Once Upon A Prostitute

CHAPTER 23 - FISHERS AND HUNTERS

Mina

Growing up, I got scared of the water. It wasn't because I couldn't swim. I come from a village surrounded by water, so naturally, I learned to swim at a very tender age. There are communities in my hometown that can only be accessed via boats or canoes. On our numerous journeys from Port Harcourt to Opobo, we had to travel half of the journey in speed boats. After traveling on the open seas for some time, we'd begin to branch off into creeks and waterways so numerous and winding that they become confusing. I still wonder how the boat drivers knew just which turns to take. I have crossed those creeks a hundred times and will still get lost if I brave those waters by myself.

In my village, no one really teaches anyone to swim, you just flap your limbs, and gulp a lot of dirty water, until you master how to move and float. When we were little and my mother was alive, she will often instruct my brother to watch me whenever we went to swim. She knew I was eager to learn like the other kids. If we were fully resident in the village, I would have learned a long time ago.

Tekena neither had the time nor patience to watch me and would ignore me to dive with his friends into the deeper ends of the stream from the rock beside it. I saw kids my age floating and flapping around, playing and racing each other in the water. Their playful taunts that I was a weak city girl made me even more determined to learn. So, I flapped my limbs like them and gulped at least a gallon of water in total, but eventually I learned.

I stayed in the shallow depths. The grown-ups always warned us of the strong currents in the deeper ends that led into the river. They told scary stories to keep us obedient. We heard of crocodiles, water snakes and even mamywater which was the local term for mermaids. The stories worked the expected fear on most of us, but there were always those curious and stubborn children who felt the shallow end was beneath them. Like Tekena and his friends

I think I was eight years old when it happened. Ipalibo got carried away by the water. I remember the panic-stricken faces of Tekana and his friends as they ran out of the water. When Ipalibo didn't come up for air too long after diving, they knew something was wrong and ran for help. The grown-ups quickly organized a search party of the best divers in the village. They didn't find him until two days later, washed ashore the banks of the river in a nearby village. I still remember how his mother wailed loudly when they brought home the bloated body of her son. We had run out to see and I caught a glimpse before papa ordered us back inside.

After that incident, Papa banned us from going to the stream. My mother had just passed a year before and I think the thought of losing us also scared him. I wasn't even going to go anyways. The days afterwards were scary enough. I heard varying accounts of what must have happened to him. Some said the river goddess took his soul and returned his body. Some said a crocodile bit off his leg, and he bled to death. It was all speculations from the kids since the adults were not telling us anything, but it was enough to give me nightmares. Tekena started swimming again after some months after the incident, but I couldn't. Whenever I got close to the water, I'd see Ipalibo's bloated face, and I wouldn't go in. After a couple of years though, the memory faded, and I began splashing and racing in the water again.

I almost forgot the amazing feel of water on skin. There's that feeling of rejuvenation and refreshing that just soothes your muscles. But now I experience more. Now, there's this feeling of weightlessness when I float, overcoming gravity. The world is not on my shoulders anymore. I feel freer. There's also this feeling of peace and clarity I get now. That moment when I'm submerged below the water surface and can no longer hear the noise...or even my jumbled thoughts. It's just quiet and peaceful.

Until I run out of air...

I emerge at the surface gasping for air but feeling oddly satisfied. The sun is shining much brighter now, a reminder that I need to get to work. I trudge out of the lake and pick up my jacket shoes I had kept by the root of a tree. I sit by it and stare at the lake as I put on my shoes. Yeah, I've gone from throwing pebbles into the lake to submerging myself into it. I can say we're friends now. After tying the last knot, I rise and begin jogging back to the caravans. My clothes are wet, but it can be easily mistaken for sweat, not that anyone cares. My braids are thin and sparse so they will dry quickly so long as I let them down. This is becoming a new habit of mine. I wake up, I run to the lake, I swim beneath the surface like a submarine, and then I run back home.