Chapter 3

When Asanga got home later that evening she called Uncle Joe again. She had to be sure she could not name anyone else except Emily. She sat on her favorite sofa with a bottle of Piña colada and a glass. The cold alcoholic drink ran down her throat and made every effort to soothe her tense nerves.

Uncle Joe's phone rang several times but he did not pick up. She sat for a while feeling the alcohol go to her head. She thought about what Uncle Joe had said and the implications. Then she thought about big mammy. She wished she had been at the old woman's side when she was going.

She had called her last about two weeks ago to inform her that she had sent her some money through Amanda's mobile money account. She loved big mammy with all her heart and she knew big mammy loved her too. She thought big mammy understood that she had a different type of life.

How could she name her to be the next priestess of Mukenge? How could big mammy think that being the priestess of a village deity was more important than being the regional director of Marketing in a company like Super Water?

The sun had gone down and she was now plunged into darkness but she did not notice. She emptied the bottle and was about to go and get another one when her phone's screen lit up. It was Uncle Joe calling.

"Hello Uncle."

No answer.

"Hello," Asanga said.

Still, there was no answer. She looked at the screen of the phone, the call was still connected.

"Hello"

The call ended.

She tried calling back. The operator said her correspondent was on another call. She stood up and went to the kitchen to get another bottle of Piña colada from the fridge. She decided not to put on the lights because she was mourning big mammy. She did not want anything to lift her mood except cold hard liquor. She decided against calling Ebaneck to come over. Well she would do it later but she had to allow herself to wallow in the grief for a while.

The kitchen was in darkness except for the green dials of the fridge. It was a Samsung double-door refrigerator, the type that could make ice cubes instantly if you pressed a button on its door.

Asanga opened the fridge and was about to bring out a bottle of drink when the corner of her eye caught something by the light that came from the fridge when she opened the door. She turned to verify what her eye saw.

Someone was standing a few feet away from her wrapped in a white bedsheet. The hairs on her body immediately stood on end and she could feel goose pimples appear on both her arms. Instinctively, she jumped backward away from the person and tried to look harder but could not be sure so she turned towards the door of the kitchen where the switch was.

"Priscilla, Priscilla"

When she heard her name she froze. She knew it was the lady she and Ebaneck had knocked down. She tried to move but her body seemed to have died suddenly, and only her head remained alive. She could hear light footfalls approaching her from behind. The person was coming closer to her.

All her muscles were paralyzed. She felt a hand touch her shoulder. Dread and effort combined into strength which she used to break free from the hand that grabbed her shoulder. She reached for the kitchen switch and flicked it on.

The room was empty. She stood beside the kitchen door for several minutes, her heart pounding in her chest before she finally mustered the courage to go and close the refrigerator door. She looked around the kitchen. It was obvious that there was no one there.

She was very certain she had seen someone. Maybe it's the alcohol, she thought. She decided against taking another bottle and she turned on the lights in the living room. She called Ebaneck.

"Hey beautiful, I was just about to call you. I am on my way to your house, I wanted to ask if I should buy you dinner or something" he sounded gleeful, the exact opposite of how she was feeling.

"Just come. I don't have appetite but I will appreciate your company" Asanga replied trying to match his excitement in vain.

"Okay then I will be there shortly," he said and the call cut.

She dialed Prophet Jerry's number. After two rings he picked.

"Hello Papa, it's me, Sister Priscilla"

"Oh, Sister Priscilla how are you my daughter? I hope everything is okay" Prophet Jerry replied with excitement. Asanga was older than him by five years.

"Not quite sir. That is why I was calling to ask if I can come and see you tomorrow sir."

Prophet Jerry was always happy to meet with wealthy sisters like Asanga because such visits always ended with him receiving a remarkable gift of money which he referred to as a seed.

"What time will you like to come?" Jerry asked

"As early as possible sir, it is very urgent" Asanga replied "I have to also go to work after"

"Hmmm, we have morning prayers from 5:30 to 6:30 A.M. You can meet me at the church house immediately after."

"Okay sir. Thank you sir"

Immediately the call ended. Her phone started ringing again. It was Uncle Joe.

"Hello Uncle."

"Hello Priscilla. We are in Mamfe now with Uncle David to place the corpse in the mortuary. We have already finished so we are thinking of going back to Eyangnchang today."

"I see. So you people will make the program and inform me nah?" Asanga said

"Okay. The only problem will be money."

"I will send you some money. Does this your number have Mobile money?"

"Yes."

"Okay, I will send you something tomorrow." Asanga said, "But Uncle I wanted to ask you something concerning that priestess thing."

"Go ahead." Uncle Joe said beaming because Asanga had promised him money.

"Can I also name another person to take my place as the priestess of Mukenge?"

"Ehm, yes you can. You can but…ehm…it must be a direct blood relationship. Like your child or your sister. That is why big mammy named you."

"Is there no other alternative? See Uncle, I have just been promoted to a new post in my company. I can't leave it to come and be priestess of Mukenge nah. How will I live? How will I pay my child's school fees?"

"Mukenge will take care. There is not an alternative as far as I know except to name another person who is related to you directly. But that is just me; I could talk to Nem Taseng tomorrow and ask him if there are other options" Uncle Joe said.

"Okay, I will send you extra money to buy him some gifts before going," Asanga said. At that moment the doorbell rang. She suspected it was Ebaneck.

"Okay Uncle, I will call you tomorrow," Asanga said and hung up.

