Skip to main content

Flash Fiction: THE MEETING





Gani hurried to the other side of the room, heart racing at the implications of what he had just seen- Fawad, lying unmoving on the floor, eerily, too still for one so active as he. They had been going to scout for lunch together when Fawad slumped suddenly, in the middle of the kitchen. Before Gani could turn back to support his brother, one of THEM had come into the room and taken him away. Not before a lot of screeching and cursing though.
Gani, in hushed tones explained to his mother what had happened and the old one just nodded silently. They had all known Fawad was sick- it was a miracle he had lived this long. He shared the meagre portion of garri he could find with her as they waited for nightfall. Then, they would meet with the rest of the clan to continue their discussions. They were losing members everyday to starvation, and something had to be done about it. Their chief, Ebiye, would chair tonight's meeting.
Finally night came, and everywhere was dark and quiet. Gani and his mother left their makeshift shelter for the venue of the meeting. They moved quickly so as not to run into any one of THEM. On their way, Gani looked back to see his cousin, Memuna and uncle Doje not far behind.
When they arrived there, almost everyone was present. He saw Sona's two children chasing each other noisily around the small gathering. The adults discussed in groups, yet, aligned themselves properly, ready to receive the chief whenever he mountedthe rough wooden platform.
Ebiye came up and cleared his throat. "Thank you all for coming here today"
"Thank you", they all echoed
"As you all know, this is the third in a series of meetings that we have been organizing within our clan in order to tackle the grave challenges that have faced us these past weeks. Such challenges are, primarily: Starvation and Death. We have been able to pinpoint the main source of these problems-THEM"
"Yeah!", many yelled
"THEY, who are supposed to be our neighbors and roommates hide food from us, and they take away our food!"
"Yes!"
Then they heard noises and they became quiet. Someone was moving around the noise, switching on lights and putting them back off. Then it stopped and the house was silent. The chief continued.
"They persecute us and look down on us in disgust. They poison our children!"
"Yes!"
"They do not even try to tolerate us! Where is the love?"
"No love!"
"Tonight we work together and we take over the store! Take as much food as you can carry! Wheat, rice, garri- nothing must be left out! Gani, Zafir, Ture, Memuna, you four should man the rooms. Bread, biscuits, sweets, take everything within your reach. All others are with me in the kitchen and store. Go the extra mile tonight. We will not die this recession because we did not vote Him in".
And with that, they dispersed and began to see to their duties. Suddenly cries were heard from the store, then the kitchen, then the rooms.
"What happened?", some were asking.
Gani, and a few others who were not afraid approached the kitchen area carefully, gasping at what he saw. A number of their fellow clan members were trapped in what looked like a gel-like substance, struggling to move, but finding it quite difficult, hearts palpitating in chests. One of those with him rushed forward, "Father!", he exclaimed, rushing to his father's side to free him from this strange imprisonment. He grasped his father's hand, and all of a sudden, he was trapped too.
"Gum!", Sona screamed.
"It's everywhere!"
"Run!"
"Don't run!"
There was commotion as they ran helter-skelter, more of them getting trapped in the boards of adhesive strategically placed all over the house. Then the lights came on. A woman in a nightgown came to the kitchen, rubbing her eyes. Suddenly she spied Gani, and her eyes widened and she screamed that hated word.
"Raaaaaaaat!"
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Introducing My Friend to Pomegranates

It was twenty-nine degrees Celsius  one night in the middle of August. My big fan,  the only reason why I’d been able to avoid buying an AC throughout that unbearably hot summer,   was blasting at its second-to-highest  setting.    I was sprawled  on my bed, watching Trevor Noah videos and ignoring my cramps, as well as my prior plans of going to bed at least a couple of hours before midnight that night. My friend, Grace knocked on the door. “Come in!” I answered. She opened the door slightly, holding a up a small pomegranate. ‘How do you eat this?’ We had gone grocery shopping together the previous weekend, and I'd spotted some pomegranates and picked up a few. ‘You have to try this!’, I'd excitedly told Grace, who had never had pomegranates before. I had only started eating them several months ago myself, and I had found them a more than suitable dietary companion in the cold winter months. I stood up and went to the door. ‘I’ll help you cut it.’ I took the fruit and we walke
10 comments
Read more

Thank You for the Music: My ABBA Story

I must have been about eight years old the first time I heard ABBA. I remember the CD case cover, the black background of the graphic paper behind the plastic, the letters ABBA and Gold written in gold-ish color, so that one ‘B’ was turned the opposite way, resting its spine against the other B’s. I remember two small custom-made bedside wooden chests with single drawers in my parents' room, packed with CDs- ABBA, Michael Jackson, Celine Dion, Lucky Dube, Bob Marley, Westlife, Backstreet Boys and many others. There were movies too- Titanic, My Best Friend's Wedding, Prince of Egypt, The Lion King, Coming to America- some of the best of the eighties and nineties. Growing up, my father had music playing on a loop almost every evening, and certainly every weekend. Most of the tracks were classics, old school funk and RnB, lots of reggae. His room was, a sacred shrine of sorts to music- the lights would be off, but we heard the beats from anywhere in the house- boom ka, boom boom k
Post a Comment
Read more

The Taste Of Cardamom Chai

Earlier in my adult life, I met a woman in her late thirties or early forties- I’ll call her Stella. I’d been looking for a cheap room for rent, being a post grad student on the tail end of my program, having recently moved out of a relatives home in search of a different living situation. I had found the listing online- the room looked pleasing enough; furnished, clean, well lit. Stella and I got along well on our first meeting. She seemed chill- too chill, like she really didn’t care if I took the place, but I could sense a slight hopefulness beneath it. She told me about the person who used to live there, how they kept on bringing kids over- kids who would just ignore Stella in the hallway. ‘How rude!’ I had exclaimed in agreement. Eventually I moved in. It was my first time living ‘on my own’ since I moved to the country, and although it was January and the temperatures were frigid, I was set afire with the excitement of independence. There were three rooms in the house- one belong
4 comments
Read more