At the End of August

Two

THE FIRST WORDS I heard from my brothers were about how my dress stopped above my knees. "Did mummy let you dress up like this?" Odion, the oldest of the twins by five minutes commented with an ugly frown between his rough brows. He had his door open, with half of his body protruding out as he scrutinized me from my head to my toe. Everytime my father and oldest brother were not in the house, he took it up himself to act like the man of the house, faking strictness and issuing commands to me, because his power started and stopped at my side.

I rolled my eyes deciding not to indulge him as I got into the oldest car in our compound. My parents had me believe that the vehicle was just something they could not get rid of because of the sentiment they had towards it. It was their first vehicle as a couple which my father bought back in the early 2000's. He often reiterated about how my mother was the charm who came to his life to make him prosper, or some cliché line along that path. It was sweet, but annoying, when they cozied up with themselves just to prove a point to us. Between both my parents, my father was the most romantic.

I missed his presence.

"Hey, I am talking to you," Odion pushed himself into the space between the driver and the passenger seat in an attempt to scold me over my own dress. Nobody gave him any word when he decided to wear ashewo shorts for outings, and here he was complaining over my simple dress.

I ignored him, talking to Akhere, the younger of the twin who wore an amused look. Unlike Odion, he had a bigger frame and was more jovial than his twin. Half the time, children ran away from Odion but stayed with Akhere who played around with them. He also had the most record of the Ighodalo boys who had dated most girls. Uyioses nickname for him was the Edo demon with fine brown skin. "Why are we not taking daddy's Hilux or Jeep. This car is so old, it could break down on our way there."

Akhere was about to answer my question when his twin beat him to talking, still pressed about my outfit.

"Are you not like twelve, you shouldn't be dressed up like this." Odion went on, throwing shades at my age when he was only three years older, while wearing scrunching his face at me. "Look at your arms just bare and how your laps are out there, glaring for all of the boys at Wellington to see." He emphasized on boys for a long time, ending with a short tongue tick to portray his disapproval.

"Odion, drop it na. Mummy did not say anything, and it doesn't concern you."

He faked disbelieve, "Drop it?" His voice rose and octave, "No, I will not. As the oldest man of the house at the moment..." I sighed and looked out the window momentarily, prepping myself for his 'oldest man speech'. "...I have the responsibility of ensuring you are responsible. Plus mummy does not know boys like I do and you are too young—"

Akhere turned on the engine of the car, possibly to distract himself from the laughter that hung around his lips. He had his cheeks puffed with air and made low sounds in his throat.

"What the hell man, you are supposed to support me."

"Sorry, you were doing good until you mentioned too young," the younger twin chuckled.

Odion sat upright, turning his attention fully to him, then cocked his head with a side look that showed he was ready to bite of Akheres head. "You don't think she is too young?"

It was as if the statement was the only trigger needed to ensure the explosion of Akheres dam of laughter. "Have. You. Seen. Oze?" He beat the dashboard with each syllable, and none of us staring at him thought anything was funny. "She is an old ass woman."

"Hey!" I hit his seat out of refelx.

"But it is true," Akhere laughed harder. "During grandpa's remembrance everyone asked you to mingle with others your age, you went to the room instead and was reading Daddys newspaper. Also when we are dancing you always chose the mama mama dance, then later say that you have back pain, and your clothes? To be honest I am proud of you for dressing this way today." He laughed some more.