After
waiting a little longer, they heard a knock on the door. Cynthia opened the
door and saw Chuka standing at the door, with his shirt thorn and bleeding from
the side of his mouth.
“O My God!” she
shouted. “What happened to you?”
He did
not respond. He handed over the kerosene can to her.
“What is that?”
their mother asked, rushing out to the door.
She
shouted too when she saw him looking battered. She saw some people in the
compound looking in their direction. So she held his hand and gently drew him
into the house and closed the door.
“What happened to
you?” Mabel asked when she saw how battered he looked.
He kept
quiet. Cynthia kept the kerosene can on the floor and helped him sit on the
chair.
“Say something,”
their mother said. “What happened?”
He just sighed.
“Did you have an
accident?” Mabel asked him.
He
shook his head.
“So what happened?”
He
looked at Cynthia and did not say anything.
“Cynthia please come
and find out what happened to Chuka.”
Cynthia
sat beside him and asked him what happened. He tried to talk and writhed in
pain.
“Sorry,” Cynthia
said.
“I know you will be
disappointed with me,” he began.
“Why? What
happened?”
“I fought.”
“Where?”
“At the filling
station.”
He
writhed in pain again. They told him ‘sorry’.
“Why did you fight?”
their mother asked him.
“When I got there,”
he said. “The queue was a bit long, so I decided to jump the queue. I tried to
do sharp-guy and get to the front.”
“Why?”
He
looked at Cynthia and said, “Because I knew you needed the kerosene as soon as
possible. So I wanted to make sure you get it early enough.”
“Why didn’t you go
to the kiosk?” their mother asked him. “I thought you said you were going that
way?”
“I changed my mind.
It is cheaper at the filling station.”
“So what happened?”
Cynthia asked.
“Some guys objected
and I tried doing ‘hard-man’, so we ended up exchanging blows.”
“So sorry.”
“But you still got
the kerosene,” Mabel said. “How come?”
“A woman told them
to allow me buy,” he said.
“If I had known this
would happen to you,” their mother said. “I would have just bought it by myself
at the kiosk.”
Mabel took the kerosene can and went
towards the kitchen.
“Let me boil water
to clean you up,” she said.
“Clean me up?” Chuka
asked with a babyish grin.
“I mean your face,”
Mabel said, laughing. “Yeye man.”
“I don’t mind
Cynthibaby cleaning me up o.”
“As what na?”
Cynthia asked, laughing. “Because of ordinary kerosene?”
They
laughed.
“Remove your shirt
let me sew it for you,” their mother said.
“Don’t worry
yourself ma,” Chuka said. “I will just change it when I get to the house.”
“What will your
brother say when he sees you like this?”
“He is not around?”
“Is he not coming
back today?” Cynthia asked him.
“No. He traveled to
the village with his wife and daughter. They should be back by Sunday.”
“So you are alone in
the house,” their mother said
“Yes ma.”
Cynthia
looked at her mother quizzically. Her mother knew what she was thinking.
“That means you will
eat here before you go,” she said to him.
“I thought you
wanted to ask me to sleep over sef.” he said, smiling.
They
laughed.
“Don’t mind me,” he
continued. “I was joking.”
“I know,” their
mother said.
“I doubt if I can
eat here sef.”
“Why?”
“I have food to eat
at home. If I eat here, that one will waste.”
“Hmm. But you will
wait for me to clean you up,” Cynthia said. “I mean your face.”
“Ok.”
Chuka sunk into the chair. Their
mother went into the kitchen and Cynthia followed behind her.
“Is the water
ready?” she asked Mabel.
“Almost,” Mabel
said. “I just boiled small.”
“It does not have to
get to boiling point.”
“Then it should be
okay now.”
Their
mother checked the water and brought down the kettle.
“Get a bucket from
the bathroom and one of those small towels,” she told Cynthia.
Cynthia
went to the bathroom and soon came back with the bucket. Her mother poured the
water into the bucket and added normal water until it was the right
temperature.
“Carry it and wipe
his face,” she told Cynthia, handing over the bucket to her.
She
also gave her a cup of warm water for him to rinse his mouth. Cynthia went to
the sitting room with cup and bucket while Mabel helped her mother prepare
dinner.
“What would we have
said if his brother saw him like this?” their mother asked Mabel.
“It would have been
bad o,” Mabel said. “He would have said we have turned his kid brother into our
errand boy.”
“Exactly. Thank God
nothing happened to him.”
“But you did not
force him na. He offered to help.”
“That is not how
people will see it o.”
“You are right.”
In the
sitting room, Cynthia slowly cleaned Chuka’s face.
“The water is hot,”
he said each time Cynthia touched his face with the towel.
“It is not. This is
how it should be so it will work.”
“Ok.”
While Cynthia was still cleaning
his face, Chuka suddenly held her hand.
(...to be continued)
Nedu Isaac
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