When trouble brews

"The times are hard,you have to come to terms with it...there are no jobs, eh! How could you as a woman be so not smart? You're a housewife who scaled down your thriving business for you to be a fulltime housewife,you husband is on a fixed salary,you had the first child,the second,the third,your husband's salary hasn't increased,then the fourth and then fifth child,on the same fixed salary,wouldn't you have started feeling the pinch?"


The honourable minister for finance and coordinating minister of the economy,mrs ngozi okonjo-iweala said at a rountable summit for business women,female entrepreneurs and career women in abuja which Mom attended,she nodded in the affirmative at the above statement at the wisdom therein as she could picture her own sister in a similar situation,the times are indeed tough for everyone and even the rich are lamenting,the middle class in turmoil and the poor? One can only imagine what they are going through. Mom had used the opportunity of attending the summit to get to meet with the minister one on one to get friendly with her and maybe lobby for some contracts or if not,atleast some jobs for her boys,so after the summit ended,she managed to get the minister's audience

Mom- Hello madam! I thoroughly enjoyed your lecture today,it was very succinct 

Okonjo- Thank you dear,are you an entrepreneur?

Mom- (smiles) Hoping to be one,in light of the economic downturn,one needs more than one source of income stream but am a "career" woman

Okonjo- Economic downturn? You don't seem to me like a dull woman,the economy has been rebased and we are on full throttle to the top,you shouldn't be complaining of hardtimes,get smarter woman

Mom- I sure will ma! I was hoping to get your contact...if it is ok with you ma'am

Okonjo- Uhh...emm! Ok,no problem,let me have your number
 (Both ladies exchanged numbers)

Mom came out of the auditorium feeling empowered with a lot of information and brainstorming on her way to her car on how to source for funds to start some projects she had always thought would be a good source of alternative income stream for the family.

On the other side of town,I wasn't having a very good day,I'd gone to visit a friend,spending a great deal of the money I had on taking a drop and to my displeasure,met his absence,so I had to board a public bus back home. I'd just entered the big bus and was settling down on my seat when a middle-aged,plumpy woman from hell flagged down the same bus and struggled in alongside her heavy self with a big,rolled up,puffy bag that I thought was just a shopping bag until she started unloading the bag,I quickly moved back as other passengers in the bus protested and grumbled,asking the woman to stop,in light of the frequent bomb blasts in town,there's never a limit to being too careful.

The woman looked up at us with a look that said "why are you all acting strange" as she kept on unloading the bag despite the driver's protests,she opened up the bag and it turned out to be a comfy,fur-rimmed chair and she sat,the driver packed to a side of the road and screamed at the woman

"MADAM,HERE ARE EMPTY SEATS IN THE BUS,WHAT'S THIS RUBBISH YOU SITTING ON,CAUSING A STIR AND INCONVENIENCING PEOPLE" he barked

The woman,sighing from being exasperated,gave the driver some cold stare and said she couldn't sit on the bus seats because it was dangerous to her health

"I sit only on comfortable chairs as sitting on those things,the doctor said could make me paralyzed"

Everyone laughed as my jaw slowly fell open

She said it so calmly,to which the other commuters got incensed,screaming at her to take her weird chair out with her,others who were rather in a haste to get to their destinations screamed over the others to let the woman be,eventually,they left the woman alone while people continually hissed including me,the woman and her comfy chair were so annoying,blocking the entrace to the bus,all because she could be paralyzed if she doesn't sit on a very comfortable chair...what rubbish

On getting home,I met Mom was already home having a bowl of cereal,I greeted her and went to my room to take a shower and came downstairs to also have a bowl of cereal,Mom was just scraping the last bits of her own cereal

"Where are my naughty brothers?"

I asked,she shrugged and said they went for their evening workouts as usual,dropping her spoon in her bowl,she sat up straight and cleared her throat,I knew something was up,she looked me in the face and holding my hands,she said she had something to tell me that would probably shock me,my eyelids squinted rapidly as I tried to quickly rack through my brain to figure out what it could be that she wanted to tell me that would shock me.

"You know I told you I was going for that women entrepreneurial summit with the finance minister?" She said,I nodded rapidly,she continued

"Well,she gave this really inspiring lecture and I thought...well,since there are no guaranties in life,you know...that we should have different sources of making money for this family"

I nodded rapidly,my brows squeezed into a slight frown,waiting expectantly for her to tell me this big news...did the minister award her a contract?what could it be? I thought.

