Planting Season 1894 – My Coast adventures
Hey,
I have just beheld a ghost; every bone in my body is trembling
so bad that I can’t stop shaking. I am saying my prayers right now but I not getting
any relief; ‘Oh please Osanobua, God almighty, make haste to deliver me from
these terrors’.
Yesterday, Ama and her sister Omosegho had promised to take us
to see the Ebo (Whiteman) and Uwa, Edugie and I were so looking forward to this
adventure that I do not think any of us slept a wink. But things seemed to have
taken off to a slow start on that matter this morning, I was not about to let
it rest, I was desperate to observe the Ebo going about his daily business or else
what would I tell when we returned home to the palace.
Chief Irriah and the other chiefs set off pretty early for
their business in town with the Ebo and all the female adults had seemingly
arranged to visit their families on this day, we children were therefore left
to our own devices.
‘Well, can we go now? ‘I enquired of Ama after she had adorned
herself with some very impressive beads.
‘We need to hold on for a bit for one never knows if any of
the adults is going to come back to check on us; if we are not here we could
get into very serious trouble and be grounded for many days to come, better not
to risk it.’; ‘I will tell you when.’ Ama promised.
After what seemed like ages, Ama finally called out ‘Ready!’ I
sprang up from my seat and made to join the others. The weather had just begun
to warm up a bit.
We walked excitedly through the town, chatting about what we
would say to the Ebos when we met them. Oblivious to the greetings from people
we met, I marvelled at the big compounds of the chiefs which stood in the
middle of town, I secretly wondered if they were as rich as Edo chiefs.
At first, Ebo waved at us when they noticed us then completely
ignored us carrying on with their game. We just stood there and watched and
when the sun bit into our skin, we sat under a tree shade. Our giggles and
laughs did not seem to interfere with their concentration on their game ; once
in a while, one of them would stop to wipe the dripping sweat off his face and
neck; poor things, how hot they must feel. They carried on thus till the sun was
right overhead and they stopped and went into a house nearby.
‘I was enjoying that; Ebo, come back!’ I uttered to no avail,
they just went inside.
‘It is too hot for them to carry on playing now, they will
return when it is cooler or on some other day; they are not used to all this
heat you know.’ Ama explained.
‘I don’t care; I just want to see more of the game!’ I uttered.
‘Actually, we need to be getting back for some food now.’ It
was Edugie.
‘What a splendid idea; we can come back later’ Ama added.
‘Later when?’ I wanted to know.
‘Later tonight.’ Ama promised; that sounded good enough for me
and dropped the matter. We were soon on our way home.
No adults had returned by the time we got back to Ama’s house;
we had the parlour to ourselves and as I was tired and not particularly hungry,
I sank into a chair and soon dozed off
into dreamland. In my dream, one of the Ebos was smiling at me and holding out
his hand with a juicy mango; as I reached out to collect
the mango from him, it suddenly turned rotten and full of gigantic viscous looking
red soldier ants, they were soon crawling up my arm, dreading the deadly
stings, I screamed. I woke up to find Edugie kneeling over me; ‘What happened?’
she asked.
‘I had a really nasty dream about the Ebo.’
‘You and your dreams! Would you like anything to eat now?’
‘No thanks!’ still trembling from the terror of my dream, I
had quite lost my appetite. Ama invited us to her back garden where we spent
the rest of the afternoon, plucking various fruit from trees.
‘What was that about?’ Ama asked as we slipped back into the
compound as if we had never left.
‘I thought I saw a ghost.’ I stammered.
‘Well the Ebo can look like a ghost when a light is shown on
him in complete darkness.’
‘You tell me that now, thanks for nothing, I could have had a
heart attack back there!’; furious, I turned and left them standing there, calling it a
day.
I am clearly still much shaken from the ‘ghost’ experience, I
just pray that I do not have any more nightmares about the Ebo tonight; I have certainly
had my fill of him for now.
I just want to go back home now!
CU around.
Princess Iyomon
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