April Fool

Words: 298
April Fool.
The day Ige speaks the truth, the day the world will come to an end. So when he came under the shade, squatted and announced that he had information from the parish, we all knew nothing but deceit will drop from his lips. “Harvest Anniversary will not hold tomorrow”, he laughed stupidly. “Is it because your family has never celebrated one?” Amodu whispered loud enough for everyone to hear. Ige moved closer, still squatting and rolled his eyeballs that were already as wide as Frozen’s, wiped dust from the floor with his finger, licked it and pointed the finger to the bamboo roof. “To the virgin Mary”. Everyone started laughing hysterically. We all knew such gesture cannot convince anyone of his sincerity, yet he seasoned his talks with this gesture. He stood and started looking at our faces. “Choose another day, I beg. Ordinarily, no one would believe you, let alone a day like this. Today is first April remember?” I told him, irritation in my voice. “But I am serious”, he squatted again. We all kept quiet as if in a pre-empted unison—we had never heard Ige say he was serious before. This was when Sola spoke, “We are going to the parish to confirm from the priest, and if it all turned out to be a lie, I’m going to impale you on a pole I swear”. We all snapped our fingers in agreement. When we got to the sweet basil near the priest’s house, we saw the wind blow a patch that looked like Father Gab’s cassock. We moved closer and met him still breathing heavily. Sola and Amodu instinctively took off for help. I stood there looking at the body, “The world is coming to an end today”. I was sure.