Free African Quilt : 24 Modern African Stories (9781101617441) by Jr. (EDT) W. Reginald Barbara H. (EDT); Rampone Solomon Page B

on in the same way, I wouldn’t make use of it.”
    â€œBut why not?”
    â€œBecause I love James. I love James and I am not interested in any other man.” Her voice was full of tears.
    But Mercy was amused. “Oh God. Now listen to that. It’s women like you who keep all of us down.”
    â€œWell, I am sorry but it’s how the good God created me.”
    â€œMm. I am sure that I can love several men at the same time.”
    â€œMercy!”
    They burst out laughing again. And yet they are sad. But laughter is always best.
    Mercy complained of hunger and so they went to the kitchen to heat up some food and eat. The two sisters alone. It is no use waiting for James. And this evening a friend of Connie’s has come to take out the baby girl, Akosua, and had threatened to keep her until her bedtime.
    â€œSissie, I am going to see a film.” This from Mercy.
    â€œWhere?”
    â€œThe Globe.”
    â€œAre you going with Joe?”
    â€œNo.”
    â€œAre you going alone?”
    â€œNo.”
    Careful Connie.
    â€œWhom are you going with?”
    Careful Connie, please. Little sister’s nostrils are widening dangerously. Look at the sudden creasing up of her mouth and between her brows. Connie, a sister is a good thing. Even a younger sister. Especially when you have no mother or father.
    â€œMercy, whom are you going out with?”
    â€œWell, I had food in my mouth! And I had to swallow it down before I could answer you, no?”
    â€œI am sorry.” How softly said.
    â€œAnd anyway, do I have to tell you everything?”
    â€œOh no. It’s just that I didn’t think it was a question I should not have asked.”
    There was more silence. Then Mercy sucked her teeth with irritation and Connie cleared her throat with fear.
    â€œI am going out with Mensar-Arthur.”
    As Connie asked the next question, she wondered if the words were leaving her lips. “Mensar-Arthur?”
    â€œYes.”
    â€œWhich one?”
    â€œHow many do you know?”
    Her fingers were too numb to pick up the food. She put the plate down. Something jumped in her chest and she wondered what it was. Perhaps it was the baby.
    â€œDo you mean that Member of Parliament?”
    â€œYes.”
    â€œBut, Mercy . . .”
    Little sister only sits and chews her food.
    â€œBut, Mercy . . .”
    Chew, chew, chew.
    â€œBut, Mercy . . .”
    â€œWhat?”
    She startled Connie.
    â€œHe is so old.”
    Chew, chew, chew.
    â€œPerhaps, I mean, perhaps that really doesn’t matter, does it? Not very much anyway. But they say he has so many wives and girlfriends.”
    Please little sister. I am not trying to interfere in your private life. You said yourself a little while ago that you wanted a man of your own. That man belongs to so many women already . . .
    That silence again. Then there was only Mercy’s footsteps as she went to put her plate in the kitchen sink, running water as she washed her plate and her hands. She drank some water and coughed. Then, as tears streamed down her sister’s averted face, there was the sound of her footsteps as she left the kitchen. At the end of it all, she banged a door. Connie only said something like, “O Lord, O Lord,” and continued sitting in the kitchen. She had hardly eaten anything at all. Very soon Mercy went to have a bath. Then Connie heard her getting ready to leave the house. The shoes. Then she was gone. She needn’t have carried on like that, eh? Because Connie had not meant to probe or bring on a quarrel. What use is there in this old world for a sister, if you can’t have a chat with her? What’s more, things like this never happen to people like Mercy. Their parents were good Presbyterians. They feared God. Mama had not managed to give them all the rules of life before she died. But Connie knows that running around with an old and