Bab 0008

It was Lastborn that derailed her from her loose train of thoughts.

'Let's go see the babies. Folakemi is related to the mother, so, they'd let us in.'

She noticed he now had three friends with him. She tightened her lips and followed him anyway.

'Did you eat mẹ́mẹ́*** ni?' asked a dark boy with afro style hair.

'Duh, yes.'

'Chai, I'm hungry, too o, I was beginning to think I'd die of hunger before I get food what with the adults not yet served. How did you manage?'

Eniiyi shrugged. 'You don't have to wait for the adults to eat before you do.'

'Haba, Eniiyi, ìwọ lo mọ̀.' Lastborn pulled the embarrassed boy away from her. 'Don't mind her, Kutu.'

Eniiyi broke into a smile, and said, 'You're Cuthbert? Gosh, your mommy is pretty.'

The boy looked more embarrassed.

'Don't mind me on what I said earlier, it was your mommy that served me.' She smiled triumphantly and left them behind.

They headed for a bedroom where people were entering and leaving almost every second.

A woman was lying on a large matress on the floor. Beside her was a low double bassinet in which lay two babies.

'Aww,' Eniiyi and a girl said together. 'They're so cute,' added Eniiyi.

Eniiyi went up to the mother. 'Thanks for the meal.'

The woman smiled, confused, but also amused.

'The babies are cute, can I carry them?' She further said.

'Yes, please, ma?!' The others put in.

The mother smiled. She looked tired.

'Only two of you, the rest can watch from their hands.'

Eniiyi smiled and went to cary one of them. There was no need to wait for the others, hadn't she been the first to ask? The babies looked exactly alike, the only thing to differentiate them was the colour of the fat beads encircling a fat wrist each. The baby she'd picked had a royal blue bead while his brother had a navy blue one.

Eniiyi was thrilled holding the healthy, glowing, fat baby carefully in her arms, taking care that he not slip. His face was pink and scrunched up, a fat finger near his small mouth. A warm feeling spread through her breast and she smiled at the baby and pressed a light-as-cobweb kiss to his left cheek. She felt euphoric holding the small but so very alive human in her hands. Not that she hadn't seen babies before, she had, up close and even touched but had never carried so before.

'He's sooo cute!' she cried.

'I feel like eating him up,' Avosuahi said and bared her teeth playfully at the other baby she had in her hands.

'Let's exchange,' Eniiyi suggested, she wanted to touch both babies.

Avosuahi stared at her with big eyes for a moment before dropping the baby she was holding gently into the bassinet and then took Eniiyi's. Eniiyi picked up the other one and felt happier. The other children stared on in awe.

'What are their names?' Kutu asked.

'But it's not naming yet, right Auntie?' Folakemi looked towards her aunt.

'We know, but which is Taiye, which is Kehinde?' Lastborn said.

The mother of the babies smiled fondly at her babies. 'That—' she pointed the one Avosuahi had in her arms '— is Taiyewo. And that —' she pointed at the one with Eniiyi '— is Kehinde.'

'You're Mama Nurse's grandchild, aren't you?' she asked Eniiyi.

'Yes, I am, ma. My name is Eniiyi.'

'Eniiyi, Enieye,' said the woman distantly with another smile plastered on her face.

Eniiyi frowned. Why do people keep suffixing that to my name?

'Why don't you children run along and let your younger ones rest?' the woman suggested, slightly looking more tired.

Eniiyi frowned, again, it was unwelcomely becoming her favourite expression, of lately. 'But they're not related to us, well except her.' She pointed at Folakemi.

The woman laughed lightly. 'This child does not understand Yoruba,' she said more to herself. 'Do you?' she asked Eniiyi.

Eniiyi squirmed, not understanding how she'd suddenly become the center of attention. 'No?' she said, skeptical. 'Not really,' she added.

'She meant that like, ẹnà, figuratively,' Lastborn explained.

'Ooo, I see.' Although she saw positively nothing except her own confusion. If this Yoruba is this hard and complicated, I might not want to learn it again.

Taiyewo ( Taiye/Taiwo) — a name in Yoruba land given the one of the twins that comes out first. It literally means 'Taster of the world' because he/she came out first before the other twin to see how the world is.

Kehinde — a name in Yoruba land given to the other twin that comes out last. It literally means 'The one that comes out last' because, well, he/she did. Kehinde is believed to be the older, because he/she sent the younger one to go and see how the world is.

*Beancake, made from black-eyed peas.

**Corn meal [pap]

***Moin-moin (colloquial)