Chapter 8

The next morning Asanga was out early to buy the ingredients to make a cake. She had spent the whole night and several Piña coladas thinking about what to prepare, whom to give it to, and the excuse for giving it.

She had considered giving it to her colleagues or neighbors but she had finally decided it had to be someone in the village so that the shrine would be in the village. Besides, her colleagues and neighbors were innocent.

She was now considering Uncle Joe or Uncle David or one of their children, like Amanda. She would just dash down to the village and call Amanda to meet her at the entrance of the village and then hand the cake to her. These thoughts ran through her mind as she mixed up the items of the cake. She had hardly baked anything since she bought the 4000-watt electric oven. She never had the time. Even when she decided to celebrate Emily's birthdays, she always bought cake.

She had decided to bake an 11-inch plain cake. She would not plan to do any icing or décor of any sort but she had put extra sugar to make the cake very sweet.

The cake baked slowly in the oven and came out a nice brown hue. Asanga set it on the kitchen sink and waited for nightfall. Meanwhile, she called the director to inform him that she was getting better and could be at work the next week. The director being the fatherly figure he was to everyone in the office was happy to hear the news. He insouciantly asked if she had heard anything from Ebaneck but she said she had not seen him since he dropped her at her house the other day.

She then went out to check the place where she would perform the rite. She wanted a place that would limit the possibility of anyone seeing her as much as possible. She decided to use her backyard. It was not spacious but she had a clear view of the sky. Cars passed on the road from time to time so she thought it was a good idea to wait until midnight.

She waited while drinking Piña coladas. Anytime she went to the bathroom, she saw a few dead black soldier ants in her urine.

When midnight finally came, she went outside holding the cake in her hand on a plate. She was naked just as the old man had said. The traffic on the road had reduced considerably. Her backyard was dark so she was not worried that someone might see her. The night air was slightly windy but hot.

She placed the cake on the ground and stood over it with her thighs apart. She took a deep breath and said "Ants leave my body and go into the cake"

Immediately she said the words, she felt a stirring in her abdomen. A gripping pain accompanied the stirring. She felt as if she wanted to defecate, urinate and vomit at the same time.

The world started spinning. What happened next took about five minutes. Ants started crawling out of her body; from her womanhood, her anus, and her mouth. They came out in lines moving down her legs and trunk.

The black soldiers came out first: thousands if not millions, then the workers, and then the winged ones. They marched in organized lines towards the cake and disappeared into it.

Asanga resisted the urge to scrape off the ants as they crawled out. She only let out a quiet sound of dread. She directed her thoughts to Emily. She had such great plans for Emily. She was determined not to let Emily follow her path, she thought. She would make sure Emily married a handsome, hardworking and caring man.

She planned to use her connections to get a good job for Emily…

She felt a large object protrude out of her womanhood. She looked down and saw the ants carrying something toward the cake.

It was the last of them. She felt the insides of her mouth with her tongue. There were no ants. Her hand felt her crotch. All the ants were gone and as she looked, she saw the last of them enter the cake.

Asanga burst into laughter. She sat down on the ground and she laughed some more.

"Uncle Joe, here I come," she said

*

"Let's get into the bus, it is almost full," Emily said picking up her backpack. She was at the bus station in Afanayor with two of her classmates, Roxanne and Jessica. The bursar had sent them out of school because they had not completed the last installment.

"I can't believe they sent me home," Jessica said "I have been in that school since Form one"

"Even me" Roxanne said

"What? So you people wanted them to send only me away?" Emily asked with feigned shock. "Here I was thinking you girls were my friends"

Roxanne giggled. "We are; it's just that that school makes one lose her mental bearings"

"Lose her what?" Emily and Jessica asked in unison

"Never mind"

"Too much Mathematics will kill you," Emily said pushing Roxanne lightly on her shoulder "Let's get into the bus, I am tired of standing in the sun"

Emily was a coffee-colored slightly acned teenager. Her hair was held in four thick cornrows. She was wearing a light green gown that served as daywear for the school and her feet were clad in black ballet shoes. She looked like Asanga in most aspects but at her age, she was bustier than Asanga was.

Roxanne had fair and smooth skin. The gods of acne had spared her. She was slightly taller than Emily and Roxanne and was the most outspoken. She hated the daywear and she had changed into blue jeans and a pink T-shirt though her daywear was in her backpack just in case. She was sixteen.

Jessica's skin was a blend between Emily and Roxanne. She was the same age as Emily but was obese and wore wire-rimmed glasses because she was far-sighted. She was clad in the green daywear that had wet stains of sweat on the armpits.

They sat side by side in the bus as it rolled out of the station.

"So what are you going to do while your parents are gathering the money?" Roxanne asked

"What else? Just to eat and read. My dad thinks life is only about school," Jessica said

Emily shrugged. "My mum will probably send me back immediately. I know she had the money when they called her. She is just so busy she probably forgot to send it. Besides, she is never home so the house will be boring"

"We could come over and watch movies," Roxanne said "Jessica what do you think?"

"It's a good idea" Jessica replied "As long as her mum does not have the money to pay immediately"

"If she is at work, she will only get home in the evening. Let's go straight to my house then by 3:30 pm you guys can leave before she comes," Emily said

"I hope there are enough snacks," Jessica said "Last time we were at your house there was nothing but that alcoholic drink in the fridge…what's the name again?"

