The Dawuni Files - A White Shadow

Chapter Five

The smell of freshly baked bread greeted Dawuni's nose when he opened the door to his mother's  house the next morning." Dawuni, is that you?" He heard his mother call from inside.

"Yes, ma".

"I'm in the kitchen".

Dawuni walked down the corridor and into the kitchen, just as his mother, Judith, put two loaves of bread on the dining table.

"Good morning, ma". Dawuni sat down.

"Good morning, Wuni", Judith responded, breaking eggs for omelette." How was your night".

"I slept well". Dawuni said. Technically, he wasn't lying since he had actually slept well even if it was just for five hours." And how was your night, too?"

"My arthritis is not killing me, so I think slept well". Judith answered, whisking the eggs.

Dawuni hoped it was due to the medications and not those herbal remedies she sometimes took.

"Here", Judith placed a large omelette and a huge slice of bread on a plate in front of him." There is coffee and also orange juice in the fridge".

Having already drank coffee before coming, Dawuni poured a generous amount of juice into his glass and set to eat. His mother's bread tasted the same as always, fresh, delicious and a little chewy.

Judith hated the idea of buying bread. She always said that it was a disgrace for she, an experienced caterer to buy bread from someone who took only a month to learn how to bake a half stale loaf of cement, or so she called thier bread.

"Good morning", Alfred , Dawuni's younger brother greeted as he entered the kitchen. They answered.

He sat down and begun buttering a slice of bread but stopped short when he saw  how Judith was looking at him.

"Have you swept your room and the living room?" Judith asked him.

"No, mom". Alfred replied, knowing perfectly well what was going to happen next.

"Have you bathed and dressed in your uniform?"

"No, mom but..."

"Then I don't think now is the time for you to have breakfast", Judith said with a note of finality.

Alfred knew better than to argue with her. Getting up slowly, He dragged his feet away, off to do his chores.

After frying the eggs, Judith removed her apron and went into her room, coming back shortly with something in a polythene bag.

"This is the cloth", Judith handed the package to Dawuni and sat down to eat .

Dawuni opened the bag and removed the fabric." It's nice". He ran his palm over the design of the fabric. Judith nodded in agreement.

"But  what is this for?" Dawuni asked removing a second cloth, which was white.

"Well, it depends on what you want to use it for', Judith answered." You can use it for  the sleeves of the shirt or use it to line the bottom . It depends on your choice".

Dawuni put the cloths back in and poured more juice into his glass.

"So when are you introducing me to your girlfriend". Judith asked. The question was too direct and sudden that Dawuni nearly  choked on his juice.

"Huh?" Dawuni reached for a tissue to clean the juice that had dribbled to his chin, but Judith wasn't a woman who repeated herself twice." You know I don't have a girlfriend".

"Wuni, you are long past the age to hide your girlfriends from me".

"Ma, I'm not hiding any girlfriend from you. If I had one I would have told you "

Judith sighed and Dawuni knew what she was going to say next.

"Your sister Maureen is three years younger than you yet she's going to be married very soon. You're twenty eight and you don't even have a girlfriend. Do you want a woman to drop out of the sky for you to marry or maybe Angel Gabriel should appear in a vision and show you the woman to marry".

" Ma, what tells you I'm not waiting for exactly that ". Dawuni said jokingly.

Judith smiled. There was a long pause before she spoke again.
"But on a more serious note, you are not getting any younger and it's always best to start a family by age thirty".

" I know,ma, but I'm waiting for the right time".

Judith snorted." That's what your uncle, Felix used to say.' I'll get married when the time is right'. He is fifty seven now and he has never had a girlfriend, aside from the one he had in secondary school, who only lasted two weeks".

There was a long pause again. Then Judith opened her mouth to say something, but closed it when Alfred come in - dressed in his uniform - to have breakfast. Dawuni knew that the conversation wasn't over.

But come to think of it, Dawuni had never given much of a thought to marriage. He was always so busy with his work, fighting crime, that marriage wasn't really on his mind.

Alfred ate and rinsed his plate before bidding them goodbye and leaving for school. Dawuni was taking his glass to the sink to wash, when they heard something. Alfred was screaming.