Under the moonlight

Chapter 13

Dembe's pov

The day of the dance was finally here and so were my feelings for Kojo. As much as I would have liked to deny that I wanted to see him, I couldn't. I missed him badly. To see that body of his that had been dipped in Melanin over and over again. Those eyes of his that I seemed to get lost in every time he looked at me. Kojo was definitely going to be the end of me.

"Dembe!  I have never heard of a woman who sleeps till this time of the day. What kind of wife will you be? Can you get up already! "

Mama was at it again. It was too early to be screaming like that, but not unlike her. I'm also  wondering about the kind of wife I would make.
After I was done cleaning, I went to prepare breakfast but found out that Mama had already done it. For the past few days she had been doing part of my chores acting all normal, but I knew that was her way of making me feel better about Kojo.
She did not want to talk about it openly lest Papa overheard us and all hell breaks loose. Sometimes, whenever Papa called me and asked what was troubling me -which was very rare- I would say nothing and Mama would shoot me a look of approval. At times I wanted to talk to Papa about Kojo, but Mama's look alone was enough to make me change my mind.

Under normal circumstances, Papa would have already found out about Kojo, but he liked to tell himself that he was not a normal man. Village gossip did not entice him. He was the 'Upright Man's. The man with the perfect family. At least that is what he believed or what he wanted to believe.

The weather seemed to complement my mood. It was warm and exciting. The sun was out, but was not scorching hot and the constant chirpping of the birds seemed to gladden my heart. I knew that this had nothing to do with birds, unless the bird was called Kojo. :-) I had not even noticed that I had started walking with an added spring until Mama yelled,

"Look at this child! You're going to break your legs before the dance begins. "

I could not stop myself from laughing so hard as I thought about Grandma's folktale about the cockroach who broke his legs before the day of the  dance.

"Once upon a time, in the animal Kingdom, " Grandma had begun her story and now all my attention was on her or rather on the wrinkles on her face as her expressions changed .
"The lion, who is the King of the jungle, summoned all the animals and announced that there would be a dance competition and the animal that won would be given the King's daughter's hand in marriage. All the animals were excited as it was a clear fact that the Princess's beauty was yet to be seen elsewhere. It was also an open secret that cockroach Was The best dancer, but at that time, all the animals were equal.  In a quest to prove that he was the best, Cockroach outdid himself practising for the dance. He practiced so hard, without rest and finally ,he broke his legs before the dance and hence wasn't able to participate and another animal won the competition. "
By the time Grandma had reached that part of the story, I was lost in my own world. Thinking of how someone so old could have that much of strength.

"Dembe!  If you slip and spill that sorghum, you will go down with it! "

Mama's voice jolted me back to reality. I felt like laughing, 'Go down with it! '  Sometimes I think Mama would make the perfect Village Jester. After making sure the sorghum was safe, I went about my other chores, gladly than usual. I could not wait for evening to come and Kojo's face when he sees me in my dress.  I was also dying to see Amare's reaction when he sees Kia. He showed up just as I was thinking about him.