Widowed

Rose woke up to the sound of the shrill alarm. She groaned, asking herself for the umpteenth time why she didn’t simply replace the blasted alarm clock with one that wasn’t made to startle the dead. She reached over and turned it off without even opening her eyes. She didn’t need to; she knew exactly what time it was.

Double Trouble

“Koko, are you listening to me?” asked Atim as she realized that her cousin had not responded to anything she had said to her in the last few minutes. Looking up she noticed the faraway look in Koko’s eyes and panicked “Koko, is it the baby? Are you in pain?” she questioned as she grabbed her cousin’s hand and shook it. “Say something, anything. Oh! Abasi mbok“* she cried in Efik as she threw up her hands towards the sky.