5– The best part of the day

I was regularly accompanying Gamu while she ran her morning errands. She would wake up at the crow of the rooster and enter the hut. She would then clean up the hut and would wash any of our dirty clothes. As she did things she would hum. She'd then take the three buckets and take me to the beautiful river to take a bath. Before we reached the river, we always stopped in the forest to hear the birds and the trees and then she would sing, and we would dance. And then we would move on to the other side of the river where all the other girls would bath and then I would watch her bath and play in the water with the other girls.

We would then go up the hill to the well to draw out water. On rare days we would see Yoké and Uma coming to fetch water at the same time as us or coming up the hill as we were going back down. He would greet Gamu and then me and him would talk or laugh about the stories he would tell me. Uma always stood closest to us and smiled here and there although he could not understand a thing we were saying.

The other time Yoké told me that no one was allowed to take any fruits from trees or any vegetables from the farm for his own use. Everything was brought to the store hut, and from there, there were elders in charge of distributing food to the villagers according to their proportions every morning. All the males old enough worked in the farm at the crow of the rooster each morning. He told me that at 11 years old, a boy is already old enough and is expected to join his father in the farm.

"What about the girls?" I asked him, playing with the edges of my hair.

"The girls are responsible to take care of their mother and father's house. She is supposed to clean, cook and fetch water every morning..." Yoké told me. He looked a little distracted by me twirling my hair like that.

"Like Gamu." I said untangling my hair from my finger.

"Yes, but Gamu is a servant." Yoké told me. "If you do not have a child your chores as a woman is yours alone. Unless you are the chieftess, like Furah."

"Hm..." I nodded, taking it all in.

"A woman who cannot conceive is considered punished by the Gods."

"Punished for what?" I frowned.

"For a sin they might have committed in their youth. So, such women are ashamed and do not mix with the other woman."

"What about Furah?"

"That's a different story." Yoké said looking away. He did not look like he wanted to talk about that.

"How come?"

"One day I will tell you." He looked at me. "For now... uh..."

"What?" I asked him.

"It's just, your hair is so silky." He looked a little nervous. "Can I try doing that thing you just did with it?"

"What thing?" I asked him.

"Can I..."

"Sure..." I said and waited for him to show me what he was referring to.

He reached out and ran his fingers through my hair. He then made them twirl around his fingers as he reached the edges.

Uma told him something and he withdrew his hand quickly.

"Is that what you wanted to try?" I asked laughing.

He nodded shyly and scratched his head.

"I'm sorry..." He grimaced.

"It's okay." I shrugged.

"I see people on their way up the hill." Yoké pointed. "They can't see us talking for so long."

I turned back and saw a few ladies with buckets making their way towards the well.

"Okay." I nodded at him.

He smiled down at me and turned to leave.

"You forgot to get your water." I pointed at his empty bucket.

"Oh, I don't need water." He told me smiling nervously. "I have enough water from yesterday. I just came to..."

He shrugged lightly.

"To what?" I asked him.

"Just to talk to you..." He told me. "It's just you are a little lonely sometimes since the others don't really understand you."

I smiled up at him. "Thanks."

He nodded and left with Uma.

On days when there were other people at the well, we only greeted and smiled at one another. And from time to time, we would catch each other's eyes. I would wait for Gamu to finish drawing water and then we would leave.

And as usual, on our way back to the hut Gamu's mood would change instantly. And I noticed that Gamu's mood changed only if we met Yoké and Uma on that day. I wanted to ask her why that was, but I knew she wouldn't understand me, or if she replied I wouldn't understand her properly.

When we would get home, she would set up a fire and cook.

My system still didn't like the other food she cooked except the boiled corn. Nevertheless, I would eat up all the food on my plate in front of the chief. Then I'd go throw up behind the hut. Whenever she made boiled corn only, which I wondered why Furah used to give them to Yoké. I would enjoy it and ask for more. And every night I would have the same dream again and again and wake up screaming. And when they would all leave me to sleep again, I would stay up until Gamu woke up.

Each morning, I looked forward to the best part of my day: the well. Because that's where I would meet Yoké and just be myself. Whereas in the hut I was always under the strict supervision of the chief. Gamu would never speak to me whenever the chief or Furah was around. She behaved like a complete stranger towards me and acted as if she had no emotion whatsoever. She only laughed when Furah laughed with her.

I still didn't know why the chief didn't like me or how I got to this village. But what I did know, was that the village had strict rules and each day Yoké told me about more things that were forbidden. He also told me that despite which rule a villager broke, there was only one punishment. Beheading.