I remember that I loved to climb trees. I’d climb as high as the branches allowed. And I loved spending time at the creek near home — playing in the cold water with Bobo, watching as well as trying to catch fish with my hands, and chasing the butterflies and dragonflies. I’d ride my bike the quarter mile or so to the creek.
As a child, happiness hid in the bumps of my clothing, and the curve of my smile even when my head hurt. Not pounding, just a dull ache which was always a side effect of eating too much 𝒑𝒂𝒚𝒊𝒏, unpopped corn kernels that didn’t pop which Mama Guguru usually supplied my mother whenever she finished making popcorn which she sold at Odedi market. My mom would coax us into eating the 𝒑𝒂𝒚𝒊𝒏, which often resulted in intense tooth pain and triggered coughing in my younger brother, Bobo.
Also, I was always peeping into other people’s coolers during break times and their foods were always smiling gracefully with either eggs, fish, turkey or chicken. I never wondered why it wasn’t like that for me because I knew better. Some days I don’t get to take lunch to school or it’s a stale meal with no fish, meat or egg.
I can recall that I was barely eight when the police came knocking down the door to our little apartment, with guns drawn, throwing my father to the floor, handcuffing him, and beating on him with their pistol butts as other cops searched the apartment.
I can still remember every detail of that morning, from the dark and damp surroundings of the apartment to the dusty smell of the mouldy basement walls, and the ashes that spilt from the detective’s cigarette as it dangled from a corner of his mouth. I remember what my sister was wearing, what my mother said to the cop who came to arrest Father and insisted on searching us, and the general air of now what permeated our bus ride to grandmother’s apartment.
My father was regularly in and out of jail. All petty things like fights and shoplifting. Anyway, after a court hearing, they finally deemed him a hazard to myself, my siblings and my mother who took it upon herself to ensure she gave us quality education, and the best she could.
I can still remember that our life was one big roller coaster ride. We were flat-broke and on the verge of starvation. This was during one of our near-starving episodes, which were way more common than not.
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