H is for Harvey

My name is Harvey. Harvey Egbuson .I'm now seven years old and I attend St Ambrose
elementary school. Mummy said its the school only the smartest and bestest children go to,but
I don't think mummy was telling the truth most of my classmates are really stupid. I miss my
former school back home in my former town. We had to move out some months ago because
of the very bad thing that happened back there. I used to have bad dreams in my old room and
mummy would get upset. So we had to move so that I would stop having the bad dreams, that's
what mummy and daddy said anyways.
My parents don't like to talk about what happened. Especially mummy, she feels it was all her fault. I don't know whats he's talking about. How could it be her fault, she wasn't the one who did the bad thing.
                                           
                                             ****

I grew up in a very big city,bigger than this small town we've moved to. Benson our Gardener in
our former house used to call it Lasgidi. Anytime I repeated it mummy will slap my mouth and
tell me never to talk like a street ostrich again then she'll give Benson a firm scolding about the
things he should and shouldn't be saying in front me.
The word always made me laugh, street ostrich .  I know ostriches canbe found in the jungle And zoos But I didn't know they could also be found on the streets. I used to search for these street ostriches on my way to school but I never once saw them. Maybe they were found on the bad side of town. Daddy always said we lived on the nice side of town and I should be grateful because it was hard work that got us there. Whenever he said this, which was alot, mummy would nod her head in agreement and look at me. Thus was just her way of asking I nod in agreement too.

My former school was really cool.  We had alot of fancy teachers alot of them weren't from around here. They were white and they talked differently from the other teachers . I didn't like the white teachers very much. Alot of them had sour faces and the rest of them were always jolly and giving praises to every student even to the ones that were dumb, ugly and stupid.

Like one day, I made the best drawing in class and was given a good star and I was really proud of it until, Ife whose drawing was really bad was also given a good star and so was pissy Willy Sandra Tania and everyone in class. I was so upset that When I got home i told my mummy about it. Mummy asked me which of my teachers and when I told her she said my teachers knows what's best for me and blah blah blah. That's something mummy always did anytime I came home from school upset with a teacher. She would ask which of the teachers and her reaction depended on which teacher .
When I was angry with Mr Okon she stormed into school and threw a fit but when it was Miss Lisa Wright she told me that my teacher knows best.

I don't know why she always did that.



Back in the former house Daddy used to be a big shot business man. I remember how he used to get all dressed up in his suit and tie and leave for work with mummy behind holding his briefcase and it looked so cool. Daddy's business looked cool and all but I wanted to be a race car driver when I grow up. Like the ones on T.V.  I'll have many cars and I will wear their cool onesies.  Benson said they are not called onesies They are called track suits. Benson doesn't know what he's saying that's why he leaves with street ostriches .


My bed was a race car and it wasn't ugly and girly like Hannah's bed.


Hannah is my sister she's two.
She always gets on my nerves. She's always putting my toys in her mouth and anytime I tell her to give it back, she starts crying. She's spoiled rotten like a
garden tomato.I used to say it out loud but it got mummy angry. She will always nag about how
Hannah is my sister and I should learn to share, and my toys are Hannah's toys and visevisa. I don't know why mummy was always nagging me.Maybe it's because" spoiled rotten like a garden tomato"was something granny used to say before she died and mummy and granny never got along.
When I was little, mummy used to beat home all the time taking care of me but everything
changed when Hannah was born.When Hannah became two years old mummy told me she doesn't want to always be at home with me and she wants to work. Daddy wasn't OK with this but he agreed after alot of begging from mummy and he opened up a shop for mummy

Mummy used to sell food. But just raw food not cooked ones. I don't think mummy was happy at first because she was always watching fashion shows when she was with me and she'll always say how she would open her own boutique. I guess she changed her mind.


We used to follow mummy to her store until she started to complain that we are too stressful and got a maid to be staying with us at home.


Mummy made this announcement to me the day the help came in. That's what mummy called
her "thehelp" I always thought they were called housegirls or maids like in the movies. I immediately hated her before I even saw her. Daddy always called me the man of the house
when he wasn't around and as the man of the house I don't think I needed any help,especially not from a girl. I assumed she'll be fat and ugly like Shrek.
I was really surprised when she came. She arrived with mummy's friend. She looked really nice.