She opened the door. Ebaneck stood on the veranda with a large plastic bag full of stuff he had picked up from a bakery.

"Hey," Asanga said trying to smile and hug him. He gave her a peck on her left cheek.

"Your voice sounds cracked. Were you crying?"

"I lost my grandmother. They called me immediately I left church."

"Oh, I am so sorry. But why did you not call me sooner?" Ebaneck asked

Asanga shrugged. "Let us go inside first then we can talk"

As they made to go in Ebaneck noticed something on Asanga's shoulder.

"What are those stains on your blouse?"

"Where?" Asanga asked looking herself over

"Here, on your shoulder. It looks like blood. Let me see." Ebaneck gave a closer look. "It looks like someone touched blood and then touched you"

Asanga peeked at her shoulder. There were three fingerprints in blood on her blouse. Goosebumps appeared on her arms as she realized where the prints came from.

"I don't know," Asanga lied "I don't think it is blood. Let's go inside mosquitoes are entering."

*

Uncle Joe and Uncle David sat at a palm wine bar drinking. The bar was a rectangular hall constructed with earth and a thatched roof. The men sat on wooden benches so worn out that the brown wooden color could no longer be seen. The floor was dusty. The palm wine was kept in large glass jars that foamed and had flies and occasionally bees hovering around their lids.

The palm wine vendor, Mammy Pammy was a scrawny woman in her early fifties. She grudgingly served the customer's palm wine, which was a mixture of overnight palm wine and fresh palm wine. She had served Uncle Joe and Uncle David with large plastic mugs and was keeping herself busy with washing the used mugs in a small basin of filthy water outside the bar. In the distance, some kids played football raising dust and laughing happily.

"Why did she call you?" Uncle David asked after he had taken a swig from his mug.

Uncle David was an ex-soldier that looked like a black version of John Rambo. With his war days in the Bakassi peninsula now over, he spent his time drinking palm wine and inspecting his plantain farms.

He was wearing faded military trousers and an old black T-shirt. His feet were clad in plastic sandals, the type that you could buy at Mokolo market for 1500 francs.

"She wants me to talk to Nem Taseng" Uncle Joe replied, "She said she cannot leave her job and her life to come and be the priestess"

Uncle Joe was a thinner man with a broad face and beady eyes. He was in his fifties but excessive alcohol and tobacco use made him look older than Uncle David. His lips hung half open most of the time from which saliva threatened to drool constantly but he made quick movements with his tongue to lick it back. He wore a white threadbare shirt that had become brownish due to age and misuse. He wore a Rolex wristwatch that had stopped at 2:15 for more than four years.

"Hmmm, so what are we going to do? I warned you not to force the old lady to name her nah" Uncle David said a bit worried.

"Don't worry, everything will work out. Besides, whose daughter would you have preferred her to name?"

"None of my girls would ever accept such a thing" Uncle David said

"Exactly! My children will never hear such a thing" Uncle Joe agreed.

"But what is all this?" Uncle David said lowering his voice "Must there be a priestess at the shrine?"

"Of course, Nem Taseng said so himself. You know that our ancestors have been loyal to the Mukenge since time immemorial. My father told me that his father told him that when Agbor, our great ancestor was wandering in the forest after he escaped from slave traders he almost died of thirst. It was the Mukenge that led him to the oasis that became our great village."

"Are you going to give me a lecture about our village's history that I know only too well already?" Uncle David asked

Uncle Joe lowered his eyes and took a mouthful from his drink. The sour taste of the palm wine stung his cheeks. He winced lightly.

"Is there no way she can come to the shrine once in a while or send money for someone else to perform the weekly rites for her? I mean that woman has a daughter, who is going to take care of her daughter's education if she is forced to quit the city?" Uncle David said. He scratched the side of his face.

"Hmmm, I never heard of such a thing, but that is what I am going to ask Nem Taseng tomorrow. There has to be a way out." Uncle Joe said. He took a mouthful from his mug. "The only thing that could be a problem is the limited time we have till the Mukenge festival." He emptied his mug. Uncle David did the same.

"Do you want another one?" Uncle Joe asked and beckoned to Mammy Pammy to bring more wine even before Uncle David could answer.

When Mammy Pammy refilled their mugs and left, Uncle Joe said:

"I could even have asked Nem Taseng to name my daughter, Takamanda as the new priestess but Priscilla is too stingy. I asked her for money to go for checkup in the district hospital she said she would send it and never did. It has been more than six months."

"I agree. She is stingy" Uncle David said "I asked her for some money to help me complete the roof of my house. She said she would send it. Till now I have not received a franc. I don't know what she is thinking"

"That child needs some serious lessons. I will give them to her. Even now that our sister is dead and she has been named priestess she promised to send me some money. I am yet to receive it" Uncle Joe said

"I have stopped asking her for money because I have discovered it is a waste of time." Uncle David said

"If she thinks no one should enjoy her money except her, I will make sure she will lose all the money. I mean I could gladly tell our sister to name Takamanda. And the truth is that Takamanda wants to be the next priestess. She has no time for chemistry and physics."

"Then why did you not tell our sister to name her as her replacement?" Uncle David asked genuinely bewildered.

"I must repay Priscilla for her stinginess. She is stingy with her money; I will be stingy with my daughter"

"So it's an eye for an eye eh?"

"An eye for an eye and a tooth for a mouth full of teeth"