"Bread! Fresh brown bread! Buy bread!" The salesman from the bakery on the other side of town shouted as he pushed his cart filled with loaves of bread of different sizes down the street.
Didi looked to his mother with the intention of telling her to patronize the man before he went away when he saw his mother with a look of fear on her face raise her shoulders and let them fall in a quick move and then circle her head with her hand before snapping her fingers to the tiled floor.
Didi's brows furrowed.
"What was that for mom? I was going to tell you to purchase some loaves from the man," he almost rolled his eyes. Mother can be quite dramatic at times.
"God forbid!" Mother exclaimed and circled her head with her hand several times before snapping her fingers to the floor again.
"I will never buy the bread that the bakery bakes, no." She shifted to a more comfortable position on the wooden bench she was sitting on and picked up the plastic hand fan to swat away the buzzing mosquitoes.
Didi turned around to face his mother with his arms crossed over his chest, his back resting on the railing.
"But why? They bake very well,"
"Haven't you heard the stories about that evil bakery?" Mother asked with a look on her face, a look that said everyone else in the world knew the story except Didi.
"What story?"
"Ever since you returned from the university you have been in your room without bothering to know what goes on outside," Mother began what promised to be a long lecture before the actual story.
"Ohh, Mother just tell me please," Didi laughed.
"The owner of that bakery uses his bakery for evil things and because of him this town isn't safe anymore. Ghosts walk freely night and day selling bread without anyone knowing. That salesman might be a ghost for all we know," Mother shook her head repeatedly as the thought made her skin crawl.
Didi took a deep breath and blinked severally.
"Hmm," he knew Mother was usually dramatic but ghost bread sellers? Ha!
"Ghosts are not real Mother," Didi turned around and leaned forward with his elbows resting on the railing as he looked down the street to where the bakery stood in the far distance, the building giving off a somewhat sad feeling even in the distance.
This bakery is a blessing that should be celebrated by the town and not to be ignored. Didi thought.
"Didn't you see his cart was still full and it's evening already? Do you think people would buy something they weren't sure of?" Mother swatted mosquitoes with her fan in annoyance.
"Hmm," then everyone was just overly dramatic in this town then, typical African behavior.
"Whatever you do Didi, make sure you don't stay up late at night. Don't say I didn't warn you," Mother got up from the bench.
"Let's go in, the mosquitoes are already a nuisance," mother said and went inside, shutting the door softly.
What does she mean? Didi thought.
I have been staying up late and nothing has happened yet
Didi heaved a sigh and went in.
MIDNIGHT…
"I'm thinking of resuming earlier than most Eva, my mother and everyone in this town is freaking me out," Didi turned to a better position on his soft mattress laden with pillows.
Eva laughed in his ear and sympathized with him.
"C'mon, your mom is wonderful. Just indulge her,"
"Of course, for the next few weeks," Didi rolled his eyes and stopped abruptly when a sound caught his ears.
He frowned and glanced at the time on his phone screen 00:30am the time read, he strained his ears as he listened hard.
"Shh!" Didi said to Eva who was narrating her ordeals of the previous day. "I'm listening to something,"
It sounded distant at first but then it got closer and closer until it was close enough for him to hear the words being said.
"Buy bread! Freshly baked bread! Brown bread!" an eerie voice called out in the street.
Didi's heart went to his throat as his mouth opened in a silent 'O'.
"Who hawks bread at midnight?" he whispered to Eva on the phone.
Eva laughed, "What do you mean?"
"Someone is hawking bread right now on the street and–" Didi stopped and listened hard.
A knock on the gate to their compound sent his blood going cold.
A soft knock, then another and another then silence.
"I sell bread, you know you want fresh brown bread," the eerie voice called from the gate.
Didi tiptoed to the window and pulled the curtains shut before crawling under the bed, his ears ringing from the pounding in his chest.
"It's not real, it's not real. Eva, it's not real," Didi said to his phone, but Eva had since hung up.
Didi closed his eyes and whispered a series of prayers as the voice moved down the street, the iron wheels of the bread cart echoing in the distance.
"Didi?" the door to his room creaked softly as mother walked in with a flashlight.
Mother heaved a sigh when she saw Didi shaking under the bed and bent to help him crawl out.
"Mother you heard him?" Didi asked.
"Yes my son, you only hear them if you stay up late like I knew you would," Mother said.
"Come, let's go pray," Mother led him to the sitting room for prayers.
I have had enough, we're leaving this ghost town, Mother vowed.
THE END