Things We See Yet Ignore (WEB)

Things We See Yet Ignore 4

The hands of the clock rewinds to 14 years ago.

A baby was found in the dump area at Aba, near death. She was just a week old when she was dumped by her birth mother. The people who were sorting out the trash for recycling or burning saw her by happenstance.

They were clueless, uneducated men who had been living their lives on the streets, so they had no idea how to take care of a baby. One of them volunteered to take her to his area because there was always nuns in his area seeking donations or helping the community. So, the baby was handed to him.

He met with the nuns, explained his side of the story and handed the baby over to them which they eagerly accepted.

A month later, the baby was named "Adaobi".

A year later, she was registered as an orphan for adoption in Children's Hope Orphanage.

Adaobi was still a child, but she had always been more intelligent than her mates. While children around age four were still playing with sand and learning their alphabets, Adaobi had progressed from that and had learned her numericals up to a thousand numbers. She even solved a few addition and subtraction problems because she always skipped her own classes and used her small body to her advantage to sneak into the classes of older children.

On this very day, Mrs. Juliet Ezechukwu was a corper posted at the orphanage to teach the kids. She was actually a big business woman in Lagos and was in the 'Top 30 Under 30' list of successful startups.

She saw Adaobi as she sneaked into the primary three classroom, when she should have been in nursery two, but decided to ignore her just like every other classes they have had so far. Adaobi used that opportunity to ask questions whenever she didn't understand and Mrs. Ezechukwu would always explain it for her. Sometimes, other older students of the classroom laughed at her for not understanding a simple thing, forgetting the fact that she wasn't even in their age group.

Mrs. Ezechukwu NYSC service was coming to a close, but before she left she adopted Adaobi as her own child. Adaobi then got the name Adaobi Ezechukwu Ebube and she stayed in Anambra for a month while her mother's NYSC campaign was on the verge of finishing.

A month later, she and her mother travelled to Lagos, her foster mother's matrimonial home, where she would meet with her foster father for the first time.

Mrs. Ezechukwu's husband had travelled to Ibadan for a business meeting when she got back from home in Lagos and was able to meet with her husband. However, when he came back, he was furious.

'Why would you go and do something like getting another child?! Do I look that incompetent to you?' He yelled when he got back home and met a child sleeping in his bedroom. His wife then proceeded to tell him about the adoption that had taken place. 'We have only been married for two years. Half of which YOU used for your NYSC!'

'Shh.' She gesticulated. 'She's sleeping upstairs, let's not wake her up.' She winked.

Her husband was angry but was able to calm his head. 'So... Is she your problem?'

'What do you mean by that?'

'Well, since you went behind my back to give a stranger my name...,' she twitched. '...you had better take care of her yourself.' He stood from his seat at the dinning table and went to the kitchen for a glass. To him, this discussion was over.

His wife, Mrs. Juliet watched him carefully as he dropped the glass of wine and was about heading to one of the guests rooms and unpack from his journey, spoke. 'I didn't give her your name.'

'Hm?' He stopped in his tracks.

'I haven't changed my surname yet. I'm still Mrs. Ezechukwu.'