Bitter Sweet Beginnings

“Yaa baby….Yaa…, wake up,” I heard Maame’s voice as my eyes fluttered open. I guess the pain of not receiving those shoes for ‘our day’ is still in my heart. “Ma ye,” I said as I stretched out on my bed. Maame looked down at me with a smile as though anticipating my next move. I realized her gaze at me and was caught between smiling back at her or recalling if I had done something wrong before sleeping this afternoon. Was I going to receive hot afternoon beatings, or was she just feeling good today?
“Here you go,” she said as she revealed shiny pink shoes from the black polythene bag she held behind her. I jumped up as swiftly as lightning and gave her a tight hug. “Please don’t choke me, I only bought you shoes,” she said as I went ahead and skipped around the room with my shiny pink shoes in hand. Once again, she kept her gaze on me as though my happiness brought her some kind of joy or fulfillment. I was truly overjoyed, and anyone could tell. “Thank Paapa, when he gets back, he paid for them,” she said as she leisurely walked away. “Drop those shoes and come help me out in the kitchen. We need to finish supper as fast as possible, I need to go to a church meeting,” she added. “Yes, Ma,” I responded with my new shoes in hand. As she stepped out, I settled down and put on my new shoes. I couldn’t believe my eyes. I could feel the excitement vibrating in my bones and ligaments. My style of walking had changed, even. I carefully crossed my left foot in front of my right foot and vice versa as I walked from one point to the other in the room. ‘Today be today’, I thought to myself. I began to see myself rocking my new shoes on different occasions. Finally, I paused for a minute. What is the next occasion on the calendar, and what will I pair my shoes with? I leaned on the wall with my right shoulder close to the sliding window as I got lost in thought. “Yei!…” I screamed with my hands moving straight to cover my head as I snapped out of dreamland. “Do you want to break the widow?” Maame shouted behind me from the door. “Answer me”, she demanded as she made her way towards me with foam on her palms.