Chapter 2

"Priscilla, Priscilla!"

Asanga awoke with a start. The room was still dark but she could see sunlight filtering in through slits in the thick flowered drapes. Her bedroom was wide and cozy. She had taken time to furnish it with everything it took to make her life as sweet as possible. The walls were covered with light green paint and decorated with pink triangles and pink flowers. There was a huge wardrobe embedded into one of the walls and beside it, a door that that led to the bathroom.

Asanga found it and sat on the toilet seat. The events that had taken place earlier that morning crawled back to her mind. Ebaneck had calmed her down with a glass of whiskey and lovemaking. His lovemaking always had that effect on her. He was such a great person in bed. However, with him gone now, she was at the mercy of the thoughts and memories about the accident.

She still felt they should have taken the woman to the hospital. She wished she had not listened to Ebaneck. A wave of nausea passed through her. She closed her eyes as she waited for it to subside. The worst part of everything was probably that the woman knew her name, but who was it?

She could not think of any of her relatives that were in Yaounde; although she could not be sure because people must not inform her before coming to the city. How did the woman know she was going to be in that place at that time? She finally resigned it to coincidence; A huge coincidence; that the woman knew her name and was on the road waiting to be run over by her car.

She left the bathroom and went back to the bedroom. She noticed a piece of folded paper on the bed. She picked it up and opened it. Ebaneck had left her a note thanking her for the fun they had last night. In addition, a postscript said

'Don't say a word to anyone'

She let out a sigh. She picked up her watch from the bedside table and checked the time. It was 8:15. She had some time to prepare for church.

*

She reached the church at 10:05. The church was located a few kilometers from her house. She could walk there but she went in her car. She had noticed that she received better treatment from the ushers and the pastor when she came with her car. The churchhouse was huge. It had tall windows made of different types of colored glass. The walls were part brick part concrete. On the roof, there was a huge metal cross, which had become the home of hawks.

The hall was already packed but she hoped she would be able to get a good seat. The usher greeted her warmly at the door; a thirtyish man with a strong body odor and a scarce beard. He wore a light blue shirt and black trousers. His black pointed shoes were dusty. He took her bag and led her into the church.

The praise session was already in full swing. One of the choir members was singing at the top of her voice and everyone chanted and danced to the beat, which from time to time got out of key with the singer.

Asanga sat down where the usher showed her. The seat was between two women. The church was one of those that had separate sitting sections for men and women. The Pastor's name was Prophet Jerry Otafion but everybody fondly called him 'Papa'. She had come to know him when she was looking for a job.

Ebaneck had introduced them. He had prayed for her and said she would have a job. When she did, she decided to start attending his church. She loved the way he preached. He gave made difficult topics easy to understand. You could come into the church house without a bible, as she always did, and still be blessed. He focused his messages mostly on how to attain as much as possible out of the blessings God had already made available.

His messages motivated her to do most things in her life. His preaching one Sunday had made her buy the land at Odza and start building the house.

She felt a wave of tiredness pass through her. Thoughts of last night with Ebaneck flashed in her mind. Maybe she would call him up later in the afternoon.

When it was time for testimonies, she went up to the stage. Her panties printed lightly through the tight red trousers she was wearing. The cyan blouse also revealed the straps of her brassiere. This was another reason she loved Prophet Jerry's church. He made her understand that the love of God is for everyone and that God looks only at the heart so dressing code had no place.

"Praise the Lord," she said as was customary to say before you start saying anything. "I stand here to testify about the goodness of the god of Prophet Jerry. I really celebrate the grace in the house."

The congregation shouted 'Amen' and 'Halleluyah' from time to time as she spoke.

"As many of you may already know, I work at Super Water as the director of Marketing in the Mfoundi division. I really wanted to go higher in my career so I came, saw Papa last month, and told him. As usual, Papa said 'It is well' and he prayed for me. Brethren, on Friday, this Friday that just passed, that is two days ago. My boss called me and said they wanted to ask if I would like to be the Regional Director of Marketing."

The congregation shouted in praise. When they quieted down, which was after several minutes, she continued.

"This promotion is accompanied by a good salary increase. Brethren I don't want to take it for granted, but I want to return all the glory to the god of Prophet Jerry. This is my tithes of the new salary." she lifted her hand which bore a white envelope she pulled out from her pocket. She placed the envelope beside the foot of the glass pulpit and knelt down to give thanks to the Prophet.

