May 15, 2081

Weird sounds beside me woke me up. I opened my eyes, it was still dark but I could hear someone breathing heavily in the room. I stretched my hand to the floor beside me and fumbled around looking for the shakabula I had kept beside me. The shakabula was a locally made lantern. It was simply a container where kerosene was put into with a thread sticking out of it. My hand touched it and the matches beside it and I quickly lit the thread. When I turned to Mrs. Abimbola, I gasped. She was holding the wrapper she used to cover herself tightly to herself and she was shaking. In the dim light, I could see a sheen of sweat covering her forehead. I touched her head and realised she was warm.

"Mrs. Abimbola," I called shaking her.

"Hmm," she mumbled but her eyes remained closed.

I threw my wrapper off me and rushed to the other room of the hut. I could make out a figure huddled in one of the chairs. I rushed towards it and tapped Tobi. "Tobi! Tobi! Wake up."

He grumbled, pushing my hand off him as he pushed his face further into the chair. I groaned and tapped him harder but he chose to ignore me. I was panicking and his refusal to wake up was annoying me. Not knowing what else to do, I slapped his arm hard enough to leave a mark.

He stood up swiftly and turned to me. "What?!"

I stumbled back. If I wasn't so scared and worried about Mrs. Abimbola, I would have cowered in a corner at the anger in his voice and the look on his face. "It's your mum."

That seemed to bring him out of his angry phase. He rushed past me and entered into the room. When I got there, I saw him trying to wake her up.

"I think it's a fever. Get me a cloth and a bowl of water."

I placed the shakabula on the floor and rushed out to get the bowl and cloth, not minding the commanding tone Tobi was using. When I returned a minute later, Tobi dabbed the cloth in the water, squeezed it a little and placed it on her head.

"What should I do?" I asked.

"Nothing!" he snapped, without looking at me.

I glared at him but with his back to me, he didn't notice. I walked to the other side of the mattress and sat beside Mrs. Abimbola. Holding her warm hands in my own cold ones, I looked at her face illuminated by the light of the shakabula. Mrs. Abimbola had been there for me since I was a child. She was my nanny when I was little and when I had grown old enough that I thought I didn't need a nanny, she became my maid. With my parents gone, she took care of me. I had not exactly been the best child to take care of. I remembered giving her a hard time when she worked for my parents. She would pursue me around my room just to get me to wear my dress or to remove my cloth. But she was also the only servant in the house who could handle me. While the others were afraid to get on my bad side so they wouldn't be fired or they quit just because they couldn't handle me, Mrs. Abimbola remained. She would run after me, she would squeeze herself and crawl into my play house when I refused to get out... I chuckled as I thought of that and Tobi glared at me. I quickly wiped the smile from my face, now was not a time to laugh.

Please get well, I thought quietly as I squeezed her fingers. I wondered if it was the rain that fell the day before that was causing this. After the rain stopped, the people who had sought shelter in our hut left and I went to rewash my cloths. I was hanging them back on the line when Mrs. Abimbola came back home, she said she had sought shelter in the house of one of the villagers. I just hoped the rain had nothing to do with this. Tobi and I stayed awake, keeping watch over her. She had not even opened her eyes once. At one point, her shivering became worse.

"Should we call someone?"

"Everyone would be asleep now. She'll be fine," Tobi said.

Tears rolled down my cheeks. Tobi was as stubborn as his mother. I was sure if Mrs. Abimbola was awake she'll tell me not to disturb anyone. I had never seen Mrs. Abimbola as sick as this and it scared me. My mind went to my parents death. I didn't think I would ever get over it if I lost Mrs. Abimbola too.

"Stop crying," Tobi snapped. "She'll be fine."

I watched him as he stood up and walked out of the room. I had a feeling he was scared too but he just didn't want to show it. Morning came slowly but when it was finally bright, Tobi went to get the village doctor. He gave Mrs. Abimbola a few herbs to eat and that brought down the fever.

"Ivy, can you help me teach the children?" Mrs. Abimbola asked in a weak voice. She had woken up a few minutes after the doctor gave her the herbs.

"But I need to stay with you and make sure you'll be fine."

"I'll be fine and Tobi is staying with me. I'll be better if I know someone is teaching the children. You've done it before."

I sighed. I had followed her a few times when she went to teach the children. They usually gathered under the shade of a tree and sat on the floor. The children loved me and Mrs. Abimbola thought I'll make a good mother. I wondered if I'll even live long enough to get married.

I went to freshen up and then made my way to the tree where the children usually gathered. Only four of them were seated meaning I had to go around to the other huts to get the other children. An hour and a half later, I was seated in front of the children. The children ranged from the ages of 5-13. They were sitting down, watching me expectantly. It had taken a while to get the younger ones to settle down and pay attention.

"Story story," I called.

"Story," they responded excitedly.

"Once upon a time?"

"Time, time."

"I'm going to tell you a story of a time before the ink and a time before scary RICCO CORP came to town. A time where the earth was safe to live in..."

The children listened attentively as I told them of life before the ink and as I told them story after story of what I had read and the little I had experienced, I wondered if earth could ever return back to that time.

©Jesutofunmi Fekoya

AUTHOR'S NOTE
Oh no! What's happening to Mrs. Abimbola? Is she...Is she infected?

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