The Mother.
Written by Festus Obehi Destiny.
The sizzling of the decaying wood is the only sound that keeps them company. The foul odour that hangs around the loose wrapper of the mother triggers the absolute silence of the crickets. The pungent smell of rot and despair distills the atmosphere. The quiet is broken by the sniffle of a child. The child runs towards the hut. His penis hangs loosely around his waist and spittle dribbles across his face. He trudges to where the mother sleeps. He tugs at her wrapper, stripping her naked in an attempt to draw her attention. His desire to quench his ravenous hunger tearing at his intestine is the only care in the world. The mother’s eyes open slowly and the ugly creature’s hunger cries infuriates her. She smiles. She stifles out a yawn and drags her feet across the empty space of the hut to the edge of the room where she picks up a used pot with a broken lid.
‘How many fishes did you catch today’ she asks.
‘None’ He cries ‘I’m hungry mother” He drawls
She picks up the pot and fills it with water. Water stored in a plastic calabash. The dust at the brim and the algae shows the maturity of the unused water. But the Mother had not always been this obscene. She once lived in a big house with a tall man. He took care of her and she never had to sleep in a chicken sized hut. She never had servants but she didn’t experience hunger either. Her luck ran out when he died. Her Husband’s family gave her nothing. They tore her hair and scratched her face. They spared no mercy for her or her child. She took to the hills. No Elijah approached her to fill her drum with oil. No raven brought her bread. Her water did not share the taste of wine. The goddess of the river received her tears and answered her with more tears. The god of luck ran out on her. Soon her bulging eyes and emaciated collarbones became a stranger to her shadow. Her gait was stiffened by the heavy burdens that her heart could not unload. The peace of nature soon turned to disgust and she wanted nothing more than silence. Anubis heard her call from the catacomb pyramids of Egypt. His voice came to her like the rain. First, a drop then a rush. And soon she saw peace in the stillness of her breath. For many days, silence was her companion. The peace became her satisfaction and she wanted to share the answers with the child.
She boiled the leaves. She stirred. Her tears were the smiles and the aroma blossomed in the dark part of the forest that the children of the night gathered to witness the sacrifice in their invincible states.
‘Mother, you are using all the vegetables’ The child warned’
‘Fear not’ the mother assured. ‘We have no more worries. This meal is only a fore runner for the many to come’
A grin appeared on the child’s face. He thought by providence divine that his mother’s words were true. He joggled up and sang. The mother continued to stir her pot. Her consciousness already fading like the day. She counted seconds till her last. Then she stood up, It is time.
“Go and fetch more water” The mother ordered the child. And as the child bent down to lift the pot, she hit his head with a long stick. She did not wait for the child to recover from the pain. She hit him again, and again and again. She hit him till the black blood that spilled from the back of his head turned pink. She hit him after his last breath had slipped through the fingers of Anubis and hall of Hades. And even when the children of the night screamed in awe of her actions, she hit. And when she stopped, the child whose life-force had once popped up belly wise like a rubble of burnt plastic. His knees popped out and his throat lay next to his nose. She breathed heavily. “It is done; my child is waiting for me. I shall not delay”.
She stood up like a possessed woman and picked up a knife. With a smile plastered across her face, she tore through her throat till her fingers trailed a line from her left ear to her right shoulder. Her knees gave way as she slumped on the grass. The blood paved its way across the sands and around the leaves. Coiling up till the earth swallowed it whole. The sun fell and the cricket danced and chirped. And when the steam of the meal threatened to swallow the forest, the children of the night came8 out to eat.
