she told him too many people in her life had died young
she confided that every time he left her sight, she expected him to not return – a car accident, a bomb gone off, a stroke in the pool, a heart attack in the bathroom while she slept
he reassured her he was not going to die for many a year yet, his own father was ninety-four years of age
he himself took multivitamins and cod liver oil every morning
she told him more about Carole, who worked in a bank in the City, and about Freddy, who was from English high society
she said how upset she had been when Carole told her she was marrying a white man, it was the beginning of the end of the pure Nigerian family line
their children will be mixed, and their children will look white
to be wiped out in two generations
is this why we came to England?
Bummi had been prepared to hate Freddy on sight
the first time Carole brought him into the flat he practically leapt through the door with his blond hair flopping about, his gangly legs all over the place, he was full of good cheer, not snootily side-glancing her humble home, he said how cosy it was
I’m so pleased to meet you at last, he said, you don’t look old enough to be Carole’s mother, I can see where she gets her looks from
Freddy likes to watch Nollywood movies with her, jokes he’s an honorary Nigerian and he simply adores eating her food, especially the yam porridge she makes for breakfast when they stay over, and Carole was even eating it again, which was a miracle
she told Kofi that Freddy has turned Carole into a more relaxed and jolly person
Freddy arranged for Bummi to meet his parents in a London restaurant, which she was looking forward to
except he warned her that although they’d warmed to the idea of Carole, once they saw how classy, well-spoken and successful she was (most importantly for his mother, how slim and pretty, too)
they’re still old-fashioned snobs
Freddy’s father, Mark, looked uncomfortable, said little at the dinner, Carole sat there with a fake smile plastered on her face the whole time
Pamela, his mother, smiled at Bummi as if she was a famine victim, when she started explaining the meaning of hors d’oeuvres to her, Freddy told her to stop it, Mummy, just stop it
she gave Bummi a ‘vintage’ bottle of wine from their vault, which ‘really needs to be divested of its crumbling cork before it’s more sediment than liquid’
Bummi accepted the gift graciously and did not understand why English people thought old wine, probably poisonous, was so special let alone drinkable
she herself had a nice gift for Pamela, five yards of indigo aso oke fabric
Bummi hoped she would only have to see these people once more in her lifetime – at the wedding
but Carole and Freddy married in a registry office without telling anyone because they said the thought of planning a proper wedding felt like a mountain lain with land mines
Bummi should have been angry
instead she was relieved.
6
Bummi is lying on the green lounge chair in the garden of the Herne Hill house she shares with Kofi
the sun is importing its vitamin D directly on to her skin
Kofi is in the kitchen behind her cooking their evening meal
they too married in a registry office, and went on a two-week honeymoon to the Scilly Isles, which they loved, the people so nice and friendly
Bummi misses Omofe more now than she did when they split up
ideally she would like to have both her and Kofi in her life – a pipe dream because only men are allowed to be polygamous
these days Omofe works in Sister Moto’s salon and, according to rumour, is living with her
as Bummi had long abandoned the Ministry of God, their paths do not cross, except for one time when she was back in Peckham and walked past Sister Moto’s salon and peered in the window
Omofe was at the reception by the window, and glared at her as if to say, what are you doing here?
lilac wisteria spreads across the shed at the end of the garden
in front of this is a patch of different types of long grasses, what she calls their meadow, which rolls into their long lawn
the apple trees that line the left side are their orchard
the small pond Kofi dug out is little more than a big puddle, she teases him
he insists on naming it Lake Kofi
Freddy and Carole visit most Sundays for lunch
Freddy brings her flowers and chocolates and says, hello Mum, it’s good to see you, you’re looking marvellous as usual, and gives her a big hug and a kiss
sometimes Kofi’s children and grandchildren join them
Bummi sits back and sips on the lemonade Kofi has made from fresh lemons and brought out to her
she wishes her mother was alive to enjoy her new life
see me now, Mama, see me now.
LaTisha
1
LaTisha KaNisha Jones
walks through the Fruit & Veg section of the supermarket, where she works as a supervisor, fifteen minutes before the doors are due to open
she’s Chief Fucking Bitch on the prowl
or Major General Mum
as her kids call her
she’s already consulted with the personal shoppers who’ve been trawling the aisles during the night for online orders, to synchronize on replacement stock
she’s checked the warehouse to make sure her section’s deliveries are in order and she’ll shortly be recording 600 kilos of King Edward potatoes as undelivered, even though the supplier has charged the store for them (criminals!)
she for one isn’t going into negative inventory today, which will show up tomorrow as an unexplained deficit on her otherwise (almost) spotless report card
she’s done data rotation with the scanner, made sure the shelves are properly stacked with older stock on top
she’s made sure the displays of fruit are neatly arranged, all of them perfectly shaped and unblemished as per customers’ wishes, who don’t realize that most fruit in its original, unadulterated state looks anything but standardized in shape, texture, size and colour
as she learned at the supermarket training academy
or that carrots were purple, yellow or white until seventeenth-century Dutch farmers cultivated the mutant orange ones of today
as she likes to impart to her kids, Jason, Jantelle and Jordan, to make learning more interesting for them because they have no choice other than to do well in their exams
unless they want to be chained up in the cellar without food, water or toilet facilities
for twenty-four hours
as she threatens
frequently
LaTisha
is wearing her uniform of navy blue trousers with a crease down the front, navy blue cardigan, fresh white shirt, hair gelled down and side-parted
very smart and professional, because that’s what she is now, after she crawled her way out of the horror movie of her teenage years
to begin climbing the giddy heights of retail supremacy
winner of Colleague of the Month six times in three years
Supervisor of the Month three times in six months
the money’s crap, only one pound per hour extra for a helluva lot more responsibility and she’s still on shifts and still has to work weekends
at least it means she’s on the move, who knows, she might make general store manager one day if she works hard, sucks up to her superiors, doesn’t piss off her colleagues (too much) and stays focused on her goal, which means remaining single
LaTisha started working for the supermarket when she left school a head-banging argumentative gobshite with no qualifications who wouldn’t take no orders from no one