Smoke

"This is really beautiful!" Ramses exclaimed when he looked at the poem Ogar had written. He took a second glance at the piece then looked at Ogar again.

Ogar laughed.

"Wait. You don't believe I wrote this do you?"

" Well, I have not seen you write before. Let's just say I didn't expect this from you"

"Okaaay" Ogar replied rather slowly "What then did you think was my area of interest?"

"I don't know, UFO?" Ramses said as he opened his eyes wide then winked.

They both laughed. Ramses was grateful to finally have Ogar on his side. He was like a buddy. No. More like a little brother. At least that's what he will be one when his mum and Ogar's uncle get married.

Uncle Travis walked into the room.

"Good morning uncle Travis" Ramses called out.

"Good morning Ramses. How are you doing today?"

"I am well, thank you"

"How are your sisters and mum?"

"They are well" Ramses smiled as he responded. The wound in uncle Travis's heart appeared to be healing.

Uncle Travis had a big tray of boiled corn and African pear in hands. Ramses reached out to assist him in taking it almost at the same time as Ogar.

Ogar took it and placed it on the dining table.

"Here Mr. Ramses. Come and eat"

"Really? This is for me?"

"Yes it is"

"Thank you so much. It's my favourite snack, steamy and hot just the way I like it. Tell me, how do we say thank you in Nkpanjen?"

"Cha ma" uncle Travis supplied.

"Okay, cha ma" Ramses nodded.

"I would say Be Liang be be which means come and eat then you will say cha ma"

"Be Liang be be" Ramses nodded." I will learn more. Let me relish this delicious snack. Anyone joining me?"

"Of course" Ogar and uncle Travis settled down to the meal after saying their prayers.

After the meal, Ogar took the tray to the kitchen. He appeared a little while after with a bowl and a bottle of liquid soap, with the inscription "morning fresh" on it.

"You seem to be conversant with this meal" uncle Travis said.

"Yes. My mum served me the first time and when she discovered I loved it she kept preparing it for me."

"Oh... We eat a lot of tubers and vegetables. Especially plantain. It's prepared during our festival." "Plantain porridge you mean?"

Uncle Travis nodded. " We had drums and hair dresses but that was centuries ago. Not much is left of them now"

"What happened?"

"They were carted away from Africa during the slave trade era as well".

"We lost alot."

"Yes. We did"

Ramses sighed. In a few moments his face brightened up.

"My mum said something about a script but didn't go further to explain because she didn't have much knowledge about it"

"Oh that. That script she is talking about is Nsidibi. It's our script"

"Wow! We had our own script?"

"We sure did. It was like our alphabet"

"We were like a country of our own or maybe a civilization then"

" Yes it had alphabets and codes with which we used to relate "

"We had a lot of art works. Our continent would have been booming in tourism."

"I agree with you. There are nearly half a million artefacts that were looted from Africa in those days of slavery"

" Will it not be just if we can have them back, they belong to us, don't they?"

"Yes see there have been interviews bordering on this topic. Intellectuals have debated on it. "

"Then where is the outcome of all of that, no response from them?" Ramses cried.

"My guess, our artefacts are adding great value to their museums"

"I completely agree with you. So that means they are being handled with care?"

"There have been complaints that some artifacts are not being handled well even there in Europe"

" Europe? It could not be as a result of funding, could it?"

"Of course not. As a matter of fact, we hear this occurred in one of the most heavily funded museums"

"Hmmmmn... How interesting" Ramses replied sarcastically.

"I wonder now, should restitution occur and those artefacts be returned back to Africa, will we be able to preserve them?" Uncle Travis questioned.

"That's another point. With the focus of attention these days, oil, oil, oil. Tell me

"who would bat an eyelid because of tourism?"

"Exactly. Not many leaders think of it as a source of revenue"

"Countless accidents occured on the road while returning from my last trip to Lagos. You need to see the hold up experienced daily because of the deadly portholes and highway robbers. Not much has been done about that. Is it the artefact that will be preserved?"

" You have a point there uncle Travis. A country that is referred to as the giant of its continent is this way. This so so sad"

Silence lurked about the room.

" So what about Nsidibi, uncle?" Ogar asked eagerly, breaking the silence. This was his chance to speak. When two adults are speaking he is expected to be silent as the younger one. Even though uncle Travis was not so strict about that he remained conscious of it.

"Oh that" uncle Travis responded.

"Nsidibi was said to given to us by a a mermaid"

"A mermaid?" Ramses asked startled.

"Yes" A mermaid.

"Wow" Ogar replied.

Ramses looked at him. He had dreamy eyes. He seemed quite faraway. He looked at uncle Travis as well. His eyes were dancing. Ramses could see that he was enjoying the conversation. Ramses smiled, thankful to have found a man like him. He hoped he will be able to find a way to communicate with his father despite the fact that he had abandoned him all through these years.

"I don't mean to be rude, but I don't believe in mermaids" Ramses began.

"You don't?" Ogar asked. Ramses nodded.

" That is one of the myths surrounding our culture."

"Yes I do. You know we were not always where we are now"

"What do you mean?"

"We settled in Ekparabong.

"Hmmmmn... "

"Our symbol is the elephant"

"How interesting.."

"I will discuss about that another day" uncle Travis said as he adjusted on his seat. Ramses a turned to look at him.

"Thank you so much sir"

"It's okay" he replied.

"You look pretty unwell, is everything alright?" Ramses asked him.

"Sure. I am very well. It's just this nauseatic feeling. I feeling dizzy as well. I may just need some rest you know"

" Oh okay sir. I will take my leave now. Thank you so much. Ogar, please look after uncle Travis and take care of yourself as well" Ramses said as he rose to leave.