Thou shall not steal

6.

~OH MOTHER~

"Nma."

"Yes ma?" I answered just as tucked in Dexter with his wrapper. I crossed over his body and walked over to the couch where she sat.

It was late in the evening after we just had dinner. Today however my father was at home and already in his bed.

You think mother had cured him from gambling, right?

Wrong! See this was part of my fathers rountine. He always did this thing where, he end his gambling streak and come home all humble and repentant. He would swear to never gamble again by all the things he knew and then, when he gained my mothers trust he would steal her money and disappear. This had happened so many times, I was used to it but, what was shocking was how mother never learnt.

She always received father with open arms and a feast. Then a couple of weeks later, they were back to their Tom and Jerry roles.

Uche used to say that maybe that was how they loved each other.

Uche. I hissed to myself.

There was nothing that could measure up to how distasteful that human beings name was to my lips. I absolutely hated it!

As promised, I steered clear of Uche. Whenever I saw him outside, I made an obvious show of my disappointment in him by hissing loudly or soliloquizing rude comments that I'm sure he knew where directed at him. Remarks that Uche would most definitely grace with the meanest replies. Even if we were walking down the same road we would maintain eye contact but never speak. We didn't fight either, not even if we were walking down the same road all alone in the night. We would maintain eye contact but, never would we speak to each other.

A small part of me hated him for supporting his cousin and a larger part just wanted my friend back. The good guy, the character I loved and cherish it

Nowadays it seemed like that Uche was dead and gone.

Oh and Samson, the imbecile had reached out to me after Uche and I fought. Boy did I give him the fight of his life. Well, it was a one-sided fight; he didn't even try to fight back. I was the only one hitting him and cussing between us. When it over, he just simply walked away in anger. It was annoying because, I expected a fight from him, I wanted something that would encourage me to spill his secret and make the neighbors deal with him but, he didn't give me that pleasure.

I hate that guy.

"Ma?" I answered standing before my mother.

Mother sat in the dark room illuminated by the moonlight that slipped in through our windows.

Mother shook her legs from side to side while resting her hands on her thighs. She bent her head low and took very deep breaths.

"Nma," She called softly. A little too softly.

"Ma?" I asked worriedly. Her behavior frightened me.

Was she angry? Is it me? Is it because I was slow in washing the dishes? What is it this time? Oh God!

My heart was pounding in my chest and I looked around for the fastest way to escape any form of beating.

"Nma," she started, "shebi I dey craze?"

I stopped. "Ma?" Did I just hear right? Did my mother just ask if she was crazy?

"No be you I dey ask question?"

I was speechless. How do I even start to replay such a question. "M—"

"You no fit talk?" She asked still in a calm voice, "I dey craze?"