Yefon: The Red Necklace (17 page)

It wasn’t news that my parents had gone through a dozen traditional doctors trying to help Yenla with her stuttering problem. After several futile
bvey
,
ngwv
∂
v
, and cow sacrifices to the gods, they met a strong herbalist called Ngon Nchare. He prescribed a thick yellowish liquid that comes from the raffia palm called
kiluh
. This liquid had a grayish layer on top indicating the presence of rusted iron.

Yenla was to drink the liquid every sunrise and sunset for an uninterrupted period of six months. As an unfortunate result, Yenla and I were forced out of bed before sunrise every day during the cold harmattan dry season to trek a distance of about eight kilometers to find this liquid.

I asked Ma why I had to wake up too. Did I have a stuttering problem? No, then why should I endure her suffering with her? Ma just pulled on my ear vigorously until I yelped, but she wouldn’t stop. Ma always got everyone to do what she wanted or else they faced her ear-pulling wrath.

“She is your sister,” Ma said. “Why are you so selfish? Do you want her to walk all the way to the stream by herself? What if something happened to her?”

“What if something happened to me too, Ma?”

Ma gave me one last firm look and a hard knock on my head, which caused me I hop on one toe yelping in pain.

“You will accompany your sister to the stream,” she said, and the verdict was final.

Obviously I had no choice, and somewhere deep inside, I knew Ma was right. None of us spoke about the recent events, not even Kadoh and I in private idle gossip. It was for the best.

I suggested to Yenla that we take our calabashes with us and kill two birds with one stone by fetching water right after her
medicine. Thankfully, she agreed and we did this for around three weeks. It had worked well until one fateful morning when Yenla and I were on our way back from the Mbam stream.

It wouldn’t be morning in Tiymenkan if random
kiyuus
were not cuckooing their throats out. What kind of job was that anyway?
Cuckuckorokoo!
Definitely, not for me! I thanked the ancestors for making me a girl, not a
kiyuu
. Your life could just end any day at the mercy of a farmer’s knife. I shuddered at the thought.

That morning I was wearing one of my favorite yellow wrappers with blue stripes and I was the only girl in the village with a wrap like this, so others knew it wasn’t cheap. Of course, I had my red
sha
η
g
on too. I had worn it every single day since my birthday, and people often stared at it enviously. Little did they know that my little companion was more than just a
sha
η
g
; it was also a friend.

As Yenla and I walked to the medicine man’s
taav
, I thought about the stream. It was my hope that some girls would grant me their position in line so I could get my water first, or better still, carry my water for me with the hopes of being my friend and enjoying some groundnuts at story time. That was mostly the case.

Yenla shivered so loud that her teeth chattered, and I felt sorry for her, so I took off my cover wrapper, and offered it to her.

“Thank you,” she replied, smiling softly. She had the most adorable freckles on her face. She was the only albino in my family, and I thought that was interesting.

When we arrived at the medicine house, locally known as
taavseshiv
, I waited outside while Yenla walked in to receive treatment. I wasn’t allowed to go in, so I tried hunting small animals. I wasn’t very successful in my quest, so I decided to curb my boredom by peeping through one of the windows. I saw Yenla seated with a live
ngwv
∂
v
standing still on her head. It was the most hilarious thing, and I wondered when my parents would stop putting her through all this, but I empathized with them. I am sure they only wanted the best.

Yenla eventually walked out, looking sick and tired as we walked to the stream. I could tell from her facial expression that
she really hated the medicine.

“Why don’t you tell Pa that you don’t want it anymore?” I asked inquisitively.

“Not everyone likes to complain like you,” she responded sharply.

“But what exactly is the medicine for?” I insisted. “I don’t think you are cursed.” I tried to talk to her, but Yenla was very sensitive and hated to discuss anything that went against tradition. The only thing she hated more was any conversation that touched on the issue of her pigment or stuttering.

She began to cry, so I apologized quietly and we walked to the stream where we filled our herpans, and began heading home.

