12 12 THE TRANSPLAN (1/2)
My dad had put up a happy face that night in front of Morenike's house in order to hide the deep sadness that was inside him. The joy of us finally finding a match for Eghe Boom Boom wasn't enough to hide the fact that my dad didn't have enough money to pay for the transplant in London and also to pay the volunteering fees, if ever there was something like that, to Morenike's parents.
That night, when we got home, Eghe Boom Boom, Kompa and I were asleep in the backseat of the car. Kompa and I woke up when we pulled into our compound and got out of the car by ourselves, but Eghe Boom Boom had to be carried by my dad into the house.
We were too tired to bathe, so it was straight to bed for all of us, but, somehow, I couldn't sleep. I lay there on my bed thinking of how life would change for us all when Eghe Boom Boom is free of the disease. I would finally have two friends that were my sister and my brother to play with at the same time: Eghe Boom Boom, and Kompa. No one to tell us not to play rough, not to shout too loud, not to run too fast, not to stay out of the house too long, not to jump on the bed too high, and not to do anything fun too much.
I lay there restless in my bedroom for a long time, then I stood up, stepped out of the room, and walked across the corridor to Eghe Boom Boom's room. She was fast asleep on the bed and Kompa was curled next to her. He was also sleeping. I walked down the corridor to my dad's room. The door was ajar and he was kneeling by the bed, praying silently with both hands clasped together.
I stood there watching him for a short while, and then I felt something pulling me to him.
I walked into the room and knelt down beside him. My dad stopped, opened his eyes and turned to me. There was first a look of surprise as he saw me kneeling there, but the look quickly changed to a warm smile. Then I clasped my hands in front of me, closed my eyes and waited. It felt just the way it did when I did the same thing with my mum. Only that this time, I had chosen to pray with him, unlike then when it was her who wanted me to pray with her.
My dad was very different from my mum when it came to matters of prayers, the church, and the Bible. He kept all of that to himself, even if he joined my mum in them. He would say countless times when they had visitors over and somehow their conversations went to church, prayers and the Bible.
”I believe your relationship with God should be personal. Like a friendship between two people. Just you and Him. Father and son or Father and daughter. You don't need any third parties involved. All you have to do is speak with Him privately and quietly. No need for all that loud prayers in front of the world as if you want to prove to them that you know God.”
And when my mum or one of the visitors countered with an argument that you must go to church, or the mosque, or the temple or anywhere to worship God, my dad would respond with laughter in his voice, ”Yes, you can go to the church, or the mosque, or the temple or anywhere you believe you will find Him, but it is for fellowship with people like you who believe the same way. But as for worshipping God, you should know that He is always by you and He is always ready to listen to you.”
My mum would say, ”That is your own, as for me and our children, we will go to church and worship the Lord.”
And my dad would say with a bright smile, ”Yes, love, that is good, but it is also good too, to teach them to learn to worship Him privately, just they and Him together, so that when there is no church, they won't be lost.”
Because of that, Eghe Boom Boom and I were taken to church on Sundays. And twice every day, when we woke up in the morning and when we went to sleep at night, my mum made sure we prayed, short prayers.Some other times, she made me pray with her. Long prayers that made me fall asleep. But as I knelt by my dad that night, I knew I was not going to fall asleep.
He prayed silently for a short while, and then I said to him without opening my eyes, ”Dad, can you pray aloud? I need to know what you are praying for so that I can pray for the same thing too.”
My dad said, calmly, ”Pray that God will give us the money for the transplant and the money to pay Morenike's parents.”
It was then I remembered the phone call my dad had that day in the living room, where he spoke angrily to the person at the other end of the call. I realised that the person somehow hadn't done what he was supposed to do, and now my dad had no money. I suddenly felt fear creep into my body. I knew that without money, Eghe Boom Boom couldn't be freed from the prison of the disease.
So I clasped my hand tighter, and unlike my dad, I did like my mum used to do and prayed loudly. And even as I prayed loudly, I told myself in my mind that the next night, I would go out to talk to my mum in the sky and ask her to help us find the money to cure Eghe Boom Boom.
