to do. That was when he chose Adesua as one of the people who will represent our house in running and gymnastics. He used to say she had the body of an Olympian and a skeleton made of spring because she ran so fast and twisted her body into different shapes as if it was easy. She would bend her body backwards and use her hand to steady it when her head was about to touch the ground. Then she would move her hands to touch her legs, and her shape would be like a tire. Sometimes, she would almost roll. She used to spread her legs, straight, one backwards, the other forward, the way they do on TV. Sometimes, almost everybody gathered to watch her as she did those things. Then on our inter-house sports day, she came first in the 100-meters and 200-meters race, and also the high jump, even beating some people in primary five! From that day, everybody in our school came to know that there was a girl called Adesua. iii It’s already past one o'clock in the afternoon, and they have just rung the closing bell. It was not a sweet day in school at all. Our class was too quiet, and our teacher was teaching us with a heavy voice. If you heard her, you would know that she had truly cried, and it made me know she was not forming that cry in the morning. It was a real cry. The news had touched everybody because they all love Adesua. Even me that did not believe the news, I was not able to talk. By eleven o’clock, the break bell had rung, and for the first time in as long as we could remember, our teacher asked all of
us to go for break. Everybody was surprised. That was the only time there was a noise in class today, as everybody rushed out of the class, most of my classmates happy as if they had forgotten the news in the morning. But after we returned from break and saw that Aunty Ese’s eyes were red, the sadness came back again like a person who returned to sit with all of us in the chair, but still, I did not believe that Adesua was dead. Now, I am walking home along with some of my school people. After we pass the gate, we divide into two. Some people go to their houses through the road on the right and some others go through the road on the left. Adesua used to go with us to the road on the left. Her street is two streets before my own. Sometimes, I can pass through her street and come out in another street that comes out in my own street. But that road is more far than the straight road. But I will take the longer road because I am going to see Adesua in her house. When I see her, tomorrow I will go to school and announce to everybody that she is alive. Just before we get to Ajayi street where Adesua’s father’s house is, we see many people gathered; they are looking at a big dead snake which a man is holding up on a stick. Some of my schoolmates stop to watch, but I will not stop. I am going to see Adesua, so I can beg her to come back to our school and tell her how everybody thinks she has died and how Aunty Ese has been crying for her! I wonder how she would feel about this. She would probably be surprised and feel sorry for Aunty Adesua. She is like that. She has a mind of pity.
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The staircase is dark as I get there. I have not climbed it before but from downstairs, I have seen Adesua standing upstairs many times, and I know which of the flats she lives in. I have already used my eyes to know which step I will climb and which door I will knock. The stairs are cool, but it is dark because there is no window, and you have to pass through a dark passage to get to it. The only place where light is coming from is the top, wall where some holes are designed. Some like circles, some triangles, some stars. It is as if different suns are shining through each one of them as I look up. I am also seeing dust dancing through the lines of sunlight as I climb the stairs. I knock on the door the first time, and nobody answers. I knock again, and I hear her brother’s voice ask from inside, “Who be dat?!” and I answer, “Na me!” He asks again, “Who you be?” and I say, “Adesua classmate.” Everywhere is now quiet in the staircase. Maybe the boy is not going to open the door for me. I want to go downstairs, but another mind is telling me to knock again. Another is telling me to wait. As my different minds are busy telling me different things, I hear somebody coming to the door, and then, the person opens the door, and it is Adesua’s brother. It is as if the resemblance between him and Adesua has increased! His lips and nose are red and long like her own, and even his eyes are shining as he is looking at me. “Good afternoon.” I say. “Good afternoon,” he says. I don’t know how to say what I want to say. “You come see us?” he says.
