That's the least we can do

I want you, I want us

MAMA’S JOY (I)

          

                                                  

 

“What a life”

To wake up to the sound track of moving vehicles that I have no business with.

“Ada!!!” Daddy screamed “I need my trouser ironed and my shoe polished; besides have you boiled my bath water yet?”

I grumbled “I am boiling your water Sir”.

 It still amazes me. I could never be up as early as 4:50am.  It is probably the prayer of my late mother Ezinne.

“My one million dollar baby” mama will say.

I would chuckle and wrap my hands around her waist.

“Adaobi I am certain that you must be stupid this morning, open this door!”

I am dead! How was I carried away this time? Papa will kill me.

He has never liked me ever since my mum died in my grade 2.

“Better disappear before I get back tonight” papa said.

Sorrow defines me best.

This lonely home I live in haunts me everyday. No school, no friends and practically no life.

“Ada”

“Ha! Is papa back?”

“Ada ooo “

“Kunle is that you?”

I raced to the door. “You still shout Ada with this your parted red sea?”

“Ada!”  Kunle sternly said

“I am leaving”

“I am sorry jor”

 I am so fond of Kunle. His gapped tooth is not impressing but I love it just the way it is. After all my bow leg isn’t a better option, it is something my father hates about me. Not so bothered because Kunle ignores that part of me.

I am the happiest; at least I don’t scare people with eyes like that of an old owl. But maybe papa fails to look in the mirror, sigh.

The day had gone dark and Kunle had to go before my dad gets back.

“I would see you another day” He said.

As mama will say “another day maybe never again”

Indeed I never saw Kunle again.

My life became an epitome of pain. I could wish for death

Infact, I wished for death.

The more I asked for death the more I loose a loved one.

But why hasn’t this death taken papa?

After papa and I were told that Kunle died in his sleep due to his asthma attack, papa has never stopped referring to me as “aje” a witch.

Funny enough I laugh whenever he says this.

The struggle between his tongue and his voice to put out three letters was a view never to miss.

You can imagine an Igbo man from inewi in Anambra state saying “aje” LOL it sounded like he was wishing me well.

He accused me of using my late mother’s blood for rituals to straighten my leg. Trust me I would have preferred to use his balls.

Now that Kunle is dead, what’s next? My life hasn’t ended yet. I got to keep moving.

Not too long after papa and I had moved to Onitsha he lost his job, so he has been on a job hunt.

God bless his hustle.

In me, I found a talent. I used to scribble all my sorrow in rough sheets.

I saved thirty naira and I had in mind that I was going to buy a note book to save all my writings.

On one Sunday afternoon after papa had finished ranting and speaking gibberish he told me to Vamoose the house.

Papa said I had irritated him far beyond what he can swallow. Obviously he didn’t try chewing. I sighed.

And of course I ran along not forgetting to steal a biro. I have been freed. I’m freed at last.

But wait! No where to rest my head.

Who do I even know? Na wa oo. What a cruel world.

Some people must be walking dead!

So many people passed me by and watched me hide under a mango tree beside an ant hill while it rained cat and dog.

Not one person offered a coat.

I said to myself “I must buy this note book”

Ten o’clock the next day with my ripped skirt and bogus top I roamed the street with no direction in search for a note book to buy at thirty naira.

The day couldn’t get worse as the sun had beat directly on my well shaven scalp.

After the long queue I finally got my note book so I began my story.

All the books my late mum read to me always had a story of the writer at the commence of the book.

So I started...

                                                 About the author.

OVER TEN YEARS.

 

Writing letters became the order of my day.

I do believe that people change but I also believe that love never dies.
I loved her and she loved me. Most of the time we quarreled but we always found a way to walk over it.

After college Jane told me she was leaving Australia to continue her study in Nigeria. I couldn't stop her, I couldn't go either. I had nothing in Nigeria for me.
Still, Jane had to go.

At the terminal point Jane asked me "Tom are we ever going be together forever?" I looked at her passionately with a sour heart as tears streamed down my eyes, I held her closely and I said “one day I would come get you and marry you".
Jane and I used to chat via Facebook and sometimes when i get 50 box from my dad I would call her.

I recall when I got grounded by my dad a week after Jane left for using his Skype credit all night till it was exhausted. Being grounded was the least punishment i could get for spending time with Jane.

One Friday afternoon, I received a mail.
I had anticipated it. Jane had helped me apply for a job in a nearby clinic.
So, yes I got the per time job at the clinic and I wanted to tell her but her phone was switched  off all day.

How unusual.

I became a little worried. I sent a message to her, telling her that I am ready to come over to spend time with her in Nigeria that all I needed was her address, hoping she was just trying to get me to come to Nigeria.
But I guess I was wrong. I thought a little more just maybe she wasn't allowed to access her Facebook anymore so I decided to mail her yet there was no reply. I cried.

I told my dad that I was losing my mind. He fatherly advised me saying "in life, people change and become different and all we have is to be strong and become who we have always wanted to be"

I love Jane.

Precisely 2nd of February 1989 as at 3:25am while i was surfing the internet looking for schools to further my study, I saw pictures of Jane on Facebook and I thought she probably did not have my time. I decide to focus on my career for three years so I abandoned Facebook to pursue my career.

When I was done with school I realized it’s been four years since I last spoke to Jane. Then again I decided to try her number and send several mails but to no avail. On a Saturday night while I was still at work, Rachael an old friend of ours walked into the clinic seeking medical attention. After I had attended to her as we chatted I asked Rachael “how’s Jane?"
"Jane is.. Jane is back in Nigeria"
Before I could lead another question Rachael wrote in a piece of paper Jane's address and said " This should help" as she walked away.

When I got back home I decided to send letters every day in a year to the address I was given and I did that for another 6 years telling her how I missed her and that I hadn't forgotten my promise to marry her although she wouldn't reply I still love her and that if I had offended her I was sorry.

Hungry for the end of the month pay; I jumped as my phone beeped. I had gotten an alert on my phone.
Sadly it wasn't the month's pay.
But surprisingly it was a Facebook notification. A good looking guy as old as me posted a picture of her saying "I miss you darling"
 I concluded judgmentally. oh! she probably is in love with someone else.

My phone beeped!
Sweating profusely with a raging fist I looked at the phone. This time the end of the month's pay had come in.
Without a second thought I got a ticket to take me to Nigeria to find my Jane. When I got to the address I used to send all those letters to, I saw all my letters in the mail box.

I knocked and her mum opened her door.
I could almost just let her go at that point, and never think of her no matter how hard it was going to be. But yet I asked "where is Jane" and her mum said she died ten years ago.
Before I could count how many words I have in my name I had dashed to the nearest bus stop took a taxi to the airport and traveled back to Australia and said to me "this must be a silly Joke!"