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| LIBERIAN GIRL | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| This story about Naomi, A Liberian girl, may have some words that are new to you. When Naomi says a Kwee dress she means one that an American would wear, not a African dress. In Liberia, the bush means the forest or jungle. A lapa is a piece of cloth worn as a skirt. A theif is called rouge, and palaver means an argument or talk. You can find more about Liberia by reading the story.One day just after the rainy season, Naomi put her baby brother on her back and started out down the bush trail towards Vai-town. There was something that she wanted to see so very badly. Naomi came to a big store in the middle of Vai-town. She went by this store everyday and always looked in. The store merchant was a Lebanese man, always giving Naomi a smile. Naomi liked stopping at this store, because there was something she like very much. Naomi worried everyday that someday it would not be in the store. She thought that some mamma would buy it and take it away. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| The next day Naomi stopped by that same store in Vai-town to see if anyone had purchased what she wanted so badly. "Oh," said Naomi. "Its still here! No one has it yet." Naomi was looking at a dress, a little pink dress. "You want to buy the dress?" asked the storekeeper. "It is a fine kwee dress." "What does it cost?" asked Naomi. "Two dollars,� said the storekeeper. "But its a fine kwee dress." "For true," said Naomi. "But it is much to dear for me to buy. Thank you. Naomi went out of the store. She was saddened that she did not have enough money to buy that little pink kwee in that store. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| To herself said, "I will not look at that Kwee dress again. What do I want with a small kwee dress? I have no little sister. A pink kwee dress is not or a little brother." Brothers! Naomi had plenty of brothers! Some were big, some were little. There was always a baby for Naomi to carry. Naomi liked that, She cried the baby as mamma did and as other African women did. But not she wanted a baby sister to carry. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| There was going to be a new baby. Naomi knew that. Mamma had gone to the bush and grandma is with her. They would stay in a small hut and wait for the day that they baby would be born. Mamma would get a fine little boy, not a baby sister to wear a little pink kwee dress like the one Naomi liked so much at Vai-Town. Naomi went to their little hut and started to fix some Jollof Rice, she wanted to show her father how big she was, and that she could handle things while her mamma was away having the baby. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Soon the day became night and Naomi laid down to sleep thinking about the little pink kwee dress. In the morning, Naomi heard singing. It was come from the bush. She ran out of the hut, almost to the bush. She ran with baby brother on her back. "Mamma has the baby!" she said. Baby brother laughed, He could not talk. "Now you are not the baby any longer," Naomi said. "You are a small boy." | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| The singing came again. Naomi looked toward the bush, but she did not go in the bush. She would have to wait for mamma to come out. She thought, "Is it a baby boy? Then mamma would come in four days. It was a baby girl then mamma would come in three days!" | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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