It was Lagos, selling Akara was big business, as it was cheap, just five naira for a plate, and the average Nigerian lived below a dollar a day. Aunty Nene sold akara just down the road. Her eyes were smoky as fish and her skin: oily and thick as leopard skin. We called her Aunty Nene not because we were related to her, but because back in Nigeria, calling somebody Aunty, was a sign of respect. She was really big in-size, with laps as round as rubber buckets. And not once in a gazillion years, had anyone ever seen her stand up, from that wooden chair beside her frying pot. Our parents warned us against buying akara from Aunt Nene. They said her oil was blood from the Enugu mountains and that her akara held the cry of dead babies in their moist. They said if you squeezed her akara, you could see tears drop. We thought it was just the oil, and when we asked what kind of witchcraft she practiced(as if witchcraft had a kind), they said we were just forbidden from buying akara from her, simple. One night, at around 8am, after playing hide and seek, we snuck outside the gate, across the road and beneath the shed where Aunt Nene sold the akara. We were seven of us, and only two of us had 5naira to buy the akara. The smoke from her cooking pot wooed in the darkness, caressing her soggy cheek bones as her lips squeezed like a nylon thrown to the flames. How much una wan buy? Talk quick una dey look me like dondy! She spoke authoritatively. We all were 6years of age, and we hadnt selected a spokesperson. See me see trouble o! She smacked her hands together, as if surprised. Then she asked us all to sit round the fire, as she, told us, the dark stories of her life, under the vigil moonlight. That night, when we got back to our beds, we slept with our eyes open. What Aunt Nene told us, would frighten, even our parents. As they would soon come to discover: The Akara In Our Bellys. Watch Out For Part 2 of Ghen Ghen TITLE: GHEN GHEN Written by, Michael Ogah.
Posted on: Tue, 01 Apr 2014 12:26:21 +0000
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