BECOMING

CHAPTER 1

Nigeria, calabar. 1985

Mary and john had been dating for 3years and one would wonder if marriage was not part of their plan. John didn't earn much, but he could definitely take care of himself and Mary. John was a graduate and just had to work with a milk company then as an accountant to earn a living. The pay wasn't mouth watery but it definitely kept food on his table and also gave him something to rush out of the house with every morning.
Mary was a nursery school teacher and she earned less than John did.
Mary as at that time was 35 and didn't get the consent of her family to be with John. They warned her about John, not because of his financial status but they believed he was a corny person and wasn't straight forward with her or anyone else.
Mary was in love and she wasn't ready to listen. Besides, she was 35. She wondered who would look at her again at that age and if she was ever going to find someone else to marry her. She felt John was her only option. Starting over and letting go sounded like injury to her ears.
In 1986, she applied for a job in a new company as a secretary. The pay was good, it gave her enough money to get a bigger apartment. Things went well with Mary that she told her two younger sisters to move in with her; they did. And life was almost as they saw in the pages of magazines. Well! At least Close enough.
Mary took John along. She always made sure she gave him a little of the money she had then. Mary told John to move in with her when his rent expires, John didn't hesitate. He felt like a great load has been taken off his shoulders. Not minding the fact that Mary was staying with her two younger sisters. Yes, they were both students. but it seemed wrong .
Before John's rent expired, he had already moved in with Mary.

He was such an opportunist. And one would think he was only with her because of what he could get from her. He didn't hesitate to explore her when the opportunity of doing so showed its face.
Mary didn't bother, she was sure he loved her and she did too.
Mary had other younger siblings she took care of and John was not helping her in anyway, she didn't see anything wrong in it. Her immediate younger sister, mercy was working. She was done with school and awaiting NYSC(national youth service corp. It's a service rendered by Nigerian graduates to the country immediately after university)
recruitment.
Mary helped her get a job as a cleaner in the same company as she. Something to keep her busy for the main time.
Her last sister, Grace, was still in school and Mary had to make sure she paid her fees in full. Her salary was a week delayed, Grace had to stay an extra one week at home.

It was a rusty Friday evening, about 4:30 pm, Almost time for Mary to close from work, but she couldn't leave because her boss was working late, and she knew if she hadn't leave early, the rain would catch up with her on the way and getting a cab home would be difficult. It got breezy and women who stayed by the roadside in the evening were rushing to fold up their shades as the breeze was taking things to different directions, scattering shades and picked up dust.
Mary had nothing else to do, she just sat and wondered if John would be kind enough to come pick her up with his company's official car. Well, she didn't want to place her mind there. She still waited patiently for her boss. She got bored and decided to look out the window, at least something to fix her eyes on other than books,files and computers.

When she looked out the window, she saw little children running up and down and enjoying the breezy temperature. She smiled and thought just maybe if she had a mother things would have been better for them;maybe she thought. Mary's mother left when they were just kids, her father married three wives and her mother was the second wife. Her mother had four of them, she was the second child , the first was a male child, with her as a second and Mercy as the third and Grace as the fourth child. Their mother left her father to marry a Naval officer who stayed in Lagos, she left them with their father who was a primary school teacher then,since they were still small, their father's third wife was the one taking Care of them. She was nice and treated them as her own children , reason Mary is taking Care of her step siblings now.

She missed her mom, but she blamed her for leaving them and making them suffer at a very young age. Their childhood was seized from them at a tender age as they were forced to grow up early.
Mary looked at the innocent children playing outside and tears rushed down her cheeks, she knew she had to be there for her children when she becomes a mother, she had to give her all to her children.
She dashed inside to check the time, it was 5:20,
"Oh my! Is he ever going to leave the office"?
She thought to herself.
By this time, it was already raining heavily and she had to rush to close the windows if not, her desk would be a mess, it was a small office, but not that small. Neatly arranged with a computer , a name tag and Mary's picture frame on the desk, oh well!...

She thought of how she'd get home, and she knew her boss would never give her a ride. Well, no! He's not a wicked boss, but their ways are two dimensions apart, her boss stayed along parliamentary in calabar, while Mary stayed in Miles 2, almost in the outskirt's of calabar. There was no way he'd give her a ride.
6:00pm, her boss plunged open his office door
" Good night Mary, and have a wonderful weekend". He said.
"Goodnight sir, see you on Monday". She wished it wasn't one of those days her sister mercy had to close early. She wasn't happy, she thought of so many things. She wondered how she'd reach out to John to at least be a gentleman and come pick her up. But this wasn't the time cellphones were left just lying around. She locked the office and went to sit with the gateman so she could see a taxi passing by.

Back at home, John was enjoying the weather with a nice bottle of chilled Coke and some chin chin to go with it and had the radio volume put in the highest.
Grace and mercy walked up to him to start a conversation
" Good evening John" they greeted.

"Good evening" he replied.

"Mary is not back and we know it's because of the rain, you know how hard it would be for her to see a cab that's coming to mile 2, why not take the car and go pick her up"? Said Mercy.
" look, I'm very tired, this is calabar, she'll always find her way home". John said.
Mercy and Grace looked at how much of an ingrate John was and walked out on him. They went inside and changed to something simple , picked an umbrella and went to hire a cab that could take them to Mary's office. It was already 7;45, and Mary was already shivering, and the gateman really helped in finding a cab for her, but it seemed like all the cab drivers just wanted to drive around town and non wanted to go further.
Mary still sat out in the cold and wished help could come from somewhere or maybe John could just surprise her.

Before Mercy and Grace could get to Mary's office , it was already 8:30 and by this time, Mary had given up, and the rain had subsided a bit and she could stand out the gate to sort for a cab, but she had to be careful as well, it wasn't really a safe area. She saw a car lending towards her, she put our her face about telling the cab man her destination when her sisters jumped down the car. Boy! She has never felt so happy to see them
"You came to pick me"?
" yes, we know how hard it is to get a cab back home when it rains" mercy added.
"Your stupid boyfriend abi, husband is just home doing nothing and he bluntly refused to come and pick u" said Grace.
Grace, has never failed to speak her mind, she was an open book and believed so much in airing out without thinking of the consequences involved.
Mary felt disappointed, but she knew he was never that concerned in things that bothered her, but she thought he'd at least respect her for the sake of her sisters and do the right thing.
"Don't worry, God will always be with you" mercy said.
"Stop deceiving her Mercy, tell her the truth. Leave this man before he kills you". Grace added.
" you know what, let's just go home. I'm soaked to the last part of my body and I'm tired ".
They got into the cab and drove off...
They got home by 10:10. They met a little traffic on their way. By this time John was already asleep and Mary was really not in the mood to talk to him. She just showered and slept and hoped to wake up to a better day .

*" abi" is an exclamation. Either used at the end of a sentence to mean "isn't it so" or in the middle of a sentence to mean "or".