[COMPLETE] African Pride

6. The Pride

The sun that rose the morning after Mama's parents just dropped in like an elephant dung pile was a weekend. Weekends were the days I would spend in either the Ngai village or roaming the African savannah. Those were the days in which I could be free, free to be myself and do my duty as the Mlezi without fear of being caught.

Sliding down the banister like Tarzan, I vaulted and landed next to Chriki in the dining room. My sister had her back to me, and was placing a platter of sausages on the table for breakfast.

"Ahhh!" Chriki shrieked. "Will you stop doing that?! Damn it, Kara!"

Smirking, I grabbed an apple from the fruit bowl. "I'll be gone like usual. Back by Sunday curfew."

"I'll never understand what you see in the stupid village anyway. It's so... dirty."

"And your point is? Sometimes it's good to connect to your history, Chriki. We're more than animal prints and feathers."

Chriki rolled her eyes and turned back around to look over the table setting. "Maybe you being gone for the weekend will be a good thing. You won't mess up the house while our grandparents are here?"

"You're seriously falling for this act?"

"What act?"

"Come on Riki, look at the facts. They haven't had any contact with us since practically the Twins were born. Then all of the sudden they want to be our caring and loving grandparents. I'm not buying what they are selling."

"Well, Father didn't rebuff when they spoke."

"That too is a sign. Something reeks here Riki, there has to be a reason to why they weren't allowed around us."

Chriki opened her mouth to argue, but before she could we both heard the heavy footsteps of our Father coming down the stairs.

He walked in on us glaring daggers at each other, but shook his head with a sigh. "Girls, please. I would kindly ask that you refrain from having your normal wars. Your grandparents are going to be our guests, and I'd not give them the impression that I'm a bad father."

"An achievement you're going to have to work for," Anne's voice said behind us.

Baba, Chriki, and I turned in union as Anne and Henry stepped into the dining room. Anne's thin lips were twisted into a sour frown, her pale-blue eyes looking from Chriki, myself, and Baba.

"Geeze, don't they teach you to knock in the United States?" I snapped.

"Karasi!" Chriki gasped. She shot me a dirty look and walked to where our grandparents stood. "Grandmother...Grandfather...Welcome to our home."

Anne turned to Chriki and smiled, reaching out and clasping their hands together. "Thank you, My Child. So wonderful to be formally and properly welcomed."

Baba and I rolled our eyes.

"I have to head to work, but I shall be back later tonight." Baba said. "Girls, remember what I told you. Anne. Henry, have a nice day."

He leaned over and kissed both Chriki and I's temples, nodded to Anne and Henry, then left the house. I wasn't to stick around at this place for long, as I knew what I had to do, but it still irritated me that these two people had just barged into my house.

"So, I was hoping that I could take you, two young ladies, out on the town," Anne said.

"I'd love too!" Chriki pipped up.

"No thanks, I have better things to do," I replied. "Halima, let's go."

Anne made no move to stop me the moment Halima entered the dining room. Instead, she squealed like a mouse and ran to hide behind her husband.