UNFAMOUS [BOOK ONE] (A Wattpad 'Featured Story')

Ch. 20 | Radio

As soon as I open the front door to my mum’s house I can hear her favourite radio station, Vibez FM, playing in the background (with her singing merrily along), and the smell of something tasty hits my nose. My mum is cooking -I have come home at exactly the right time. With all the love that goes into soul food, even the most miserable individual can cheer up a little.

Living on campus away from my mother’s catering meant that I only really ate proper food every now and then; it seemed like such a hassle to prepare a good meal every day when I was living on my own. Most of the time it was easy to prepare meals, take away, or the student staple once funds began to run low –instant noodles.  Towards the end of term you had to get creative with your meals and make the best of what you had left in the kitchen. The girls and I have recently begun to gather together our remaining random edible food and tried to turn concoctions like rice, eggs, tuna, all-purpose seasoning, instant noodles and half a bottle of ketchup into something that Gordon Ramsey wouldn’t hurl insults at us for-it was a hit and miss affair. Every student, when necessary, finds a way to become a budget Master Chef. Boys were lucky around this time of year, especially if they had befriended (generally) African girls on campus, because if they ran out of food (or couldn’t cook) they could still get fed a decent meal. I had seen traditional bread-winner and housewife group setups on campus within the African community (even if any of the members of the group weren’t in relationships) where the boys would purchase the food, and bring it back for the girls to prepare. The boys would then spend the rest of the evening in someone’s dorm room playing video games, watching football -or any other way they could think of entertaining themselves -while all the girls would be in the kitchen preparing these huge meals. It was as if these boys had found replacements for their mothers on campus. I knew it was partially a traditional thing, but sometimes it made me think that these girls were auditioning to play the role of the ‘wifey’ in the hope that one of the boys would realize what a good woman she was and snap her up. No judgement; we all do it to some extent, some of us reel them in with our other …talents –there are two types of women. For example, Yoshi hardly has to cook for Ace and they’re official. They spend a lot of time in the bedroom with the music turned up really loud, and then afterward Ace takes her out to dinner or orders in.

I hang up my coat and push aside the strings of red, black, green and yellow wooden beads that hang from the top of the kitchen doorframe down to the floor creating an earthy clicking, clattering sound -I think my mother is the only person below 70 who still has this particular design aesthetic in their house.

“Hi mum!”

My mum spins around embarrassed that I have caught her dancing and singing along to some Beres Hammond track with her makeshift microphone – the pot spoon. She smiles widely at me, making the coppery skin at the edges of her eyes crinkle up.

“Rio, I didn’t know you were coming today! What you doing down here?” she sings advancing on me -half walking, half dancing – with her arms outstretched awkwardly, trying to avoid putting her dough covered fingers on me. I meet her halfway and hug her, snuggling against her chest like a child. That is the good thing about living away from home; whenever you came back to visit it makes you appreciate what you thought you wanted to get away from, so much more. It’s safe and warm here and I know that no matter what I do, there is always someone here that won’t love me any less because of it.

I love my mum; she’s a bit weird (she says vibrant), opinionated (she says honest), loud (passionate), loves a good gossip (*shrug*), stubborn (when I need to be), disorganized (free), and at times overbearing (“Rio, I’m your mother, it’s my job!”), but she’s wonderful. Everyone who meets my mum loves her straight away. She’s one of those warm, whacky people who just wants the world to be a happy place –because of this trait, she’s not always good when it comes to dealing with the bad things…my dad was one of them.