Shadows Of The Past

Transition

    Dedicated to tifetobi. Thanks for the comments!

      "Useless woman"
      "Imagine!"
      "The audacity"
      "I can't believe I wasted my time   
      like this"

   They kept scowling and hissing angrily. I think my brain could not comprehend that much at a time because I felt nothing, no anger, no relief, just weakness as I kept staring into space, while tucking the letter carefully in my pocket

     "Go with her until we sort this out", one of them said again, a deep frown marring his features

    " Ehn! No oo. I have to go to the market", she retorted,eyeing him maliciously

    "He could go with you, Iya Peju. He has to be somewhere till we sort this out"

    "I said NO. Egbami! I'm just a young woman oo and I have responsibilities, five children to cater for. I will not carry someone else's luggage on my head while I drag mine behind me", she yelled

   " Ah ha, Mama Peju, just for the mean time. It's not forever ", the man said, a little more cautiously

" House him then", she hissed as she stormed out

"So who is he going to stay with? Don't you have relatives?", one of the two men said, sneering at me.

" I-I don't-have", I half-whispered, intimidation overwhelming me.

"How?", he yelled, impatience lacing his voice

" The-They are de- de- dead", I stammered, wishing I could disappear from his sight

"All of them?", he asked, disbelief written over him

I nodded in affirmation

He sighed,while pacing to and fro. It was obvious he was deliberating.

"Maybe he should stay at yours, Baba ibeji", the other man said, breaking the cold silence

" You could also house him. What do you think?", Baba ibeji replied, glaring at him.

For a moment, a feeling of rejection and worthlessness descended on my being. I was no good to anyone not my dad, not even my mum. After a long debate between the two men, they decided to take me to an old widow's house,just down the street.

   She accepted me wholeheartedly, much to my surprise partly because she was a lonely old woman with no family and our situation was sort of akin . Whatever the reasons were, I was more than ecstatic to stay at her place.

She was a mother I never had in my real mother. I experienced love for the first time in my life. Life with her was not all that rosy because we struggled to meet our daily needs. Nevertheless, it was much better than the life I had with my real mother for the mere reason that she placed value on me.

I continued with school while helping with her petty trade in the evenings. She sold little household items just at the verandah so it was not exerting at all. I would take over shortly after I came back from school while she cooked dinner and would use that chance to finish up my assignments.

I left primary school and gained admission to a very competitive secondary school a little farther from home on a full scholarship sponsored by the government. Although she was not educated, she was really committed to my education and she never failed to tell me at every given opportunity, how proud of me she was.

I moved to the senior secondary school few years later and got to my finals(SS3) when tragedy struck, again.

Egbami- Come to my rescue
Mama Peju- Peju's mother. The Yorubas' call parents by their first child's name
Baba ibeji- Father of twins. Parents of twins are simply called by that.

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