Ancestor Stones - Aminatta Forna [119]
‘Go count the chickens,’ I told her, just to get rid of her. Go count your chickens before they hatch, I thought. She’d get a surprise soon enough when I sent her on her way. That would wipe the smirk off her face.
I slipped the top over my head. It was tight-fitting, with narrow sleeves to the elbow. I regretted then that I had sent the girl away. She might have made herself useful helping me, but it was too late for that. By the time I managed to get my head through and straighten the bodice I was damp with sweat. I stood with my legs apart while I wound the lappa three times around my waist and then sat back down again for a moment to catch my breath. My jewellery box was on the table in front of me. I opened it and rummaged through the odd buttons, hair clips and safety pins until I found what I was looking for. The pair of gold earrings.
I let them drop from one palm into the other. I pushed them through the holes in my ears and lifted the mirror up to my face. I turned my head from side to side, feeling the weight pulling at my lobes. The reflected light bounced from my cheekbones. I took them off and inspected them again. One of the hoops was very slightly dented. I rubbed my finger across the place, as if I might smooth it out. It didn’t matter. Nobody would see. All they would notice was the size of the hoops, the quality of the gold. Eighteen carat. Twenty-four probably. Such good quality, a son buys nothing but the best for his mother.
Outside I heard my neighbour calling. I didn’t answer. I stayed where I was. Let her think I wasn’t at home. She’d only be coming to bother me for the four cups of rice I borrowed from her the week before. Let her wait. She had plenty of rice. I had seen inside her storeroom myself. It was full of food. The Government had warned against people who hoarded food, driving up the prices so everybody suffered.
While I waited for her to clear off, I searched for my umbrella and when the coast was clear I stepped out of the house.
I walked to town. I didn’t have the money for transport. The rain was gone, replaced by the sun. I walked the whole way, carrying my umbrella aloft. When Lansana gave it to me I told him it was the widest one I had ever seen, and it was true. It provided me with a pool of shade to walk in.
With each step I felt the earrings swing against my face. Every so often I lifted my hand to my face to feel them again. I wished I’d brought the mirror with me so I could stop and look at them.
A tune came into my head and I hummed for a while as I walked. Then I remembered it was something my first husband used to whistle and I stopped. Both my first and second sons lived with him now, working in the butcher’s trade. They didn’t visit their mother as often as they should; I suspected him of turning them against me. But then they were as soft and foolish as him. Still, you can’t throw away a bad child. They were my sons. I would always be their mother. The rest of it is up to God. Now Lansana, my Okurgba, my warrior — he’d made me proud. Followed my brother into the Army, where he had been promoted I don’t know how many times. He wore stars on his shoulders and sent me gifts he paid for with his salary.
Outside the Contehs’ house the awning had yet to be dismantled, though the chairs were gone. The opening of the house had been Wednesday past. I hadn’t been invited. I could have gone anyway, but I chose not to. The Contehs didn’t know it but I knew they whispered about me behind my back. That morning I would have liked them to see me pass, but the house was quiet. In fact, the street was empty. A thought came to me. I glanced around. I lowered the umbrella and rolled it up. I veered towards the front of the house. The thatch of banana leaves on top of the awning was already fading, the green