by Janu,Tamsin
‘I am very excited,’ she whispered.
‘I’m nervous,’ I said.
Jeffenick, who was sitting on my other side, patted my shoulder. His parents had let him have the day off work so that he could come with my family to Accra to see the movie. He told me it was the best day of his life.
I held my baby brother Boota on my knee. He kept blowing spit bubbles, and giggled when they popped. It was disgusting. He was much cuter than when he was born though, and I loved him very much. Mama loved him very much too, and although she was ill when he was in her tummy and after he was born she was feeling much better. She had begun a cleaning job at Grandma Ama’s school, and was saving her money so that she could move out of Adwoa’s house and rent a little apartment for herself and Boota in our village.
I loved living with Grandma Ama, and could not see myself ever wanting to live anywhere else. But I was glad Mama and Boota would be close by.
Grandma Ama was angry when Mama named my brother Boota. Her exact words to Mama were, ‘Why do you give your children such silly names?’ I don’t think the name is so bad. And my name is strange too, so I will be able to give Boota advice on what to do when kids tease him about his name at school, or when an adult screws up their face and says, ‘What kind of name is Boota?’
Eventually the lights dimmed and Joel and David stood at the front of the theatre, Joel with a microphone in his hand. The audience fell silent. Grandma Ama whispered how happy she was that David had lost weight and Joel had cut his hair.
‘This film,’ Joel said, ‘has been one of the greatest experiences of my creative life. Thank you for allowing us to film it in your beautiful country.’ The crowd clapped. Boota clapped too. My heart was beating hard and fast. ‘As its director, I was planning to introduce the film. But then I thought of a better person to do it. Ghana’s future President!’
Nana leaped from his seat and ran down the aisle. He snatched the microphone from Joel in his eagerness. David and Joel stood behind Nana, chuckling.
‘Guten tag, everyone,’ Nana said.
There were mutters from the audience. Everyone was wondering what ‘guten tag’ meant. One of the boys from Nana’s boat yelled, ‘It means hello!’
‘Yes,’ Nana said, ‘guten tag means hello in German. They speak German in Germany, which is a country in Europe.’ Nana cleared his throat. He once told me it is good to clear your throat when you are saying a speech, because it makes the audience think you are about to say something important. ‘Although I have not seen this movie yet, I am sure it is a masterpiece. Mostly because my best friend, Figgy, is in it. Figgy, stand up so everyone can see you!’
Nana pointed at me and I sank low in my seat, shaking my head violently. How embarrassing!
‘Oh,’ Nana said, ‘I see that Figgy is too shy to stand up. I sometimes forget that, unlike me, she is not a big show off.’ He shrugged, and winked at me.
‘Anyway, thank you all for coming today. Family and friends from our village and interested people of Accra. And thank you to the Obrunis who made this movie, particularly Joel and David.’ The two men waved awkwardly. ‘And congratulations to David, who has recently lost a lot of weight. Considering how big David’s stomach used to be, I think we can all agree that this weight loss was a good thing.’
The audience laughed, and David’s face turned bright red.
‘Thank you!’
Nana bowed dramatically, handed the microphone back to Joel and pranced back up the aisle. Grandma Ama groaned when Nana jumped on to her lap.
‘Get off, Nana! You are too big for that now.’
‘I’m sorry,’ Nana said, ‘I sometimes forget how old I am.’ He got on to Kofi’s lap instead.
Grandma Ama shook her head. ‘You are not so old. Just heavy. All of you still have a lot of growing up to do. Am I right, Figgy?’
Grandma Ama leaned over to look at me, a small smile on her face.
‘Yes, Grandma Ama,’ I said.
I am not ready to be a grown up yet. For one thing, I still need to find a career. But Grandma Ama says that I have plenty of time to find one. That I am not to think about my career any more, but must concentrate on school instead. I am doing what she says. For a while, anyway. Because Grandma Ama does not allow disobedience.
Nana began talking again as the screen in front of us lit up. Grandma Ama glared at him. Nana made a funny face at me, but fell silent.
‘I want to see our Figgy on the big screen,’ Grandma Ama said. ‘If you are not quiet, I will cane you.’
Joel, who had just taken a seat in the row in front of us, turned to speak to me.
‘How –’
‘I will cane all of you!’ Grandma Ama said. Joel’s eyes widened, and he turned back to the screen.
I laughed so hard my tummy ached.
THE AUTHOR
Tamsin Janu was born and raised in Sydney. She is the second-eldest of six children only nine years apart, so growing up in her house was noisy and chaotic! She has always loved reading and telling stories but was inspired to write fiction for children after living for three months in Ghana, West Africa, working at a school and orphanage. She found the Ghanaian kids were just as interested in her country as she was in theirs, so they had a lot to teach each other. Tamsin has spent the past two years working with kids in the Northern Territory. She recently moved back to Sydney, and now lives near the beach.
Tamsin’s first book, Figgy in the World, was winner of the Children’s Literature category, 2016 Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature and overall winner of the Premier’s Award, 2016 Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature. It was joint winner of the Patricia Wrightson Award for Children’s Literature in the 2015 New South Wales Premier’s Literary Awards and shortlisted for the Children’s Book Council of Australia Awards, the Queensland Literary Awards and the Readings Children’s Book Prize in 2015.
Also by Tamsin Janu
FIGGY IN THE WORLD
Figgy has two problems. One is her name. Nobody in the whole country has that name. The other is that her Grandma Ama is ill and needs special medicine. Figgy can’t do much about her name, but she can do something for Grandma Ama. She will go to America and bring back the medicine, and Kwame, her special goat, will go with her.
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First edition published by Omnibus Books in 2016.
This electronic edition published by Scholastic Australia Pty Limited, 2016.
E-PUB/MOBI eISBN: 978-1-760271-79-4
Text copyright © Tamsin Janu, 2016.
Cover design copyright © Design by Committee, 2016.
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