"Well,I took a loan from Alh garuba,head of the mortgage bank,using this house as collateral"

I thought I just heard a terrible bomb detonate,I dropped her hands as though I held hot iron,I sprang to my feet in a flash

"YOU DID WHAT MOM?" I screamed

"HOW COULD TAKE A LOAN WITHOUT CONSUlTING WITH US FIRST?! DO QT,KARL AND HAMZ KNOW ABOUT THIS?"
I barked,she made a sign for me to lower my voice and calm down and tried to explain

"I know how you feel and the fears you have but don't worry baby,we would God willing come out of all this victorious and no,your brothers don't know about this yet,I felt I should discuss this with you being the calm and intelligent one who actually engages in meaningful discussions with me"

She said as I sensed she was trying to use that to placate me,I turned my nose up,she continued

"Baby,life is all about risks,the inheritance your father left you and your brothers is threatened,with all the discrepancies going on with financial statements in your dad's family,so I had to take a calculated risk and just get this loan so we can get the projects we talked about started so we can have multiple income stream for the family"

 She said,I heaved a sigh and said it was ok.

Later that evening,QT,Karl and Hamz strolled into the sitting room carrying some of their workout gear with them,I said hello to them and they waved back,Mom quickly made a sign for me not to say anything yet,my already open and ready-to-blurt lips slowly closed up back,heaving a sigh,I just wanted to say it and be done with.

While having dinner,I cleared my throat and started...while Mom was looking nervous

"So guys! I have news for you" I said

"Hmmn, hehe,whenever Mom and Maj sit and address us,starting with that line,it means menus have been changed and new ones introduced,so which new menus are we sampling? Spanish?"

Hamz blurted,I smiled,quickly trying to find a suitable way to euphemise the breaking news in my head before saying it, I went,

"Mom today got some huge amount of money to start the projects we talked about some times back,so all we need do now is start"

Hamz almost choking on food was the first to speak out,he took a few gulps of water to push his chewed morsel of food down and said

"Wow! HUGE you say? That's nice,when do we start?"

I looked him up and down in such a disdainful manner and turned to Karl who I believed had a more mature way of responding

"That's nice...so,why are you the one breaking the news and how did Mom raise the money?"

I sighed,shared some furtive glances with Mom which QT caught,his brows arched in a curious expression,my eyelids squinting rapidly,I shrugged and said it as it is

"Mom took a loan and used this house as collateral"

For some few seconds,which seem to last several hours,no one said anything and then suddenly, as though zapped by some electric surge,they all sprang up all at once,

"WHAT THE HELL...FUCK" etc as they all chorused at once  using different variables of what goes with "what the", QT turned to Mom who was making a sign to him to calm down

"NO MOTHER,AM NOT CALMING DOWN,HOW COULD YOU DO THIS..." He barked as Karl cuts in angrily

 "MOM THIS IS UNREASONABLE,YES WE NEED MORE SOURCES OF INCOME BUT NOT PUT OUR ONLY SOURCE OF SHEALTER ON THE LINE,THIS IS BAD MOM"

Karl's nostrils expanding in unbridled anger,which I totally understood,Mom clasped her hands over her head,took few deep breaths and looked up to face her angry boys

"Calm down my boys,I have had enough sense and being smart before you all were born"

We all nodded with sarcasm,I smiled,really pitying my Mom who feels like she's in some kind of hot seat right now,she continued

"Life is a risk,I had to do something,time is very fleeting and waits for no one,maybe what I did was dangerous but not doing anything at all is very more precarious,I can't just sit and fold my arms,if we don't find alternative means of making money in this house since you all haven't secured any form of employment...I can't even begin to imagine what we would go through and you know that we can't fully depend on your dad's family,so yes,I admit,this was very extreme,what I did but it's the only way out for now,so rather than expend so much energy chastising me,channel that energy into positive use by joining hands together as a family and doing the needful...making the projects work"


We all grumbled and murmured for abit as we digested what she said and knew she was right...quite right,except the loan part,QT sighed,Mom then dropped another bomb

"Maj didn't tell you the part where I got the money from Alhaji garuba"

My brothers screamed WHAT again,Alhaji garuba is a wealthy but dangerous man from our hometown whom people feared having dealings with...except Mom obviously

"Mom why would you do this?you got a loan and not from a bank but from Alhaji garuba?how could you Mom,you aren't that old now, are you?"

Hamz voiced his disappointment,QT and Karl shaking their heads in disappointment,Karl turned to face me and asked

"So you knew about all this and didn't give us a headstart? So we can all convince her not to go ahead with this?"

Before I could talk,Mom said I'd just found out just minutes before they came in and reassured us that all would be well,we tried to believe her because we all know whom we were dealing with

"So what is the time frame given for repayment of this loan"

Mom shrugged slightly and said 24 months,so we all slowly sat down and started devising ways to make the money work for us.

