The Mama

THE PARROT

     

WRTTTEN BY ODUGBEMI ISAAC

THE MAMA

Pka pka pka! That was the sound the splashed water made on the bare flow as the old woman systematically sprinkles them so that it would not pour on the man walking in front of me. I was walking alone while everyone walked with their partners to the house of God.  A man once said that “A lot of singles people today are emotional basket cases”. I wonder why he said so but he further argued that they can’t find anybody. Well, that is a good point but what if we love to abstain for a little time the troubles that accompanies living together. Living together as man and wife may not be easy as many portray it outside their homes. And for me, I like travelling. Tony Evans is his name. And then he continued and said that when he was single, he was involved in a wide array of ministry activities. He was on the go all the time. Now, he gets a phone call from his darling wife. “It’s late. When are you coming home?” 

Pka pka pka! The falling water cried loud as it continually fell on the clay soil.

Her shop was just opening and the ground was already wet as a result of one thing or the other, may be rain fell last night. I would not know sometimes, at times I get to know that rain fell last night in the morning especially when our gutters appear cleaner and the numbers of nylons and empty plastic bottles in it has reduced to an unknown destination. The atmosphere is fresh with cool breeze blowing to and fro and like John the Apostle said that the wind blows where it listed and you can hear the sound but cannot tell where it is coming from or where it is going. The sky displays white and blue. The mama was still busy splashing the water on the floor when I began to question the activity in my mind. I noticed she was doing it so quickly and professionally. The sprinkled water as it fell made a uniformed pattern on the bare ground like the design made on Lagos or Abeokuta bridges by artists.  Firstly, I thought the sprinkling ritual was to reduce the dust level to a bearable minimum so that customers would not need to wear their face mask properly when they approach her shop but the ground appears wet from the due of heaven. What more can she need.

A wise man once said, “One foot is not enough to walk with”. Is that truly true? As I walked down the street, I tried to understand the concept of her duty. And then a question came to mind. No one saw my mind so I had no apologies because I kept it to myself. And I made sure I mind my business by looking straightforward. What is the relationship between the shop, the goods in the shop and the water sprinkled at the shop frontage?  

By and large, I saw no relationship because the water came not from the shop but from her house. In that instance my mind settled down and I felt a little relieved when I figured it in a common sense pattern of thinking that the sprinkling might be done to appeal to the gods of the land, in this twenty first century?  Now, will the water attracts more customers than usual on a Sunday morning? I do not know. All I know is that there is a purpose for the sprinkling and only the mama can give an accurate reason for her action I do not want to juxtapose in this kind of situation.  

I guess you enjoy reading the story.

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