An Excerpt From Whispers Of Promise And Glory // A Christian Coming Of Age, No Spice Romance Set In Cameroon 🇨🇲

Chapter 1

THE BEGINNING OF THE END

June 2017

A famous African proverb states that a man with too much ambition cannot sleep in peace. In other words, it is all the plans in his head and the hope for his glorious future that drive his peace away. But that was not the case for Priscilla Ekema.

Even though Priscilla was a girl with great ambition, it was not her ambition that kept her awake at night; it was her intense trepidation of the aching woes that came with each day.

Priscilla’s world was not always like that. One moment, she was getting ready to start her law degree at university, and the next moment, her father was lying critically ill in hospital, so she had to leave the only home she had ever known.

But as she held onto the tiny hope of a return to normalcy, things took a turn for the worse on a day that started like any other.

That morning, the rooster crowed and jerked Priscilla out of her light sleep. She blinked many times before opening her eyes to greet the pitch-black room. The spicy smell of the fish stew she had eaten the night before saturated her nostrils, and her Aunt Eunice’s soft snores filled her ears.

But instead of waking up, Priscilla rolled over on the bamboo mat she had spread out on the floor next to Eunice’s bed. She pulled her wrapper over her head and groaned, praying the hands of the clock would turn back in time to give her more hours to sleep. 

The rooster crowed again, and this time, it sounded much louder than the last. Priscilla’s eyes fluttered open as she uncovered her face. She imagined Mr Alarm—as she called the rooster—strutting past their front door and heading towards the neighbour’s compound. Mr Alarm had one mission: to make sure everyone woke up—every single morning.

Priscilla stretched her legs and arms as she forced herself to sit up straight. She fidgeted in the darkness and grabbed her tattered fan on the bedside table before bringing it up to her face and fanning frantically in a desperate attempt to drive the heat away.

Even though they were in the middle of the rainy season, Owe village, situated in the town of Muyuka in the South West Region, was still very hot and humid compared to the cool, mountainous climate of Buea—the town where Priscilla had lived all her life.

Being stuck in Muyuka for three weeks was still not enough to make Priscilla get used to the heat. That’s why she had to leave her window ajar at night, but even that didn’t help.

After placing her fan next to the bedside lamp, Priscilla leaned back on the rough surface of the bamboo mat to support her upper body weight and, as the ridges dug into her palms, she took in her surroundings.

After dinner the previous night, Priscilla had insisted on staying in Eunice’s room to listen to more of her stories, and she hardly remembered the last thing her aunt said before she crashed on the mat. But alas, morning had come and she needed to get up and get ready for the day, no matter how rough she felt.

Unlike the simple two-bed bungalow Priscilla lived in in Buea with her parents, the Muyuka family compound was so big that everyone had their allocated side of the house, which was something Priscilla was still getting used to.

The arrangement would have made a lot more sense if Priscilla’s grandparents and Eunice’s husband and daughter were still alive, because each family unit would have benefitted from the privacy.

But with Priscilla’s father in hospital and everyone else dead and gone, the family house felt eerie with just the three women who now occupied it. That’s why, whenever Priscilla had the opportunity, she went to Eunice’s room because she needed company.

Pushing past the pain of her aching muscles, Priscilla forced herself to stand before rolling the mat and tucking it in the corner of the room next to the wardrobe. In the darkness, Priscilla used the soles of her feet to feel for her flip-flops on the cement floor, but she paused when a creaking sound came from the wooden bed.

The lightbulb flickered a few times before the light came on, revealing Eunice sitting up in bed with one hand on the light switch. “Ah, ah. Priscilla? Are you up already?” Eunice rubbed her eyes and yawned.

“Yes, Aunty. I need to go and carry water from the tap before the line gets too long.” Priscilla fastened her wrapper around her chest before continuing. “Remember, the water doesn’t come until midday and we need to cook, so I can take food to Daddy in the hospital.” She slipped her feet into her flip-flops and waited for Eunice’s response.

The water scarcity in Muyuka was a longstanding problem, but Priscilla was already used to this as she had experienced even worse in Buea. Owe had only one functioning public tap, and Eunice knew that if the line got too long, Priscilla would have no choice but to fetch water from the nearby polluted stream.

“Okay, but can you wait until the day is brighter?” Eunice asked, worry lines creasing her forehead.

“No, Aunty.” Priscilla shook her head. “I went out at this time yesterday and it was fine.”

Eunice’s eyes widened. “You went out this early yesterday? Priscilla, it’s five-thirty AM.” Her head turned to the small clock sitting on her bedside table and then back to Priscilla.