Mummy's friend said her name is Efe. Efe was really pretty and young too. I liked her a little bit then but I still hated her a little for trying to give help to a big man like me. Mummy looked her over and took her friend to the kitchen leaving me and Efe and Hannah in the sitting room area all by ourselves. I was hidding behind a big chair because I didn't want her to see me but Hannah was in her baby chair and she started laughing at the funny faces Efe was making. They were really funny though, but I didn't laugh too. I didn't want Efe to think that I was a big, dumb baby like Hannah.
Mummy and her friend were whispering in the kitchen but they came out a million minutes later
and mummy told Efe to follow her and she took Efe inside.

Mummy's friend looked uncomfortable and as soon as mummy and Efe were inside she was talking under her breath about how insecure mummy was being. Mummy always said its rude to talk under your breath. I couldn't really hear or understand anything she was saying but I did hear somethings like"too pretty to be a housegirl indeed", "Blessing is being unreasonable". Blessing is my mummy's name I didn't like that her friend was saying mummy's name like that. Especially since mummy is better and prettier than her.

Finally mummy came out and escorted her friend outside. Before she came back in I went inside to see what Efe was doing. She was sitting on her bed looking around. "She's really pretty", was all I could think about.

                                          *****
Sometimes in our former house mummy and daddy used to get into fights. I guess it was normal. Mummy said its normal for people that loved each other to fight alot. Although my
social studies teacher always said people shouldn't fight. Sometimes mummy and daddy will fight so much that daddy would have to slap mummy a couple of times for peace to reign.

That's how mommy put it. She always said that as a woman she got carried away and daddy had to do what he had to do to calm her down. I guess my social studies teacher doesn't know what she's saying afterall. I mean, she is one of the teachers my mummy always said are using African mentality to teach.
Although, there was a really big fight that happened and I remember it because it happened the
same year the very bad thing happened. Mummy was screaming louder than usual and Hannah
was crying uncontrollably. Efe had to leave her room. She brought Hannah to my room locked
the door and started to sing to us.
She had a lovely voice like a musician from TV and I know I
would have enjoyed it if Hannah wasn't crying. Eventually Hannah stopped crying and so did
mummy. A few minutes later we heard a knock and a voice. It was mummy's voice and she told
us to open the door. Efe went to open the door and mummy yelled at her a little and told her to
go back to her room. Mummy gave me and Hannah a kiss and went back to her own room
taking Hannah along with her.
I'll never admit it out loud,but I was abit scared. I don't even know who I was scared for
mummy, me, Efe or even Hannah. All I know is that I was really scared.
                                     
                                  *****

Efe wasn't like anything I expected her to be. She was really nice and the few times mummy let her cook, her food always tasted good. Probably better than mummy's. I don't think mummy liked her very much.
Efe was really young and she went to school. She didn't speak English well either. But I always made sure I corrected her anytime she said something wrong. She didn't go to my school though. She went to another school. Her uniform was different from mine. One time she was supposed to write a composition on herself and she said she was fifteen years old on the composition. That's just a few years older than me. I always thought about how I'd ask her to be my girlfriend when I was a race cardriver.

Efe was supposed to get us ready for school, take care of breakfast, pack our lunches and join
the driver to take us to school before going to her own school. Then she'll pick us up after closing and stay with us at home while mummy was at her shop.
Hannah went to preschool. I called it peeschool because all the children there smelled and they didn't even know anything. Can you really call it a school when the pupils there are dumb?
I told Efe why I called it peeschool but she didn't think it was funny and she told me "it's no good to make fun of sister that way".She was just saying that because she liked Hannah more than she liked me. Everybody liked Hannah more. You can't really get angry with a baby. But I'm
not a baby anymore. I think more smarter than a baby and people get angry with that. I guess
people don't like to think I'm a grown up now because of how little I am.
But I try to make people like me. It's really hard. I especially really tried to make Efe like me because she's pretty and nice. But yet, she still likes Hannah better.

                                            ******

One day we were on holidays and mummy had to travel because one of her old aunties was sick.
I didn't know this particular aunty but mummy must have really liked her if she left town to see
her. Mummy doesn't always do this, leave home for long. She hugged me goodbye, told me to behave myself, she kissed Hannah but she didn't tell her to behave herself then she gave instructions to Efe. Then she left. The driver took her because daddy wasn't home. Even if daddy was home he wouldn't have taken her. Daddy didn't like mummy's family members. I know this because he's very open about how he doesn't like them. I guess it's OK since mummy didn't like
granny either. Adults don't always like eachother I've noticed this. I don't like everybody eitherthat's why I'm mature like the adults. I just have to grow up to really become one.

