Uncle Bayo's home had that Saturday afternoon smell, the one that comes from a mix of fried plantain, cement from the neighbors unfinished fence and somebody's generator smoke drifting over from the next street.
Kemi sat on the veranda step peeling groundnut into a plastic bowl half listening to her cousin Dapo argue with their grandmother about something that had happened two weeks ago.
"Mama I didn't know I swear," Dapo said, hands raised like he was being arrested "If I knew that money was for the bill I wouldn't have touched it."
Grandma Alaba was not moved, she had her wrapper tied high the way she did whenever a serious matter was about to be settled, she stood in the doorway with her arms folded like a judge waiting for the real defense to begin.
*"You didn't know " she repeated, slowly like she was tasting the words to check if they were spoiled
"Dapo you have been in this house for how years now?"
"Since I was small Mama."
"And in all those years when has money ever just been lying around in this house for you to take anyhow?"
Kemi tried not to laugh, a small sound escaped anyway and Dapo shot her a look that said this was not the time, she lowered her head and focused on the groundnut though she was still listening carefully.
"I thought it was for something " Dapo tried again, "I saw the envelope I thought it was leftover from the market money."
"So you decided to spend leftover market money on cinema tickets for you and your friends without asking anybody?"
The silence that followed told Kemi everything she needed to know, Dapo had no answer for that one, he just stood there scratching the back of his neck looking everywhere except at their grandmothers face.
"Mama honestly I'm sorry " he said finally, "I should have asked before I touched it, I just saw the money, I didn't think far."
"That is the problem with you children of nowadays " Grandma Alaba said, shaking her head slowly, "Everything is 'I didn't think far, I didn't know" In my days if I so much as looked at money that wasn't mine my mother would deal with me before I even opened my mouth to explain."
"So what do we do now?" Kemi asked, mostly to move the conversation forward because she could see Dapo was two seconds away from crying and that would only make the whole afternoon worse.
Grandma Alaba turned to her as if she had forgotten Kemi was even sitting there, "Ehn ehn, since madam is now the peace committee let her tell us, Dapo how much was the bill?"
"Four thousand " Dapo mumbled.
" How much did the cinema cost?"
"Twenty five hundred, Mama."
Grandma Alaba clicked her tongue. Sat down heavily on the plastic chair beside the door "So you spent money we didn't have on something we didn't need, now the light people are threatening to disconnect us. Do you understand now why 'I didn't know' cannot save you?"
"Yes Mama."
"It's not enough to be sorry when its convenient, from this week you will start selling your football boots money to help balance that bill, The ones you bought month that you have worn only twice."
Dapos face fell immediately, those boots were basically his prized possession and everyone in the compound knew it, Kemi almost felt sorry for him almost, she also remembered how he never shared his snacks with her when their mothers sent food from their different houses so she let this one slide without saying a word in his defense.
"Mama, not my boots " he said, voice cracking slightly.
"You didn't know the money was for bill I don't know anything about boots either, We are now equal in not knowing things."
Kemi burst out laughing this time unable to hold it in longer and even Dapo defeated as he was managed a small tired laugh himself, the afternoon sun kept beating down on the compound the generator kept humming in the distance and somehow life, in Uncle Bayos house continued exactly the way it always did one small drama settled just in time for the next one to begin.
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