We do not know how long we started desiring human flesh , some say it started when the last apple tree withered , the woman who ate it Evelyn , had left her husband and wandered into the forest - found it and ate it . Our people say this was about 4000 years ago and then the famine started. We tried everything, dug every hole - we combined every seed , watered every plant all effort met with nothing- it was like when a woman expected a child but sees the blood that comes every month - she watches it flow in disappointment and distress. If you have ever been hungry before - you will know what I am talking about , the pangs in your deep abdomen and the shaky muscles- the growling became tunes , they were likened to taking in oxygen, very common. The headaches were normal. We would gather at night and dance to the growlings 

Enare and Eryeh, they are asking me 

“Papa, why ? Why are you hiding us like this inside this drum ? Is it that you don’t like us ?”

They don’t understand, I promised my neighbor that if we ate his own children today then tomorrow will be my children’s turn - it was only his son’s arm we ate and now he craves mine. I don’t want to allow it. A new dawn comes quickly and so they must remain hidden- alas , morning raced and wrestled the moon- I perceived my neighbor’s smoke - he was getting the pot ready - mama , pikin & papa plate in hand , spoon in the other. They shook my roof , they banged my door but I wouldn’t open

“Ah the heart of man ! 

My son wanted to be a painter , and it’s his right hand I gave you o” 

I heard my neighbor and held my children tighter and tighter until they slipped from my palms and ended in the pot. 

That evening I ate. 

Yes. 

The town was quiet in the noon time , men did not work - children did not clean, women did not gossip - we all did one thing , one thing that was the solution to the hunger , we slept. 

in dreams we were unhinged, we ate and drank as we liked - our imaginations prepared buffets and yes , we ate in the dream - I ate and ate my son’s hand. 

Iquo ran into the estate naked

“He has food , He has food”

So I sprang up , took up my cutlass and ran after her - we entered the bushes , we climbed the mountains and kept going , one by one - they shot at us , bodies dragged and eaten - I ran like a mad deer - I ran like dog back home , they have carried my food - I mean my children - they have carried my children. After digesting my last finger , I slept. 

That evening I walked , I walked and walked - looking at the town , the darkness hung like a cloth that could not be lifted , the dark mist hugged me welcoming me like a woman does her lover. 

I saw a light.

in the old cathedral, the ones that had gone crazy - they would gather and call an unknown being . I perceived a smell.

A smell that could only be my dream , i pinch myself, it’s not hard enough so I slap my nose , I pinch it and run to the window - there they are ! And what is that ? What is that in the middle ? Is that? Is that Afang? I go closer and inspect the green substance- could it be the bushes ? We had eaten all the bushes- did one grow back ? Only one way to find out. 

I push the door , it’s open. 

“Welcome, please come and eat from the bread of life” 

I look around for the bread , I find none so I launch on the eba, soft and round 

is this eba ? Pictures had been drawn but i had never seen it. I dip in the bushes- and as I bring it to my mouth - I cry.

I start to weep , I look at the one who offered the food 

“Please eat” 

I say my last prayers and I eat , the rivers unleashed- the tears wouldn’t stop , I think of all the people who could not taste of this goodness , I think of my family who did not eat of this bread and my heart breaks. 

i must tell everyone. 

“Go , tell them that I am the bread of life , He who comes to me shall not be hungry , neither shall they thirst” 

I ran. 

I shouted for them to come and see , Akampa threw rocks at me - they called me a criminal, I took off to Goldie- they did not believe me , I told them I had found the food , they looked at me - laughed and continued boiling their toes. Was it Odukpani ? Even worse , they reigned insults on me and threatened to eat me. I ran back. 

“If they do not come in by 5pm tomorrow to eat and sup with me, then they can no longer come in and if you do not come in, you can never come in again” 

I took the food , this was the only way to reach them, the only way to call them - when the scent went into every window - they came out in their numbers , they scavenged the food

 “Follow me and I will show you the source” 

“Bring it here , we don’t want to go anywhere”

I begged , I pleaded , I promised- they did not agree , many embarked on the journey, few continued - the sun was setting , I told them to run faster but they said their arm failed them - I pushed one , I carried one but no use , their complaints of hunger kept growing and growing until they held me down , the last thing I remembered was heavy impact on my head before the licking started and I felt the way the bulb felt when the switch was turned off. 

it was my nose that woke me , I get up from the cloud and look around- I see a long table , a table so long - it must take years to travel to the other side , a supper is being held.

I pick up the menu, only one thing.

Afang.