My prayers went louder and louder and only stopped when I felt something brush against my bare arm. I opened my eyes and turned towards it and I saw Eghe Boom Boom in her pink pyjamas, kneeling by me, her hands clasped in front of her, her face in a smile, as she prayed silently like my dad. But what brought a wide smile to my face wasn't her but Kompa, he was sitting on his haunches by her side, both of his paws raised in front of him and brought together, and his eyes were also closed.
The fear went and love came, and courage also came, and a strong belief that everything would be just fine.
The night after that, I walked alone to the back of the house and stared up at the night sky. It was a starry night, and it didn't take me too long to see the star that winked down at me. Mum. I stood there silently staring at it. I didn't know what to say. The last time I was there, Kompa had behaved strangely, and his strange behaviour had led us to Morenike. Eghe Boom Boom had also heard my mum's voice speak to her, so also did I. As I stared up at the sky, I felt tongue-tied because somehow, I felt that my mum knew everything and could speak to anyone at any time, so there truly was no need asking her to do anything. But then I remembered that she had asked me to always ask, so even though I felt I shouldn't ask, I still surrendered to the constant desire I had to talk to her.
So I simply said to her, ”Mum, it's me Osaik. Thanks for the other day. I feel I shouldn't ask you for help since I know that you know that we need help, but please, can you help dad get some money? We really need it to make Eghe Boom Boom's transplant happen. Please. Okay, that is it. I know that you have seen all that has happened since you went up there, so I don't need to tell you, but I want you to know that I am doing my best to make you proud of me.”
I fell silent for a while, before I said, ”I miss you so much, Mum,” then I went silent and stood there staring up at the sky remembering all the fun times I had with my mum.
Although my dad didn't have the money for Morenike's parents yet, he still asked them to bring Morenike to the foundation for the sample test. I didn't go with him to their home to see how they reacted but when he got home, all he said after I jumped up from the couch where I was watching television and asked him in apprehension about what had happened was, ”They will bring her.”
After which he went to his room and shut the door behind him.
I went to the door and pressed my ear to it and waited. There was no sound apart from the laughter of Eghe Boom Boom playing with Kompa in her room. I took in a deep breath and knocked. There was no response. I knocked again. No response. Then I turned the doorknob and opened the door. When I looked into the room, my dad was on his knees beside the bed. This time I didn't go into the room, instead, I shut the door and walked over to Eghe Boom Boom's room, taking with me all the heaviness and unhappiness that had filled me.
Eghe Boom Boom looked at me once and instantly stopped the catch me game she had been playing with Kompa.
”What happened?” she asked.
I hesitated for a minute, not sure if I should share my worries with her, but then she asked again, this time louder.
”Osaik, what happened? Why are you looking sad?”
”Dad is very sad. I think something bad happened at Morenike's.”
”She doesn't want to be the match?” Eghe Boom Boom asked as she walked to me.
”Dad said she will give her sample for the test.”
”So why are you sad?”
”Dad is sad, so I am sad.”
”Should I be sad too?”
”No. Two people sad is enough.”
”Okay, fine. Do you want to play with me?”
I looked down at Kompa, he was staring up at me, his tongue lapping and his tail wagging, then he whined and said, ”Come on, let's play. You don't want to make her sad.”
”I don't want to make her sad, but I want Dad to be happy,” I explained to him.
”Don't worry, Dad will be fine.”
”Promise?” I asked him.
”Yeah.”
I cheered up and joined them in playing catch.
The afternoon Morenike was to give samples for the bone marrow transplant test, my dad, Eghe Boom Boom and I waited in the lobby of the medical building that was built by the foundation.
We had been waiting for two hours before my dad placed a call to Morenike's father. He didn't pick up the phone. My dad then placed another call to New Face, and he also didn't pick up the phone.
