Akata Witch

sniffed.

“Sorry, o,” Chichi said, patting her shoulder. “It’s a little dusty in here, I guess.”

Sunny shrugged. “It’s okay. My room’s the same way.”

It wasn’t as bad as Chichi’s hut, but it was getting there. Sunny had run out of shelf space, so she had started keeping books under the bed. Most were cheap paperbacks her mother had found at the market, but she had been able to bring a few over from the United States, including her two favorites-Virginia Hamilton’s Her Stories and The Witches by Roald Dahl.

The books here looked older and thicker, and probably weren’t novels. Chichi’s mother was perched on top of a stack of books, reading. She looked up and saw them, and used a leaf to hold her place. The first thing Sunny noticed was that Chichi’s mother had the longest, thickest, coarsest hair she had ever seen. It was well past her waist.

“Good afternoon, Nimm,” Chichi said. “This is Sunny.”

Sunny stood there staring. That’s what she calls her mother? “Good afternoon,” she finally croaked.

“I’m glad to hear that you have a voice,” Chichi’s mother said, not unkindly.

“I-I have a voice…” Sunny managed.

Chichi’s mother chuckled. “Would you like some tea?”

Sunny hesitated. Where would Chichi’s mother warm up the water? Would she have to go outside and make a fire? But it was also rude to act as if there was nowhere to do it. “Um, yes, please,” she said.

Chichi’s mother picked up a tea kettle and left the hut.

“Sit on this,” Chichi said, pointing at a large thick book. “We’ve both read it so many times we really don’t need it anymore.”

Sunny couldn’t see the title on the spine. “Okay.”

Chichi sat beside her on the dirt floor and grinned. “So this is where I live,” she said.

“Wow, so many books. What about when it rains?”

Chichi laughed hard at this. “Don’t worry. I’ve lived here all my life and never seen a book come to harm.”

They were quiet for a moment, the only sound the whistle of the tea kettle outside. That was fast, Sunny thought. Must be a fire out back. But she didn’t recall seeing any smoke before they went in.

“So your mother has read all these?” she asked.

“Not all,” Chichi said. “Most. I’ve read a lot of them, too. We bring in new books and trade back the ones we’re sick of.”

“So this is what you do instead of school.”

“When I’m not traveling about.”

Sunny fidgeted. It was getting late. “Um… what secret are you going to tell me?” Before Chichi could answer, her mother came with the tea. Sunny took one of the porcelain cups. Its rim was chipped and the handle was broken off. The other two cups didn’t look much better.

“Thank you,” she said politely. She took a sip and smiled. It was Lipton, only slightly sweetened, just the way she liked it.

“You are Ezekiel Nwazue’s daughter, no?” Chichi’s mother asked, sitting back down on her book stack.

“Yes,” she said. “You know my father?”

“And your mother,” she said. “And I know of you, I’ve seen you around.”

“Who doesn’t notice her?” Chichi said. But she was smiling.

“So what are you reading?” Sunny asked.

“This dried-up old book?” Chichi’s mother answered. “It’s one of the few that I’ve read many, many times and will never trade back.”

“Why?”

“Carries too many secrets yet to be unlocked. Who’d have thought this would be the case with a book written by a white man, eh?”

“What’s it called?”

“In the Shadow of the Bush by P. Amaury Talbot. Nineteen twelve. Shadows, bushes, jungles, the Dark Continent. Sounds so stereotypical, but there’s much in this old thing. The man who wrote it managed to preserve some important information-unbeknownst to him.”

Sunny wanted to ask more, but something else was nagging at her. Her father believed that all one needed to succeed in life was an education. He had gone to school for many years to become a barrister, and then gone on to be the most successful child in his family. Sunny’s mother was an MD, and often talked about how excelling in school had opened opportunities to her that girls only two decades before didn’t normally get. So Sunny believed in education, too. But here was Chichi’s mother, surrounded by the hundreds of books she’d read, living in a decrepit old mud hut with her daughter.

They sipped their tea and talked about nothing in particular. After a little while, Chichi’s mother got up and said she had to go run some errands.

“Thanks for the tea, Mrs…” Sunny trailed off, embarrassed. She didn’t know whether Chichi’s mother went by Chichi’s father’s name or not. She didn’t even know Chichi’s last name.

“Call me Miss Nimm,” Chichi’s mother said. “Or you can call me Asuquo-that’s my first name.”

Sunny realized something once Chichi’s mother had left. “Your mother’s name-she’s Efik?”

“Yep. My father is Igbo, like you.”

There was an awkward silence. “How long have you known Orlu?” Sunny finally said.

“Oh, since we were about four. We-”

As if the mention of his name summoned him, they heard the gate to Orlu’s house creak open. Chichi grinned, got up, and went out. “Orlu,” she called after a moment. “Come here.”

Chichi had barely sat back down when Orlu pushed the cloth aside and peeked in. “Chichi, I just got-oh, Sunny,” he said, frowning at her. “You’re a surprise.” He stepped inside.

“I guess Chichi has let me into her secret club,” she said.

“Club?” he asked, frowning very deeply at Chichi.

“Want some tea?” Chichi quickly asked.

“Sure,” he said, slowly sitting on a stack of books.

She went out to the back, leaving Sunny and Orlu to just look at each other. Sunny wanted to break the awkward silence, so she said the first thing that popped into her head. “Orlu, can you really ‘undo things’?”

Without hesitation, Orlu turned to the back door and shouted, “Chichi!”

“What?” she shouted back.

“Get in here,” he said.

“What?” Sunny asked. “Did I say something-”

Chichi came stomping in. “Don’t speak to me in that tone, Orlu.”

“Ah-ah, why is your mouth so big?” Orlu shouted. “Can’t you…” He pressed his lips together. “Is your mother still home?”

“No,” she said, looking at her feet. Sunny frowned. It was a rare thing for Chichi to not yell back at someone.

The three of them were silent. Sunny looked uncomfortably from Orlu to Chichi and back to Orlu. Orlu glared at Chichi and Chichi looked at the ceiling. Then Orlu slapped his knee hard and said, “Explain, Chichi! Why?”

“No,” Sunny screeched. “You explain, Orlu! We’re supposed to be friends. Tell me and then you can tell her off!”

“It’s none of your-” He turned back to Chichi. “Are you stupid? Just because you’re alone with your thousand and one secrets doesn’t mean we all have to be! I chose not to be that! And I know how to keep secrets!”

“We won’t lose Sunny as a friend. Trust me. Let her in,” Chichi said. “Look at her!”

“So? Her being albino doesn’t mean anything! It’s just her medical condition. Everyone has their own physical quirks!”

“Not in this case. Even my mom thinks so,” Chichi retorted.