Twelfth:
The Seventh Day Of Christmas
I stood at the fancy blocks staring at her, Desire was her name as Amaka had said and truly she was my desire at this moment. I watched as she smiled and when she hugged mum I felt my tummy turn, they looked so good together. I was still lost in her when our eyes locked.
“Sharp boy don fuck up” I muttered under my breath as I swallowed my shame and came out.
“Chike, why don’t you show Desire here around” mum said immediately I stepped out.
“Can’t Amaka do that?” I asked which gained me a million eye rolls.
“Amaka is going to be helping us here.” Amaka’s mum said.
I knew what they were doing, they were doing their usual match making and this time around, I actually liked this match I wanted it just as much.
“Me, I am hungry” I argued while praying deep down that they insist, and surely, my mum could never disappoint. She insisted, as she almost pushed both of us out through the back gate.
The harmattan breeze was mild but cold enough to make us not notice that we were walking too close to each other. The warmth from our body kept us going.
“So you didn’t want to walk me?” Desire asked in a tone that didn’t need a reply. I made to reply but the thought of the things I should say escaped my head.
“It’s okay” she said not smiling “you don’t need to explain anything to me” She added smiling but one could tell the smile was not real.
“My name is Chike” I stated as we walked past her house.
“I am Desire” she replied after a while
“Wow! You have a really lovely name.” I said pausing in front of a big house with gigantic gates “Here is the king’s house” I said pointing to the house.
“I’m an Architect” I said as we started walking again
“Well, I’m a Food Nutritionist” she said wowing me, one would think she did nothing but sit pretty and stay pretty but here she was with one of the toughest jobs one could ever have.
“I know the course is nothing in Nigeria, you guys don’t respect it and all.” she added smiling as she continued walking with me.
“That’s not true, I don’t know who told you that but we do respect and value Food Nutritionists like we value any other valuable profession” I corrected her misconception.
“Whose house is this?” She asked staring at a mud house
“That’s the oldest house in the village and the house that reminds us of who we are here” I told her.
“I can remember this house, we lived in the village right before we had to leave the country but growing up we were instructed to never go near it or play around it as it was a Christmas gift from Ndinkwo the next village” she said pointing up in the direction of where both the village square and the demarcation of the two villages were.
“Yes, it had always been a thing of contention between the villages on who should own the village square, it caused a fight for two generations until one day our king decided to offer them our popular pine wine as a Christmas present they in turn bulit our king a house and designed it with drawings of ‘seven swams swimming.’ ” I added as we moved closer to admire the designer “It had been a sight to see when they finished and after that we promised that as long as time and seasons stayed we would stay friends” I finished off the story my father had told me.
“ I love the fact that we have a rich history” she said smiling at me as we continued our journey.
Yourpenship
David Vera Sorochi
Edited: Onwuzuligbo Judith