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It was a boring Saturday morning. Somayina and his grandma sat near the fire, eating freshly roasted corn with palm nuts. Suddenly they heard footsteps outside the hut. It was Lamido; he had come to play with Somayina instead of going to the grazeland.

While the children were playing, the old woman quickly prepared a meal which amply satisfied their appetite. When it began to get dark, Lamido knew that it was time to go. He said good-bye and thank you to Egonna. He turned to Somayina. "I will come again tomorrow. By the way, my father said I should invite you to the house. He wants to see you, if your grandma permits you to come. He said you are his grandson because Obinna, your late father, was his son. He would really, really love to see you."

Somayina immediately turned to the old woman and said, "Grandmother, is that true? Can I go down to Lamido's father? Is he really expecting me?"

"Of course you can," she replied. "Clement is your grandfather and you can see him as much as you want."

"Yay!" Somayina exclaimed, "I can't wait to see my grandfather. Grandma said I can see him as much as I want."

The next day, the sun was shining and the weather was uncomfortably hot. With water from the clay pot beside the hut, Egonna gave Somayina a refreshingly cold bath before they both went out into the scorching sun.

Somayina got busy running to and fro, jumping up and down. "Grandma! Grandma!" he called out.

"Look at the road! There is smoke on the hills."

"It is the heat waves glittering in the sun," replied Egonna, who had just opened an old, wide, coloured umbrella off they went. When the old woman could neither stop Somayina nor bring him under the umbrella, she let him run ahead of her at such a pace that the handsome boy shouted for joy. Flying like a bird, he was about to pass his grandfather's house when Egonna asked him to stop, shouting at the top of her voice.

"This is your grandfather, Clement's house. I suppose he will arrange for Lamido to show you the way home when it gets dark." Having said that, she went back home under the cover of her wide, multi- coloured umbrella.

Opening the door gently, Somayina found himself in a tiny, dark kitchen. As he passed through another door, he entered a narrow chamber. Beside a table, a woman was busy mending Lamido's coat. Somayina recognized her immediately. It was Monica, the same woman that was gossiping with Ginika on their way up the hill. An elderly man was seated in a corner of the room. Approaching him, Somayina said at once, "Good afternoon sir! I hope you are okay"

"Yes I am okay, son" Lifting his old head, Clement stretched out his hand and sought for Somayina's. "Are you Somayina?" The old man asked because he was expecting a child, but Somayina did not sound like one.

"Yes, I am Somayina" the child replied. "Grandma brought me here just now."

"Monica, did you hear what the child said? How is it possible? Did Egonna really bring him here?"

"In fact, I don't think so. The child probably doesn't know," Monica replied, getting up to look at the child:

Somayina, looking at the couple with surprise said quite decidedly, "All I know is grandma, she brought me here."

The end

To be continued in two days

I am @udyliciouz