Eghe Boom Boom and I stared at my dad from the chairs we were sitting on as he walked back and forth in the lobby. There was a big vein on his forehead. It was bulging. I knew that vein. It was my dad's worry vein. It came out only when he was very worried about something and disappeared once the thing that caused his worry no longer existed.
I wanted to stand up, walk up to him, hold his hand and tell him not to worry because as Kompa said, everything will be fine. I wanted to tell him that I had spoken to my mum and although she hadn't responded to me yet, I knew that she was taking care of everything. I wanted to explain to him that it might be the traffic that was delaying Morenike. I wanted to tell him to sit down and be calm so that he doesn't upset Eghe Boom Boom. I wanted to tell him so many things but instead, I sat there quietly, staring up at him, with palms that were sweaty even though the air-conditioning in the lobby was on.
”Are they here yet?” Eghe Boom Boom asked loudly.
”They will be here soon,” I whispered.
”How do you know?” she turned towards me as she asked the question.
”I just know.”
”But you are not on the phone with them, Daddy is,” she continued.
”Lower your voice.”
”My voice is not high.”
”It is. Look, everyone is looking at you.”
Eghe Boom Boom looked at the other people who were in the lobby with us. Some were sitting; others were walking in and out of the lobby.Then she turned back to me.
”No, they are not,” she said with a bit of annoyance in her voice.
”They would soon, if you keep speaking loudly.”
”You are just being naughty,” she said dismissively as she stood up and walked over to my dad.
”Boom Boom, come back,” I called out to her in a slightly raised whisper.
She ignored me, got to my dad and held his hand, before she said to him when he looked down at her, ”Daddy, when are they coming?”
My dad smiled down at her, and said to her in a gentle, loving voice, ”Soon my love, soon. Now go sit quietly by Osaik.”
Just then the door to the lobby opened and Morenike and her mum walked in. They were both sweating and were out of breath.
My dad's face lit up once he saw them and hurried to them with a smiling Eghe Boom Boom in tow. I stood up too and happily walked towards them. When we got to them, my dad gushed, ”Thank God you made it.”
”The traffic was bad,” Morenike's mother said as she tried catching her breath.
”I knew it!” I exclaimed loudly.
”Lower your voice, Osaik,” Eghe Boom Boom said sternly.
I went silent. Eghe Boom Boom turned back to Morenike and smiled, then said in a more charming voice.
”Hi.”
”Hi,” Morenike responded.
”Thank you for coming.”
”My mummy and my daddy were arguing because they wanted the money first before they…”
”Morenike!” Her mother shouted at her.
Her voice was very loud and angry, and it made everybody in the room go silent and turn towards her. Morenike looked down at her feet, while Eghe Boom Boom looked up at Morenike's mother with a frown on her face.My dad quickly spoke as he gently led Morenike's mother to the front desk behind which a woman was sitting.
”It is okay. Let's go and register.”
They both walked towards the desk while Eghe Boom Boom, Morenike and I followed.
”Will it be painful?” Morenike's mother asked with a frown.
”The registration?” my dad asked.
Morenike's mother smiled and before she could say anything, Morenike said to my dad as we walked behind them, ”Boom Boom said that you told her not to answer a question with a question.”
My dad turned back and smiled at her, before he responded, ”Yes, you shouldn't. I apologise.”
Then he looked back at Morenike's mother and corrected himself, ”The registration will not be painful, neither will the sample taking. Osaik did his here and it wasn't painful.”
He turned to me and asked, ”Osaik, was the sample taking painful?”
”No, it wasn't. Just a prick, that is all. Like a tiny mosquito bite. They will also put a swab in your mouth with a stick and roll it around. It tastes like nothing, after that they will let you go.”
My dad smiled as they registered Morenike and a nurse came and led us all to the room where the sample was to be taken. It was the same room where mine was taken, and it was the same woman who took my sample that was there to take Morenike's sample.
Just like she did when she took my sample, she looked up at all of us as we walked into the room and said with a bright smile, ”Now, who do we have here?”
”Good afternoon,” my dad greeted her.
