TALES OF WEST AFRICA
Peggy Albrecht

(Page 70)
"Do I see cassava in your pocket?"

"No sir," Saidu said as fear rose like a lump in his throat. "It is waterproof sheeting."

Uncle Musu's eyes narrowed. "We shall see what thing you hide." With that he jerked the sheeting from Saidu's pocket. "Aha! You have the mission doctor's watch."

"He gave it to me, Uncle Musu, sir."

"For true?"

"For true. Ever since my father's death the doctor treat me with kindness. You, yourself know he treat me as his own son."

"His own son? He promise you can drive the hospital lorry during the school holiday. Then he give the job to Jackari Bengali. That is the way he treat his own son?"

Saidu closed his eyes as the room began spinning around him.

"You cannot answer?" his uncle asked. "You cannot speak the truth?"

Above the sound of the old man's voice, the voice of conscience shouted, "You stole the watch. You must not lie. You must confess. Confess! Confess! Confess!"

"All right I will."

"You will what?" Uncle Musu asked.

"I will confess. But I must have something for my belly first."

Frowning, Uncle Musu took a kola nut from his pocket. Handing it to Saidu he said, "My kola soon finish. Then, what thing can I do for my own hunger?"

Saidu could only shake his head. His mouth, puckered from the bitter nut, was filling with saliva. Prostrating himself, Saidu placed his hands around his uncle's bony ankles and swallowed hard.

"Uncle Musu, sir, I beg you forgive me the trouble and disgrace I bring on your head."

"No need to grovel at my feet. Sit up like a man," his uncle said. "You are my dead brother's son. Therefore, I can forgive when you talk true. What make you steal the doctor's watch? What other things you take from him?"

"You must believe me, Uncle Musu. Except for the watch, I cannot steal. The doctor always trust me with supplies, even money. I never fail him."

Uncle Musu nodded. "I know. For that reason, the doctor give you plenty work to do after school."

"For true. He paid me well with money and rice." Grinding the kola nut between his teeth Saidu added, "If I stayed for holiday work at Mattru Hospital, I could eat rice everyday."

"Then why come to Nyadihun to suffer hunger?"

"For the sake of my heart. It was hot with anger. I was ready with my drivers license to drive the hospital lorry when Chief Bengali say his son, Jackari, must have the job. The doctor agreed.

"After Chief Bengali left, the doctor told me he had a better holiday job for me. He promised to teach me many things so I would work in the supply room and sometimes at the desk. I was not glad for that."

"For the sake of a better job, you were not glad?"

"Already, I told my classmates I would be driving the hospital lorry. Jackari bragged saying he would be the driver. I said 'No, the job is already mine.' He laughed. The others laughed too because they know the Paramount Chief always manage for his son."

A wry smile twisted Uncle Musu's lips. "I think Jackari tormented you when he got the job?"

"For true. He also gathered many form 4 classmates. Together they jeered and laughed at me until my heart was hot. They kept laughing louder and louder. Jackari called me stupid and good for nothing.

"When my heart began to boil, I rushed to the hospital to say I did not want the better job. Unfortunately, I met the doctor busy in the operating room with his watch hanging by the wash basin."

"By that time my head was not on quite straight. I grabbed the watch and came straightway to Nyadihun."

"You must return the watch. Then you can eat rice everyday and send rice to Nyadihun as well."

"Ha! I am not able to face the doctor. Furthermore, he will say I am no longer trustworthy and cannot enter the supply room again forever."

"Uncle Musu, I must stay here. I am able to make piassava from raphia spines. I am able to..."

"Foolish boy," his uncle interrupted. "I have not more kola nuts for you." Turning his back, he stormed out of the room saying, "We shall see what thing you are able for do."

Bitter kola juice burned like fire in Saidu's stomach as visions of Jackari's sneering face loomed before his eyes. Laughter of his classmates rang in his ears.

I have already lost face, Saidu thought. Perhaps I should return the watch and say, "I am no longer worthy of a better job." I will ask to work as a compound helper, cutting weeds and trimming bush.

But that evening, after having a piece of roast cassava dipped in palm oil, Saidu changed his mind. He spent the next morning trimming raphia. Hour by hour, as hunger pains increased, the insistent voice tormented him.

"Because of the gold watch, your uncle refuse you a morning ration of cassava. He refuse to give you kola nut. It will be the same everyday until you return the watch. You must return it. Return it. Return it."

With trembling hands, Saidu gathered the raphia he had trimmed. Tying it into a small bundle, he placed in the shaded pond for retting and staggered to his uncle's hut.

Uncle Musu was asleep on his veranda. He awoke with a start when Saidu squashed a mosquito on his arm.

"You now whack my arm?" he asked.

"No, Uncle Musu, I kill on mosquito - fat with your blood. See." Leaning against the veranda post, Saidu displayed the bloody spot on his hand.

"Oh yaaa. Well, what thing you want?"

"I want one small cassava. I need strength for my return to the mission hospital."

Uncle Musu sat up. "Good boy," he said. "You shall have one roast cassava and two kola nuts. But you must remember to send rice for my kindness."

"I will remember. If the doctor allows me to work, I will send rice to you. Even the compound helpers receive one cup each day."

Saidu started on the seven mile trek from Nyadihun to Mattru determined to confess and beg for mercy. But when the first lorry rumbled past splattering him with mud, Saidu's determination wavered. A vision of Jackari's sneering face flashed before his eyes once again. Jeers and laughter of classmates reechoed in his ears. Wondering if starvation might be easier to bear, he slowed down, dragging his feet through the muddy ruts.