The calabash of water on my head, and the wooden jug of water in my hand seemed light as a handkerchief, as I salivated over the thought of the delicious creamy pap waiting for me at home. With strides as long as my short legs could take me, I waddled towards ma’s
taav
. The torture the gravel on the road was doing to my soles was no match for my hunger. Even though ma and I were generally at loggerheads with each other, we agreed on one thing—she was a darn good cook. Even the jealous wives knew their place when it came to that competition.

I hated fetching water from the stream because water bugs would bite my feet. As we approached home, I secretly calculated how I would lie to pa and tell him that I had been bitten by five of them. Pa would surely exclude me from chores for the whole of next week! I was already thinking about what I would do with my free time! Would I play with Dini? Go hunting for rabbits? Steal some groundnuts? The possibilities were endless! Besides, someone else could accompany Yenla when she went for treatment instead of me. It wasn’t even helping her, in my opinion.

A few others were on their way back home too. I saw the children from the
Mbonyaar
compound with gourds on their heads. “
Ven sakah
?” they called out, greeting us politely.

“
Sakah yo dze
,” I responded quickly, sparing Yenla the tedious job of a stammered response.

The children waved back and took the other road towards
Nkar
. The chatty sound of
Lamnso
filled the air, and eventually faded as they went farther away.

Walking through the raffia plantations that surrounded the
stream, I pondered on how I would present my chore exclusion plan. Perhaps I would start by crying, I schemed. That always worked well, but I couldn’t cry on cue, I wasn’t that good of an actress. I made a mental note to consult with Kadoh on how to acquire that skill. For now, some red peppers from Ma’s farm should do the trick. I would tell Yenla I wanted to pee, then sneak in and steal a pepper or two—that sounded like a good plan to me.

Compact villages overshadowed by groves of tall dark kola trees hinted that we were close to home. I could see women now grinding
saang
and
saar
from last season, outside their red walled
taav
s.

They sang as they worked, and we waved at them. They spoke another language because they were slaves. It was hard to differentiate between slaves and other people until they spoke. What was it like to be a slave? I would never know, but my mind queried everything it saw. I enjoyed the sound of their voices for as long as we could hear them.

A little while later, I saw a group of boys playing under a baobab with counting sticks.

I stopped to admire them for a while.

“Fifteen!”

“Sixteen!” They called out.

“Le…leet us go,” Yenla said gently, tugging on my shoulder.

Slumping my shoulders, I listened to her advice and we started walking homeward. Suddenly, a big boy with a jelly belly and really yellow teeth cornered us. Yenla whimpered in fear, and took a step back, almost dropping to her knees.

I forcefully stayed up, like
Ngonnso
. Boi, I think he was called, was known around the village for his very quick temper. People said he had a
totem
of a wild tiger in the heart of the forest, so he was very dangerous and sometimes acted like an insane person. Others said he had been cursed with rage by the gods of the forest, and his parents were secretly trying to find a solution. I didn’t know which was true, but I had seen an example of a totem’s anger before in my sister Kadoh, and it was not something to be around.

He stumped in front of me. How his face had become so ugly puzzled me. He had camel lips and his head was a unique aberration of objects.

“Give me all your water,” he commanded.

Whew! The breath that hit me was so bad that my face cringed. His mouth smelled like a rotten anus. The pungent smell it emitted was crippling, and each time he exhaled, my nose cringed.

“My sister is sick. We went to get her medicines, and then travelled far to fetch this water, and our mother is expecting us home soon,” I said.

I tried to reason with him. He looked at Yenla, who was so pale with fear that my story had never felt truer.

“Maybe we could give you some water to quench your thirst, but not all of it,” I quickly added, trying to set up a peaceful truce. With the corner of my eye, I saw this skinny boy looking at me. They were all looking, but this one was tall and lanky like those
Bororo
children whose mother used to give me
kossam
. He had very kind deep-set eyes like Pa and a handsome face, although, he seemed clumsy.

“Yefon Labam, I hope you know who you are talking to. I said I want that calabash of water!” Boi barked impatiently.

“All of it?” I asked, in disbelief.

“Yes, all of it!” he repeated, firmly. I was quiet for a short while, and it seemed like I was going to give into this bully, but the
sha
η
g
on my chest seemed to burn into my chest, and all of sudden, I heard myself say a firm, “No!”

