A Collection of Short Stories

Behind The Scene
Eketi Ette
“Someone should open that backyard door,” she called out. “Quickly, before this smoke kills
me.” From somewhere in the belly of the tiny house, her second son ran to do her bidding.
An hour later, the meal was ready and she called out to her daughter. Ima trudged into the
kitchen, muttering under her breath about being sent on errands when her younger brothers
were idling around watching television.
“My friend, will you shut up and pass me those plates!” her mother barked, pointing at the
basket of plastic plates beside the tall water barrel. Ima’s frown promptly dispersed. The
fear of their mother’s cane was the beginning of wisdom, and insolence could cost her her
share of the tantalizing yam porridge bubbling in the pot.
“I saw Ete Ikpa today,” Ima reports, certain the subject matter would assuage her mother’s
annoyance. “He looks just as sad as that first day.”
By this time, three months had passed since his Ete Ikpa lost his son.
“Hmmm,” Maria said non-committally. “It is well.”
*****
Everyone in Ikot Ntefon knew Ete Ikpa. He sold ikpa unam, thick, leathery cow skin that
he wheeled around in his barrow. Every day, he went from stall to stall at the meat sellers’
section of the market, selling his wares and making friends. It wasn’t long before most of the
meat sellers stopped buying from the abattoir and patronized him for their supply.
“Customer, you’ve come. How’s your wife and the baby?” asked Eno, one of his regular
buyers.
“They’re fine,” Ete Ikpa replied with a grin that revealed slightly browned teeth. Until a few
months before, he had been a bachelor. Not out of choice, for being single at fifty-three had
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Tales from the Other Side