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HIDDEN chapter2
Father is back. We call him Babalamba.
Talking about names, I didn’t even remember to introduce myself. So shall we do this all over again?
My name was Micheal , but I am now called Tanko, because I came after three girls; Shahsantae, the princess; Nishadi, who will become my favorite person in the house; and Zainab, every ones pet.
I was well over 12 years when mother brought me to the gate of Babalambas big house. I remember now , how every one was all too happy to see me. I think they even made a party and so many oyher strange faces came to say hello to me. they smiled to me many times and touched me almost all the time. Baba got me new clothes (I think it’s the same cloth, but in diffdrent colours and design, it was strange to me, i never wore those when I was with grandpa. The people here seemed diferent too, they spoke funny things, that I later learnt was hausa and they covered every part of their body everytime (everybody looked the same to me).
Some weeks after I arrived, Baba told me I was goung to school. I was happy. Although I didn’t understand what the teachers or even anyone was doing,and I didn’t like to see many people,( i feel shy when they look at me ) I liked to look at all the beautiful books there, they had many pictures in it. there were no chairs in this new school. we all sat on the floor. our teacher looked old. He had long white hairs coming from his below mouth, he wore a long gown all the time and tied something on his head. they called him Alfa didn’t like him, he made me scared. he gave me a book that had scattered drawings and sketches and forced me to make funny sounds while pointing to them one after the other, they scattered every in my brain and gave me headache sometimes. I didn’t understand anything he was saying or asking me to do, so I shouted and threw things because I wanted him to know I was angry. instead, he will get angry too and flog me many times with a cane. I cried all the time.
one day, after school Alfa followed me home to meet Baba. He told Baba a lot of things, that made baba got angry. Magajiya, baba Second wife said , she knows I had a bad s;irit inside of me. Juranta, the third wife, stopped Nishadi and Zainab from playing with me because she said I behaved strangely and I talked to myself and even smile to smile to self almost all the time. ( well, why shouldn’t I? I see many nice things and pictures in my head, and they excite me. I wonder if they don’t see it too)
After rhe Alfa left our house that evening, baba asked me to move into another room. It was empty, except that there was a bed, a stool and some scattered old books at a corner. Only the Alfa opened the door, once in the morning and once at night. he said a lot of funny things while holding those big beads. ( I remember seeing grandpa with some beads too, everytime he said he wanted to pray) I didn’t laugh or smile. I was angry, they didn’t give me any food as long as he was coming, only water. he made me sit all day in that room with a Quran and some beads (they were beautiful, so I played with them) . Some days later the Alfa stopped coming.
Talking about names, I didn’t even remember to introduce myself. So shall we do this all over again?
My name was Micheal , but I am now called Tanko, because I came after three girls; Shahsantae, the princess; Nishadi, who will become my favorite person in the house; and Zainab, every ones pet.
I was well over 12 years when mother brought me to the gate of Babalambas big house. I remember now , how every one was all too happy to see me. I think they even made a party and so many oyher strange faces came to say hello to me. they smiled to me many times and touched me almost all the time. Baba got me new clothes (I think it’s the same cloth, but in diffdrent colours and design, it was strange to me, i never wore those when I was with grandpa. The people here seemed diferent too, they spoke funny things, that I later learnt was hausa and they covered every part of their body everytime (everybody looked the same to me).
Some weeks after I arrived, Baba told me I was goung to school. I was happy. Although I didn’t understand what the teachers or even anyone was doing,and I didn’t like to see many people,( i feel shy when they look at me ) I liked to look at all the beautiful books there, they had many pictures in it. there were no chairs in this new school. we all sat on the floor. our teacher looked old. He had long white hairs coming from his below mouth, he wore a long gown all the time and tied something on his head. they called him Alfa didn’t like him, he made me scared. he gave me a book that had scattered drawings and sketches and forced me to make funny sounds while pointing to them one after the other, they scattered every in my brain and gave me headache sometimes. I didn’t understand anything he was saying or asking me to do, so I shouted and threw things because I wanted him to know I was angry. instead, he will get angry too and flog me many times with a cane. I cried all the time.
one day, after school Alfa followed me home to meet Baba. He told Baba a lot of things, that made baba got angry. Magajiya, baba Second wife said , she knows I had a bad s;irit inside of me. Juranta, the third wife, stopped Nishadi and Zainab from playing with me because she said I behaved strangely and I talked to myself and even smile to smile to self almost all the time. ( well, why shouldn’t I? I see many nice things and pictures in my head, and they excite me. I wonder if they don’t see it too)
After rhe Alfa left our house that evening, baba asked me to move into another room. It was empty, except that there was a bed, a stool and some scattered old books at a corner. Only the Alfa opened the door, once in the morning and once at night. he said a lot of funny things while holding those big beads. ( I remember seeing grandpa with some beads too, everytime he said he wanted to pray) I didn’t laugh or smile. I was angry, they didn’t give me any food as long as he was coming, only water. he made me sit all day in that room with a Quran and some beads (they were beautiful, so I played with them) . Some days later the Alfa stopped coming.
