Rugged To The Core

Chapter 70

Lucky

"You mean to tell me your father never returned home last night even till now?" Grandma was seething and she couldn't hide it.

It was five in the afternoon, they had been here for about an hour and a half, waiting for Dad. Bukky and I were situated by the dining table, our grandfather who donned his uniform was quietly sat on the sofa staring ahead into space. Grandma on the other hand was pacing back and forth.

Nobody answered grandmother's question because it was a rhetorical one. For the next few minutes, silence filled the room until we heard Dad's car honk and a little while later, the gates were opened. Noone moved, we waited till the front door opened and the guest of honour materialised.

From his position before the ajar door, Dad surveyed his living room, his gaze lingering on me.

"Do you know what it takes to be a man, Ajibola?" Grandpa's voice resonated with so much authority, I got goosepimples. "Standing six feet seven inches tall? When you put everyone at your mercy each time you ball those fists, do you gain pleasure? Do you... get high off it?"

Dad strutted further into the room and tossed his carkey on the table. "So...you think just because you're my father, you can come to my house – with your larkeys outside – donning your fancy military uniform like I'm the personification of World War III you're ready to tackle to get that fourth star?" Dad snarled right at Grandpa. "What is this, old man?"

"You godforsaken child..." Grandpa begun.

"Twenty-five years, Philip!" Grandma yelled. "You spent twenty-five years under our house, under our guidance!"

"Some guidance that was..." Dad retorted, his voice laced with sarcasm.

"What have you done with everything we instilled in you!?" Grandma was on the verge of tears. "Where and when did you decide to throw it away?"

"Where you threw your integrity when you both connived to feed me that bloody lie! You're both just a couple of hypocrites!" Grandma's palm suddenly connected with his jaw in a resounding slap.

"How dare you...?" She looked up at him with fury.

"You're going to deny that? You both know what I'm talking about which is what has brought us here today!" He thrust his index finger at the floor for emphasis. "And you think just because you're-" He pointed at grandpa. "... a three star general and you -" He pointed at grandma who was agape. "...the high and mighty attorney general by choice and deaconess by calling, you think I'm obligated to living the same life you did? Because you such high standards, you think that gives you the bloody right to come here and reprimand me in my own home, in front of my own children!?"

Silence.

What lie could he be referring to?

"Temilola, take your sister and go upstairs." Grandma instructed.

~*~*~*~

Two hours later, night had fallen. The yelling stopped and Grandma had come upstairs to order us to pack our things that we'd be staying with them till further notice. I stood by the doorway, watching grandma help Bukky gather her things. She spotted me and did a double-take.

"Aren't you going to pack your things?" She asked from her position before the foot of the bed.

I thought about what I wanted to say for a moment.

"I'm not leaving." I eventually said it.

Grandma tossed the cloth that had been bunched up in her hand into the pile in the suitcase situated atop the bed. "What do you mean by that?" Even Bukky was now staring at me.