”Good afternoon, sir. Nice seeing you again,” she responded before she looked over at Morenike's mother who was looking around the room in something that looked like fear but was not.
It was what my mum called apprehension. She used to say that was the look I gave when I watched her prepare vegetables. Just like Eghe Boom Boom, I didn't like vegetables.
”Good afternoon, ma'am,” the woman said to Morenike's mother.
”Mummy, she is saying hello,” Morenike said to her mother.
Her mother turned back and smiled at the woman. ”I am sorry. Good afternoon. All this is new to me.”
”Exactly what some people say when they first come in here. But let me tell you something; people who volunteer to save other people, without asking for anything in return, are angels that walk on this earth, and God will bless them incredibly,” the woman said in a sing-song voice that rose and fell with a joyous ring to it as she spoke.
Morenike's mother didn't say anything back to the woman. She just smiled. It was an uncomfortable smile. The kind of smile you give when you feel guilty even though no one had asked you if you were guilty or not.
The woman turned back to Eghe Boom Boom, Morenike and I and said, ”I know you, young man, but I don't know these two beautiful ladies here. Can I meet them?”
Eghe Boom Boom was the first to speak. Her words were filled with excitement.
”I am Eghe Boom Boom. I am the one who needs the transplant.”
”Oh, there you are! I thought I would not get to see you. Pleased to meet you, beautiful one.”
”Pleased to meet you too, beautiful aunty,” Eghe Boom Boom said with a bright smile.
”Oh, thank you. Aren't you charming?” the woman said to Eghe Boom Boom.
She turned to Morenike and said, ”And I take it you are the lovely and courageous lady who is giving us a sample today, right?”
”Yes,” Morenike said, looking at the instruments the woman was sorting out on the table in front of her.
There was the same apprehension on her face as was on her mother's. The woman noticed it and said again in a cheerful tone.
”Don't be scared of these things. They won't hurt you. I will be gentle and quick and before you know it, the samples will be taken and you will be free to go. Okay?”
Morenike nodded.
”Now you go sit there and make yourself comfortable, while I get all these ready for you.” She pointed at the same seat I had sat in when I gave my own samples.
Morenike headed towards the seat and sat down. Her mother stood on one side of her and Eghe Boom Boom walked to the other side. She looked at Morenike and said, ”Atasweswe, can I hold your hand while you give the sample?”
Morenike nodded and Eghe Boom Boom slipped her left hand into Morenike's right hand before she said in a very calm voice, ”Don't be afraid, I am here with you.”
My dad glanced over at Morenike's mother who was staring down at Eghe Boom Boom and Morenike. It was as if she was seeing them for the very first time. I watched her and watched my dad, and I could see that they were both thinking of something. And even though I wanted to know what it was they were thinking of, I knew there was no way I could sneak into their heads and take a peak. So I just stood there staring at each person as the woman walked towards Morenike and said with her bright cheerful smile still on.
”So, I take it your name is Atasweswe?”
”It is my nickname.”
”And what is your real name?” the woman said as she placed her instruments on the side table that jutted out of the chair.
”Morenike.”
”That is a beautiful name. Do you know what it means?” she took Morenike's arm and stretched it out before her.
”Yes.”
”Can you tell me?”
”It means I have got one to pamper.”
”Ah, I see. So, you love being pampered?”
”Yes.”
”Now let me find that vein and pamper you. Is that okay?”
”Yes.”
She found the vein, injected it, and Morenike didn't flinch. The woman took the samples, did the mouth swabs and in less than fifteen minutes, we were out of the room, under the loud laughter of Eghe Boom Boom and Morenike as they walked hand in hand in front of us.
When the results of the tests came back, like mine, I was at school. During the ride home, with Eghe Boom Boom and I at the back seat, my dad said to us solemnly while looking at us through the rear-view mirror with a smile hidden in his eyes.
”Morenike is a match.”
”Yes!” I shouted, pumping the air with my fist, then I looked over at Eghe Boom Boom and continued in the same high pitch. ”Boom Boom, you are going to be healed! No more sickle cell!”
