Updated
September 2, 2007

An Expensive Story

GTS Home

Monkeydancing
Home

 

I want to tell you expensive story about my mother and father now . . . .

Oneday, we arejust sitting at the house
And they are just talking, my mother and father
They are talking about money
And me I just meet them talking
And then I arrange my chair and then sit and listen.

My father put on his 'Babagally' it's another type of shoes

And they just start quarrelling, quarrelling, quarrelling
They know I am small. I cannot stop them
They are just quarrelling all over
People in the next door are hearing it
That time I am very young
I see my mother crying
And then me also, I follow it, crying crying.

Then my mother went outside
My father went outside and cut a big mango tree
He want to beat my mother
And then my mother run outside the compound
he take a stone and throw him
But the stone did not touch my mother . . . It destroy the fence !!

If that stone touch my mother, by now she's in the next world
Then my mother go from the compound
And they go to another compound
And she sit there two hours and then she went back to the Bantabar
She walk around, looking for my fathers friend
She went to that old mans compound
That time I'm following her
She call that old man, they call that old man 'Ba Kankan'
Then we went to our compound
A and the old man follows us at that time . . .
They sit and talk between the two of them
I was listening
But they just tell me 'go out go out' and then me also ran out
And went to my friends. I play football for 5 minutes
Then I come home again. But that time everything was finished

When they talk between the two of them, never happen again
They shake hands and then everyone went

That's why we say 'Money is very bad'
If you have money, don't spend all
A day will come you are not going to have any money
Like if you are married
When your husband give you money . . . .
When you want to ask him again, another money
He's going to get very angry
Maybe it could be serious crime . . . .

An expensive story is an important, special one. Living in very close proximity people in Gambia learn great tolerance of noise and disturbance. Often lders in the village will help to mediate an reach an agreement or compromise that is binding on both parties and accepted by them both.
Ba Kankan is the old man's name
Money is viewed as a perisable commodity, if you have it you should use it, not unwisely butit is considered wrong to save it up when spending it will help everyone in the community and when they have money they will do the same.

If you enjoyed this story, please make a donation through GTS to Elsa, all the money will be used for his education and towards getting his stories published.

Please contact: Francis Glynn to make a donation to Red.

 

5 Top