As we were playing hide and seek, Carol’s mother was getting lunch ready. My grandma called out my name twice. The houses where close enough to each other for me to hear her shouting; but I pretended I could not.

Village The Bridge MAG image

The aroma of the fresh Tilapia was teasing my appetite. I really wanted to share the lunch with my friend.

I wished my grandma would busy herself by feeding her chicks and goats in the farm and forget about me for a while. It happened.

There was no third call. The lunch was ready at Carol’s house. I need no special invitation to share the lunch here. I just have to be on time. My mum will kill me as she always reminds me that it is totally inappropriate to manage to have lunch, unexpectedly, at other people’s houses.

‘Sweet plating, jacket bananas or rice?’ said Carol’s mum.

 ‘Sweet plating please’ I replied keeping my eyes wide open, trained to the move of wooden spoon that Carol’s mum was using to serve the soup. Another way to influence her so she would serve me one of the largest chunks of fish.

I was about to grab the best chunk when Carol’s mum asked me to make sure my hands were clean before having my lunch.

I hate to put off things. Why do I need to wash this mud off my hands? Does it really matter? I used to eat mangoes fallen from the trees and nuts with dirty hands.

 I grabbed a roasted chunk of fish. There was a silence, the sort they have in cowboy films, when the gunman enters the small town.

Roasted snake The Bridge MAG image

To break it, I asked, ‘what type of fish is it?’

 ‘Don’t be silly’, said Carol, ‘it smells like fish, it looks like fish, but this is not fish. It is the tastiest snake’s flesh you will ever find.’

 My blood went cold…

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 1)

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Rachel Tcheungna : Auteure, 

Ecrivaine de The Bridge Books et

Editrice de The Bridge Magazine