Scars (Romola 2)

32: Dead Woman

Romola got off the bike and hurried down the narrow path that led to the clearing. What did the message mean by dead? She burst out in the clearing and under the bright day of the sun— In time to see Mr Ibrahim bend over his okada.

He straightened, squinting at her. 

She dropped her eyes, hastening towards the house on the right until he called out, "Romola is that you?"

She turned to the man. His mid-section looked bigger than she remembered and his house boasted of a fresh new coat of paint.

"Good morning Sir."

"Good morning. How are you doing?"

Romola looked towards the house. No sign of a living human remained. She turned back to her primary three teacher. "I'm fine. Do you know if my mother... if my mother is at home?"

He shrugged. "Where do you stay now? Are you working?"

Romola frowned at the man. Mr. Ibrahim did not care about her. Where was he when her father had chased her out of the house with a machete? All he wanted to know was the next story he could tell his students in class.

"I said I am fine." She turned away from him and marched up the staircase unto the house pouch and into the house.

The net door shut behind her while her pupils dilated to accommodate the darker look of the room. She looked around the living room and caught the faint sounds of sniffs in a corner. She followed the sound into her mother's room. 

 Her mouth twisted—her heart pounded—as she crossed the door post, wondering what she would see. The message had to be wrong. If indeed her mother were dead, there had to be mourners outside the house. Mama Nelson would be there, trying to co-ordinate everyone. There would be someone other than Lolade, clutching their mother's body fiercely.

A bread tray in the corner set her mind at peace. There could not be bread if her mother was dead. 

"Lolade." 

"Where were you?" Lolade turned to her with tear-stricken face. "He wanted to kill her. I told you to come."

"I'm sorry." Romola gazed at the right side of their mother. She took a step forward then another backward. What if she touched the woman and found the body to be cold?

Romola knelt beside her mother and placed her hand below her mother's nostrils. She stored air in her chest while waiting for any indication of life. Faint warm air caressed her arms. She let down her hand and reached under her mother's blouse, to the left breast. 

A slow but steady thumping of her mother's chest assured her. Romola let out the breath she held and the tightness of her face faded. "Thank God." She muttered.

She drew her hand away from her mother's swollen face. Her eyebrow had tripled in size and blood flood from a tear on her cheeks.

"She's fine."

"She's not moving." Lolade sat in a corner, sucking her sobs.

"She will be fine. What happened?" Romola reached to the pile of clothed in the corner and began to clump them together. 

No doubt her step father had lost his temper again.

Lolade buried her head on Romola's lap, holding on like her older sister was all she had.

"Brother Jide brought some money home yesterday and mummy told him to go and give it back because he sold the chicken he stole from the farmer but daddy told him to keep it, that he has business sense. Mummy told daddy that he doesn't know anything. That's when they started fighting and he locked the room."