The teacher’s words don’t make any sense. I raise my hand but he dismisses it quickly. I hate mathematics. I look out the crooked window and some of the older boys are playing football. I envy them.
“Mamsa so what do you think the solution is,” the teacher asks. I look around frantically hearing some of the girls in the back laughing. How am I supposed to know the answer? I sometimes think the teacher purposely does this to ridicule me. I shrug. He shouts telling me I am nothing like my brother, and that I should apply myself more but I look away. Soon his words drown out as I imagine myself outside playing football.
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“Mamsa at last your home.” Midway in smiling my mother hurriedly takes my hand and drags me in front of a pot. I am told we are preparing tuo tonight and my mother is behind on preparations. I start helping with the rice but my elbow hits the pot and the rice falls to the ground. My mother is infuriated and sends me out of the kitchen.
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My father is a voracious eater. The meal that had taken my mother hours to make is finished in just a few minutes. My brothers are much the same. I’ve never really liked tuo and my mother scolds me for playing with my food. “I have an announcement to make children,” says my father as he chugs his food down. I look up as my father pierces me with his eyes. “We are sending your sister ,Mamsa, to a family friend to learn housework and sewing. Mamsa, we have heard your complaints about school and have agreed that this is what’s best for your future.” But why? Why can’t mother teach me? I begin to protest but my father’s glare shuts me up quickly. I pack my things immediately. My mother comes to talk to me and asks me if I will be ok. I look at her and shrug.
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The woman is nice. Her name is Siara and with her son’s death she has no family to speak of. She sees how incapable I am at housework so she just humors me. I have a little cot and share a room alongside three older girls. There all nice but I don’t get to talk to them much. They sleep most of the day and only have time to talk to me for a little while at night before they leave. It is quite lonely. I count the days before Christmas when the woman promised to take me to my parents’ house.
BANG. The door is slammed and I’m awaken from my thoughts. I turn and it’s Cheruba one of the girls I share a room with. She is crying. I run toward her and her face it is swollen and her left eye is bleeding. What happened? I run to go grab water as Siara runs in. She begins scolding the girl about leading the man to the house and for not finishing him. “Cheruba how are we to get rid of him now,” she asks. I can hear the man screaming. I am horrified. The man is demanding for his money back and Siara looks distressed. “Cheruba the neighbors will hear and we will soon be discovered. He specifically wanted a young woman so I can not take care of it myself. Oh but why must the rent be due so early in the month cause then I would have had the money.” Cheruba looks worried and looks at me. “Why not have him see if he will take Mamsa,” she asks. “Cheruab she is only a child.” “I was younger than Mamsa when I started and besides stop fooling yourself. Mamsa is a horrible housekeeper we will be doing her a favor by leading her to another profession. At least this way she will be able to work and as you always say any kind of work is work.” Siara looks sad. She goes outside and talks to the man. She whispers in my ear, “ It will all be over soon.”
I’m led outside and the man takes me by the hand toward some bushes.
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Christmas is as it always is. My parents are talking about the local gossip, my sisters are playing with their new dolls, my brothers are fighting over the last piece of chicken but I feel so out of place. My mother must of seen my face for she excitedly gets up and tells me she wants to show me something. My mother has sewn a white dress for her friend’s daughter that is soon to be married and tells me one day she will do the same for me. “Nothing less for my righteous daughter,” she says. I cringe.
The next morning Siara comes to fetch me and seeing that both my parents seem happy to see her she knows I’ve said nothing. As we walks out I turn at my house knowing this will be the last time I will see it. I shrug.
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Another work day or night I should say. I enter the bar and see many lonely men and know that tonight is going to be a good night. I dance with a few men and have them promise that they will meet me soon after for business. As I walk toward the bar another man dressed quite strangely asks me to dance. He begins to question my profession but who does he think he is. I quickly get upset but he has me look at him. Wait, I recognize him. He is my brother. How long has it been since I last saw one of my family members? He tells me my family is looking for me and so I promise Ill return for Christmas. It’s been too long. And if they want the whole family together for Christmas I can play the charade I can be the daughter who got good grades, excelled in her housework, and married a big businessman.
I like how you've used flashbacks to explain how Mamsa came to be in the situation she's in. While I was reading "In the Cutting of a Drink" I was also very curious to know Mamsa's story and I think that this scenario is very plausible. I appreciate that you've stuck with Aidoo's feminist theme by showing that prostitution is the only recourse for women who don't fit into traditional gender roles. Good job!
ReplyDeleteI like the fact that you don't demonize Mamsa. Aidoo's story, I think, shows that although her life as a prostitute in the city may not be ideal, it does offer an escape from some of the sexist oppression of her rural home life, and your narrative echoes this empathetic take on her.
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