Prologue (2)

Back in the center of Ekule, one of the most incredible villages of the Batang empire in Africa, the young Miss Suzie released her breath. She had escaped from the unknown.

"Ouf! I'm now far away from that...who knows ...stalker," she said relieved as she entered the very bustling center of the imperial city.

She then continued her walk home where her grandmother had long been waiting for her to prepare the mushroom soup.

"Hi, big momma!" Suzie said to the sexagenarian woman as she got inside the house.

"I am back home," she pursued while rushing to the kitchen, for she was late for the preparation of the dinner. She laid the basket of mushrooms in the sink and barely had she done so that an angry voice emanating from the living room shook her up.

"Where have you been, you little blighter?" Suzie's grandmother asked her upset.

"Big momma, I am sorry!" Suzie mumbled while hurrying to hug the old lady in an attempt to calm her down.

"Today there were so many mushrooms across the forest and thus I had to make sure I carry home as many as possible. I also had to be very selective and pick up the healthiest ones for your preferred soup," she convincingly explained.

"Hmmm, now you are flattering me. You know every time how to appease me, especially when you bring home my favorite chow." Grandma answered back her granddaughter in a mild tone of voice.

Suzie thereafter returned to the kitchen. She removed the mushrooms from the basket and placed them in a pot. She opened the tap to fetch some water, then tidied the white Buttons up.

And then…! A flash memory of what had happened in the woods popped up.

"Big momma, let me tell you the strange thing that occurred when I was in Ekule's forest earlier in the day!" Suzie declared to her grandmother who was sitting on her rattan chair in the parlor.

The aged woman was airing herself with a floral folding hand fan. She stopped for a moment, and glanced in the direction of her granddaughter before uttering doubtfully: "You again with your stories, what's up this time around, little tattletale?"