She giggled as she watched me. Then she started mimicking and shouting and pumping the air with her tiny fist. ”Yes! Yes! Yes!”
When we got home, I ran out of the car, up the stairs, opened the front door and shouted at the top of my lungs, ”Kompa, Morenike is a match!”
Kompa raced out to me and began running around me over and over again barking happily.The minute Eghe Boom Boom walked up the stairs and entered the house; Kompa jumped on her and begin licking her face excitedly as he whined.
The happiness lasted all through that afternoon and into the evening, dying only when I asked my dad about the money for the transplant. ”Dad, do we now have the money for the transplant?”
He fell silent and the unhappy mood that had followed him for days returned.
The mood lasted for days. Eghe Boom Boom and I would sit on the couch alongside Kompa and watch my dad make call after call to people we did not know, as he begged them to loan him money. When the response was good, we would see him smile and then hurriedly write the name of the person and then some figures beside it, but when the response was bad, we would see his shoulders slump and his head hang down in sadness.
Then Eghe Boom Boom would jump off the couch, run to him and hug his leg as she looked up at him and said, ”You are the best daddy in the whole world, please don't be sad. Remember what you always tell Osaik that 'Delay is not denial'. So don't give up, Daddy. Keep trying.”
My dad would smile and look down at her or he would slowly stroke her hair after which he would begin his calls again and Eghe Boom Boom would rush back to the couch, sit down on it, slide her hand in mine and resume watching my dad speak to people over the phone.
One day, after I came from school and we all sat down around the table in the kitchen having lunch, Kompa began to bark and whine. My dad looked down at him in concern and said, ”Kompa, are you okay?”
I responded, ”Yes, he is. He said he could do tricks for people and they will give some money after they watch him perform.”
My dad smiled and said, to Kompa, ”That is so thoughtful of you, Kompa. Thank you.”
Kompa growled, barked once and then whined.
I immediately translated it, ”He says you are welcome. He also wants to know when we can start.”
My dad hesitated for a while, then he said, ”I think it is a good idea, but I am not sure it is something I want him to do.”
”But Dad, why? We need the money,” Eghe Boom Boom said from her side of the table. Her lips were covered with ketchup.
”I just don't like the idea of you standing outside in public begging.”
Kompa barked four times, whined, and I quickly translated it to my dad. ”No, Kompa said it is not begging; it's fundraising.”
”Ahhh, I see, fundraising,” my dad said as though he was rolling the word 'fundraising' in his mouth to see how it tasted.
”And I can colour up signs on cardboard paper saying what the fundraising is for.”
”And I can make cold lemonade for people to buy and drink,” Eghe Boom Boom said excitedly.
”Even if I said yes, you won't join them out in the sun Boom Boom,” my dad said to her.
”Why?” she responded near tears.
”Because it will be too hot for you.”
”I can use an umbrella and wear light clothes,” she pouted.
”Sorry, my love, but we can't expose you to stress.”
”Dad, I will have a little chair, and a little table, and an umbrella, and all the lemonade will be on the table. People will walk to me and buy from me. I will not walk to them. See, Dad, there is absolutely no stress in that,” Eghe Boom Boom said in a dramatic fashion while pronouncing ”absolutely” as ”abtotutety”.
I laughed but didn't correct her, instead, I spoke to my dad, ”Dad, it is a great idea. If we do it after school every week, we can make a lot of money.”
”It is not that easy.”
”But you said we should always try things and if they don't work out then at least we can beat our chest and say we tried,” I said to him.
He kept quiet for a while as we all watched him, then he sighed and said, ”Okay, you win. But my rules: I will be in the car watching, and we will do it only twice a week. That is once during the week and once during the weekend. I will choose the spot and we will be outside for only two hours on each of these days. Deal?”
”Yes, deal,” I hurriedly said.
”Will I be selling my lemonade too?” Eghe Boom Boom asked.
