A Loner's Journey Through Lemonade Making

Chapter 10/ Turning A New Leaf

To me, time was a very strange thing. I found it difficult to understand how quickly and easily things could change. It could take seconds, a few minutes, maybe an hour, a day or two, a week, a month, a year or even a century. But change was bound to happen. Apart from time waiting for no one, it also changed things in its own pace.

It had taken only a second for Uncle Blessing's words to register in my brain after they heard me gasp.

"Get lost." he said with a voice that told me I could be his next punching bag if I didn't obey. Words vanished from my head as fear gripped me. I couldn't make a sound, neither could I remember any word. I did what I could to do show I had heard him, which was nod vigorously before running to my room.

When I got in, I shut the door as quietly as I could and leaned on it. I couldn't explain how shocked I was. Of course, I knew all what was going on but someway somehow, I always managed to be taken by surprise when I witnessed their fights and arguments.
When I started living with them, they seemed so in love, like they could never have an argument. But things started changing. They argued sometimes but it never involved insults and beatings. It was normal because every couple had their own problems and short comings. No marriage was perfect. How it got to this mess it was, how it got to hitting each other and cursing, I didn't know. But it all happened before my eyes.

"...I'm inviting my mother over. Maybe she'll be able to talk sense into you." I heard Uncle Blessing say. After that, I heard stomping of feet. The sound soon faded and I guessed one of them had gone upstairs.

But Uncle Blessing's mother? That woman was a devil! I detected negative vibes whenever she came around. She didn't like me a lot, I could tell. She didn't do well to cover it up either. It didn't seem like she cared I knew she didn't like me. She was the definition of problematic and jobless. A typical Nigerian mother-in-law, according to Nollywood's understanding. She lived in Imo, Uncle Blessing's home state. Yet she always managed to trouble us like we lived in the same house. She didn't like aunty Oma that much either. I wondered why.

Shaking the thoughts out of my head, I headed to my wardrobe to get my towel and clothes I could wear after taking my bath.
If I had a reality TV show, it would fly. The Kardashians have got nothing on me!

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Tuesday was less eventful than Monday. School was okay. Classes went fine. I'd gotten to school a bit earlier than usual because Aunty wasn't really paying as much attention as she usually did to me. When I was leaving for school that morning, she didn't throw any silly questions at me. She just lay on one of the couches, watching something on her laptop like nothing had happened the day before, like her evil mother-in-law wasn't probably on her way to Lagos. I really admired her calmness. It was really something.

My eyes didn't fail to notice the bottles of vodka and what not on my way out. I had asked her if I should clear them before going but she didn't respond. I cleared them anyway, deciding to help them protect their image so the women who were coming to clean wouldn't start wondering if they were mad or something. There were fragments of clear, black and green bottles all over the room. I noticed Uncle Blessing's bar was empty. He had gone out to get some drinks from the bar in the estate around 8:00pm the previous night. If I was correct, he had returned by 4:00am thereabout. The living room was still the mess aunty had turned it into that day. I was certain the television would be replaced soon.

They didn't have dinner together that night. I had mine in the kitchen as usual, Uncle Blessing probably went out to eat because he left home around 7. Aunty IJ had hers in the main living room. The television still hadn't been replaced. The throw pillows had been, however.

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It was Wednesday. The week was coming to an end slowly but surely.

Christian Religious Studies class was usually stressful. Granted, I enjoyed Bible stories, especially when I read them from story Bibles, although I could never dream of passing any exam with the knowledge from those incomplete books. But Mrs Akano didn't make classes fun at all. We always groaned whenever it was time for CRK classes because the woman was super lazy and boring. If you upset her, she would give you an insult that would make you wonder how she got the job before going on to lay curses on your unborn children. And when it came to writing notes, she would ask us to copy verbatim from our textbooks. On rare occasions, she gave us half the note and asked us to write the rest ourselves. It was only a matter of time before she was sacked, honestly.