Hell Mary

Chapter Twelve

Lunch was eba- a somewhat sticky yet starchy yellow mould with okro soup. When days were merry and with good cheer, such as during children's day or Independence day celebrations, a meat would be dunked into the drawing mix and would be served with a glass bottle of soft drink. That day was not any different from the many other days at school. A long weary line filled with hungry, chatty children was made. A line up of different colours of checked gowns while some were still on their uniforms.

"Mary!" Stella called out, speeding up her walking to a hurried run. She stopped where she had seen Mary on the line, gasping lightly. "I've not seen you since yesterday, Congrats!" She said excitedly, dragging Mary into a choking grasp.

"Thank you so much."

"I'll be behind you. Let me go and get my plate." She turned to leave before adding, "please also keep dinning seat for me in case I come out late." Mary nodded.

Mary had gotten her meal and proceeded to an empty chair to settle on it, when she sighted Ashley and Thelma settling for another and burying long talks under their laughter. She smiled. Very few times had she seen Ashley smile or laugh. Ashley always wore a serious look that dispelled the quite large numbers of older boys that had wanted to get her attention. It was unheard of to down the head boy of King's college- an every girl want to be with guy, but Ashley had said quite frankly, "No! I'm not interested," to his "Can we date?" question. To her, only Martins mattered. She often said she wasn't being rude because deep down under those layers of complexity, she knew that she had empathy. The kind Mary tried to dig out when she walked over to their seat.

"Hi," Mary said, settling on an empty chair opposite. She put up the smile she saw they had, but theirs vanished with her arrival.

"Hi Mary," Thelma managed to say. Those cherry cheeks was always bubbling with life. It made her look cute and friendly even though Mary wasn't so sure.

"Stella will sit there," Ashley said.

"OK. I'll stand when she comes," Mary replied.

"Look Mary," Ashley leaned closer, a faint breath of okro soup escaping out. "That I buried my problems to you doesn't make us friends yet."

"I know. I just wanted to know you more," Mary responded. "I know you are nice even though you try to make people think otherwise."

Ashley said nothing and observed Thelma was following their conversation while she slowly munched the eba which she conveyed with her spoon. It was either that, or fork and knife. No one ate with their bare hands because they were taught ladies shouldn't, the same way it was drilled constantly that ladies don't talk while eating or keep their tables dirty after eating. Everyone but Mary ate with cutleries. That was the one thing she didn't mind the pressing stares about, because she enjoyed it better when she rolled the bolus of eba and dipped the end into her soup. It tasted sweeter, she would say.

Stella had joined the queue on the waiting line for food when Ashley squeezed her hand into a fist and knocked the table from under, pushing Mary's plate down. The single stainless flat plate that accommodated the eba and soup at the corner toppled over with slight splatters of soup around and some on her gown.

"I'm not nice," Ashley replied, standing to leave with her soup bowl and flat plate.

****

"What were you thinking?" Stella asked, handing Mary a blue netted sponge with large porous holes to clean up the stain on her gown. It was better in the bathroom for so many reasons. Everyone still lurked about in the dinning and the floors were still glistening with the fine marble flooring as the cleaners scrubbed it to perfection, but all the shimmer would fade away when they clustered in to have their baths at nights or so early in the morning.