!” I called out. I held my tray with one hand, Sade with another and Lanre did the same. Mama said that I should never let them out of my sight because of gbomogbomo, child-stealers: “They’ll take you and turn you into a servant and you’ll never see me nor your siblings again.”
Today, we were at Apapa port, near one of those places that white people liked to eat when an area boy pushed me and told me to give him my money. I refused. If I give him the money and return home empty-handed, who will save me from my father’s beating? I screamed out at the top of my voice, pointing to him. “Ole! Thief! Everybody, thief!”
“Ole!”
“Where?!”
“Get him!”
A crowd of people ran towards the area boy and started kicking him. I saw someone stamp on his face. Somebody else put a tire around his neck. When they poured petrol on him, I pulled Lanre and Sade away and we ran. I thought the area boy’s friends would come after us but nobody did. Sade didn’t stop crying until we got home and she saw Mama.
I told Mama what happened. She was quiet for a few moments. “At least you’re all safe and well,” she said.
Father held out his hand. We all gave him our money.
“In a few weeks, you’ll be making even better money than this,” he said waving the naira notes at me.
2 comments:
am following this story so patiently...and even in my mind i can picture the scenes, its the plight of the average "street" child in Lagos.
However, i want to know if this is the book already or just the blog..??
Thank you Ogochukwu. This is not the book. This is the blog of Eyo, the main character of the book. I'm trying to do something different (or insane, whichever way you look at it) by giving her her own space (this blog). I aim to update this blog weekly as the novel (which I'm currently working on) progresses.
I honestly don't know how all this stuff will pan out. It's a first for me, having an interactive writing journey. Writers are incredibly secretive about their work as you may or may not know. Who knows, maybe I'll publish the blog alongside the novel. We'll see how it goes. In the meantime, any comments etc you readers have will be most appreciated.
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