Have you ever heard about reincarnation?, Let me break it down. Have you heard about real life stories of people who once lived with a ghost either directly under their roof or as a neighbor and they never knew?.
I don’t believe in reincarnation because it’s not biblical even though people believe it happens.
It all started one Monday morning in our neighborhood off campus. We stayed off campus while in the university due to the new structures and hostels that were being built in the school premises.
We had so much freedom to participate in activities outside the school curriculum, there was no restriction as to when to go out and come in because we all had our apartment, each to their tent.
That monday morning, I was so hungry because I did not eat the previous night. I had a 7 am lecture and my stomach was rumbling, I guess the worms in my stomach were screaming for help. I had to manage myself, I went for lectures on an empty stomach hoping to get snacks and soft drink within the school premises.
In the school premises you could see almost everything you need. The only thing they probably don’t sell is human parts, but no matter the amount of food you eat within the school premises you still feel hungry after a short while because the sun there is like a consuming fire and can dehydrate you.
After the lecture, I ate snacks and took soft drink. Lectures ended by 3:30 pm and at that time I was so hungry that I could eat anything served on a plate. I rushed home to prepare a proper meal. Before cooking I went to buy rice and beans from Mummy Ade popularly known as (Iya’ a’la’ta’ swe’swe’) a nickname given to her in Yoruba because of her pepperish food.
Mummy Ade just launched her canteen earlier that monday and few hungry students had already trooped in to her restaurant to taste her food, rate her and recommend her food to other students because it was delicious.
After dealing with my plate of rice and beans, I licked the plate and made sure there were no traces of rice or beans left before I moved to the kitchen to prepare my concoction rice. Aside garri which has saved many student lives in times of hunger and lack, concoction rice has been a regular student meal that has saved student.
As the days went by, Mummy Ade became the talk of the town. Her canteen was the happening place and peoples first choice. You could find some notable men and women in her canteen on queue fighting and screaming at each other while waiting for their turn to be served.
Many students including myself almost went bankrupt because of this woman’s delicacy. Even when I had my foodstuff and my gas to cook I would still buy from her, and her food were never satisfying.
One Friday, I had little money left with me as I had spent all my pocket money buying Mummy Ade’s delicacy. I had to manage till month end.
“Let me manage myself since I have rice, sachet tomato and groundnut oil, I will prepare my regular concoction and keep on eating it pending the time my parents will send me money” I said to myself.
While preparing the meal, I heard a knock on my door,
Knock! Knock!!
“(Who be that) Who is it?” I asked.
“ Na (It’s) me Solomon”, the person replied.
“Wetin happen (what is it)? I asked solomon before opening the door.
“Nothing happen(ed), I just say make I come greet you. (I just decided to come and greet you)”, Solomon answered.
I opened the door reluctantly, murmuring, knowing fully well that solomon is a food monger and he has come to shorten my ration.
“E be like say I waka well (it’s like I came at the right time)”, Solomon said, after perceiving the aroma of my concoction.
“Yes! you waka well ( yes! You came at the right time)” I replied.
Deep down inside of me I was angry and saying “ why this long throat come here now when I wan chop, he just wan shorten my ration, person no fit cook food for this house make this guy no show face (why is this glutton here when I am about to eat, he just wants to shorten my ration, so someone cannot prepare a meal in this house without him getting to know)?”
Solomon is a good friend of mine, very funny and above all a food monger. He doesn’t get satisfied eating one boiled egg, the least he would eat is 3.
Food was ready.
“Should I serve you?” I asked solomon.
“Sharp! Sharp!! As e dey hot ( sharply, before it gets cold), solomon answered.
“ This nonsense boy, I know say e no go reject food (this nonsense boy, I know he wouldn’t reject the food)” I murmured to myself and I felt like breaking his head because I planned to eat the food alone so I could manage it.
On the 20th of may, my money was almost finished and there was still ten days more for the month to come to an end.
“See wetin iya’ a’la’ta’ swe’swe’ don cause she wan turn me to beggar (see what Mummy Ade has caused, she wants to turn me to a beggar)” I was thinking and worried.
I managed to survive till the month ended by jumping from one friend to the other, what we call “gbenu si” in yoruba language, That is begging indirectly by giving out the little ingredients you have to friends who have foodstuff and also rendering service of cooking or washing dishes with them to secure your own portion of the food.
Na where man dey work na there e dey chop ( where a man works that is where he eats).
See wetin Mummy Ade food don cause, (see what Mummy Ade’s food has caused).
On the 30th, I called my mom, “ Mummy our lecturer said we should buy a particular handout and do some registration which will cost five thousand naira only”, I lied to her just for them to top the pocket money.
As a guy man I gat lie to them for house to get extra money wey I go use flex and freshen up especially the one wey I go spend for iya’ a’la’ta’ swe’swe’ side, e dey very important (as a young man I must lie to them at home to get extra cash to lavish, especially the one I would spend on Mummy Ade’s delicacy).
Lying about course registration has been almost every student way of getting their parents to top their pocket money.
Ping! I received an alert on the first of june. Thirty thousand Naira.
