CANDLE LIGHT - The Beginning
Things began to change when Aunty Oroma came to spend a holiday in our house. My mother slammed open the door of the children's room that morning and asked I and my elder sister to tidy up the guest room. We both frowned because we thought it was one of those days when she just wanted to keep us busy for no reason. She then asked brother Bernard to help us put the boxes in the room into the cupboard up. When Brother Bernard was done, Sister Amaka swept the room while I dressed the bed. The guest room was the smallest bedroom in our house, the biggest was the master bedroom which belonged to our parents followed by the children's bedroom. We only cleaned that room during the weekend, but this was just Tuesday.
Mama came in when Sister Amaka just finished mopping the floor with water, detergent and disinfectant. I was standing at the door when mama came in holding a can of Air-freshener. She sprayed it across the room evenly while Sister Amaka ran out covering her nose because she couldn't stand choking scents.
"Oya come and help me in the kitchen" mama said. She waited for us to pass and then she walked behind us, using the tip of her fingers to push me gently.
When we got to the kitchen, Sister Amaka went to one of the bags mama brought from the market. She unpacked it and took the already sliced okazi for pounding. She pulled out the mortar and pestle from the locker and cleaned them. Then she emptied the nylon bag of okazi into the mortar and began to pound. Mama walked towards the sink and continued cutting the fresh water leaf which I was sure she washed several times with water and salt. I leaned against the wall and began to watch Sister Amaka. She pounded the Okazi so energetically that I was sure in no time she was going to be through with it. Mama turned back and saw me doing nothing.
"Ogini?!!" She said it so loudly that Chi Chi our house help peeped from the backyard where she was washing the snail which mama was to use for the Afang soup.
The kitchen door leading to the backyard was usually left open for cross ventilation whenever we were cooking.
"Chidera, so you don't know what to do in this kitchen? Why are you standing?" She continued.
I squeezed my face naughtily because I was a little bit angry that mama was raising her voice at me.
"Ngwanu, go to the room biko. I don't want stress this afternoon" I began to head for the room. As I was going, mama kept on saying,
"Thank GOD I have Amaka and Chi Chi to help"
While mama had said all those things, Amaka did not move or turn her face, she kept on pounding as though nothing had happened. Once, mama had slapped her because she was shouting at the top of her voice at Chi Chi while Amaka was still blending okporo; making noise. Mama who was in a bad mood slapped her very hard. But Amaka never said a word, she just poured the okporo into the container where we usually store it. I just wondered if Sister Amaka had forgotten that day so soon.
After a long while, as I was in the room reading a novel, I began to hear the slap-slap sound of mama's slippers , the slippers she always wore anytime she was at home, the slippers that always made the slap-slap sound to tell me to stop any wrong I was doing because mama was approaching. I quickly hid the novel under my pillow. Mama opened the door
"Chidera your food is ready".
I followed mama immediately. When I got to the dinning room, Sister Amaka had already sat down, Brother Bernard was in the freezer room trying to find dissolved water for us to drink. Mama sat opposite Sister Amaka. Just then, Brother Bernard came in with two bottles of chilled water and few glass cups placed in a tray. I went to the kitchen to wash my hand because mama never permitted us to bring a bowl of water to the dinning to wash our hands.
In the kitchen, Chi Chi was sitted on a stool. She had already started eating. Chi Chi never sat on the dinning table whenever Papa or Mama were seated. I got to the dinning and sat on the seat Papa usually sat on. He only permitted me to sit on it. This was because I was the youngest child and his favorite. Mama whispered a short prayer to herself and then began to eat. I prayed too, then I looked into my bowl at the thick afang soup. Mama put three big pieces of snail in my bowl with plenty stock fish. I quickly took a ball of garri which was very soft. I was sure mama made it herself, I was sure she turned it very well after adding little groundnut oil. I put the little ball of garri into my soup and went straight for the stock fish. I took a generous amount of soup with the stock fish along with my garri into my mouth. I continued eating in that sequence as time ran by. Then I turned to sister Amaka, she was eating so gracefully, little by little, bit by bit, neatly, making sure no garri stuck to her fingers. I looked at mama, she was eating the canda from the last piece of meat. Then, I looked at Brother Bernard, He usually ate little so I looked at him as he was struggling to eat the small garri left on his plate. Brother Bernard's eyes caught mine, I quickly stared at my bowl of soup. Sister Amaka stood up with her plates and said "Thank you mama". Mama nodded and drank her cup of water. Mama then stood up and went to the kitchen. Brother Bernard quickly dropped a piece of snail into my bowl. I didn't want it but I couldn't give it back to him, that would have been rude. When I got to the kitchen, I gave the piece of snail to Chi Chi because mama had gone into the room.
After we finished tidying the kitchen, we went to meet Brother Bernard in the room. Interestingly, we saw.........