Mummy was gone for along time. I thought she'd never come home. While she was gone, daddy always called Efe his friend. He never used to call her that he never even used to talk to her. But guess they became close when mummy left. Who wouldn't like Efe she was so pretty
and smart. Anytime daddy called Efe his friend she'll smile and continue to do what she was doing. She wasn't the Efe I remembered And that wasn't the way she really smiled. Efe was now always in her room alot and she always took either me and Hannah with her. She didn't like being alone.

But in the night I always heard daddy going into her room. Daddy would stay in there for a while. I never heard anything even when I pressed my ear to the door one night. I
always wondered what daddy could be doing in there or what they could be talking about  so late at night.

The next morning daddy would always wake up smiling but Efe always looked sad. Maybe
daddy was always scolding her like mummy used to do. Daddy started buying gifts for all of us,
especially for Efe. Mummy was the one who always bought gifts. But I think I liked daddy's gifts
better than mummy's. Efe never showed me her gifts not even when I asked her. One time, I tip
toed into her room and I saw all her gifts were hidden under her bed and it looked as if she
hadn't even opened them. I would have opened them if she didn't come in. She was so angry with me. I don't think I've ever seen her that angry. I don't think I'd ever even seen her angry.
Then she started to cry. I didn't know what to do so, I left her room and went to my own room.
Maybe she missed mummy too.

                                         ******
Mummy finally came home. She said her aunty had died and that's why she came back so early.
I was angry when she said this, if this is what she called early then what will she call late. What was worse was that she didn't even bring home any gifts. Surprisingly, daddy became my new favourite parent. Ofcourse when Hannah saw her she ran to her and hugged her. Mummy
looked very happy to see Hannah. I was determined not to talk to mummy till she apologized for
abandoning me all by myself at home.

Mummy was upset I didn't hug her so she just patted me
on the back. Efe was asleep when mummy came home. Mummy was even more upset to find out and she yelled at Efe for a while. I could clearly hear her yelling at Efe after a while the yelling stopped but mummy didn't come out of Efe's room. I thought maybe she was having one of
those silent discussions that daddy also had with Efe. I wanted to listen but Spongebob was on and it was a new episode. Besides I had to watch over dumb Hannah.

Daddy came home late as usual and for some reason I told him mummy was home and has
been in Hannah's room and I haven't eaten anything since lunch and for the first time in my life I
saw daddy look scared. He looked like Shaggy and ScoobyDoo whenever they saw a ghost. He went inside and the screaming began allover again. And from screaming I heard things been thrown around. I became scared all over again but this time I knew I was scared for Efe. I was
so scared I did something I've never done before, I went to try and breakup the fighting. But
someone had locked the door. I didn't know what to do mummy and daddy were fighting, and
Hannah had started crying. I ran into my bedroom and left Hannah with her stupid crying alone
in the sitting room. This was the longest and most scariest fight yet. But like all the other fights, it eventually ended.

                                           ******

My parents and I moved to this new house and this new town because Hannah was killed in our
former house the same week the biggest, scariest fight happened. But the very bad thing that
happened was that I never saw Efe again. Mummy always says it was all her fault but how could
it be her fault when I was the one that killed Hannah.
It was two days after the biggest, scariest fight. Mummy and daddy left me and Hannah at home Efe followed them and they didn't come home until late in the evening. Hannah had
broken one of my toys and I pushed her and she fell down and never got up. She deserved it of course that was my favorite toy and she broke it. And mummy always said sometimes women needed to be put in their place. That was me putting Hannah in her place.

Mummy and daddy came back home but Efe didn't return with them. Mummy screamed when
she saw Hannah on the floor. I don't  really know what happened after that. Daddy called the
police and some questions were asked daddy said it was an accident. But it wasn't an accident I meant to push Hannah down those stairs.
But daddy told the police it was an accident. Mummy
was in her room crying and I was supposed to be in my room as well but I needed to know what
the police would do.
When the police had gone and Hannah had been taken away in an ambulance. I went up to and told him all these women need to be put in their place. For the second time in my life I saw the same fear on Daddy's face again but he told me to shut up I don't know what I'm talking about.

I know what I am talking about. I'm not a big dumb baby like Hannah and I had to do what I had to do