“Aaaaaaah”, I screamed happily.
“I must show face for iya alata swe’swe’ side today, e don tey wey I chop better ( I must visit Mummy Ade’s restaurant today, it’s been days I ate her delicacy)”, I said happily.
As soon as I withdrew the money I ran home, went upstairs to call Solomon.
Solomonkey! Solomonkey!! I called him with a loud voice.
Solomonkey was the nickname I gave him because he nicknamed himself Solomoney but he was always broke.
“Guy I no like am o, no dey call me solomonkey (Boy! I don’t like it, stop calling me solomonkey), he replied.
I laughed so loud because he looks and acts funny when angry.
“Wetin dey do you, dey no dey play with you?(what’s wrong with you?, I was just joking with you)”, I teased him.
Come on! go and put on your clothes, let's go to Mummy Ade’s canteen to taste her delicacy once more, I insisted.
“ I don’t have money,will you pay for me?”
“No problem, all the bills on me, just hurry up and put on your clothes,” I replied, feeling like a boss.
You need to see the joy on Solomon’s face. I don’t know why greedy people like freebies.
He rushed to his wardrobe with the speed of light, scattering his room to find a short to wear.
You know that kind of speed you use when preparing yourself for an impromptu free ride, you just have to scatter your wardrobe and find something to put on fast before the person changes his or her mind.
We got to the restaurant, crowded as usual. We waited for our turn to be served. We ate two raps of Fufu and Egusi soup each with kpomo, roundabout and shaki (meat).
Walking down home with toothpicks in our mouth, sweating and smiling. You can’t eat that kind of a meal and still find an atom of sadness hiding in your soul.
Got to my room, I fell flat on the bed and slept off. Thank God it was a Saturday, a lecture free day.
Well! I woke up late at midnight, so I decided to remain inside and prepare for Sunday morning service. That Sunday was the day I and every other student within that surrounding will never forget.
After everyone came back from church that Sunday evening, I was outside with other guys gisting near the restaurant, we were still contemplating on buying food because it has become part and parcel of us. We never knew something mysterious was about to happen.
Then a middle aged man came down from a bike to buy food from the canteen. After they had served him, he went straight to the counter to pay his money. Mummy Ade was always sitting behind the counter to collect money and also monitor other activities in the restaurant as a restaurateur.
As the man stretched his hand to pay, he was surprised to see the face of Mummy Ade looking so familiar. He was shocked.
“This lady looks like Mummy Tope that died last year at Ibadan”, the man murmured in Yoruba language.
Mummy Tope who was late, was a neighbor to this man in the same compound in Ibadan but here is Mummy Ade Aka iya’ a’la’ta’ swe’swe’ looking exactly like her here in Ijebu Ode, Ogun State.
The man looked at her carefully to confirm what he was seeing. He saw a scar on her cheek, this was the same spot the scar was on mummy Tope’s face when she had an accident before she died.
The man kept on staring at every part of her body and could recognize her.
He shouted, mummy Tope! Mummy Tope!! Is it not you I am seeing, or am I dreaming? (in Yoruba)
We were looking at the man, thinking he was mad. We held him and started questioning him. We also told him he might be mistaken her for someone else, that we know her as mummy Ade and we also know her little son, Ade.
I never mentioned her son Ade. He was between the age of 13/14, very funny and always disturbs in the canteen.
The man argued, saying he has her picture and that of her son, and he was eager to show us. We became curious and confused. We surrounded the man as he opened his phone gallery and showed us the pictures. They looked exactly like Mummy Ade and her son Ade.
“This people you are showing us are dead” one of us said reluctantly, pointing his finger to the picture of her and her son lying in a casket.
“Exactly what I am saying,'' the man replied confidently. At this juncture, both the workers and we all that were there to buy food were in pandemonium.
What is going on, could this be true? It’s not possible! Everyone was asking in confusion.
As we were asking and murmuring in confusion, a sudden wind blew, dust covered everywhere and no one could see clearly for a few seconds until the wind became calm.
Mummy Ade and her son Ade with few of her belongings were nowhere to be found after the wind stopped. That was when we knew we were as good as dead.
It was on that day I knew that not every mad person you see roaming became mad due to hard drugs or diabolical utterances, some actually became insane due to confusion that their brain could not access, just as our brain couldn't access what was going on at that moment.
Every where scattered.
“so I have been eating food prepared by a dead person” this was the song on everyone’s lips as they placed their two hands on their head feeling devastated.
Some people almost vomited their intestine while others were thanking God not to have tasted her food ever since she opened her canteen.
I went back to my room after everyone had ran away from the scene, but I was scared and couldn’t stay alone.
Solomon who was also there when the whole drama took place was already packing his bags and baggage, heading home to his father’s house which was not far from where we stayed.
I called home and explained everything to them in fear. I told them I would be coming back home during the weekend to book a counselling section with my pastor and probably go for deliverance so that they would use the blood of Jesus to flush away everything I had eaten at Iya’ a’la’ta’ swe’swe’s canteen.
With fear and assumption, I lived my life in campus staying clear from food vendors because I don’t know which one might be a walking corpse.
Prince Promise.
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