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Baby shook her head. Ola
"They have opened a relief center on Bishop Road and I went very early this morning," she said. "Ask Ugwu to bring me a bowl."
She poured some yellow powder into the bowl Ugwu brought.
'What is that?" Ola
"Dried egg yolk." Mrs. Muokelu turned to Ugwu. "Fry it for Baby."
"Fry it?"
"Is something wrong with your ears? Mix it with some water and fry it, osiso They say children love the taste of this thing."
Ugwu gave her a slow look before he went into the kitchen. The dried egg yolk, fried in red palm oil, looked soggy and u
The relief center used to be a girls' secondary school. Ola
"He has serious shell shock," Mrs. Muokelu whispered, as if Ola
"Order! Order!" he said, and opened the gate.
The swift scrambling rush of the crowd surprised Ola
"Join that one!" Mrs. Muokelu said, when Ola
Ola
Panic rose in Ola
"What is it?" the woman asked. The supervisor, standing close by, turned to stare at Ola
"My little child is sick-" Ola
The woman cut her short. "Join that line for milk."
"No, no, she has not been eating anything, but she ate egg yolk." Ola
The woman pulled her arm away and hurried into the building and slammed the door. Ola
His bald head and bearded face did not look familiar at all. Ola
"I have seen you before," he said. He moved closer, smiling now, but without the leer she expected; his face was frank and delighted. "Some years ago at Enugu Airport when I went to meet my brother who was returning from overseas. You talked to my mother. I kasiri ya obi. You calmed her down when the plane landed and did not stop right away."
That day at the airport came back to Ola
"Is it you?" she asked. "But how did you recognize me?"
"How can anybody forget a face like your own? My mother has always told the story of a beautiful woman who held her hand. All the members of my family know the story. Every time somebody talks about my brother's return, she will tell it."
"And how is your brother?"
Pride lit up his face. "He is a senior man in the directorate. He is the one who gave me this job with relief."
Ola
"Very well. She is at Orlu in my brother's house. She was very ill when my elder sister did not return from Zaria at first; we all thought those animals had done to her what they did to the others, but my sister returned-she had Hausa friends who helped her- so my mother got better. She will be happy when I tell her that I saw you."
He paused to glance at one of the food tables where two young girls were fighting, one saying, "I am telling you that this stockfish is mine," and the other saying, "Ngwanu, both of us will die today."
He turned back to her. "Let me go and see what is going on there. But wait by the gate. I will send somebody to you with egg yolk."
"Thank you." Ola
"Okoromadu sent me to you," a young woman said beside her, and Ola
The next time Ola
"We have nothing for you today. The lorry carrying our supplies from Awomama was hijacked on the road," he said, in the measured tone of a politician addressing his supporters. Ola