A hand of fellowship

A handshake is a greeting, an expression of trust, a mutual guarantee by two people that at least in one hand, they carry no weapon but it can also ensure a measure of distance and convey an articulation of reserve as if its participants are thinking, thus far and no further...in one short sentence, a handshake is not a hug.

The new Matriarch of the Adagiri extended family had come visiting us with the proverbial olive branch in hand to commiserate with us over the loss of our home as read in TSUNAMI but of course, we knew better than to take such words to heart but chose to quietly listen anyway. She prevailed on us to be patient with the family as regards inheritance, knowing now was a crucial time we needed money. Mom was quite surprised as she was typically expecting the Matriarch to rain fire and brimstone on her for daring to get a loan using her late brother's house as collateral, the non-payment leading to the loss of the house even though the house is legally Mom's after Dad's demise. Mom simply nodded and thanked the Matriarch for her concern, she thereafter settled down and engaged us in a bit of chitchat where she learned it was going to be QT's birthday the next day and we had no idea what to do for him...actually, I was the one who let that slip with the hope she would sponsor a treat for him, I blurted out after she asked what we were up to,

"Well, ma'am, we are quite well, obviously trying to cope in light of recent events...we had even made plans way ahead of time to celebrate Qatari's birthday which is  tomorrow but now....it's all gone to cinders with our home gone"


The Matriarch's mouth went wide open in horror and wearing a sympathetic look, commiserated with us again and to QT especially then dug her hand into her granny-like handbag and counted twenty pieces of 1000 naira notes which she handed to QT and by extension, us to have fun with, we all quickly prostrated to thank her as she waved it away, asking us to help ourselves up as it was nothing, going further to explain the issue with the inheritance,

"You are all of age to be handed your individual inheritance but some of your uncles connived with the banks and other people in charge of overseeing the funds to dupe us all and that wouldn't happen...not on my watch...just keep praying ok?",

We all nodded and promised we would always do.  I soon went to the kitchen to prepare dinner when Karl came in to wash a bowl he had used to take garri and cereal in the kitchen zinc, a meal he had learned to take from QT and Hamz  which I find rather nauseating then asked if we were safe, I asked what for? He made a sign towards the sitting room with his mouth, showing he was referring to the Matriarch, he went,

"She's all nice today don't you think? Giving us 20 grand for partying and being all sweet and warm, I can see Mom is just looking awkward as she finds her strange kindness unbelievable",

  I smiled while carefully placing two freshly washed glass cups on a clean tray and a pack of juice by the side to take to the Matriarch and Mom to sip, I told Karl we would all be fine as long as we don't collect anything edible from her to eat directly, we definitely couldn't be poisoned, he chuckled as I left the kitchen with the tray of glass cups and a pack of juice.  Placing the tray on a small stool in front of the women, I overheard the Matriarch while serving the juice telling Mom she will do her best to ensure some money is sent to us to get a befitting house than  the one we were currently holed up in which made my heart skip two beats out of excitement, yet managed to keep myself calm as I've learnt to take her words with a pinch of salt. I went out of the sitting room to give the ladies room to talk with privacy as Karl who stayed back in the kitchen quickly pulled me in to dish out gossips of what I'd  heard them saying and when I mentioned the house, he sighed and prayed it was true,

"I'll love more than anything to get the size of our former home back or bigger" ,

Suddenly, we heard the sound of glass crashing on the tiled floor with Mom screaming my name to quickly come with a rag, broom and packer, I got jolted up by her voice, scampering around in circles in the kitchen looking for the broom while Karl quickly fetched a rag which he threw at me and I caught mid-flight and hurriedly took to them and to my surprise, I met Mom consoling a sobbing Matriarch whom on seeing me, tried to pull herself together, sniffing repeatedly while dabbing a handkerchief at her wet cheeks. As it would be rude to sit and inquire why she's crying, I simply told her to kindly take things easy, dropped the broom and packer and left the room.

 Hours later after the Matriarch had bid us farewell and left, my brothers and I sat at the dining table around Mom having dinner, waiting for deets of why the Matriarch was in tears and with a wry smile on her lips, she sighed and first of all thanked God for his mercies and miracles, as I didn't know where this was going, I gave a confused smile and thanked God also on her behalf, she then said the Matriarch's husband had married a second wife, a young and feisty woman half the matriarch's age or even lesser who is more than a match for the Matriarch hence she's had a deep thought about her life and retracing her steps. QT's face grimaced into a puzzled frown as he thought it was silly of her to retrace her steps over her husband getting a second wife after she had thoroughly enjoyed and used up all of his youth, with herself now a grandmother and her kids grown and gone out into the world,

 "What was she thinking? That the man would be joined at her hips forever?",

 Mom cautioned him not to be mean but Hamz supported QT, saying she deserves it,

 "Serves her right, she's been mean to all the women married into the family, this is payback time, some feisty girl to shake her up and make her old age unbearable...is she seeking divorce?"

 "Sadly she's considering it"

Mom said which made my brothers burst into fits of giggles,

"Well, she has a big father's house to return to, so I don't blame her" ,

Hamz quipped with a shrug, Mom responded that she doubted she will go through with the divorce,

"...any woman at any age would be devastated that her husband is seeking to marry a second wife and as a woman, I can totally understand her heartbreak, this sort of thing hurts as much as the death of a child and naturally, it calls for a lot of thinking which could probably include the feeling of guilt over past misdeeds and the thoughts of whether this is karma for all her wrong doings, so at least I'm relieved to know why she's been so nice to us and yes, I know I have to be careful with receiving her outstretched hand of fellowship, she's just vulnerable and broken now, she won't be forever, who knows what could be on the other side of such an alliance...God knows I've suffered enough at their hands and I don't like ugly surprises. So since we have barely enough money to feed now, I think we should split the money she gave you guys for your party so we buy foodstuffs",

Hamz and QT grumbled noisily, protesting against such while I laughed then Mom shrugged, saying it's cool if we all go hungry for a week or two which made their shoulders fall, Hamz and QT are notorious for their heavy consumption and complete love of food so QT grudgingly brought out the money and gave Mom half of the entire wrap of notes. On QT's birthday, being a public holiday as it coincides with Nigeria's independence anniversary with most people preferring to stay indoors with their family, Hamz and I went shopping for sweets, variety of nuts, a sizeable portion of delicious cake, biscuits and drinks which we took along with mats as we drove to papal's ground, a catholic praying field where adherents go to pray with a vast lush green area where we spread the mat on, played music on a portable radio, with a lot of little throw pillows around as we munched and drank our biscuits and drinks respectively, enjoying a low key birthday picnic with a lot of laughter and dancing,  grateful for little blessings.

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