Ἀμνησία Amnesia


My heart is inditing a good matter: I speak of the things which I have made touching the king: my tongue is the pen of a ready writer.

~ Psalm 45: 1

My name is Ἀμνησία Amnesia. But most people prefer to call me my last name, because they cannot pronounce my first name. I am not a bitch and I am not a witch. But I can see things and I can hear things. No. There is nothing mysterious about me and nothing magical. I have a great imagination and very good ears. This is the logical explanation for my so called extraordinary abilities. Most humans see just the transparent light while I see all the seven colours. So, I see people, places and things in colours and contours. And they are all beautiful and wonderful to behold. I do not see things the way others see things. The word ugly is not in my dictionary. What others call ugly is simply awesome to me.
And I know that everybody is gifted. But most people may never find out their peculiar gifts till their last breath on earth.

- Ἀμνησία!
- Yes, Daddy!
- What are you doing up there?
- I am talking to the stars, Daddy.
- Is that why you always have your egg-head in the clouds? Daydreaming!
- Daddy, I do not daydream. I just love to think.
- You will soon complain of headache.
- Everything has a price, Daddy. No imagination, no creation.
I hear him laughing out aloud. His whiskers must be twitching now. My Daddy's moustache is always twitching whenever he is laughing. And he looks like Uncle Clown with his big Jewish nose pointing upwards.
- Ἀμνησία!
- Daddy, you know I am not deaf.
- Yes. Come down and polish my shoes!
- All right Daddy.
- The brown shoes and not the black pair!
- Sure, Daddy.
He watches as I hurry down the stairs from the sky parlor. My sky parlor.
He is already dressed in his white shirt with long sleeves and his baggy black trousers with his favourite grey socks in his big hands. My father can be mistaken for the younger brother of Goliath as he stands over 6 feet tall. And he likes to let you see him towering over you. But Goliath was not even the tallest man mentioned in the Bible. King Og slept on a bed that was 14 ft. by 6 ft. He was 14 feet tall! Noah was 12 feet tall and Goliath was only 9 feet plus. But I do not wish to be as tall as my father.
- Ἀμνησία, what is funny?
- Nothing, Daddy.
- Then, perish that mischievous grin on your fat face!
I nod and turn my eyes to where he keeps his shoes just at the foot of the staircase.
- Spit and polish them well until you see the reflection of your fat face on them!
- Okay, Daddy.
He nods and yells as he walks into another room.
- Is supper ready, Hannah?
He likes giving orders to everybody in the house. He thinks he is still in the army.
- Yes, dear, my mother replies from the kitchen.
My brothers must be thanking God in boarding school. They are far away from his irritating screams.
But he is still the one and only Daddy we have and he never fails to pay my school fees and he makes sure that we do not go to bed grumbling about lack of enough food. And he shares his bottle of red wine with everyone in the house.
- Red wine will silence the worms in your guts. So that you can sleep well.

I have a father who loves to scream and I am still proud of him. God knows that my father is one of the best Jewish fathers in Brooklyn.
- Daddy, your black shoes are shining!
He looks at them and nods.
- Good girl!



By Orikinla Osinachi
September 24, 2007.
9.50 pm

N.B:
I felt like writing this quick short story on the spur of the moment on Nairaland.  
Ἀμνησία Amnesia is actually a philosophical reflection of an aspect of life. Just meditate on it.