Traces of Eve

Chapter 6

EVE | Then

I'm not going to tell you everything, Alice. Just the things I think you should know.

That night we hailed a taxi at the peak of the street- it wasn't really hard to find because there was a taxi rank just near the busy road. That side of the city had an intoxicating lifestyle I loved. There was a familiar tumultuous sound of horns blaring through the atmosphere.

Out there, the pollution was a little less, don't get me wrong. There was smoke from the exhaust pipes of crowded cars but this way when you rolled up the windows and switched on the air condition unit, you wouldn't smell a thing. Then there was the sweet scent of sizzling food from the restaurants and food vendors that lined up near the road. It was quite something. Nothing like the silent solitude of Golden Gate estate.

I watched as mama paid the driver before getting out of the yellow and white spray-painted Kia and joined me in the cold whirling wind. Our neighbourhood wasn't a sight to look at but Alice, I don't know if I've told you this before but you're the luckier one out of the two of us. Although, you spent a fraction of your childhood there, but you never struggled. Not like I have.

The swift change from the bustling city air to our old neighbourhood had such a big contrast. My nostrils flared at the sudden change and my gut churned in dismay.

We rarely went out as much as we used to when Papa was alive. I remember a time before asthma gripped him from us, we'd go to Mr Bigg's, a popular restaurant next to the church. Do you remember Calvary Baptist? We used to frequent there just before you came along.

I remember I'd wear my pink strapless bareback top with different layers of material at the front and in the beginning; it was enormous on me- I didn't have much baby fat. I was rangy at the time, straighter even. Mama used to call me her Pink Lady, but well, Papa stuck to calling me his Little Apple regarding the creation story. It was sort of our thing. You might not think we have a 'thing' but you'll soon discover my name for you.

I stood beside Mama as she dug in the pockets of her long woollen sweater for the house keys. I caught sight of the local hairdresser, Daawo, a road separated us from her. She stood with a stance I knew so well, her clothes were askew and a little torn at the front revealing dark skin underneath and her left foot did its mundane tapping. Tap tap tap. Her nine-year-old son hanged by his ear, which was twisted up around his mother's thin fingers. Wicked woman, I thought.

When I turned back to face our house, I noticed something amiss. There, in the dark shadow of the limp trees surrounding us that dipped low in an attempt to kiss the ground, I see it. Our brown gate had two fresh holes in it the size of a baby's fist, and on the ground covered up by falling leaves was a piece of the mouth of the padlock. It shined through the debris and caught my eye. I looked back at the padlock that was barely hanging on, and I just knew how they did it. I didn't know if it was they or him or her. Acid, they used acid.

I tugged on Mama's sweater as I hear the familiar jingle of a bunch of keys.

"Look at that."

Mama saw what I was looking at. The signs of a break-in were all too clear, and Mama didn't like it. It was the first time we'd ever faced such a predicament and I know if Papa were here this would never have happened, but it had and I couldn't fault Mama for it.

Suddenly, we heard the starting of a bark from both Scooby and Didi till it became an incessant roar, startling both mama and I.

"I don't think anyone got in. If they did, the dogs would have chewed them raw, "Mama said to calm me down. That would explain why the padlock still hanged from the latch.

They must've gotten scared not expecting us to have dogs, but if they were smart thieves, they could've poisoned both Scooby and Didi. Thank God for ignorance.

I scanned around us, there were few people on the street. Some could have seen, however, what good would that have done? We were long gone from here by then. They could've called the police, I thought.

"Let's go, Eve." She took my hand in hers, gripping firmly as though someone would come and snatch me away as well. "We'll spend the night at Doris's place. "

Aunty Doris with the big round hips and large buttocks, I thought. Doris with the crooked yellow teeth, who I'm sure ate too much of the candy she sold. Doris, who isn't single like Mama but has no one to live with, unlike Mama. Doris, one of Mama's few friends that I actually liked.

The walk to Doris's house wasn't a long one- it was down the street almost near the community football pitch. Mama knocked on the small gate the one shaped like an actual door and I watched the grim expression on her face, the moonlight made the small lines near her eyes more defined and the brown pores I always think are freckles splashed unto her cheeks just below her eyes. At twenty-nine, she was still nice on the eyes. Pretty. Slim but not thin with dark brown eyes and straightened glossy black hair.

The door sprang open and distorted the atmosphere further by making screeching noises. Gravel on gravel. Rusted metal against the cement wall. Doris appeared in the doorway.

"Theresa, what a nice surprise." Her r's sounded like l's and were stretched as she spoke. "Is something wrong?" She noticed Mama's grave expression and plastered on one of her own.

"Someone broke into our home," she said. "I don't know what they've taken or if they actually succeeded in breaking in, but I can't risk going inside looking at how dark it's gotten."

Doris nodded with understanding, "Come in, both of you. Quickly, before you catch a cold, it's freezing out here."

That night, I slept on the couch while Mama slept on the floor, on a straw matt that looked uncomfortable. They didn't discuss the break-in that night or maybe they did, undertone or perhaps they whispered under their breaths so I wouldn't catch a few words. I was shaken up that night and it's quite laughable now because I thought I knew what true fear was. The irony is not lost on me.