Øgbanjé. Part 11.
My mother’s inheritance was shared amongst all four of her children. As her first daughter, I inherited almost all her clothes, including her wrappers.
“I don’t really need these clothes o”. I said to my younger sister.
She wore a fake frown on her face. “, Mama won’t be happy that her “Ada” doesn’t want her clothes”. She pouted.
“Tradition is funny sha. I remember how mama used to cherish this her wrapper”. I lifted the wrapper up and chortled.
My husband walked into the sitting room with his eyes scanning the whole place.
“What are you looking for?”. I asked.
“I haven’t seen Chibuike all day. Where is he?”. My husband demanded.
“That’s true. He should be in his room playing video games as usual “. I said dismissively.
“He is not there. I wanted to even ask him something but can’t find him”. Said my husband.
I stood up immediately.
“Have you called him?”. I asked.
“Sometimes you ask funny questions. He doesn’t have a Nigerian line”. My husband said angrily.
“Chimoo”. I shouted.
We started looking for Chibuike everywhere.
It was a frantic but futile search because we couldn’t find him anywhere.
“My enemies has finished me! They want to take my only source of Joy 😭😭. Chineke oo”. I ululated and fell to the ground.
“Sister please calm down”. My sister consoled me tearfully.
“I told you we shouldn’t all travel to Nigerian to avoid cataclysms like this but you insisted we should all travel as a family. We better find him!”. My husband threatened as he stamped his feet to the ground whilst pointing an accusing finger at me.
I broke into another loud cry.
Some sympathizers were already gathered at our compound.
“He will come back”.
“No child has ever gone missing in this community”.
“It is well my sister”.
“And the boy is so fine o chai”.
The sympathizers kept dropping their 2 cents.
Around 5:43pm, Chibuike walked into the compound looking so unbothered and happy.
He was looking so pale. His clothes were dirty and moist. Though not completely wet, there were traces of water all over his body. His hair was damp and his eyes, red.
I ran like a protective mother hen and grabbed him to myself as if a hawk was trying to snatch him from me.
My husband rushed to where we stood.
“Where have you been?”. He asked angrily.
“Y’all were worried about me? Come on! I’m not a kid”. He said tactlessly.
My husband got infuriated and tried to hit him but I quickly intercepted it and got hit in his stead.
“Come on pops! I only went out to swim. Can’t a boy even get at least a swim? Gosh! You guys are frustrating!”. He said without an iota of trepidation.
I knelt before my husband and pleaded with him to calm down.
“At least he’s safe and sound. We’ll handle this later”. I pleaded.
The whole sympathizers kept shaking their heads in pity.
“Such a spoilt brat!”.
“What do you expect from a broiler (an overgrown baby) 😁”.
“It can never be my child”.
“Aru! Abomination!”.
They all murmured amongst themselves.
My husband was completely embarrassed. He went upstairs angrily.
“Go and get changed before you catch a cold”. I said facing Chibuike.
He grumbled as he climbed the stairs.
One by one, the sympathizers left to their homes.
“Let me go talk some sense into him”. I said to my sister and went upstairs.
I walked into his room unobstrusively. He didn’t even notice I was inside the room.
Chibuike had changed into a grey tracksuit. He was casually flipping through his phone.
“Aren’t you even sorry about you did”. I asked.
He had a jump scare.
“Ohhhh! I have always told you to knock before entering my room mom! Just a simple knock mom!”. He protested angrily.
“Chibuike! What are you growing into?”.
He didn’t say anything.
“How did you get to the stream? Because the stream is very far from the house”. I questioned.
“It’s not that far”. He said without raising his head from his phone.
“I know you love swimming”. Actually, Chibuike started swimming when he was barely 2yrs old without any form of training. If you want to make him happy, take him to the pool. When he was small, if you want him to stop crying, promise to take him to a pool. Anything that concerns water thrills him.
“You should have at least told either your dad or me before leaving the house”. I continued.
“You were busy with them old folks. Popsy wasn’t home. Moreover, I’m not a kid. I can make my own decisions”. He snapped.
I couldn’t believe his unruly attitude. I started crying.
“You are being dramatic mom. I did nothing! There were even toddlers having mad fun there. Come on! I need a break from all these drama!”. He said and stood from his bed. It was obvious he was about walking out on me.
“Are you going to walk out on me?”. I asked.
“If you don’t stop being dramatic, I will”. He blurted.
“Sit-down”. I said whilst pointing at a spot on his bed.
Reluctantly, he sat down.
I calmly explained to him how he made everyone scared and worried. I told him to properly apologize to his dad.
Although not convinced, he promised to apologize.
He did apologize to his dad later that night.
My husband had to prepone our flight by a week inorder to avoid cataclysmic events like such.
Two days to when we were to travel, Chibuike fell terribly ill. He didn’t respond to any form of medications.
My husband had to postpone our flight back to the initial arrangement. This was because Chibuike was too weak to fly.
Surprisingly, Chibuike got better after the flight was postponed.
It was like a miracle.
A day to our rescheduld flight, he fell ill again. This time around, some mysterious boils spread all over his body and he was also unconscious.
We had to take him to a dermatologist who gave him an injection and also gave us a cream to rub all over his body.
From there, we took him to the hospital where he got admitted.
My husband had to travel alone since he had almost elapsed his leave at work.
I knew staying back would cost me my job but there’s nothing a mother wouldn’t do to save her child.
Few days later, he got better and the boils miraculously dried up without leaving a single scar on his body.
“What the Fûc.k is going on?”.
To be continued;
Written by Judith Onyoyibo
