Emeka the Great Almajiri

2

TROUBLE

As the sub-Saharan breeze blew, the blisters on Almajiri's feet began to itch. This only put him in a trance-like discomfort as he only kept sleeping through the pain. A few hours after, he was awakened by Sidi, the shop owner.

'Kai, why are you sleeping here? Sidi asked with a curiously resentful voice. Sidi has always held the opinion children who roam about are bad news. 'You see? This is one of the reasons we no longer sleep with our eyes closed.'

Sidi's voice jolted Almajiri into consciousness. It was as if he was baptized in a coat of fear which immediately had his throat on a chokehold. Even if he had wanted to answer Sidi's question, he couldn't. This man will take me back, he thought to himself.

'Get up and go home.' As Sidi said this, it struck him that he had not seen the boy's face before. 'Come back here.', He said.

'Where are you from?' The answer formed in Almajiri's throat, but he could not translate it into sound. So, he just stood there and stared at his blistered and dried feet. Seeing that he was only a child and having asked other questions to no avail, Sidi got Almajiri breakfast.

This is Almajiri's first meal since he left Shere. Having this meal relaxed, and made him open up a little.

'Some strange men in a car kidnapped me along with two other boys, but on reaching here, one of them told the others that they should allow me to go, that he did not like me. The last thing I remember was that they forced us to drink something, I don't know what. After drinking my portion of the potion, everything went dark. I don't even know where I am from or where I am.' Almajiri spoke with mastered innocence and one could swear he was saying the truth. At such an early age, he was forced to grow. At this moment, he knew he could tell any lie just to stay away from that Makaranta. The mere thought of a return to the school made him say, God forbid, out loud.

With some lies and some more lies to cover up earlier lies here and there, Almajiri continued to protect his new life away from Makaranta.

The same way we go to bed sometimes and wake up to discover that we have, through the night, lost some old grief as if a grief thief raided the neighbourhood in our sleep, is the same way that Almajiri got lost by morning. Unlike vanishing grief, however, Almajiri was never again seen. This was not the first time Almajiris would disappear from Makaranta without a trace.

Almajiri's escape from Makaranta did not spell, for him, the kind of bliss he had envisaged in his mind it would. No sooner had he begun his new life than he was kidnapped. At the time of his kidnapping, he only knew about the stories Umma used to tell him about the bad people who are lurking to steal him and use his head to make money if he dares go out to play too often.

Two days after Almajiri had left, Ali met Bala and asked.

'I've not seen Almajiri these past two days, have you?'

'No, but is his bag in the room?'

'I didn't ask for his bag. I have not seen him since the rain. He could seriously need help.'

'Yes, I just realized that I have not seen him since he came. You know I hardly stay too.'

'That means he could be in danger out there.'

'We must inform Malam at once.' Ali said.

Ali went to Malam and knelt as if to inspect his nails or look closely at his shoes and said. 'Malam, the new Almajiri is missing. His bag is still in his space, but I have not set eyes on him for two days now.' Malam Isa did not bother himself much. He inclined his head towards Ali and opened his eyes so he could see Ali's projected eyes. As he aggressively bit his lower lip, his oiled koboko kept tapping the floor as though it was punishing the floor for an unknown sin. This has always been his way of scaring the Almajiris; a reminder that they too could meet the same fate as the ground if they break any of his rules.