Even After Cutting Off Her Pinky Finger, My Sister Never Reincarnated — Part 2

A short non-fiction story practice

On the night of my sister’s first birthday in 2001. I can’t remember what month or date but all I remember is that my only child status was returned to me without my consent. Siblings’ relationship is love laced with a sprinkle of hate. Once your status has been upgraded from an only child to a big brother/sister, there is no better feeling than it — you never want to go back. But life had other plans for me. To give me a taste of what I have missed for 5 years of my life only to take it away after one year.

Her birthday was fun. But not without her putting a show of tears and cries for no reason. She refused to stay for pictures so I had to give her a ride on my bicycle to calm her down. The bicycle picture is still my favourite memory from that day. There was a Jollof cake with 10 candles lit on it, surrounded by bottles of Coke and Fanta. Jollof cake is simply a large tray of Jollof rice, moulded to take the shape of a cake and a sprinkle of fried beef on top.

I slept early after all the excitement. I slept in my mom’s room that night but not on the same bed. She had a mattress laid out for me beside hers and Ngozi’s. A loud noise from the ceiling woke me up. I jerked up like I was having a nightmare. My mom woke up as well, only to find out that the noise on the ceiling was my sister. Some kind of force threw her to the ceiling and back to the bed. My mom rushed her and asked me to get a spoon or fork. I didn’t understand why but I did as I was told. She took the spoon from me and tried to get it in between her upper and lower teeth but it was already jammed. She couldn’t get her teeth open to insert the spoon. What ensued was my mom’s wailing. She shook Ngozi so badly while muttering mba! Mba! Mba! This can’t be happening to me again — I can’t lose two children consecutively. The story was that I had a younger brother before Ngozi but he died at six months. I don’t remember him or what happened to him.

Her wailing shook the entire neighbourhood so much that people came knocking on our gate and shouting “Gini na eme (what is going on)? By 2 am. I ran outside and opened the gate for them. I watched as they trooped into the room and an elderly woman took my sister from my mom, while the others held her hands in an attempt to calm her down. She kept on wailing “Chimooooo, o kam siri bia? With her voice that’s now cracked from so much crying.

I knew what was going on but didn’t understand it. Or the implications of it. When it really hit me that I lost my only sister was when Chiamaka said “Now, you are back to playing all by yourself”. What followed that statement was a hot slap to her cheeks and I didn’t know where it came from.

My dad lived in Lagos and there was no cellphone to call him. It’s not like cellphones didn’t exist at that time but it was extremely expensive and no one present could afford it. So they sent my mom’s elder brother to Lagos that night to inform my dad of my sister’s passing.

While all these preparations were going on, my mom was still bawling her eyes out. She asked for a pastor and they sent for him. When the pastor came, he entered the room and chased everyone out except my mom and my sister. Then he started praying. He prayed for 2 hours nonstop for God to resurrect her but I guess that miracle was only reserved for Lazarus.

My mom was still hoping for a miracle but others knew the time for a miracle had passed. So they got started with digging the grave. Because it was a baby, the body had to be buried immediately. At that point, our house was filled with the entire community.

They took the baby to dress her for burying but only after my mom asked them to cut off her pinky fingers. She said, “Since she has lost two children back to back, she wants to see if my sister will reincarnate as her next child”. If she reincarnates, whether as a boy or girl, the pinkies will be missing. But she never did, as my brother has his phalanges complete. He’s 20 now.