ADUKE..
Chapter 1
……Baami,Baami,Baami,ah! Mogbe,maami,i cried for help running round the house in search of my mother, father was lying helplessly on the floor ,with some white fumes coming out of his mouth,i didn’t understand what was wrong with baami….
Maami,maami, i searched everywhere,but mother doesn’t seems to be anywhere around,where could maami be at this time , i wondered,i ran out and called for helps,and typical of our Caring African neighbours,they rushed in to see what the matter was.
An elderly man,baba Ade,who lives hereby, touched him,and did some observation like they do at the hospital,, he’s fine,just a mixture of different alcohol,get me some water ADUKE,,i ran as fast as my legs could to get water,and handed to baba Ade,who sprinkled some on his face,and he made a sneeze,which was very reliving to everyone around.
Agbaya,rubbish,how can a full grown man like this be useless,see the emotional torture he puts his daughter,poor girl thinking something evil had befallen her father,Iya Bisi said,,,
My sister,that man is very shameless, that’s all he does from sunset to sunrise,he doesn’t do anything to assist his wife and daughter,very useless thing that calls himself a husband,one by one the neighbors started going out knowing, that he had regained himself….
Aduke,baba Ade called me,if there’s food in the house,please serve him, that would also help.thank you baba,i said as he walked away.
Baba,why,why,why do you do this,why do you drink so much,I was scared,I thought I had lost you,i cried,,,take your stupid face out of here,you thought you had lost me,how can you little brat,lost an able body man like me,I am going to lost you and your useless mother,father shouted at me…
I went in to get food for father as Baba Ade had instructed,baba please eat something,i served him,who told you I am hungry,who,if I am hungry I know what to eat,you and your useless mother wants to kill me in this house,but believe me I shall deal with you two first, rubbish,he said and fell back on the floor,soon started snoring….
Aduke, kiloshele,you don’t look happy,seems you have been crying all day,what is it omomi,talk to me,kilo happennnnnnn
Iya Aduke,leave the poor child alone joor,who wouldn’t be tired,after the race and psychological trauma she went through today.iya Bola our loudest neighbor had said..
Iya Bola,what are you talking about,what happened to my daughter today,Aduke, what is it,iya Aduke who else, if not that your drunkard of a husband,he almost died today ohhh,if not for the way Aduke ran and called for help,it would have been a different story,you needed to have seen people here,fat,short,tall,slim,dark, everybody in this neighborhood were all at your place, trying to see what to do to rescue your husband,iya Bola narrated in exaggeration.
Aduke where is your father,mother asked me anxiously,baami is inside,I said to her.she ran quickly to her husband, baba Aduke,baba Aduke,Shola,she woke him anxiously, trying to see if he was still alive may be….
What is it,why would you wake me up like that, why,he shouted at mother.how are you, what’s is wrong with you,how are you feeling,mother asked concerned.
Maami ,,,Baami is fine,he only drank too much as usual,but today’s own was worse because fumes were coming out of his mouth as he was lying looking lifeless on the floor.i had to call for help,and baba Ade said he had mixture of liquor which didn’t go well with his system…
Adeshola,when are you going to quit this shameful behavior of yours, when,when Shola…mother called out her husband by his name in disappointment…
Get out from my face you shameless things,like mother like daughter,father said as he continued sleeping and snoring away……
My child,,I am sorry for what you went through, business was slow today, when I was about to close, costumers started coming,I had to delay about an hour or two to make more sales since tomorrow is Sunday and I won’t be going to the market.mother explained everything to me in tears.
Mother,it’s okay,I was only worried when I got back from rehearsal,and saw Baami that way and you weren’t home too.i said.
Please my child,I am sorry,mother and daughter had a beautiful hug.
Come and eat, please my daughter,you must eat ,have your bath and sleep, tomorrow is Sunday.mother said to me.
……Where is my money?,who took my money,father was shaking the whole place in search of his money the next morning.
Baba Aduke,what is it, kiloshele,what money are you talking about that you have to be shouting like this,mother asked still feeling sleepy,may thunder and lightning,bend that you mouth to the back for saying I am shouting,where is the 720 Naria I kept in my pocket yesterday,where is it,he shouted again,
Kaaro baba,kaaro mama,I genuflected as a typical Yoruba young woman greeting her parent.
Omomi, God bless you,dide,stand up beautiful one.. mother answered me.
Aduke,where is the 720 Naria I kept in the pocket of my shokoto yesterday,,father asked me in anger,Baami,I didn’t see your money,he raised his hands to slap my face, thankfully he missed.
Shola what’s the meaning if this one this morning,you and I know Aduke doesn’t steal,and has never stolen from any of us,so maybe it’s where you went to drink you dropped it,not in this house, please go and ask them there,maybe one of them may have your money.
Bisola,so I am now a mumu,an ode,so I don’t know what I am saying ni,you have connive with this stupid daughter of yours to steal from me this morning,he said to mother.he dragged her and turned her to a pouching bag that morning,I tried to stop him from hurting mother but all to know avail,soon neighbors started coming to separate them, by then,mother had gotten a black eye and some bruises….
Maami,why does Baami hate us,are we not his family,maami,let us go away, let’s go somewhere far from him,i told mother.
My child, he’s your father,you must love him no matter what,and he’s my husband,I vowed before God and man to be with him for better for worse.mother replied.
But maami,you didn’t know he’d turn out to be like this.maami look at your face,which husband does this to his wife,i cried..
It’s okay my child,it’s okay,mother held me in tight embrace with each other’s tears touching the back of the other.
Written by
Rejoice Igbinovia Aluyi
