Decembers in Enugu

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December always arrives with dust in Enugu. Dust and irritating heat but we don't mind, my sister and I. We breathe the air in wholeheartedly and dance with the dust everytime we get the chance.

December is when daddy comes back from Lagos to visit us. He would come back in the first week of December and stay through till the new year before leaving for Lagos again.
Last year, daddy could not come back home. He sent a letter to tell us that he did not have enough money to make the trip back home because he spent most of his money repairing his danfo.
I was sad and Chichi was sad too but we knew there was nothing we could do about it. We had told all the friends that we promised knock outs that they would have to wait till next year.
"Next year" is now this year. It is another December and we have not seen or heard anything from daddy yet, but my sister and I are still hopeful.
We think that the letterman must have missed daddy's letters, or they might have fallen to the floor while the letterman was making deliveries. Lettermen can be very careless you know?
Mommy cries a lot these days. I overheard her saying to Mama Kaka that she thinks daddy has left her and married someone else, that daddy has not sent her money or letters since June. She is convinced that daddy chose to leave us here in the village to go after the city girls in Lagos.
I don't believe what mummy thinks is true. Daddy would never do that, I am sure.
Daddy promised last time that he would take me and Chichi to Lagos to ride in his big danfo. I am sure that daddy does not tell lies.
If you see my daddy, could you tell him it is December already please? He is a big man with an even bigger stomach. He always wears a red cap and people call him 'Biggie'. He talks different. He says he had to spit out our tongue from his mouth so that he could easily blend in and make more money for us. It would be easy to find him, he is as dark as grandmother's kettle and he drives a yellow and black bus. Please tell him Chichi and Susu and mummy miss him and he should come back home.
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Author's note:
I wrote this thinking about how some people are more significant than others. Maybe significant is not the word, I think "easy to find" than others would be a better fit. I thought about bus drivers and conductors that risk their lives everyday to make ends meet for their families, and how their lives are a gamble most of the time, and how even though they act tough and rough on the streets of Lagos, they really are just people that might have daughters waiting for them to come home in Enugu.


P.S I don't like December. I LOVE the festivities but not the weather; too cold, too dry, too dusty. Do you like December?