Six months later,Alhaji suddenly sent Mom a letter demanding to have his money paid back,we were still waiting to start getting dividends from the business we had floated and we still had a year and half before we paid all our debts and in six months,we had already paid him some money,so you can imagine the shock on Mom's face when she got the letter. After the day's work,she left the office and went straight to alhaji garuba's house to plead and remind him we still got a year and half remaining,the man told Mom bluntly he doesn't care and wants his money back or we should get prepared to vacate our house,Mom was astounded

"You see why I never wanted you to go to bed with the devil Mom? Huh?" I said,pacing back and forth in the room

"I know but see Maj,this has to be between you and I for now,I don't know how your brothers would react" Mom pleaded,I nodded,agreeing with her but the letters from Alhaji kept coming,sending men to warn Mom and ofcourse,my brothers eventually found out and by then,the bulk of the money had been invested,the Matriarch of the Adagiri family must'nt  find out that we used the house as collateral,even though the house is now mom's and ours but it was built by Dad.

We reported to the police and Mom went to court,that was when trouble started,Alhaji threatened Mom,saying she had the audacity to go to court?that he is wealthy and owned the police,could bribe his way from court and could annihilate us,suddenly,Mom became shaky and unstable but trying her best to put up a strong appearance but I knew she wasn't feeling okay.

One morning,I woke up and while brushing my teeth,I heard the gate bell sounding back to back,our gateman had gone to visit his family back in sokoto,so I went to the gate,wondering who could be here to visit so early in the morning. I opened our gate and saw a bus filled with extremely macho men with the driver asking if Mom was around,instinctively,I said no,I recognised one of the men who was the right hand man of alhaji garuba,the guys alighted as I quickly made to lock the gate but they quickly caught up with me,entered the compound with daggers,hammers and other dangerous weapons and made straight for the house and without hesitation,started destroying the house,breaking it down,Mom and my brothers raced down at hearing the sounds,the splattering bricks prevented Mom from coming out but my brothers jumped out and took on the hefty men,men to men but they were more in number,I shouted to my Mom to throw me her phone which she did and I started
recording the whole fracas,some of the guys demolishing our house,removing the sliding glass windows,the mahogany doors,destroying the garage while Hamz,Karl and QT engaged the rest in a fitscuff,one of the men who was standing on top of our roof (they came with a long ladder too) and was removing our roofing tiles threatened to shoot me if I don't stop recording the whole scene,I didn't budge,so he looked around,searching everywhere for his gun and when he couldn't find it,he picked one of the roofing tiles and threw it at me as I quickly ducked,narrowly missing my eyes but slightly cutting me by the wrist,my Mom kept screaming and was shouting down on the phone for the policemen to rush down but from their conversation,the men of the force were saying they were on patrol and would only come if Mom would pay for their fuel,Mom was outraged,by now neighbors had gathered and shockingly,no one came in to help,instead,they were screaming from their
compounds and balconies,yelling for the men to stop,by the time some of the men thought it fit to help,they had destroyed the greater part of the first storey of our duplex home,the doors destroyed,walls broken down,the inside of the house filled with broken bricks and dust and one had accidentally smashed the flash screen tv,our garage broken and one half of the roofing tiles taken off,having caused enough wreckage,they quickly boarded their car,with blood dripping everywhere,they drove off

 My brothers on the other hand were looking bloodied,and Karl was bleeding from his ear,they also inflicted major injuries on some of the men and I'd covered pretty much the whole incident on Mom's phone ,Mom raced downstairs to see the extent of damage they had caused,with her hands over her mouth,she bursted into tears,seeing her sons looking bloodied and me...in a state of shock and my wrist bleeding,she sniffed and told me to quickly wrap my hand and we should all get ready to leave for the hospital,the neighbors who have now gathered were asking questions whether the men were armed robbers or what and why they destroyed the house and offering to help with their first aid kit but non of us paid them any attention,Mom said to us

"Don't touch anything,just leave things the way they are and for now,let us all go to the hospital"

I quickly went to fetch the car keys and threw at Karl but he missed,he looked at us as though we were just lip synching,I told him I understood he was hurt but we had to go to the hospital and fast...he made a sign he didn't hear a word I was saying,we were all alarmed

"Karl...Karl,can you hear me?"

I asked but he said he couldn't hear me,Mom wailed again,I shouted at her to be quiet and QT,all bloodied and his shirt torn to shreds quickly picked the car keys and went to start the ignition,Hamz helped Karl into the car and I quickly took pictures of all our injuries and damaged house and entered the car with Mom,the neighbors who had gathered were left with their jaws open as we totally ignored them and Mom told them to get out of the compound as we wanted to lock the gates,we didn't listen to their explanations,they all filed out and we locked the gate

Again,I called Karl three times and irritated,he shouted saying he couldn't hear a thing,suddenly,he clapsed his head and screamed saying he had a severe migraine attack and slowly,he drifted into a state of unconsciousness

"OH MY GOD! KAAAAAAAARL" we all screamed as QT increased the car speed

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