The Weight Of Tomorrow.
Tunde woke up that Saturday morning the same way he always does to the sound of his mother's pestle hitting the mortar at the backyard, pounding pepper for the stew that would fill the whole compound with its smell by mid morning, he stretched, yawned, and he made his way outside where his younger sister Bisi was already sweeping the veranda, and humming some tune she had picked up from the radio.
"Bro, you are awake now?" Bisi asked without looking up from her sweeping, "Mama has been asking after you since."
"I am going to her now," Tunde replied, rubbing sleep from his eyes as he walked toward the backyard where his mother,
Mama Tunde was seated on her low stool, working the pestle with practiced hands.
"Good morning ma," he greeted, bending slightly out of respect.
"Ehen, good morning, oya go and fetch water for me, this pepper is worrying me this morning."
Tunde grabbed the bucket by the door and headed toward the community well, the same walk that he had done a thousand times before, past Baba Ayo's shop where old men were already gathered arguing about football,and pass the small church where the choir was rehearsing for Sunday service, past children chasing a half deflated football down the dusty road.
"Tunde! Tunde, wait for me now!" His friend Chidi came jogging up behind him, breathless.
"Chidi, what is happening na, you dey run like say person dey chase you".
"No joor...., I just want to walk with you to the well, anyway, have you heard the news?"
Tunde frowned, adjusting the bucket on his shoulder, "Which news again?"
"They said the company that is building that new road, they have gotten approval finally, they will start construction next week, and you know that our street will be affected."
Tunde stopped walking for a moment, processing this, their street, the one his father had built their house on decades ago, the one where every neighbor knew every other neighbor's business, where children grew up together like siblings regardless of blood.
"What do you mean by we will be affected?do they want to demolish houses?"
Chidi shrugged, though his eyes betrayed his own worry, "I no sure sha, but people are saying that maybe some houses will be affected, especially the ones close to the main road."
Their house was one of those houses, close enough to the main road that Tunde felt his stomach tighten at the thought, they continued walking in silence for a while, the normal chatter between them replaced by this heavy uncertainty neither of them knew how to properly voice, when they reached the well, other neighbors were already there, and the topic of conversation was the same everywhere Tunde turned.
"Dem say make we start dey pack our things," Mama Ngozi was saying to another woman as she pulled water from the well, "Dem no even give us proper time o, just one week notice."
"This life sha," the other woman replied, shaking her head, "just when person don just settle down for one place.... na so wahala go come again."
Tunde filled his bucket quietly, listening to the conversations that was swirling around him and each one carrying it is own version of anxiety about what was coming, and by the time he made his way back home, his mind was heavy with thoughts he could not quite organize.
Back at the compound, his mother was still stirring the pot, the aroma of stew was now filling the entire compound ,and for a moment, watching her hum softly to herself, unaware yet of what the neighbors were saying, Tunde felt this strange urge to preserve the moment exactly as it was.
"Mama," he said finally, setting the bucket down, "Have you heard what they are saying about the new road project?"
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His mother paused her stirring, looking up at him with an expression that told him she already knew, "Yes now, I have heard, why do you ask like that?"
"I am just wondering, if it will affect our house" , Mama Tunde sighed, wiping her hands on her wrapper before responding, "My son, whatever will happen will happen, we cannot control government decision, but we will try to manage it as it comes, so don't that thing worry your head too much today."
But Tunde could not shake the feeling settling in his chest, he looked around at the compound,
at the mango tree his father planted before he passed,
at the veranda where Bisi had spent countless afternoons doing her homework,
at the walls that had watched him grow from a boy into a young man.
Whatever was coming, whatever changes the following weeks would bring, Tunde understood, standing there in that ordinary Saturday morning, that this was it, this was the last day everything would feel simple, familiar, unchanged, tomorrow, and every day after, would carry the weight of whatever transformation was about to be unfolded, and there was nothing left to do now but breathe in this one last normal day before it all began.
Thanks for Stopping By
Harbeegail 💘