As she walked the sun seemed to shine less and less above her. She walked for several minutes, thinking about how late she would be for school and how her father would most likely beat her for being so late. Unless he had already gone to work. She smiled. This was very likely. She relaxed a bit, letting the forest grow denser. Soon it had grown dark and mysterious. She could see the sun above but its light did not reach through the trees. Chidera shivered but continued on.
“It’s beautiful, no?” she heard a woman’s voice say.
“Always,” said another voice. “It’s wonderful to the eyes.”
Chidera heard the voice of whoever was singing chuckle as she continued to sing. A strange feeling was settling over her shoulders. If she had been older and wiser and just a tiny bit sharper, she would have known that the feeling she was having was the feeling one gets just before something life changing happens.
It was around this time that she started seeing the beautiful designs. They were everywhere. On the ground, on every tree leaf, from the top to the bottom, tree trunks, on the vines, on stones, even the backs of lizards who scampered out of Chidera’s path and the wings of grasshoppers that flew by.
Zigzags, circles, swirls, simple but striking drawings. It was as if the entire forest was tattooed with the dark broad-lined shapes and symbols. Some were the size of Chidera’s nails, others were the size of her head. Still others had no size. For example, a palm tree had a dark thick line swirling around its trunk all the way to its crown. Though the patterns were black, they seemed to be highlighted with a blue purple similar to the colour of lightning. The forest, Chidera knew, was alive. Here it was churning, like a wound up toy that had been wound even tighter. Chidera sighed with awe as she stopped to look around her.
“What is this?” she whispered. She was afraid to speak out loud for fear of blowing away the designs. This is real, she thought. She took another step down the enchanted path and stopped when she saw the two women.
One of them looked as if she were over a hundred years old. She wore a wrapper and a matching top and head wrap that were all white with triangular designs on it that glowed like the designs all around the forest. Her hands were dark with what looked like navy blue paint and she held a pointy object. She had designs painted on her face. An upside down triangle on her forehead; a wavy line down her nose.
The other woman looked about the same age as Chidera’s mother but she looked much happier. She wore her hair in a large wild Afro. She was laughing as she drew a figure on her ankle. Her feet were long like slender boats. Chidera could not locate the woman singing but it sounded as if she was near, if not right next to the two women.
Chidera waited for her instinct to tell her to turn and run. She didn’t recognise either of these women. She didn’t know what was happening to the forest around her. There was a voice with no body and it was gorgeously singing a song with no words; a song that made her feel puffed up with confidence and power. She blinked. She felt as if she could do anything. She felt she could turn and run all the way to school and stand up to the teacher. If she wanted, that was. But she didn’t want to. Chidera wanted to be exactly where she was, at this exact moment. There was a feeling of secrecy in this place and Chidera wanted to be a part of the secret.
She cleared her throat hoping the two women would hear. They did. Whoever was singing, stopped. The two women turned to her, the younger woman smiled and that set Chidera at ease. The older one frowned at her but only with curiosity.
“Would you like to try?” the older woman asked, holding up an inky hand and a small jar of black ink.
Chidera wanted to but she was afraid. Both of the women were beautiful. The voice, whatever it was, sounded so nice. And I kind of know how to draw, Chidera said. Sort of. She often drew birds, lizards and insects in her schoolbooks when she was supposed to be listening during class. Somehow when she was drawing, she was able to concentrate more on the teacher. Nevertheless, in her heart she had a feeling her parents would not approve of her speaking to these women. Especially her father. If he saw her even greet a stranger, he would yell at her when she got home.
“I…I don’t know…” she said.
“Don’t be afraid,” the older woman said. She motioned Chidera to come closer. Once again Chidera’s instinct told her the opposite of what her father would have told her. She took a few steps closer. She was close enough now to the women to notice that they smelled like flowers.
“What is…it?” Chidera asked. She didn’t know what to call what she was seeing. It wasn’t in her vocabulary.
The two women looked at each other. Then the bodiless voice answered, “ Uli.”
Chidera quietly gasped. She looked around afraid to ask who had said that. The voice was a low womanly voice that reminded her of a cool breeze just after it rained.
“What is…”
“Uli is what we draw,” the voice said. “It’s what we create.” The voice paused. “Ask one of your grandmothers. They know.”
“My grandmothers have both passed away.”
- To be continued.....
- Watch out for episode 4
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