Semua Bab Alacrimia: Bab 1 - Bab 6

07:02 am, August 29Osun State, Nigeria. Eniiyi woke up to something tickling her nose and she sneezed, opening her eyes. Her mom, Eartha, was sitting at the edge of her bed with one hand poised in the air. Eartha made a guilty smile, as though she hadn't expected to get caught.She glanced at the alarm clock then propped up a pillow behind her and sat up, eyebrows raised. What was the occasion? 'Mommy, good morning,' she said, still confused. 'Am I missing something?''Good morning, Adekunbi. If you were to be missing anything, it'd be your smile.' She tweaked her nose.Eniiyi smiled. Mommy was being Mommy today. She was extremely funny most times. She watched as she bent over her, her thick mass of onyx-black hair falling forward to cover her face.'If you keep smiling at me like that, I think I'd have to pay a visit to the salon.'Eniiyi smiled again and threw over the covers, swinging h

08:30 amKogi State. As Eniiyi slammed the door closed she looked around her in disgust. Okay, it wasn't anything she had expected. The street directly in front of where the car was parked stretched untarred into the distance. The surrounding houses were of different state and quality, ranging from old, mud, small to new, plastered, big. Some were painted in colours which looked horrible to her. She wondered if she'd have to face this eyesore everyday for one month.The closing of a door made her turn around. An ample woman who looked to be in her sixties came down the porch steps, a look of surprise on her face. Her short hair braided in shuku had streaks of gray here and there.Daddy was the first to go forward to meet her. He went down prostrate on the floor in front of her, his palms and the tips of his shoes touching the ground, and Eniiyi pitied his light-blue T-shirt.'Ẹ káàárọ̀ m&agr

07:56 pm, September 6,Kogi State. The first most interesting thing since she'd arrived at the damn village happened to her today. She had been feeling bored, Taiwo had gone to visit a friend and it was too late for Lastborn to still be at their place and she'd slyly avoided the village children, not interested in talking to anyone. She'd been taking bored pictures with her digital camera but even with the camera's flash and her battery-powered torch , the pictures still came out dark. There had been power outage since afternoon and Taiwo was not around to turn on the generator, much to her grandmother's disgruntlement. Also, there was nothing breathtaking worthy of being photographed, especially in this gloomy darkness. So there she was, seated on a bench on the porch, armed against mosquitoes in a long sleeved T-shirt, long denim trousers, socks, and, of course, mosquito repellent. Gratefully, it was cold in the night