The Girl with the Louding Voice(43)

“He say if I am behaving myself,” I say, “that Big Madam will put me in school. So, when I am seeing the uniform, I am thinking Big Madam—”

“Will educate you?” Kofi cut my words and shake his head. “She has never educated any housemaid in my years of serving her. You are here to work. Face your work. That’s that. Get changed and meet me outside your room in ten minutes.”



* * *





“Have you ever used an iron?” Kofi ask.

We are now inside a small room, with a long, triangle-shape table, a basket full of clean clothes by the door, a white iron sitting on top the table that say Philips on it.

“I see one or two of the shops in Ikati are selling irons,” I say, pulling the uniform around my neck to be making it fit. “But it is very costly. I never use it in my life.”

The uniform is reaching almost to my ankles. The arms space is too wide, and I look as if I am making preparations to be flying. Rebecca’s shoe is on my feets. That too is too big, so I am putting toilet paper inside the front, and it is making my toes to curl inside of the shoe and paining me. I think that this Rebecca girl was old more than me. Big too, more than me.

“It is simple to use,” Kofi say as he is twisting one button on the iron. “You just need to plug it in to the socket down there, adjust this dial here to match the label on the back of the cloth. Don’t worry, I’ll show you how to check the labels. All you need to do is this.” He is sliding the iron up and down on the cloth, stronging his face as if the iron is vexing him. “When you finish, always remember to unplug the iron down there,” he say. “To prevent a fire outbreak. If you are not sure of anything, ask me.”

Kofi’s English-speaking and way of talking is sometimes too much, but I am using my brain and picking his words to make sense of it. “I will be making sure that I am unplugging the plug every time. I don’t want fire to be outbreaking.”

“Good,” he say. “Big Madam has a schedule for housemaids. I am sure she will take you through it, but I know she expects you to start work at five a.m. You will mop all the floors in the house, including the tiles on the wall in the five bathrooms. Clean all the windows, sweep the compound, and scrub the paving on the driveway. At night, she expects you to water all the flowers, wipe the mirrors, and dust the beddings in all the rooms.”

“Is okay,” I say, feeling a sadness all at once. “It is plenty work, but I can be working hard. Mr. Kola say he will bring my moneys for me after three months.” Maybe after many months of working here and saving the money, I buy bus fare and go back to a village that is near Ikati. If I am near Ikati, and near Kayus, even Papa, then my heart will not feel like it is full of something heavy.

Kofi pull his eyesbrows back. “You really think Mr. Kola will bring your salary in three months? You believe that?”

I nod my head yes. “He is helping me. I don’t have a banking account, so he is keeping money for me. Why are you stronging your face?”

“I am frowning because,” Kofi say as he is pressing a button and water is jumping out from the iron onto the cloth, “he told Rebecca the same thing. She believed him, and he collected all her salary and did not show up here again until this afternoon when he brought you.”

“You mean he will be running away with my moneys?” I ask, feeling my heart begin to climb up and down, up and down. “Because I swear I will be finding that man and knocking his head with this too-big shoe on my feets. Kofi, are you check it sure of what you are telling me?”

“I only told you what I observed.” Kofi shrug his shoulder. “Goodness. For such a young girl, you are feisty. I don’t mind you being feisty, but around Big Madam, you stay humble, quiet. You respect her, okay?”

“What is my concern with anything feisty?” I say. “Me, I be respecting everybody if they are respecting me back. Now, tell me true, can I be finding Mr. Kola in this Lagos?”

He sigh, but a smile be bending the top of his lips. “We will have to wait and see what happens with Mr. Kola, okay? Here, take this shirt from me and iron it.”





CHAPTER 26

We are now standing in the kitchen and Kofi is blending pepper inside the blender. I use to grind pepper on a stone in my papa’s house and in Morufu’s house. It was a easy thing to do, just roll the stone front and back, but this machine is too quick, making too much noise, confusing everybody.

I want to understand how one small button on the machine is turning around the pepper, tomato, and onion and disappearing it to become water-pepper, but my mind is still thinking about what he say about Mr. Kola and my moneys and about what he say about Rebecca missing. I feel like something hot is shifting inside my head and burning me with all the things I am not understanding about everything.

“This Rebecca girl,” I say, “who was she? Why did she ran away? What chase her from here?”

Kofi stiff his finger on the blender button, but he don’t turn to look me. “She was Big Madam’s former housemaid,” he say. “I already said she probably ran away, which means she used to be here, but she is no longer here. Do not ask Big Madam about her, you hear me?”

“I hear you,” I say, shifting on my feets, feeling the hot in my head climbing high. “But will the same thing happen to me too? Will I be no longer here like Rebecca?”