Scars to my beautiful.

Wisps of condense white smoke floated beautifully in the air around in the living room, saturating the atmosphere with a rich sweet smell of Arabian incense emanating from the dipping red glow end of a stick of burning incense stuck in wax as the pitch of bass male voices of Islamic clerics undulated rhythmically in high and low tones while reciting Quranic verses for the repose of our late father.

It is Dad's annual remembrance and it's amazing to know that it's been over two decades already since his demise and how rather unconsciously, time has really healed us as we had  taken solace in God's love and protection over us through the years.

Earlier in the morning while having a light breakfast, Hamz had asked why Mom wasn't crying as she was now accustomed to doing almost every year, shockingly,  she scoffed and said there was no need to as a lot of years had passed and she has been healed over time as it isn't so fresh in her mind again. Hamz asked if she still loves Dad to which she affirmed with rapids nods while taking a sip of tea then she responded with a question, asking us to be honest that if the tables were turned and she was the one who had transited to the great beyond, would our Dad still be single to this day, to which we all gave a knowing smile of what the answer definitely would be which is an outright no, although I couldn't help but assume in my mind that the many hurts and disappointments Dad had put Mom through from beyond the grave with Karl's existence, issues about his shares' dividends and how it should be shared amongst other ugly surprises had contributed immensely to her gradually becoming emotionally numb to his remembrance.


As it is the practice every year, Mom had arranged for a group of Islamic clerics to come and pray for his repose and also bless us, the family he left behind. Mom being a woman sat behind us the men while us, the men sat on a mat in a circle... Mom's sisters were noticeably absent and we couldn't care less anyway as we enjoyed how it was such an intimate, strictly nuclear family affair. After about fourty five minutes of intense prayer and our bodies damp with sweat, the officiating cleric concluded the prayers and Mom beaming with a satisfied smile thanked the clerics profusely for their effort then signaled for me to come with her to the kitchen to help serve breakfast of bread and tea with margarine to the clerics which I promptly obliged. After they had dined, the officiating cleric called Mom aside to speak with her and then went,

"Hajia! While we were reciting the Qur'an, Allah revealed to me that your late husband, Alhaji Adagiri might be alive after all"

Mom's heart must have skipped several beats as her lips fell apart, jerking her face up in utter shock, the cleric nodded and went on ,

"His soul has gone on to live somewhere else but within this country as himself but with a different name, I see he's very wealthy and now married with kids"

Mom almost burst into laughter but for timely feigning mock shock, she quickly gathered herself together and responded,

"Does he remember his previous life...that is us and our condition now?"

The cleric affirms that he does but he couldn't visit or contact us even if he wants to. Mom sighs with understanding and said it was ok. Once the men of God were gone, Mom broke the news to us and Karl was the first to burst into fits of giggles followed by Hamz and then QT, I slowly opined that it isn't funny and it could in fact be true,

"Oh Maj! With all your education and exposure, I'm disheartened you believe in that shit"

Hamz snaps,

"And I'm vastly well read in subjects of ghosts, reincarnation, afterlife and divine second chances to know this could be true...Dad could indeed be alive somewhere else and that, dear brothers could be fact"

I retorted.

"Assuming this is true, does he have to physically get in touch with us to support us? He could anonymously wire a great sum of money into our accounts and appear in Mom's dream to give her a sign the money is from him or something, I know Dad is smart, yea?"

QT joked which got all reeling with laughter but I quickly added,

"Smart with humans yes but not with God, you can't beat the heavenly rules, he can't reach out even if he wants to".

"I've seen him in my dreams countless times, in big cars and rich, I'm tempted to believe the claims by the cleric"

Mom said with a deep sigh.

 "Oh well then, let him enjoy, what can we do about this? Summon his spirit? I don't believe in all that crap"

Hamz said,

"Me neither"

 added Karl,

"Yup, me too"

quipped QT. Mom and I then stared at each other in a feeling of resignation to what we believe in. The rest of the day went pretty well and by nightfall, we all went to sleep.

Deeply asleep, I must have  contoured my body in a bad position because I woke up with pains all over my neck and one side of my head, eager to find a relief, I ransacked Mom's drug cabinet and picked up a pain relieving gel I found "Olfen gel" and rubbed all over the affected area. By the next day, tiny dots of rash had appeared all over the areas I had rubbed the gel and I thought this was just prickly heat rash so I dabbed it all in dusting powder but by the next day, the whole affected area had become filled with pus and was now weeping, my head swelled to twice its size and I couldn't move my neck, to make matters worse, I had a terrible nightmare and waking up with a chilling scream, Mom had me rushed to the hospital first thing in the morning but all the medicine I was prescribed didn't work, Mom was so scared, I thought I was going to die because the rash was spreading and my head kept swelling, it felt as though my skin was gradually decaying, it was such a grotesque sight to behold, I cried every time and my Mom, God bless her, had to man up and assured me all would be well, that nothing bad was going to happen.

She started calling everyone, her mother inclusive who prescribed a certain Arabian perfume oil for her to rub all over the affected area, initially, she was reluctant, thinking such a flimsy, cheap thing couldn't  cure such a serious rash but as the meds weren't working, I had countless tests done which all showed I wasn't infected with any disease or virus.

Mom started applying palm oil and other local remedies for rash but still, nothing worked, her marabouts informed her it was evil people at work and she needed to fortify me spiritually, by now, Mom had spent quite a lot on me and couldn't go to work, my right eye was now affected and gradually swelling up really bad.

Mom finally got the perfume oil and after two applications, the rash all scabbed and dried off, falling off to reveal an unsightly wound. It took weeks for me to heal. Slowly but surely, the wounds healed up after weeks of feeling highly irritable, probably due to my swollen head which might have affected the part of my brain that deals with being irritable, the wounds itched a lot but was advised against touching it, it was sheer torture indeed. Finally, my head reduced to its normal size, I got my pre-rash look back and everything, by God's grace went back to being normal save some little scars which tried its best to dent my beautiful but only "try" it could.

 KEEP UP!