That Incident

SIXTEEN

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𝘛𝘏𝘌𝘠 𝘒𝘕𝘌𝘞 𝘌𝘝𝘌𝘙𝘠𝘛𝘏𝘐𝘕𝘎.

The awkward silence as we munched slowly at the food. I could tell that my mother wanted to start up a conversation but she seemed nervous around her parents.

She only talked when she offered to serve more stew or rice. The bright chunky vegetable stew went perfectly with the long grain rice my mother had bought earlier in the market. There was barely foodstuffs in the house that she had to buy a lot in the market.

She was really worn out after she returned from the market. And it seemed like she overdid herself. She had bought things I considered unnecessary and pretty expensive all because of her parents. She was trying so hard to impress them.

"Aubree and I would want to know how the pilgrimage was?" She finally mustered courage to start.

Aubree? I sure didn't want to know anything about their trip or pilgrimage. I was so engrossed in the stew fragrant with garlic and fine herbs.

"It was wonderful. Your father Louis thought it would be great idea to go for the pilgrimage. We visited places like Basilica of Saint Mayor, Castel Sant...what?"

"Castel Sant'Angelo." The old man said without looking up from his food. He was still at his first plate and had refused my mother's offer to serve him more.

"We found out Castel Sant'Angelo had many uses in the past. As a prison and also a refuge for the pope. We lodged in a small quiet hotel in Vatican City. We booked tickets to a papal audience. It was all but lovely, nne." My grandma said fishing out her phone from the pocket of the neatly sown print bubu gown she was putting on.

She handed it over to my mother who scrolled through the never ending pictures they had taken.

"Who cooked this?" The old man asked with a stern look dropping his cutlery noisily on the plate.

"Your granddaughter cooked the Ratatouille. She had learnt from one girls holiday camp two...."

"The vegetables are a bit overcooked." He had cut in still looking down.

The old man was always grumpy and never satisfied.

"Why don't you try something else if you don't like it? I made puff puff and you could try the beef jellof rice..." My mother said in panic.

Beef Jellof rice. She just ignited the fire of this old man. He's vegetarian.

"You seem to forget that I am a vegetarian. How easy was that for you to forget, Ulochi? When we went to Paris for a vacation last year, we ordered this Ratatouille. It was a savory dish accompanied with brown bread. The Frenchs slightly cook the vegetables..." He said staring hard at me.

"Well, we are not the Frenchs. We are Nigerians. You don't expect us to know how to cook it like the Frenchs do." I commented already suffocating from the uncomfortable atmosphere.

My mother's eyes widen in alarm. She slowly tugged at my gown from underneath the table.

My grandpa's face remained expressionless.

"Where did you guys take this picture, Maami? I've seen pictures of tourists in Italy take picture here on the internet." My mother asked showing my grandma a picture the old couple took in a place that looked pretty familiar.

She was right. I had seen it a lot on the internet. My beautiful grandma with her toothy smile and my grandpa with his mean look. His arms folded.

"Ohh...The Colosseum. A medieval amphitheater in Rome."

"I assume we know the table manners enough not to make use of our phones while eating. Ulochi, have you forgotten that too?" The old man said continuing with his food.

This old man no get joy at all. I thought.

"Come on, Louis. Don't be all grumpy towards your daughter. I know how much you've missed her. How you always miss when she was around to read you the daily newspapers like she used to do or how she would make you happy when her siblings annoyed you."

I could understand that he didn't want to show it just like in Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart. Okonkwo didn't like to show his fondness over his daughter Ezinwa only on rare occasions.

"Can I have some puff puff, Ulochi? I really commend Lotachi's cooking. It was beautiful." She said with a warm smile trying to comfort my mother who had a sad face. She also had a thing for puff puff.

"I got you guys gifts. I bought rosaries, medallions and holy water from the Vatican Gift shop run by nuns. Do you know how to pray the rosary, Lota?" She added as my mother left to get more puff puff from the kitchen.

"Yes."

"So what society in church do you belong to? Do you even go to church at all? I wonder why Ulochi got married to someone who cared nothing about the church." The old man asked.

"What exactly was your problem with him? Is it his religious life or the fact his class was lower than ours?" My mother questioned as she walked out of the kitchen holding a tray of puff puff.

I could tell she was angry. Her hands were slightly trembling as she held onto the tray.

"Thank goodness that you guys got divorced cause he was never the one for you, Ulochi. We had told you that he was...." My grandma said sipping at the glass of red wine.

My mum's cheeks were brightly red.

"Wasn't the one for me? I've heard that tons of times. Can we just have a peaceful dinner?" She said calmly getting seated.

"How's your therapy going? I know Mrs Ujam is doing a great work that's why I got her for you. I know how it's pretty hard for you after everything you have been through." My grandma said.

I turned to look at my mother with a surprise written all over my face. What was going on? How did she know what I have been through? How did she know I was getting therapy? How did they know? I thought all long that my mum was paying for my therapy sessions with Mrs Ujam.

This all meant one thing. They knew everything. My mum told them everything I would rather keep to myself. Something I wasn't ready to disclose to the world.

I dropped my cutlery in a fit of rage. How could she let this people know? They were barely family to me.

"Excuse me." I said leaving the dining table. I wasn't just going to leave the dining table. I was leaving the place that seemed to suffocate me. I was going to a place that had always been there for me when I was fed up with everything happening.

And I was really fed up.

"Aubree! Come back." My mother called after me as I made my way for the exit.

"Leave her. She's really spoilt." I heard the old man say.

"Spoilt like Ulochi." His wife said with a giggle like it was funny.

I didn't care. I just wanted to go to somewhere else. And I knew where.

The old purple bougainvillea tree.