Adaugo

SCENE ONE: MR ORJI'S COMPOUND Adaugo is seated on one of the sofas in the sitting room studying her books. Mrs Orji comes in, sees her studying and starts scolding her. MRS ORJI: Adaugo, what do you think you are doing? ADAUGO: Aunty, I am reading the books Papa bought for me. MRS ORJI: You are doing what! Are you not on holidays? Don't you know that holiday periods are for children to help their parents? ADAUGO: I have done my share of the house chores. And Papa said if I really want to become a lawyer, anytime I am done with my house chores, I should read my books. MRS ORJI: (Takes the book from Adaugo and flings it away) Go and wake your mother from the grave and tell her that. Come on, go and grind the pepper I bought from the market, and when you are done with it, go fetch water from the stream fill the drum in the kitchen. Lawyer my foot! (Adaugo begins to cry) MRS ORJI: If I close my eyes and open them and you are still here, you will see what I will do to you. Nonsense! (Adaugo walks away crying; almost immediately, Mr Orji comes in) MRS ORJI: (Surprised) What happened? Did you forget something? MR ORJ: Yes, I forgot my ID card (Walks straight to the shelf at the left corner) MRS ORJI: (Raises her hands towards the ceiling) Thank God that you had not gotten to Umuahia before you discovered it. MR ORJI: It would have been terrible. Because if I miss this verification exercise today, I will have to go to Abuja next week for my verification, otherwise my name will be erased from the civil service database. (Continues searching for the ID) MRS ORJI: God forbid! (Joins him in the search) Where could you have kept it? MR ORJI: It has always been in my purse together with the rest of my documents. MRS ORJI: (Leaves him with the search around the shelf, goes over to the clothes hung beside the shelf and begins to search their pockets, one after the other) When last did you see it? MR ORJ: Frankly, I can't remember. But I know it has always been in my purse. MRS ORJI: (Finds it in the pocket of one of the clothes) I have found it! (Hands it over to him) MR ORJI: Oh thank you very much! In which of the clothes did you find it? MRS ORJI: In the white long sleeve you wore three days ago. MR ORJI: Now I remember! I decided not to go out with the purse that day. I only went out with the ID card. (Picks up his purse were he had dropped it on the shelf) Let me hurry back now so that I can meet up with the verification. MRS ORJI: Safe journey, my husband. MR ORJI: Thank you. (Hurries out) MRS ORJI (Walks to the shelf and begins to replace all the items Mr Orji brought out in the process of searching for the ID card) (Kalu enters, trailed by a crying Adaugo) KALU: Nneka, good morning. MRS ORJI: Morning, Uncle Kalu. Adaugo, what happened? KALU: As she was coming from the stream, she hit her foot against a stump and her water pot fell off and got broken. MRS ORJI: Is that all? KALU: Yes, Mrs Orji. MRS ORJI: Adaugo, so it is because of the water pot that got broken, that you are crying as if the whole world has fallen on you! Will you dry those tears off your eyes and stop behaving like a two-year-old child. (Turns to Kalu) Uncle Kalu, thank you for bringing her home.(Kalu turns to leave, Mrs Orji stands up and sees him off, thanking him. She returns almost immediately with a whipping stick in one hand and a plate containing the pepper which Adaugo had ground in the other hand) MRS ORJI: You think after you have broken my water pot, that useless man who cannot even control his home can save you from my wrath! ...