Chop...chop...chop...don't think, just chop the onions...chop...chop...chop...good nice cuts...chop...chop...chop...
"I'll give you a penny for your thoughts" she said.
Chop...chop...chop...yes, thats it, nice pieces, almost too perfect for any food...chop...chop...chop...
"I'll give you two pennies for your thoughts" she said again.
I looked up from my "chopping",is it possible for anybody to look so beautiful even when dying? She was beautiful....even the cancer could see that, she was the most beautiful woman I knew...and she did not even have hair....
"Do you have anything else I can chop?"
"Do you want to help with the sallad? Lots of things to chop...you can make a greek sallad...so you can chop and chop".
Chop...chop...chop....
"So, is two pennies not enough?"
"It's like a sack of garri"
"What is?"
Was this all I could think of? A sack of garri? why not cement? or stones? or even sand? but garri?
"The weight on my shoulders"
"What is garri?"
"You know...cassava...the one you ate in Brazil?"
"Ah....is that what its called in Nigeria? garri?
"No, no, cassava is cassava there as well...but then its ground and dried and fried...I think...then its garri"
"Ah...so...thats whats in the sack on your shoulders?"
"Yep...a fucking sack of garri"
"Ah...now I see why two pennies can never be enough for a sack of garri"
Chop...chop...chop...yes, thats it, don't think, just cut everything, nice square pieces...
"Mine is a sack of coffee beans"
I looked up at her...
"Coffee beans?"
"I guess its cultural...yours is garri, mine is coffee...I had a dream yesterday...I think I know when I am going to die"
"When?"
"On wednesday...at exactly two o'clock"
She was looking at me...with pleading eyes...
"Its a pity, I will be out of town then"
Chop...chop...chop...don't think, don't think, don't think, don't think, don't think....
She died at exactly two o'clock on a wednesday afternoon and on her gravestone was inscribed:
"Two pennies can never be enough for a sack of garri".
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10 comments:
Nothing's ever enough...of course. What can ever be enough to deal with the (un)certainty, transiency and finality of life?
Beautifully written BTW.
i love the way this was written. hopefully it is fiction.
wow!
its true, two pennies can never be enough for a sack of garri.
That was tres sad. My aunt just passed away from that beast called cancer (3 weeks on friday). It has no mercy. I don't know 4 sure who u lost but i do hope they rest in perfect peace.
wow...very dark...
wow...very dark...
very very dark...
as lighty said hopefully this is fiction, I felt this piece you wrote here..hey..i love ur writing!!
Wow.....I wonder what she was trying to block from her mind (the one with the sack of garri)
...so human...you really capture the humanity that we all have...chop, chop, chop, don't think, don't think...how many times have i done that?...maybe not the same scenario, but the need to escape from my thoughts for fear of what i may think...beautifully conveyed...nicely written...
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