5. Escape Into Elitism

The day's work! Jesus! Her day started at four-thirty in the morning. On the veranda of her new home in Pike Street, there was a mighty drum used as a water container and Adah had to fill this with water before going to school. This usually meant making ten to twelve trips to the public 'pump', as those public monstrosities were called in those days.

In Adah's new family there was Ma's brother who worked in the dockyard at the marina; his old wife, a quiet, retiring woman who was a shadow to her autocratic husband; and their four mighty sons, all grown up. One was married with a young daughter, one was working as a clerk in the treasury, one was an artist, who would stay at home and sing all day long, the youngest was at a finishing school. So Pa's death was a blessing to them, for it meant they could have Adah as an unpaid servant to help in this bulging household. All these people occupied only one room and a veranda, yet the house had ten rooms! One could imagine the number of households that depended on the pump at the Pike street, for it served eight other streets as well. It was always a case of first come, first served. By seven or eight in the morning: there were usually fights, metal buckets were thrown the air, fists drawn and clothes torn which most times at end the pump will be locked leaving everyone stranded. To avoid this rush hour, Adah was usually woken up at four-thirty. Her being up so early was also a great help to her new Pa and master. He went to work by six-thirty in the mornings and Adah had to be there to get him his odds and ends.

One might think on this evidence that Africans treated their children badly. But to Adah's people and to Adah herself, this was not so at all; it was the custom. Children, especially girls, were taught to be very useful very early in life and this had its advantages. For instance, Adah learned very early to be responsible for herself. Nobody was interested in her for her own sake, only in the morning when she would fetch water, run some errands and the housework she could do and Adah, happy at given this opportunity of survival, did not waste time thinking about its rights or wrongs, she had to survive

Time went by quickly, and when she reached the age of eleven, people started asking her when she was going to leave school. This was an urgent question because the fund available for Ben's education was running low; Ma was not happy with her new husband and it was considered time Adah started making a financial contribution to her family. This terrified Adah. For a time, it seemed as if she must give in to save Ma from the humiliating position she found herself in. she hated Ma for marrying again, thinking it was a betrayal of Pa. sometimes Adah dreamt of marrying early; a rich man who would allow Ma and Ben to come and stay with her. That would solve a lot of problems, but the kind of men that she was being pushed to by her clever cousins and Ma's tactful hints were bald and huge, almost as big as her dead Pa. Ma had told her that older men took better care of their wives than the young and overeducated ones, but Adah didn't like them. She would never, never in her life get married to any man, rich or poor, to whom she would have to serve his food on bended knee: she would not content to live with a husband whom she would have to treat as a master and refer to as 'Sir' even behind hit back. She knew that all Ibo women did this, but she wasn't going to!

Unfortunately, her obstinacy gained her a very bad reputation; what nobody told her then was that the older men were encouraged to come end 'talk' to her because only they could afford the high 'bride-price' Ma was asking. Since, however, she didn't know this, as soon as she saw one of those baldies in his white starched trousers, she would burst into native songs about bad old baldies. If that failed to repel them, she would go to the back yard and burst the bicycle tyres of the suitors. She discovered later this was very bad indeed, because she had since learnt that the Nigerian Government usually gave the junior clerics an advance for these bicycles.

All the suitors were doing then was to ask for the advance for their new Raleigh bikes with flashy lights in order to impress Adah. But the stupide girl refused to be impressed.

The number of suitors did start to dwindle, though. Maybe word went round that she was a peculiar girl, for she did look funny in those days; all head, with odd-colored hair and a tummy that would have graced any Oxfam poster, she was cranky and ugly. She did not dispute that; she was ugly then all skin and bone.

The thought of her having to leave school at the end of the year worried her so much that she lost weight. She acquired a pathetically anxious look; the type some insane people have, with eyes as blank as contact lenses.

At about this time, something happened that showed her that her dream was just suffering a tiny dent, just a small one, nothing deep enough to destroy the basic structure. The dream by now assumed an image in her mind, it seemed to take life, to breathe and to smile kindly at her. The smile of the Presence became wide as the headmaster of Adah's school announced the lists of available high schools which the children could apply for. "You are going, you must go and to one of the very best high schools; not only are going, you're going to do well there coming out the best among your peers", Adah heard the Presence telling her. She heard it so much that she started to smile, her confidence became strong. The head master's voice jolted her back to reality.

"And what's is it about me that you find so funny, Adah Ofili?"

"Me, sir? Oh, no, sir, I was not laughing. I mean not smiling, sir."

"You were not what? You mean I am lying? Well, back her up!"

Immediately a group of three or four tough-looking boys came out from the back row and the biggest of them all swept Adah on to his back and the two others held her feet while the headmaster administered the cane to her posterior. The searing of the cane was so intense that Adah was beyond screaming. To ease the pain, she sank her sharp teeth deep into the bade of the poor boy who was backing her. He started to scream loudly, but Adah would not let go, not even when the caning stopped. The boy wriggled in agony and so did Adah. All the teachers came to the rescue of the boy. Adah's teeth had dug so deep into him that fragments of his flesh were stuck between her teeth. She quickly spat them out and wiped her mouth, looking at them all wide-eyed.