Her Father's Wife

Chapter 1

Ngodo community is not big by any standard. They don't have people that are well connected in government either. In fact, if anything positive can be said of them, it is their ability to breed beautiful daughters. Girls were trained to keep themselves pure until they enter their husband's house. It is abomination to be seen standing around to talk with a boy. Family reputation is very important and every member is honour bound to protect it. Farming is an important work in the village, this is not surprising since every man and woman in the village is a farmer. The land is not particularly fertile either but what can be done. It all has to do with ones ' chi' if your chi is awake, you will have a bountiful harvest if not, you thank him for life and ask for better luck next year. Afterall, Ndubuisi, life is the most important think. Look at Mazi Nwokeforo for instance, is it not in this same village that he is farming like any other person, go and see his yam tubers every harvest season, they were all the size of the arm of a full grown man. If only his god will bless him with a male child, even one, at this rate their Obi will soon close. Eight girls, not a single boy, chei! what kind of pot has your chi given you to carry Nwokeforo my friend? Nwaneri sat gazing straight at nothing as these random thoughts chase one another inside his head. In the distance, Lolo's shrill voice pierce the early morning peace. What is it again? Nwaneri crane his ear in a bid to hear better. He could not hear much because of the noise coming from his children's sleeping room. Taa, these children, allow me to hear before I shave your hairs with a blunt razor blade. Agbomma, his wife was just coming into the compound, she heard her husband's voice and made for the obi. Oyirim, what is it? She asked the husband. It is the norm for a pet name to be given to a bride when she moves into her husband's house. This name tells how dear she is to her husband. Oyirim literarily means my look alike. What is the cause of the noise coming from Mgbechi's house? he asked . Oyirim sighed before answering, what else is it if not the problem of ' ntanta'. (fish). Lolo has become notorious in the whole of Ngodo and beyond for her unusual appetite for meat and fish. She will not eat unless there is fish or meat in the soup, Ntanta, she calls it. All this is as a result of Mgbechi, her mother's over pampering. Whose ever heard of a child asking for meat. Meat is for adults. A child is to eat food and look the other way when adults are eating the things in the soup. Look at the problem Mgbechi is creating for some man in the future, who will marry this one. Tufiaa abomination. But what do you expect when only a woman is raising a child, nobody should blame Mgbechi, she is only a woman. The main culprit is death that snatched her husband away too early for him to raise his only child.

Tearing up someone pass me a popcorn bowl and the handkerchief.
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