”I am sorry, you…”
”But dad, it is not fair. I said I will be under the umbrella. I will not stress myself. You will be there and we are just there for two hours. I want to help you, Dad. Why don't you want me to?” she said in a teary voice with her misty eyes opening wider and wider until she looked so funny, my dad and I burst out laughing.
And when my dad finished laughing, he said, ”Okay, you will join us.”
The misty eyes immediately cleared and there was no teary voice any more when Eghe Boom Boom promptly said, ”Thank you, Dad. Now I will eat my vegetables.”
She started eating all the vegetables she had earlier pushed to one side of her plate as she ate her rice, fish stew, and fried plantain.
Two days after that, we had our first public fundraiser.
The first time we had the fundraiser was after school. It happened at the playing field in the estate within which our house was. It was a very big field. One part of it had weights which men lifted to get fit, another part had a smaller football field where young boys played football, and then there was a sandy place that had a saucer, hammock, and normal swings. There was also the comet spinner which Eghe Boom Boom liked to play on during the few times my mum brought her to the playfield.
There were the Orbit, Pod walks, Pad climbers and the Pegasus, which I absolutely loved playing on.
Beyond all this, occupying most of the playfield was the big football field where the adults played football. It was fenced away from the rest of the playfield and had two goalposts and very green grass. The adults came there all through the day, even when it was dark and the floodlights came on. They played and they played and they played.
We didn't go there at night but in the late afternoon, when the sun was still up. My dad set us up close to the football field so that the adults could see Kompa perform. Eghe Boom Boom set up her little desk, little chair, umbrella, cooler of lemonade bottles in ice, plastic cups, and a pouring jug a short distance away from where Kompa was to perform.
I had a big open glass jar on which was written on a piece of paper stuck to it, ”DONATIONS” in addition to three cardboards on which were written:
”HELP MY SISTER PAY FOR HER TRANSPLANT”
”DONATE FOR BOOM BOOM'S SURGERY”
”WE ARE RAISING MONEY TO SAVE MY SISTER'S LIFE”
The signs were very colourful. I had used different colour markers for each one and drew the heart sign all over the cardboards. Dauda had helped me attach them to wooden sticks and when we got to the playfield; my dad had driven them into the ground before he walked a short distance away and sat down on one of the wooden benches to watch us.
Kompa had a football, three tennis balls, a bowl of sausages, skipping ropes, a drum and a boom box, which was operated by batteries.
We started with playing the music loudly. They were all Michael Jackson's songs. I loved his music and Kompa loved them too. We used to practice with them a lot and I knew all the dance moves that went with them.
I actually missed the performances we used to have at home when my friends came over. But my friends had stopped visiting since my mother went up to the sky to become a star. They all came the morning after it happened. They also came for the funeral, right from the house where my mum's casket had laid open for people to see, up to the church for the service and then to the cemetery for the burial. Every time they came, they were with their parents.
They had come because they all loved my mum. She was the favourite mum amongst all the mums. The mum that always had a small gift to give. The mum that always had a good word to say in your defence. The mum that always joined in the games we all played when she was around. The mum who never got angry. The mum who called you my son or my daughter with such sincerity and love that you instantly believed she was your mum even when you knew she wasn't your mum.
She was the mum who would bail you out of trouble with your mum. They all loved my mum but stopped coming after we buried her. Some of them were my friends who went to the same school as I did, others were friends I had made in the neighbourhood. They were friends I still ran into and played with. But now, their eyes were always sad when they looked at me and unlike before, they had begun to ask after Eghe Boom Boom.
Some would say to me in a whisper as we played, ”How is Boom Boom?”
And I would respond, ”She is fine.”
They would look at me with furrowed brows and ask again, ”Are you sure?”
And I would look at them with the same furrowed brows and say, ”Of course, I am sure. But why should she not be fine?”
Then they would look away, afraid that I would challenge them before they would murmur, ”You know.”
With my brows still furrowed, I would ask in rising chagrin, ”I know what?”
Once I said that, they would shrug their shoulders and walk away while saying, ”Don't worry, I just wanted to know how she is doing, that's all.”
