BN Book Excerpt: Mayowa And The Sea of Words by Chibundu Onuzo

While Mayowa sat in the tub with her knees drawn to her chest, she thought about the events of the last hour. Grandpa Edward had done something! And it had to do with the book he had jumped on. But what was it? 

At lunch, she watched her grandfather as he twirled his spaghetti around his fork. 

‘Grandpa, I saw you do something with the book.’

‘Did you now?’ Grandpa Edward asked. 

‘Yes. You jumped on it.’ 

‘It’s funny what our eyes will see when it’s raining. I once thought I saw a swallow in midwinter because of a downpour.’ 

‘Grandpa!’ 

‘Do you know swallows spend their winters in Africa?’ Grandpa Edward said. ‘They come and go as they please in a way humans cannot. We are more foolish than the birds.’ 

‘I know what I saw,’ Mayowa said. 

‘That may be so, but your parents disapprove of even talking about jumping on books. Come, help me with the washing-up and then we can play a game of chess.’

The next morning, Mayowa woke up sniffling, and Grandpa Edward told Hamza that she could not come out to play. She lay in bed, feeling sorry for herself. 

The day after, when she was on the mend, she dug out Jane Eyre from her suitcase. She had borrowed it from the school library at the end of term. Mrs Harlow, the librarian, had thought it a bit advanced, but Mayowa had ignored her suggestion and checked the book out anyway. After reading the first few chapters, she realised Mrs Harlow was right. The story of orphan Jane was much too sad for her. 

Well, she wouldn’t be reading Jane Eyre now – she would be jumping on it. She opened the book to its centre pages and laid it face down on the floor. You were never to do this to library books because it creased the spine, but desperate times called for desperate measures. 

On the verge of launching, she hesitated. She did not know what would happen if she jumped. But if she did not jump, she would never find out what Grandpa Edward had done. Standing with her legs straight, she leaped high into the air like a Masai warrior and landed firmly planted on the book. 

She felt tingling in both feet, like a ripple of electricity. Then a wave gushed out of Jane Eyre. It was a wave of intense sadness and wildness. The wave grew bigger and bigger, until it felt as tall as a skyscraper. Her feet were growing warm, but she could not step off the book. It was like a flimsy surfboard made of paper and glue. Mayowa struggled to keep atop the cresting wave. 

She stretched out her hands for balance and felt a tingle in her fingertips. All the sadness coursed out of her hands, like water bursting from a rock. Under her feet, the wave rose as tall as a tsunami, blocking out the sun. If she fell into that wave, she would drown in sadness that was too deep and mournful to bear. She screamed. 

‘Grandpa!’

Grandpa Edward came crashing into the room with tears streaming down his face. 

‘May!’ He lunged at her and pulled her off the book. She shrieked as her feet were ripped off the cover. Grandpa Edward let go and collapsed into a great heap of sobbing. 

‘I miss her. I miss her so much,’ he said over and over again between gasps. 

‘Who do you miss?’ Mayowa asked softly, as if she were the grandparent and Grandpa Edward was a small child who had lost his favourite toy. 

‘Your grandmother, May.’ 

She hugged him, and he wept until her shoulders were wet with his tears. 

‘What book was it?’ Grandpa Edward asked finally, when he could speak. 

‘Jane Eyre.’ 

He gave a weak laugh. 

‘Of course,’ Grandpa Edward said. Then, as an aside to himself, he muttered, ‘Have not had such power for centuries.’ 

‘What was that, Grandpa?’ 

‘Never mind, May,’ he said. 

The soles of Mayowa’s feet felt sore, almost singed.

‘My feet hurt,’ she said. 

‘A side effect of a novice who has taken on too much. Come with me.’ 

He took her to the bathroom and filled the tub with a few inches of cold water. 

‘Stand in there for half an hour.’ 

Mayowa climbed into the tub and sighed as the chill touched her feet. 

‘What happened?’ she asked, her voice subdued by Grandpa Edward’s eyes, which were still red-rimmed. 

‘You jumped on a book.’ 

‘Grandpa! I know that. But why did it make you cry?’ 

‘You must excuse me,’ he said, leaving her alone in the tub. She stared at the mosaic tiling, wondering what she had unleashed … and how.

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Mayowa And The Sea of Words is written by Chibundu Onuzo and published by Narrative Escape.