WHAT AN AFRICAN GIRL GOES THROUGH

TALES OF AFRICAN GIRL

I would wash my hands first. Followed by my elder sister and elder brother and my mother. Although my mum doesn't eat with us, she washes her hands with us. She said it makes her feel fulfilled.

Everyone would expect me to clear where we ate and tidy up since I am the last born but I would wait until they shout at me before I do it. I would wait until they say "don't you know that you should tidy up? Don't you Know that we are expecting a visitor?"
And then I would get up slowly, as if being controlled by a remote control and start to clean up slowly.

After then, I would go and sit down and expect a quiet knock. A very quiet knock. The knock is usually quiet because the person knocking does not want the walls to hear its voice. The walls has ears and they sit every night acting like owls.

Then I would run to the door and ask "who is there?" Even though I know who the person is. Even though I know that I shouldn't ask so that the walls won't hear, I would still ask.

I know that my mother and my elder sister would be fuming and would not be able to shout because of the walls. I know that my brother would not even care and would just look on as if he had been dared to look like that for a long time.

I would ask again " who is there?"
And then I would hear "Mister so so so" it is never a person. Different misters everynight. Usually two misters per night except the day my elder sister is having her mother nature ailment every month.

I know it would be a Mister tonight because my sister has pimples all over her face and because she has been unusually ill.

Then I would open the door and stay on the way as if I am preventing the mister from coming in. I know that my mother would be behind me by now about to slap me and I know that the mister would say "please, don't beat her" not because he cares but because he is concious of the walls.

My mum would then lock our door and lead the mister into her bedroom. My sister would follow her some minutes later and then my brother would put on our small generator and stay in the parlour to watch TV and charge his phone.

Our tv shows no pictures. It gives us just sounds. And my mother keeps promising that our life would soon change. That we just bear with her.

To me, there is nothing wrong with our life. I would go to our kitchen and go out through the back door to peep into my mother's bedroom.

I would see what they do. My sister rubbing the mister's body and my mother taking the mister in her. I would watch for a long time and finally go in when I sense that they are about to be done. Other times when my sister isn't in her mother nature moment, she would have a Mister to herself and my mother would have a Mister to herself. They would keep exchanging misters till they are done.

I would go back inside quietly and lock the door.

And then I would start to count. I wouldn't have counted to a hundred and fifty before the mister would come out. Take his bag that he had left on the bare chair where all misters leave their bags and bring out two big wads of cash and hand them over to my mother. My mum would smile and hug the mister, my sister would kiss him on the cheek.

Some misters would beckon on me to hug them and my mom would say "oh she will join soon. Very soon" and she would smile and nod to reassure herself and the mister or misters.

The misters know each other. They recommend my mum and my sister to each other, And the number of misters increases.

The mister or misters would leave quietly as they came and that would be all for the night.

Every next morning, the walls would tell us that they saw the mister or misters that came the night before and say that we are a jinxed family.

We would not care. We take counseling sessions from our mother every morning that we should raise our head up high and ignore the walls' wailings.

My brother also brings misters. Misters his age. Teenage misters. Rich misters. And he receives his commissions for each mister.

I am developing breasts already.

It is just a matter of time, in fact, a little time before I start to go into the bedroom with my mother and elder sister everynight.

I am so looking forward to it.
I am going to love it.