He Lied

Memory lane

Laws, the very thing that controls action, what determines right and wrong,what keeps us,shields us,binds us,makes us who we are...

  "What we are" I murmured mentally correcting myself

  But who made these laws, who enforces them and why. Surely that question cannot be answered by one man,it has to be answered by,by...by...

  "Bye bye"Fej said

  "Huh?"

  "You're doing that thing again:

  "What thing?"

  "Murmuring to yourself"

  "I was talking in my head"

  "Yeah right, looks like your mouth betrayed you"
I rolled my eyes

    *Comfortable Silence*

  I let my mind wander,I recalled the events of my childhood. My mother was all about the laws. "Don't go outside","don't say anything","don't eat food outside","call me Aunty" and alot more,some of which I've forgotten. I used to miss her way back when she left, I saw her in my dream every night the same scenario,she bathing me,leaving to buy soap and never coming back.

  "How is your mom like" I asked Fej. I'd never heard him talk about his mom

  "She's okay" he said with food in his mouth

  "Is she like your dad in terms of harshness?"

  "I don't know." he said, still munching

  "How would you not know"

  "Well..." he said slipping a biscuit into his mouth "...she asks me how is school when we see,I always have to remind her of my age"

"That's not unusual with adults"

  "Yes I know..." he said this time a bit pissed "...but does it always have to be infront of her visitors? If you don't remember my age or class just introduce me by my name and let me answer the remaining questions"

  "I guess she doesn't want it to seem like she doesn't know her own son"

  "Then maybe she should stay back and know him"
I refrained from asking him questions for a while.

  "She works as hard as your dad?"

  "Yes"

  "What do they do?"

  "I don't know,something about insurance and money handling and stuff"

  "Both of them? "

  "Yeah,I guess so. I hear them from their phone calls,my nanny says my dad handles alot of money for many companies same also my mom the only difference is,my mom has to be one-call-away from her clients so she's always on her toes". I was already picturing his conversation with his nanny.

  "Sometimes I wish my dad never made it"

  "Fej that's a harsh thing to say"

  "Ife you won't understand"

  "Whatever reasons you have doesn't justify it"

"Ife when we had nothing I see them everyday,I'll sit on my dad's lap while my mom made my sisters hair then I'll ask for mine to be made too and we'll all laugh" (Again my imagination went to work creating the scenario)

He continued "Every morning my mom would give us two (2) pieces of akara before leaving to hawk the rest,we would walk to  school every school day,sometimes I would be so tired on our way back that she would carry me on her back with my nylon that I used as a school bag. We could  stop midway and join some kids to stone mango, ¿ebelebo(almond)¿ or even cherry ,she would stone them down and bring her spoils to me to keep in my nylon bag".
He slipped another biscuit in his mouth."My dad was a teacher back then.Life was sweet Ife,then my sister became ill and everything changed.  I haven't eaten my mothers food in years now Ife,years"

  "Wow" that's all I could say "wow"
I could only imagine how they were,all those times he never saw suffering he saw love, a happy family irrespective of what they had but he was the only one seeing it or maybe his sister did too before she fell sick.

  "Back then we had a family and that's everything but now,no family,we have nothing.

  "I get you now"

  "Great so are you eating that?" He asked pointing to the biscuit in my hand

  How can you still have appetite for food after this whole episode? You'll never cease to amaze me.

  I gave him the biscuit "Take"

  "Why do you look so surprised"he asked as he took it from me

  "I wonder how someone can eat at a time like this"

  "Some of us are gifted" he replied with a mouth full of biscuit.

I stared at him in disbelief,I had so many questions to ask him about his sister especially what sickness killed her but I didn't want to spoil his mood.

  "And you?"  He asked

  "Huh?"

  "Do you have any childhood memory?"

  "No"

  "Come on Ife I just shared mine"he said and pouted

  "I used to stay alone with my mother"

  "Wow,so what happened?"

  "She went to buy soap,never came back"

  His eyes widen "Oh my God she died?"

  I looked a him with the 'seriously' kind of look
"No,she's very much alive"

  "Seriously Ife be serious"

  "I don't know,I really don't know,I think so. I always thought so until one day my dad was talking to someone on the phone,Becky, that's my mothers name"

  "It doesn't mean na,it could be another person named Becky"

  "He ended the call as soon as he realized I was in room"

  "Still doesn't mean,it can be coincidental"

  "Yeah,I thought so too,so I don't know if she's alive or not"

  "She's likely dead,a mother can't abandoned her child"he said staring into space

  "Thank you for that disturbing conclusion"

  "Hmm,so,any siblings?"

  "Fej you've been to my house you can answer that"

  "You could have siblings that do not live with you"

  "And I would know about them because?"

  "Can't you ask your father?"

  "I never said he was my father". Wait that came out wrong, I mean it's true but he doesn't need that information. I looked at Fej, he had the look I expected.  He'd stopped eating and was starting at me,just starting at me like he'd seen a ghost.

  Do I say "got you" just to let it slide or do I just go with it? I'll just go with it,he'd still find out someday any way.

  "What do you mean he's not your father?"

  "Look Fej don't stress me"

  "Ife"

I got up to leave,I was getting tired of the conversation. "I didn't say he wasn't either" I said as I walked out on him

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