Chapter One

One evening Granny Ngwanguong, Babe Princess’s grand mother called her into the room. The older woman was lying on her bamboo bed sweating, Babe Princess bent low to extinguish the fire. But, she beckoned to her to move closer.

“I need you to take my corn to the grinding mill first thing tomorrow morning” she whispered.

The little girl nodded and turned to see where the corn was. It was standing at the corner of the hut, she blew air inside to see if the corn needed blowing but it was clean and dry. She carried the bucket on her head and walked towards her mother’s hut feeling proud that she had been chosen to take their grand mothers corn to the grinding mill. She went to inform Mupah and Tasha who would accompany her.

Babe Princess loved her grand mother very much. She was an adorable grandmother. She petted and spoiled her and her other numerous grand children and in return the kids longed to run errands for her. Some older grand kids stayed permanently with her but the younger ones always abandoned their mother’s huts for hers. Although she had between fifty to a hundred grandchildren around her always babe princess knew that she was highly favored.

The grandchildren took turns in taking care of the old woman. Everyday, a group of younger kids came early in the morning to fetch water. As soon as they returned another group came to accompany her to the farm. Older kids helped in cooking and running errands out of the palace. Babe Princess belonged to none of such groups; she had no fixed job prescription but executed any as need demanded.

The village grinding mill or Kwan kwan as it was fondly called, was located some one kilometer away and it was the only mill for the whole village. The problem with this mill was that there was a crowd waiting from morning till evening so if you wanted to be served earlier you must be there before cook crew. The other problem the kids had was that it was Monday and they had to carry out the errand before going to school so they decided to leave very early in order to be the first to be served at the mill.

Babe Princess almost did not sleep last night. The moment Mupah knocked at their door she sprang on her feet and picked up a loin cloth that would protect her from the night.

“It’s still too early my daughter” her mother pleaded,

“We‘ve been sleeping for a long time, and I bet the sun will soon be up in the sky mother” she pleaded.

“But the cocks have not crowed yet the spirits are still awake.” she insisted

“The cocks will crow any moment from now, as for the spirits, they are the spirits of our ancestors, and they can’t do us any harm” she said opening the door.

“May the gods be with my child.” she whispered. Something told her to call back the kids and insisted they wait forth the first cock crew. She sprang for her bed and ran out side but there was nobody there, it was just darkness, deep darkness. The kids we already on their way to the path that led to the grinding mill. The path was a narrow one that went through the evil forest. She went back inside and sat on a stool waiting; sleep had evaded her.

“It’s an exceptionally bright but quiet night, there are no crickets chirping just quiet”. Babe Princess said shivering. But, the others said nothing in reply.

The kids had left the Palace and taken the narrow path that led to the evil forest. The kids walked in single file. They took turns to lead the group. Since the basket of maize was so heavy, they took turns to carry it and the person who led the group carried it. When she got tired she handed it to the next person who moved ahead and led the group.

“I don’t like this quiet” Babe added

“It’s scary” Mupah added, “Let’s sing a song, shall we?”

“I am too cold to sing a song and besides it may awaken ghosts.” Tasha said trembling.

“Please stop it, I am scared already, don’t worsen it” Mupah pleaded “lets hold hands”.

“What about me, I can’t carry this load and hold hands at the same time” Babe complained

“it’s amazing that we are the only ones, it seems as if it’s midnight.” she whispered

“Oh no someone is ahead of us, we don’t have to be scared.” Mupah reassured them

“But, we are in the palace graveyard; in the evil forest. What would someone be doing here all alone in the middle of the night?” Babe asked watching the figure a little distance ahead.

“It looks like a juju.” she said.

Babe Princess noticed that the creature had a huge mask on its face and rattles around its feet.

“it seems to be dancing towards us.” She added

Princess felt her hair rose. She felt goose pimples all over her body. She noticed that the others had also noticed the performer and stood watching. They were all sweating in the chilly midnight air and it seemed not to be aware of their presence. Babe tried to move her feet but they were heavy.

They seemed to have been planted in the spot. She managed to run but fell to the ground. When she got up, she saw that her brother and sister were already running for their dear lives. She turned round and started running too. The huge basket was weighing down on her. She couldn’t run very fast because the basket was so heavy. She kept running and looking back at the advancing figure that was now following them and started screaming. The juju which was the size of a man was now transforming into something else. It started growing taller and taller and Babe Princess noticed that it was running and flying at the same time. Its feet seemed not to be touching the ground. She knew it’s was a ghost and that the ghost would obviously catch up with her. But, she couldn’t give up. She preferred to die trying. She dumped the bag of corn and ran for her dear life. She soon caught up with the others and they continued running until they reached the grinding mill. It was a mud brick structure with neither doors nor window so they ran there and squeezed themselves in one heap in the floor. The figure, which was now an improper fraction with a very large head kept advancing and disappeared a few meters to entering the hut.

The stayed there entwined until the mill grinder woke them in the morning. They looked strange to everybody but they insisted that all was fine. They knew that they dare not tell about what happened that same day. They however had their grand mother to recon with and went back in search of the bag of maize. they recovered the bag and carried it to their Grandmother. they looked so pale and frightened, Their grandmother insisted on knowing what had happened. So, they told her about their strange midnight encounter. She listened quietly and at the end of it all she placed her finger over her lip and asked them to go. She knew what to do.

To be continued...

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