LOW CUT

CHAPTER ONE; GOOD NEWS OR BAD NEWS??

  One  Cloudy evening, the evening that began the most important journey of my life, the worst and the most interesting of them all, My mother got back from the market where she sells Clothes,joyfully Singing and dancing like some one who had won a lottery.
    "Finally" She said happily like a little girl that had just gotten a doll from Santa Clause  after years of waiting hopefully.

      Well,  being the responsible child that I was, I quickly went to her and collected the goods on her head. Honestly why African mother's do this has not been explained to me . I mean why carry stuffs on your head when you can easily carry them with your hands? Isn't that why you have hands? I asked all these in my head so I don't change my mother's happy mood.
She really gets irritated when I ask so many questions. When I took the goods from her , I decided to take a sneak peak on what was in it. I shook it first to see whether I'll hear the the exciting sound of Snacks especially biscuits. This has gotten me into trouble before, one time,mum asked me to take the goods to the Kitchen when she got back from the market looking tired and exhausted. So,I decided to do my usual trick and "crack" I heard the sound of eggs cracking 'oh no! that's not good' I thought.  My mum is a disciplinarian, she doesn't take nonsense at all. She whipped me , for what you may ask? for cracking some of  her precious eggs.
I finally heard the sound I wanted to hear and dipping my hands into the bag wow! I brought out two biscuits . I was happily heading into the Kitchen to drop the goods when all of a sudden I heard that annoying statement from my mother " Share the snacks with your Sisters".
"Ah, but mummy why now? " I asked angrily. " They didn't come outside to greet  you . I'm the only one who came so I deserve it. I even helped you carry your heavy bag(I lied)" " Don't be greedy" she retorted. " You helped me with the stuff and so ? is the biscuit a reward?? " She asked quietly and calmly. " No" I responded sadly. By that time , my annoying Sisters had already come out of the bed room to meet me. I shared the biscuits with them unhappily.
      Now, before  I get to the most painful and interesting part of my Story, let me do a quick introduction of myself.
   My full name is Winner Ogechi Obinna.
if you don't know how to pronounce the latter, please don't stress your tongue it's not your fault. I have two Sisters their names are ; Happiness and Peace. I am the   eldest. Yes , I'm a big Sister, not just that ,  I am also the first born. That's a lot of responsibilities I have to take care of my self and my annoying younger sisters  too.
   I am 11 years old my immediate younger Sister Happiness is six year old and my youngest Sister Peace is four year old . Now can you see the responsibilities I have? those little brats .
   I'm very tall for my age, I'm also slim and light in complexion, I'm very fair, 'too fair to be a Nigerian', I always thought to my self.
     So, let's get back to where I was before. As soon as my mother entered the Kitchen she said " Winner, your name has come out in the Public School I wanted it to come out in. " " what ? ""  oh no! ""  what?" I was so shocked that I almost choked. She didn't even tell me she was registering me in a public School . For what ? This woman! Then she looked at me joyfully and said ,"I didn't inform you about this because I wanted it to be a surprise ".
    "Why are you not happy?"she asked me quizzically . Suddenly, the biscuit that was once so tasty in mouth became so bitter in my mouth and in my stomach. I felt like throwing up and at the same time I felt like slapping my mum's happy smiley fair face. Just then,the tears started rolling down my eyes. I couldn't hold it back. I wept while standing and holding my half eaten biscuit in my right hand . This I did because I was lost , I was so lost and confused. The first thought that came to my mind was to just run out of the house and never return again 'just keep running Winner, keep running for the rest of your life don't stop, because going to a public School means cutting my hair for probably six years or more ! '   I  cried even more I couldn't control my self. My mother stood up from where she was in the Kitchen and went into the room to bring out her phone she was going to make a phone call, 'oh no you know what that means winner' I quickly stopped crying and cleaned my self up . I knew my mum was going to call my aunty in CANADA and tell her not to buy nice stuff for me when she's coming back to Nigeria for the Holidays.  Her name is Aunty Chiamaka.  But we all call her Aunty Chi.
     "Mummy please , I'm sorry don't call Aunty Chi please . I'll stop crying"  She looked at me surprisingly and said " Who is calling Aunty Chi? Me? for what ? I don't have anything to say concerning your foolish attitude. Do you know how much effort I made to get this admission for you?" oh no she was already turning red. She might cry , the first time I saw my mum cry was when I was seven year old , she had just lost her Brother. She didn't eat properly for days. Now,seeing her red face reminded me of that tragic moment.

      " Mummy , I was crying because I don't want to cut my hair -" " what she asked me surprisingly? is your hair gold? or won't it grow again? it's just for six years Winner, what's wrong with you? " She asked sadly and harshly. I couldn't give an answer to that question. Just then my immediate younger Sister Happiness asked. " Is she going to Osa Community Secondary School?" I looked at her angrily and answered sarcastically " No I'm going to St. Charis Secondary School." She rolled her eyes at me and just walked away leaving me to carry my   cross alone.

     Finally  Hero walked in. My Father, for the first time, I was super excited toFinal see him. I walked up to him , my siblings ran to him joyfully. I gave him a very tight hug after my siblings were done with their 'Daddy-we-miss-you-moment' and said " Daddy welcome home from work". "Okay, " He responded confusingly. " How are you?"  he asked. "I'm fine ." I responded casually because I've been taught that the proper way to give an answer to that question is 'I'm fine ' no matter how terrible you feel. Even if you are dying inside. Just say you are fine until your listener insists.
     So,in my case , my listener which is my father, insisted. So, I told him how sad I was about the whole "good news " of me getting an admission at Osa community Secondary School. He just sighed and walked into the bed room to change his clothes . When he came  out, He said to me " Winner, all fingers are not equal. Please you'll go there for now,so, hopefully by next year I'll get more contracts , make more money and put you in a private Secondary School" " Yes, thank you so much Daddy , you are the best." I responded joyfully and and went into the Kitchen to assist my mum. By this time she had already started cooking, something she does  ceremonially. When my mum is upset, she cooks whether or not there is food. I don't know why, but she just cooks.
This time she was making stew. Oh , how I love it when she makes stew. I love it because I get to eat a lot of meat without her consent, she sometime shouts when she sees me but that happens in fewer occasions.

    So it was for me. It wasn't a Good news after all, but I know that it was only for a year. Still, the thought of loosing my precious pearl-my hair, still gave me goose bumps and some shivers but according to my calculation; I'll cut my hair for only one year , probably nine months .