The drums of war from an ancient time has slipped into my thoughts, with a tidal wave crashing into my little guy with smoked fish lined all over my fence. The shiny freshly grilled fish on an open flame sends sweet aroma to my hungry customers. Men and women that have spent days fishing and bringing home these tasty goodies.
Unlike their previous trips, the fish seem to have swam deeper into the great beyond and my hut far from the shore seemed a lot closer now.
This Langbasa land, tilled and fished on for centuries with the bones of my forefathers, deep down beneath this but willed to me from my Aboriginal mothers. The sound of the Lagoon tells .E it's time to go, yet I feel like a traitor and refused to leave.
My able bodied suitors were still at the sea which was not far from the raging lagoon that threatens to swallow us all whole.
Should I brace up and just fight and sim and survive this trying time?
And the best reply to that positive phrase and question is to ask, not why but when. When will my time come, as in when exactly do I get a break? All the men in my family are back, I mean half of them and I have sent off the women to trade our modern fabrics for old ones.
How do you think I know that something great is about to happen and why not now?
Did you even try and if you did, for how long? I think is no longer interesting to ask these type of questions. And I'm actually getting exhausted and tired of getting a Fresh look into my tired mind set. Vague abstract answers reveal who I have the potential to be and success stories motivate me but I really don't know what else to do.
Stepping outside I see the smoked fish soaked in mud and a steady rise in the lagoon water. It's not yet evening, so the tide should not be up, the boat I tied to the orange tree branch gate is floating. And as I untie it the water rises to my knee. I rush in to get grandpa who is choking in his sleep and I wake him up. The twin crammed up on my back start to cry hysterically, they sense it. If we are not awake, we would all have drowned. I drag him into the wobbling boat with a ton of water and catch a floating guord before it escaped and tossed it in with him. He starts to fetch and empty the boat of the water. My twins are crying now harder than before and I know the water is up to their feet as they splash and catch my attention. My old man drags and helps me into the boat as I drag the stick and maneuver us out of the hut. My neighbor too is old and her legs stopped working long ago, her unique ASO OKE styles help me mark up the price and none of her ten children have the gift of weaving but they all have the gift of selling. I move the boat to her hut and catch her holding on to a floating banana stalk. I help her and tons of water into the boat and as we get outside, the water carries her hut away.
I worry about others and then hear the talking drums call out and announce a meeting point. I stir the boat towards it as my twins calm down from me rocking and touching them, reassuring them we are all fine. The question was not how much property we lost, no. The talking drums asked for my grandpa and the old experienced Weaver of fabrics and of course, Iya Ibeji. I click my tongue and echo a melodic cry out in a sweet ancient song. Telling them we are all safe and then looking back at what was once a shore, now completely covered in water. Boats travelled for hours until we all came ashore, to a new fertile land recalled our farms, once far from the Lagoon and now neighbor to it. The fruits were a sweet relief and we all had our fill and then like a dream, we heard people call out. Our fishermen were back, some not all. And as I stare and wait for my man to return, I see only a faded copy of him. Floating and staring at me, he was now with my ancestors. And as I shrieked and tried to catch him, Ghosts Reunited. But at what cost, the entire village hold me back and take my twins away from me. I cry and tell them to let me be....
'Ade, wake up', Ajoke was soft spoken and gentle with me.
It's a strange feeling waking up in water and stranger that I was not backing my twins.
'It was horrible..', I said wiping away tears.
'I heard it all', Ajoke tries to hold my hand.
'I was there, in old Lagos. Long before the we were exposed to foreigners'
'A premonition?'
'That is for what is about to happen, I experienced what has already happened'
Ajoke watched me quietly and I felt stupid.
'You don't believe me'
'Sadly, I do. I do believe you are Extraordinary, I just think you are too distracted to see it'
'What does that even mean?', I asked irritated by her comment.
'That I believe in supernatural things and events, that I also believe your grief has a role to play and that you will eventually sort out the distortion you are experiencing. And do something great'
It was the kindest thing anyone has ever told me and I take both her hands as she helps me out of the jacuzzi.
'I am here oooo', Celine announced from Ajoke's laptop.
'You are on the phone?'
'Linked my phone to my laptop and tgen you started talking'
I dry my hair and go under the shower, getting the towel wet in the process.
'How much did you see?'
'Everything, do you sleepwalk... Sorry Ajoke, does she?'
'Celine, she does'
'Should we be worried?', Celine asked.
'Doctor Z specializes in sleep disorders...' Ajoke reminds her.
'Doctor Z?'
'Ade, you don't know her. But she helps trauma patients...'
'I am not traumatized', I protest.
'We can't be with you always'
'Celine is right'
'Where is Nnoye?'
''Morning sickness'
'Already', I was shocked.
'Call g Dr. Z...', Celine announced.
'Don't let Nnoye know', I plead with the ladies. I just did not want hr ho know or Daniel, I wanted it to be our secret.
Nnoye returned looking exhausted and disoriented and I help her to a chair.
'This baby will kill me, if I don't kill it first'
'If you say so...', I add a little irritated by her cry for help attitude.
'Ade abeg, I am the one carrying the child and not you'
'Call me when you all are fine'
I was not interested in her or her drama, I was worried about seeing a shrink and sleepwalking.
My life drama just doesn't seem to end, NA real WA.
**"ADE'S JOURNAL" Season 3 Episode 11**
*"ADE'S JOURNAL", 11, COPYRIGHT 2017*
**BUSOLA ELEGBEDE, COPYRIGHT 2017**
No comments:
Post a Comment