Chapter 3
In jeans shorts, and a black hoodie, Wale was coming back from running an errand for his grandfather when he saw a black sedan car parked right outside his house. Since his grandma died three years ago, their home had become a quiet one. Even when his mom was living with them, before she got married, they rarely had guests over, so he was curious to know who was visiting.
He heard a female voice inside the house as he walked to the backyard. From the sound of his grandfather’s voice, it was clear the person was a very close person to him. The big green water tank which sat on a ten inch, square concrete bed just outside the kitchen was dripping water from the tap, like someone had just used it and didn’t close it properly. He opened the kitchen door and walked in. Diagonally from the kitchen door was the black four burner gas cooker. Someone was cooking, and steam emanating from the pot was all over the white tiled kitchen wall. Their voices got louder as he tiptoed to the gas cooker. He knew what was cooking before he lifted the pot cover. The aroma of Jollof rice made his mouth water.
His mom usually came over to cook Jollof rice every weekend, but that wasn’t her voice he was hearing in the living room with his grandpa. His stomach rumbled, and as he put the lid back, a voice said, “Hey!” He was startled and took a few steps backwards. He turned to the side and saw a pretty, slender, dark skinned lady in jeans and a black t shirt. She was about his mom’s age, and looked really familiar. “Wow! You’ve grown so tall.” She said and walked closer to a dumbfounded Wale. He smiled back at her, leaned on the kitchen sink and scanned his mental rolodex, trying to figure out who she was. He stepped aside for her to check the pot, and she said, “I wasn’t sure it was you when I saw you a couple of days ago.” Now, he knew she was the one that had been staring at him the other day, but who is she? He thought to himself.
The scent of her perfume reminded him of his mom. “You probably don’t remember me, right?” She said as she used her bare hand to pick some rice from the hot pot, and put it in her mouth.
“No I don’t.” Wale answered as he continued to think of who she could be.
She turned off the gas cooker, and looked at him before saying, “Help me turn off the gas supply from the cylinder. He looked downward and turned a lid on top of the gas cylinder, which was just beside him. “By the way, I’m your aunt.”
“You’re my aunt?” Wale looked at her astonished.
“Yes.” She said and turned around to walk over to the kitchen cabinet. On top of it was a vertical plate rack; she picked out two white glass plates and turned to face him, “Are you ready to eat now?”
“Umm…Yeah.” He responded, wondering how she knew her way around the kitchen so well.
“I’m your dad’s sister.” She said and walked back to the pot of food. As she dished food in the plate, he wondered if that statement was grammatically correct, as his dad was dead. She walked back to the kitchen counter, covered the food with another plate, put it on a white food tray, and then turned to face Wale. “Please help take this to your grandpa.” He took it from her, and headed to the dining area. Straight ahead, seated at the head of the table was his grandpa, smiling at him. He had on his normal navy blue kaftan, with his reading glass sitting lower down his nose bridge than usual. Even with a head full of gray hair, he still looked real good for his age.
After dropping the tray of food in front of his grandpa, he stood there smiling at him; hoping he would give him some information on why his aunt had appeared out of the blue. When he didn’t get any words from grandpa, he headed back to the kitchen. “Do you want chicken or beef?” She asked him as she dished a plate of food.
“Umm…Chicken please.” He responded before opening the refrigerator and pulling out two bottles of water with one hand. He was trying to grab a third one when she said, “Don’t worry, I’ll get one for myself.”
After dropping off the waters on the table, he rushed up the stairs to his room. His phone battery was low, and he needed to charge it.
On his way back down the stairs, he heard them talking, and tried to make out what they were saying. They stopped when they heard him approaching. His aunt was sitting by the left side of his grandpa at the table, and she had placed his food opposite her on the table. “Thank you for the food.” He said with a smile as he took his seat.
She smiled at him and said, “I saw you with a girl the other day. Is she your girlfriend?”
He smiled before saying, “No. She’s just my friend.”
Still smiling, she looked at him for a while before saying, “You reminded me so much of my brother and your mom back then.”
“Yeah. Yeah…They really do.” His grandpa said and smiled. He had a faraway look on his face now. And then he took a sip from his glass of water before saying, “Wale, there are some things we need to discuss with you.”
