Later in the evening, after eating some soaked garri and dried fish which I had brought with me from the village, I fell asleep on the couch. I woke up with someone tapping my shoulder harshly and calling my name. When I woke up and sat up, I realized that it was late already and it was dark. The only thing brightening up some parts of the sitting room was a lantern. My aunt told me that I could not sleep on her couch and when I slipped to the floor and attempted to sleep again, she told me that she couldn't let me sleep in her parlour either. She said that the last thing she wanted was urine smelling in her living room. I assured her that I stopped bedwetting when I was five but she refused and asked me to stand up and followed her. Obediently but tired, I followed her and she led me to her small kitchen, gave me a rolled-up mat and asked me to sleep on it. I stared around at the dirty kitchen and asked if she really wanted me to sleep there and she nodded and walked away. I could smell rotten food coming from the waste basket and I could see cockroaches crawling in the shadows or flying like ninjas from wall to wall.
I was appalled by the sight of the kitchen but there was nothing I could do. I spread the mat on the floor beside the stove after pushing the waste basket far away from me then I laid down on my side, folding my arms together as a pillow under my head. Soon, I drifted into sleep once again but it was disrupted when a cockroach landed on my leg. I quickly kicked my leg, shaking the insect off. I had not slept far again when a black ant crawled into my blouse and bit me on the waist and I jumped up, shaking my blouse to get rid of the ant. Its bite was so painful that it felt like fire was spreading around the spot. The more I scratched it, the more painful it became and I began to squirm. I could not sleep for fear of more ants dealing with me tonight so I simply sat down, placed my arms on my raised knees then placed my forehead on my arms. The spot I had been bitten still hurt like hell and it took hours for the pain to die off.
In the morning, I woke up with the sound of my aunt noisily walking into the kitchen.
"Oya, get up. We need to go to the shop soon. Sweep the house and go across the street and fetch us some water to have our bath." She said to me.
My tummy was growling in hunger and I wondered if my aunt had forgotten that she had not fed me at all since our arrival yesterday. Without complaining, I picked a broom leaning against the wall and began to sweep. Every trace of the roaches were gone, including the black ants too. I swept the entire house and when I was done, I got a bucket from the bathroom and my aunt led me outside to show me where to get water from. Standing in front of the gate, she pointed down the street where there was an old manual pump. I walked down the street and as soon as I grew nearer, I realized that there were about more than 20 people on the queue waiting to fetch water. The frustrating thing was some had more than one buckets or kegs. I stood behind the last person, hoping that my turn would soon come. I had never seen such a pump before so I paid close attention to it. I noticed that whoever wanted to fetch some water would place their buckets, bowls or kegs right under the mouth of the tap then go behind the tap to start pulling a long lever up and down and the more the person pumped the lever, the more water gushed out of the tap.
Some water would escape though and run down the street continuously. I watched the people on the queue shove, yell, snap and quarrel about who was next or who left the line earlier and wasn't recognized anymore or when someone else who was just coming tries to cut in. I was on the line when a huge girl suddenly cut in front of me and stood in her place then I heard her beckon her friend to come stand behind her too, pushing me two persons back. Without saying a word, I simply left the line, went around the girls and stood in front of the huge girl. Suddenly, she shoved me away. I staggered out of the line and quickly regained my stamina. I turned and glared at the girl for a moment. I attempted to get back in front of her but she wouldn't let me but yet shoved me again. This time, I placed my bucket on the ground and shoved her with all my might. She staggered out of the line and landed heavily on her buttocks and the others who had noticed, turned and erupted in laughter. The girl was so embarrassed and enraged that she got up and charged towards me. She seized the from of my dress and pulled it up close to my shin and I managed to do the same to her too, even though I was smaller. We began to shove at each other when an old man with complete grey hair came out of the next compound and bawled at us,
YOU ARE READING
Regina's Misery
RomanceA prostitute narrates her abusive and dirty past to a stranger whose friends had come to the brothel to have some fun. Having no choice than to go in with her to her room in order to seek shelter from the storm, it became a very long night they both...