"Piña colada," Roxanne said chuckling "It's true. Ems, there better be other things than Piña colada"

Emily laughed. "You girls are crazy"

When the bus dropped them off at the station in Mvan, they took a taxi to Asanga's house. Emily had her own key to the house, which she kept at the bottom of her backpack. She fished it out and opened the door.

The house was deserted. Asanga was not there.

"I will select the movies," Roxanne said

"Jess, help me get the snacks from the kitchen," Emily said. The girls had been to Asanga's house several times so each one knew their way around perfectly.

Emily and Jessica went to the kitchen. A large brown cake stood on the sink.

"Ooooooh yeah!" Jessica exclaimed when she saw it. She ran to it and sniffed it lightly "Seems like your mum knew we were coming. This is exactly what we need"

Emily laughed. "I doubt that. She probably has some guests coming over that is why she bought it."

"She baked it herself. Bakery cakes don't ever smell this good and don't ever look this fresh" Jessica said

Emily sauntered to where the refrigerator was and opened it. "Ughh…there's nothing here to eat with cake. In fact, there's nothing here except Piña colada"

"Seriously?" Jessica cried

"Don't worry. I have some cash. We will go out and buy yogurt and fruit juice"

"Although the Piña colada is not a bad idea," Jessica said, "The alcohol content is not that high, I drank it once at a party in our house"

"If my mother even imagines that I touched her Piña colada, she will kill me," Emily replied. She closed the refrigerator.

"It seems there is nothing else to eat except this cake," Jessica said

"We are even lucky that she made this cake. She never cooks except when I am on holiday. Check that cupboard," Emily said pointing to one of the cupboards that lined the kitchen wall, "See if there are any cornflakes. I left some there last time I was here"

Jessica went to the cupboard and opened it. There was a box of cornflakes there.

"Oh it's all moldy," Jessica said, pulling out the plastic bag of cornflakes from the carton.

"Well I think we will make do with the cake, all we need now is some yogurt or juice," Emily said

Roxanne rushed into the kitchen. "Ems your mother is the bomb. She had bought new movies: Matrix resurrection, Avengers end game, Spiderman far from home, and John Wick."

"Wow. We are starting with John Wick," Jessica cried, "I have heard a lot about that movie"

"Take your bags to the room. I will rush out and buy the yogurt from a nearby store," Emily said

"No, you don't ever know the right kind of yogurt to buy." Jessica said "The other time we said you should buy strawberry-flavored yogurt you went and brought strawberry-flavored soya bean yogurt. Let Roxy go and buy the things."

Roxanne laughed. "I remember, none of us could eat it"

"Alright," Emily said, "Let me get the money"

*

Asanga had gone out to buy decorative paper to wrap the cake. She had packed a small traveling bag ready to go to the village. Amanda was going to be the new priestess of Mukenge. Uncle Joe would have a taste of his own medicine.

She stood at the front door and was about to turn the key when she heard noise from within. The door was already open. She entered. Someone had broken into her house, she thought.

The noise was coming from the TV in the parlor. She moved quietly so as not to alert whomever it was. Her mind was also racing quickly as to what to do. Was it a thief?

She peeked from the door. There was no one in sight. She kicked off her shoes and tiptoed inside towards the parlor.

The television was showing a movie and there was a girl, a student in Emily's school uniform sleeping on the canapé. There was an empty bottle of yogurt on a stool in front of the girl.

Asanga looked at the sleeping girl for a while trying to make out who she was before finally tapping her shoulder to wake her.

"Hey, wake up, wake up"

The girl roused out of her sleep with a sleepy look that quickly cleared when she realized it was Asanga waking her.

"Who are you?"

"My name is Jiffeu Roxanne. I am Emily's friend. We came back home because they drove us for school fees"

Asanga remembered that she needed to send Emily's fees but she had not. She tapped her hair to stop an itch.

"Where is Emily now?"

"I don't know ma. We came back three of us and decided to watch a movie. Emily and Jessica sent me to buy yogurt but when I returned I could not find them."

Asanga sat down on the chair then stood up again abruptly and went to the kitchen.

Roxanne heard her scream from the kitchen and she immediately knew why. Asanga rushed back to the parlor.

"Where is the cake I left on the sink?" Asanga asked, with a look of horror on her face.

"When we came there was a cake there but when I came back I did not see any cake and since Emily and Jessica are not here I could not ask them if they ate the cake"

"I hope they did not eat the cake, oh" Asanga cried

Roxanne shrugged.

"That cake was meant for someone else. Let it not be that they ate it because…"

Asanga sat down on the canapé. She considered the implications if Emily or her friend or both of them had eaten the cake. The prophet at Oyomabang had said the ants would go into the body of whoever ate the cake. What if two of the girls ate the cake? Emily would become a shrine for the Mukenge and what about the other child? What would happen?

"Do you know where they could have gone?" Asanga asked

Roxanne shrugged. "Maybe they went to Jessica's. But I am not sure because we agreed we would not go there till we finished watching all the movies."

Asanga cursed under her breath. Emily was her life. If Emily had eaten the cake, then her life was over.