I knew that they all knew that like my mum, Eghe Boom Boom had sickle cell anaemia. I knew that they were afraid that she would fall into the forever sleep and go up to the sky and become a star like my mum had done. I totally understood that they were concerned about my sister. And it made me love them even more, but what I could not understand was why they stopped coming to my house to play with Kompa and me, and why when they saw Eghe Boom Boom, they refused to touch her or play with her. It always looked like they were afraid of her. It felt like someone had told them that if they touched her or played with her they would get infected with the sickle cell anaemia. One of them once asked me if I had sickle cell anaemia too and when I told him that I didn't, he looked at me with a confused face and said, ”But you live with her.”
It was then I knew that they thought sickle cell anaemia was something you caught by touching someone, like chickenpox, and not something you got from your parents. I tried to explain to them but they looked at me with bored faces and before I went too far, they just changed the topic. I didn't blame them because I knew that, unlike me, not everyone loved big words that rolled around in your mouth like Chin Chin and big ideas that lit your head up like a bulb.
I know I am special and not proud or stuck up because my mum had made sure I didn't become arrogant by always saying, ”Don't take your being special to mean that you are better than others, if not you will become self-conceited.”
I loved the word ”conceited” and I used it to bamboozle my friends until they learnt the meaning of the word too.
When I had told my dad what my friends were asking and what they were also thinking, he looked at me with a smile and said, ”People will know what they should know when the time is right for them to know and not before, so be patient with them. Do not allow their lack of knowledge annoy you because you must remember that you were once like them. Gently share with them what you know when they are willing to listen, but if they stop listening, stop sharing and wait for the next time that they seem ready to listen. If you continue like this, one day, they will open up their minds and their hearts and learn from you what you have learnt, but for now, let us both agree that they have stopped coming to play with you out of respect for your late mum. They are just honouring her memory.”
I accepted what my dad said as the reason my friends no longer came to play with Kompa, Eghe Boom Boom, and I; even though I didn't believe it.
By the time the field filled up to about half the capacity, the sun had not begun to set.
Kompa was impatient as he trudged up and down. He ran over to Eghe Boom Boom, she gently rubbed his head, then he ran over to my dad, got another head rub before he came to me after looking at the people who were playing their own personal games.
Kompa said, with two barks, ”Start the music.”
I started the music and the loud boom from the speaker made people look towards us. I had the ball in my hands, and Kompa looked over at me, barked thrice and said, ”Let's get the party started.”
I threw the ball up in the air, Kompa looked up at it as it came swooshing down. When it got to the level of his head, he bowed his head and brought it back up quickly so that it hit the ball and sent it flying back up again towards me. We did it thrice before someone shouted, ”See a dog playing football o!”
Kompa barked thrice as he hit the ball again towards me, I said to the man who had spoken.
”He said he is playing volleyball, not football.”
”Who is he?”
”Kompa,” I said pointing to Kompa before I hit the ball high up in the air again.
”Your dog can talk?”
”My brother, not my dog,” I responded as Kompa hit the ball back to me.
”A dog is your brother?” the man asked again, bewildered.
”He is my brother, not a dog!” I said loudly.
”Well, he is a dog to me,” the man said dismissively.
I looked at him with irritation and continued playing volleyball with Kompa. The man stood there watching Kompa hit the ball again. He was smiling. People started to gather.They were watching us. Kompa barked thrice and then whined as he watched the ball hurtling towards him.
I turned to the people who were watching and translated, ”He said you should read the signs.” I said, pointing over to the cardboard signs that were nailed on the wooden sticks and stuck in the ground.
They turned towards the signs and read them. Kompa and I kept on playing volleyball. People were walking towards the gathering crowd.
Then a lady called out to me, ”Where is your sister?”
I caught the ball and pointed to Eghe Boom Boom where she sat under her umbrella with her lemonade set up all around her.
”That is my sister, she has sickle cell anaemia and she needs money for the bone marrow transplant to save her.”
”How old are you?” another man called out.
”I am eight years old,” I replied.