I wrote this story a couple months ago. It takes place in Kenya, also outside of the city.
A Leap Taken, Part 1
by Dee
It was 6:30 in the morning.
When thirteen year old Grace opened her eyes and saw light, she groaned. She’d overslept once again. She rolled over and pushed herself to her feet. Hurrying out of the dirty circular hut, she adjusted her cotton dress and brushed off a smudge of dirt on one arm. As her bare feet slapped the dusty dirt floor of the hut, small puffs of dust rose.
Her mother squatted in front of a small cook fire, two small children clinging to her. As soon as the trio saw Grace, they each demanded something of her.
“Ayeee! How long you sleep! You will turn into a kobe, always so slow! Come, eat your breakfast.” Grace’s mother, Mama David, turned to the fire and scooped out a small plantain with a flat stick.
“Grace, Grace! I will go to shule tomorrow!” Joy, the youngest of Grace’s four sisters tugged at Grace’s dress.
“Up! Want up!” small Samuel demanded.
“Watoto! Leave your sister alone! She must eat so she can work!” Mama David heaved herself to her feet, her protruding belly hindering her movements. Grace had eight siblings and this one her mother was carrying would make the number of children rise to ten.
Grace gobbled the plantain down, wiped her mouth, and hurried to feed her chickens and let them out in the yard. Then she kissed her mother goodbye and waved to her siblings, the only two too small to work in the maize and bean fields or herd the family’s cows and goats.
She ran down the winding path that led through scrubland filled with small bushes and termite hills. Suddenly, her younger brother, Jotham, jumped out from behind a termite hill.
“Yeeeeeee!” He screeched, flailing his arms at Grace.
Grace screeched to a halt, her heart thumping like a small boy playing a drum. “Aieee! You scared me!”
She glared at her brother. Then she noticed there were no goats or cows milling around. “Where are the cows and goats? If you are going to be old enough to herd the wanyama, you must care for them properly.”
Jotham moved his eyes from left to right and back again, trying to think of an answer. “Uh, uh,” he stammered.
“Go find them!” Grace ordered, waving her hand at the boy. “You would not want Baba to hear about this!”
“Yes, sister, uh, no, sister.” Jotham turned and headed back the way he’d come.
Grace shook her head and began running down the path once more. How irresponsible the young ones were!
Grace reached the maize fields with no further incidents and made her way to where a jembe leaned up against a tree, waiting for her. She joined her sisters and began hoeing the weeds out of the maize.
The job was one that didn’t take much thought although it was close to impossible to hold a conversation as well. Grace’s mind began to wander and she thought again of the scheme she had thought up at the beginning of the school holiday.
Two months earlier…
Kiswahili Vocabulary
Kobe- Kobe means tortoise
Shule- Shule is the Kiswahili word for school
Wanyama- Wanyama means animals of any kind
Jembe- A jembe is a hoe
Maize- Maize is a type of very tough corn; in the U.S, it's used as animal feed, in Kenya, it is a primary food
You can find Part 2 here.