Boi’s face twisted into an expression of surprise and so did mine. I rolled my eyes. This is what
Ngonnso
would do, but I wasn’t
Ngonnso
. Why did I do that? He threw his head back and laughed so hard. His friends all laughed with him Except for the skinny boy.

“You dare disrespect a man like me?” Boi asked, puffing out his chest so that he looked like Goliath and I looked like David.

“You are not a man, you are a boy!” I fired back, still wondering who was talking for me. “If you don’t take our peaceful offer,” I added, “I will report you to your mother for bullying my sick sister and I.”

His face showed a bit of surprise, but the oily twisted face masked it well. A hideous face like that could mask anything, really.

“I will beat this girl up,” he bragged to his friends. They
chorused in with arrogant laughter that sounded like dry grass burning up in the dry season.

Yenla tried to intercede for me. “Pl. Pleeasssee takkeee mm...mmmmyy own calllaaabash and I will... g...ggoooo back tooooo thhhhhe sttrrreeaamm.”

The group of boys burst out laughing again, except for one, the boy with kind eyes.

Boi echoed, “We donnnnn’tttt wwwwaannt tooooo taaaakkkkkkkeee youuurrr ooowwnnn caalllllaaabb.”

Yenla was so ashamed that she started to cry. Something inside of me was triggered—a part that I never knew existed. My chest was literally burning as if there was coal on it. No one had permission to pick on my sick sister but me. She was already going through all this, and I wouldn’t let her go through it alone. I could also see a group of village children gathering around, as this was obviously becoming somewhat of a spectacle.

“Hey,
fatty bombom
, maybe you could take a walk down to the stream and get your fat self some water instead of bullying a sick girl!” I said, walking towards him, covering my sister.

The grin on his face slowly wiped away. Everyone else’s grin was replaced with shock. This guy was easily a foot taller than myself.

“What did you say?”

I didn’t answer. Somewhere inside, I was terribly afraid, shitting in my pants almost, but I was too proud to show it.
Kibaranko!
I had already come this far. I might as well go down victoriously.

Looking around, perhaps for strength to muffle this pang of fear that couldn’t seem to hide itself, I saw or perhaps imagined the funniest thing ever. I saw Kadoh in a corner tensing and releasing her buttocks in our direction. Was this my imagination? Without knowing, I guffawed. It was big and loud.
Kwakwakwakwa
.

If they looked surprised before, now they were speechless. Buttocks breath hovered over me, grabbing me by the wrapper. He shook me thoroughly, so much that I almost developed a migraine.

“What’s so funny?” he panted, breathing in and out loudly.

I pointed at where Kadoh was standing. This time, there was no Kadoh. Was she playing games with me? Was I seeing things? Bad timing, little munchkin, I thought as I laughed,
bobbing my head from side to side to see if she was lurking in the bushes.

Before I knew it, Boi shoved me down to the ground so hard that my calabash came tumbling down.
Pampalang
! My head hit a rock and the stones scrapped my face. I froze in shock, and then the pain hit me—strong, hot and cold at the same time. I yelped. It hurt like a needle sewing your flesh. My once beautiful sunny wrapper was a muddy mix of
Bui
mud. The boys were laughing, everyone was pointing. Yenla was begging me to leave. I saw the kind-eyed boy trying to reason with them. Boi had his back to me now. My chest began to heave loudly. I was so angry that you could cook eggs on my head.

Someone had to teach this moron a lesson. He wouldn’t get away with this. Not this time, not this girl, I brooded. This is not how things go, I told myself. If you hurt me with a stone, you shall die by a stone.

It seemed as if my
sha
η
g
was boiling or perhaps it was my chest, but suddenly, so much heat riled up within me and with all the force that I had, I picked up the same rock that I had hit my head on and threw it towards Boi, breaking a sweat as I did so.

One of his friends called out, “Boi, watch out!”

Boi turned to look in my direction and the stone drove into his skull like an angry lion pouncing on its prey. He dropped to the floor, and all I could see was blood.