The prophet on his part jumped up and commanded the congregation to stand up and give more glory to God by shouting and connecting to Asanga's testimony.

*

When she left the church, she headed to a car wash to prepare the car for Monday. The carwash was close to her house. On the way, she sent a text message to Ebaneck asking if he was free that evening.

The carwash was a rectangular space about a quarter of a football field, surrounded by several bamboo huts that housed plastic chairs and tables for drivers to sit and wait while their cars were washed. Asanga found a seat and ordered a cold bottle of Top Pamplemouse. She sipped the drink and checked messages she had received on Whatsapp while her mobile data had been turned off.

Since it was Sunday, there were not many cars at the car wash. A thin boyish girl dressed in a blue jersey and faded jeans, that were torn at the knees was washing her car. Her phone started ringing. It was an unknown number. She scowled faintly as she wondered who it was.

"Hello"

"Hello aunty" a shrill voice came from the other end. "It is me Manda"

"Amanda, how are you?" Asanga was a bit taken aback that Amanda was calling.

"Am fine auntie"

"How is big Mammy?"

"Big Mammy has die auntie. Is why am calling"

"What! When?"

"Yesterday in the night"

"Oh! Oh! Oh! Weeeeeeh"

"Uncle Joe wanted to call since to tell you but he say your number is not passing"

"He tried calling me…"

Before Asanga could say anything else the call ended. She dialed Uncle Joseph's number. She did not want to believe what Amanda had said until she confirmed it. After three rings he picked.

"Hello Priscilla," Uncle Joe's coarse voice came on

"Hello Uncle, What is Amanda calling me to say?" Asanga said feeling her adrenaline rising.

"I have been trying to call you to no avail. Big mammy is gone" Uncle Joe said

"What happened?" Asanga asked, feeling hot tears start rolling down her cheeks

"Nothing, she was old nah. Big mammy was about one hundred and six years old nor"

"That's true…" Asanga said sobbing. Catarrh was beginning to ooze from her nose. She did not care to wipe it off. "So what is the pla…an?"

"We are going to put her in the mortuary in Mamfe till after the upcoming festival" Uncle Joe replied

"Which festival?"

"Hmmm, you have stayed in the city until you have forgotten your tradition? The Mukenge Festival of course" Uncle Joe said

"Oh, when is it?"

"In seven days, that is next week."

"Wait, wasn't big mammy the…ehm"

"The priestess. Yes she was and before going she named you as her successor. The festival can't hold without a priestess."

"She named me as her successor? What for?" Asanga cried

"How can you ask that? It is a great honor for you to be the great priestess of Mukenge. I mean all my daughters and even Amanda your cousin begged and hoped that she would name them, but it turns out that it could only continue in her family directly and you are the next female in her family."

"What are you saying?" Asanga asked tears stopped flowing as she realized the possible implications of what Uncle Joe was saying.

"I am saying that you need to come here and take up this great position so that we can celebrate the festival. I am saying you are the new priestess and since you are not versed with the rites to be performed on the festival day you need to get here early enough so that Nem Taseng will…"

"Cut it out! I can't leave my job and my life to come and be a priestess in the village!" Asanga found herself yelling

"I have said my own." Uncle Joe said and hung up.

Asanga burst into tears. It was a mixture of tears of anger and pain. Her own mother big mammy's daughter had died when she was ten. The doctor said she had breast cancer that had spread to other places in her body. She had grown up with big mammy. She never knew her father. Big mammy and her mother never ever talked about him. It almost seemed as if she was the product of her mother's binary fission.

Big mammy had tried a few times to introduce the idea that since her mother was gone she would be the next priestess of Mukenge but Asanga always waved it aside saying she was a Christian. She always said she could not be involved with such fetish things hence she had not been trained in the rites of Mukenge.

Being a priestess of Mukenge was full-time. She had to relocate to the village because there were numerous sacrifices that needed to be made at the shrine almost every day. She could remember from the times she had spent in the village how big mammy was always going to the shrine to offer a sacrifice or to keep the shrine clear of fallen leaves or some other thing.

The only other alternative was if she named another person in her place as the priestess of Mukenge, and as she had those thoughts she also realized with horror that the only person who was eligible to be named was Emily.

"Why, big mammy? Why?"