Priscilla nodded. “Yes, I know, but this is the best time to go. Trust me, I’ll be fine.”

“Okay, but let me come with you so I can—”

“No, Aunty, please,” Priscilla cut in. “You’ve been waking up early all week to go to the market. Saturday mornings are meant for you to rest. I promise I’ll be back early to help you cook the beans and puff-puff for tonight.” She smiled and slowly backed away.

“Okay, but please be careful,” Eunice added as Priscilla turned the key in the door and opened it, the shrieking sound filling the morning air.

But Priscilla had barely acknowledged the morning's serenity when a splash of cold water hit her face and she let out a loud cry before turning around to make out the culprit—even though she already knew who it was.

Lifting her head, Priscilla's gaze landed on her mother standing a few metres away from her with an empty metal bucket in her hand. “Mum, I’m already up,” Priscilla whined. “Why did you throw water on me again?” She untied her wrapper as the cold water trickled down her chest, soaking her nightdress.

The older woman slammed the bucket on the ground, her feet tapping away like a woodpecker’s beak on a tree. She sent Priscilla a look of disgust and sucked her teeth. “If you like, go to the tap and fetch water. If you like, stay here and sleep all day. But remember that there is no food for a lazy person in this house. Stupid girl. Foolish girl. Useless girl!” Her bitter gaze washed over Priscilla from head to toe multiple times before she turned around and walked off.

Priscilla stared into the darkness and sniffled as tears formed in her eyes. She wiped the water off her chest with her wrapper and turned around to find Eunice standing in the doorway, both hands on her hips and her eyes watering too.

“Priscilla?” Eunice inched forward, her gaze darting from the empty bucket to her niece. “Is this why you are rushing to leave the house at this time?”

“No, Aunty.” Priscilla lowered her head, afraid to let Eunice see the truth in her eyes.

“How many times has Lydia done this to you?” Eunice rested her hand on Priscilla’s shoulder.

“This is the first time,” Priscilla replied, hoping that by saying the words out loud, her own mind would believe them to be true. But the truth remained the truth.

“Are you sure?” Eunice pressed. “Priscilla, you can talk to me. I’m going to speak to her.”

“No, please don’t speak to her,” Priscilla pleaded. “It was just water.” She pulled her damp nightdress forward. “See, my nightgown is already dry. I don’t want any trouble, please.”

Her voice trembled. “Aunty, I’m fine. Please go back to sleep. I’ll go to the tap now, and I’ll be back before you know it.” She turned around and skittered into the darkness to her side of the compound and into her room, before Eunice could say another word.

Priscilla was happy to brush that one off again and not make a big deal out of it. It was only cold water, she thought. It could have been a lot worse. Lydia was only trying to make sure she woke up early, and surely that couldn’t be a bad thing.

Besides, Priscilla was already used to it. Some days, she beat Lydia to it and woke up early, escaping any sort of tantrum from Lydia. But on the days Priscilla overslept, even for a minute, she either got cold water splashed on her, sometimes sand, and some other times—things she would rather not name.

But Priscilla had convinced herself that the events of those three weeks in Muyuka had taken a toll on Lydia, and she was just looking for a way to air out her frustrations. Her husband had been hospitalised, and she had sacrificed a lot to look after him, so Priscilla had to be grateful.

She couldn’t be anything but grateful because soon, none of it would matter. Her father would be better; he would leave the hospital, and they would all go back to Buea and forget about that rough patch in their relationship. Soon, Priscilla’s life would all be normal and happy again. At least, that’s what she hoped for every time she opened her eyes to face a new day.

Priscilla rummaged through her suitcase in the corner of her room until she found her black overused trousers and blue polo t-shirt, which she usually wore when she ran errands. She squeezed her petite frame into the clothes and dashed out of her room. 

Walking across the compound to their outhouse kitchen, Priscilla grabbed their yellow twenty-litre water container before breathing a sigh of relief when she saw that Eunice was no longer standing outside. 

On her way out, Priscilla pulled another wrapper from the drying lines, threw it over her shoulders, and headed towards the stream. She needed that morning walk because she had to air out her own frustrations, but she wanted to air them out to the right Person—the God who cared for her.

Thanks so much for reading.

If you enjoyed reading this chapter, then you should know that this book will be releasing on Kickstarter in July with special editions so if you are excited about that, then you can follow the prelaunch page here so you'll be the first to know when the campaign goes live.

Lots of love

Joanny 💕