Rings & Knots

Good days

"You mean to tell me that Cheta has gone to school? He left this house before the two of you?" Nnedimma asked her daughters, who were as surprised as she was. It was shocking, and unlike Chetanna to be up at the time that his mother went to call him. Nnedimma had been shocked to see her two daughters getting ready for school and her son nowhere near the vicinity.

Her heart began to race as she believed he was up to his old tricks of running away from home because of school. Nnedimma returned to the children's room after scanning the verandah and their backyard with her eyes. She held herself from calling out his name as she could no longer bear the ridicule from her neighbours.

"Where is your brother?" She had asked sternly, causing the two girls to halt their movements. Nnedimma was a beautiful young woman whose ageing advanced from the stress and excessive work she had to endure. Her once plump body a mere caricature of what it once was. The thinness of her neck alone often have her a scare.

When her husband died, and she saw no help coming, she decided to give herself wholly to providing for her children.

It was not easy for her and her three children, and she often cried herself to sleep, knowing that her best didn't seem enough for them. Her children were taunted at school, and when they come home, would barely have enough to eat.

Nnedimma had thought of stopping her children from going to school and possibly learning a trade but every time she harboured such thoughts, her mind would conjure pictures of her late husband Nnanna.

Her neck was scrawny, and her hair had not been braided. She knew she couldn't afford the luxury of sitting still for hours when they could translate into hours of hustling, as most people would say. Hours spent making just enough to barely live by and save a minute portion for the fees she had to pay at school.

Nnedimma's clothes were loose, while most were visibly oversized and completely worn out. She was often too terrified of looking back at her old pictures as she had become a mere shadow of herself. Her once plump figure had waned out, and she was merely a skeleton in clothes.

"Cheta has gone to school. He just left," Chinazom blurted out, leaving her visibly upset mother in utter dismay.

Even the little girl seemed phased as she spelt out the words. It was almost as if even she, who had seen him leave, was not sure of what her eyes had seen.

"Are you sure about this? Idi sure? Did he tell you to cover for him? To lie to me!" She spoke harshly as she wondered if truly her son had turned a new leaf or had discovered a better way to deceive her further.

"Mba oo! I saw Cheta when he left. He was dressed in his school uniform and seemed very happy"

"Chetanna? Chetanna Nkem?" It was unbelievable. Chetanna was never happy when it came to his education. Had something happened at school that caused this change? Or was Chetanna still pulling a prank?

"You two get dressed inu! I will come to that school to make sure he is there"

The two girls got their uniforms on and had breakfast of their old vegetable soup with no meat or fish and the leftover eba from the day before.

"He didn't even eat before he left" Chinazom pointed out as they ate the cold food. They knew it was the only option available and they were both two scared to ask for anything else. How could they? Even as little as they were they could see how poor their family was.

"Osimiri Jordan" Amarachi muttered as they ate. She loathed how they lived and how what they lived on. She was ashamed of their family and every day at school, she was reminded that her life would have been so much better if she had come from a wealthy family.