AMANDA
Written by; Honor C. Osuji Amanda'... Her voice rolled from the kitchen like an erupting volcano. That was my grandma. For a start I paused, shoved my head towards the kitchen made of mud, held my breath to hear her silently curse me, lurked my eyes to and fro to see which way she would emerge from. But no, she didnt curse and I saw no reflection of her. 'That's one.' I counted. 'Two to go.' I placed the tenth palm kernel on the stone, tightened my grip on, and with full concentration I smashed!... the palm kernel laid in pieces... I had also smashed the nuts as well. 'Phew! What a waste!.' I had watched Ego and Nneka perform the same smashing, it was no big deal to them, at one hit, the kernel splits into halves and the nut is picked'full baked'... just place the kernel on a stone and smash! atleast, that was what I saw them do, so I kept smashing the palm kernel together with its nut. This was the tenth time, and not one nut had fo