The Golden Child

CHAPTER THREE

  Two weeks after Mimi's encounter with the chief, the harvesting season launched into full swing and the village was bubbly with excitement as men, women and children worked hard to harvest their crops either to sell them or for their consumption or both. Some children were instructed by their guardians to skip school for some days so that they will assist them in the farm work.

  In Mimi and her mother's case, they didn't have so much to harvest. The only farmland they had was the little one near the stream which her maternal grandfather bequeathed to her mother after his demise some years before Mimi was born. It was given to her because she was the eldest daughter of her parents. Her father's farmland was confiscated by his brothers who claimed that they had to sell them so that they will be able to give their brother a befitting burial but everyone knew that it was really because Mimi's mother did not bear a male child for her father before he died.

  This fact annoyed Mimi to no end. She wondered why the African society attached so much importance to the male child. She felt that such customs were archaic and needed to be amended for the development of the society.

  Today was Wednesday and Mimi's mother was down with a mild fever so she could not go to the farm. After much persuasions by Mimi, she allowed her to skip school for that day to take care of her..Mimi did all her chores,prepared breakfast and served it to her mother. She decided to go to the stream to fetch water for their bath and check up on their farm. She rarely fetched water from the stream because she always came back from school to discover that her mother had done so. She fetched water only during the weekends because according to her mother, she needed 'maximum concentration on her school work'.

  On her way to the streets, she didn't need to follow the lonely path that led to her school but another path which was busier and quicker. She met some of her schoolmates on the road but did not see Senior Moses or Ngozi. She was extremely glad that she did not come across Chief Okocha again.

  She was done with fetching her water and was covering the keg when she heard someone hiss maliciously behind her. She turned back to see Uchenna and Ebube behind her holding their kegs and eyeing her rudely.
She ignored them and finished covering her keg when she heard Uchenna say" This small witch ehn . shebi you are the one following all the boys in my class? "Uchenna was in the same class with Senior Moses. Rumors had it that she had been dating Emeka when he asked Mimi out and it did not go down well with her mainly because her boyfriend dumped her for a junior.

" Uchenna, i don't understand what you mean " Mimi explained staring confusedly at her." My friend will you shut up your dutty mouth there! " Ebube spat. She used to be Mimi's late sister's friend when they were kids and she was Uchenna's cousin. Mimi stared blankly at her before she asked " Sister Ebube, have i offended you in anyway? "
" I said you should shut that stupid mouth of yours! who is your sister? " Mimi opened her mouth to reply but Uchenna beat her to it," Please o. Don't go and kill my sister for me. Carry your witchcraft to your family o "She clapped her hands at Mimi's face before she spat on the floor. Her words stung Mimi and she felt tears rush to her eyes but she kept shut and shook her head before saying" I don't have your time, Uchenna".
She placed her keg on her head and was about to go when Uchenna pushed her chest."Where do you think you are going to? "the keg slipped from Mimi's head and slid down the small slope of smooth sand that led straight to the river and sank straight into swallow part of the water. Mimi gasped and ran after the keg to carry it. Uchenna and Ebube started laughing" See the way she's running because of ordinary keg", Uchenna said with a sneer.
"Poverty is not good o" Ebube added and the two of them burst out laughing again. By this time, Mimi was out of the water drenched but with her keg of water in her hand.
"eya" Uchenna said with a mock pity. "look at how wet you are now, that's good for you! "
Mimi glared at her" I don't blame you, the two of you should keep belittling yourselves "she spat and proceeded to walk away when  Ebube slapped her and her keg fell from her head again but didn't enter the river this time. She cried and launched at her. The two of them fell on the floor and wrestled themselves fiercely. By this time a small crowd of people who came to fetch water had gathered and some were their schoolmates. Uchenna tried to separate them when she saw Mimi getting the upper hand but some people in her class beat her to it and separated them from each other. "Witch! shameless girl! you want to kill me like your sister abi?" Ebube yelled as she struggled with the person holding her back. Mimi ignored her and used her hand to remove the dust from her clothes. The two of them looked roughed up;Ebube's threaded hair was getting loose and she had some scratches on her face while Mimi also had some scratches and a bite mark on her neck which was slightly bleeding.
Everywhere was rowdy as some people were telling their versions of the fight to others who were just arriving at the scene.

                   * * * *
  A month after the messy fight that occurred at the stream, Mimi was back to her usual jovial self. She avoided Uchenna at school at all costs because she wasn't a violent person and her mother was greatly troubled when she returned home that day wet and bruised.

"Mimi! Be fast biko! "Ngozi's voice echoed in the empty school compound. Mimi sighed irritatedly wondering why Ngozi had to scream her name so loud. She started opening the lockers in the classroom which were not actually locked because of the poor dilapidated state of the school facilities due to the neglect of public schools by the Nigerian government. They are only given attention when the politicians want to use them as electoral campaign strategies.

Mimi searched the lockers frantically as she looked for her Economics notebook which she knew or thought that she put in her bag until Ngozi asked for it on their way home and it wasn't there.
She had to go back to school because it was almost time for their second term examinations and this was the period lots of notebooks and textbooks got stolen by students who were truants and didn't have anything to read or submit.
"Mimi! "Ngozi screeched again from the staff room where she was standing which was three blocks away from their classroom." I'm coming! "Mimi yelled back in a strained voice. Impatient idiot, she thought.

After five more minutes of fruitless searching, she decided to give up and go home. Immediately she stepped out of her classroom, she came face to face with Senior Moses.

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