Lying in state

There were once five female friends in secondary school!

Habiba, Ruth, Amina, Faith and Martha,

They were classmates and fast friends who did a lot of things together. Towards the end of their high school,Habiba was voted as likely to marry well,Ruth was voted as most likely to be a professor, Amina was voted as likely to be a successful business woman,Faith as most likely to be a supermodel and Martha as most likely to  die young!

Of all these ladies,only two truly came to pass,Habiba and Martha...Mom says of her,

"I think we all voted Martha as likely to die young because of her live-large and experimental attitude towards life,she was so carefree and did all sorts of dangerous things  that could put her life at risk"

Sadly,Martha did die unexpectedly but it wasn't her carefree lifestyle that killed her but the heartbreak of loosing a son,either way,her friends predicted right!

-72 HOURS EARLIER


The plasma screen was on showing a breaking news on some spots of violence recorded  across some cities in south africa whilst Mom was scrolling through her contact list,looking for Kabir's mom's phone number after my brothers and I had had enough of Kabir's idiotic attitude and had before then,complained ceaselessly to her when a call came through and she picked it,

"WHAT!"

Mom suddenly screamed,her mouth wide open and her lips trembling while we stood by her as we heard the inaudible voice of the person on the other end mumble on,relaying whatever it was that was wrong,she nodded continuously,digesting the information relayed to her and soon after,the call ended,Mom dropped the phone on the sofa and raising her hands over her head,she wailed and slumped herself continuously on the sofa. Apparently all bewildered,we inquired from her to know what was wrong but she was still too shocked to say anything,perhaps she couldn't bring herself to say it, I sat close to her and asked her to just say it,with her glassy eyes giving way to tears running down her cheeks and her lips trembling really fast,she muttered,

"Your..godmother Maj....is dead"

I exclaimed with horror,clasping my palms over my mouth,

"What happened?"

I demanded,sobbing,she pointed towards the telly stuttering,she said,

"Those cursed people in south africa....they killed Martha's son....oh lord!....they killed her only son and on hearing the news,she had a cardiac arrest"

Even Kabir whom we all see as a blockhead turned his head to the telly and back,his face wearing a glum look,Mom stood up and quickly ascended the stairs into her room,sobbing along.

News about death really breaks my heart,especially in this case where it's a godmother who usually spoils me with gifts,I sank into the sofa as hot tears burned against my eyelids, opening my peepers to release the silvery fluid which cascaded down my cheeks,I swiped against the screen of my phone and navigated my way into my playlist whereupon,I punched on the emotional tiwa savage's track, "olorun mi" and as it filtered through the phone's speakers,I began wailing, QT rolled his eyes and turned to leave the sitting room while Karl sat by me to console me,collecting the phone from me and stopping the track,I looked at Hamz whose expression was that of a confused countenance ,he probably wasn't too sure how to react since he once had an affair with Martha which caused a bitter rift between Mom and her which ultimately sort of drew them apart but Mom apparently really missed her friend,I guess he was thinking if he shows sad expressions,I would probably
think it was because he misses her and if he shows no sad or blank expression,I would see it as insensitive of him.

I pulled him to me and told him it was ok to be sad at her demise as I reminisced about the good times we had with her,taking special care not to mention her sexual liaisons with Hamz who saw it as a coy way of me asking him to speak out about it and with a low tone,he opened up to Karl about it. Naturally,Karl was enraged and Kabir laughed his head off,calling Hamz a toyboy and Martha,a cougar,an enraged Hamz charged at Kabir but quickly separated by Karl.

Few hours later, Mom came downstairs from her room and told me she had spoken with Martha's family and her ex-husband and also their mutual friends from high school and Martha's family wanted to get the burial done with soonest so as not to rack up bills,

"I still can't believe Martha is gone you know...she was a sweetheart,reckless but a sweetheart"

Mom said as her curled up hair fell on her face at the dining chair where we sat,she continued,

"Those animals who did these must be brought to book,I hope the nigerian government won't let this blow away like they are wont to do...am so heartbroken...oh Martha"

The day went by slowly and two days later,Kabir packed his luggage and left for the airport on his way back home while we got ready for Martha' s lying in state.

- BACK TO REALITY

The last time Mom entered a church to attend a funeral was in 1997, she didn't know if the ways of conducting such ceremonies had changed,the lying in state of Martha's son was simultaneously taking place in south africa,Martha's body lay in her neatly carved mahogany coffin in the front of the pews,after incense had been hovered over her body and the priests prayed upon her ,they  went ahead to blessing it by sprinkling holy water as Mom and her friends looked on,intermittently dabbing their eyes with their handkerchief,the ceremony soon ended and the muscular pallbearers carried the coffin balanced on their shoulders towards the limousine which would ferry her to her final resting place,Hamz who came along with Mom and I couldn't look at Martha's body and I understood,she use to once be his lover and it was probably too much to take in.

At the cemetery,the dust to dust rites were performed and slowly,Martha was lowered into the grave as Mom and her friends,including relatives of Martha wailed...and in my head I thought she was perhaps nearby,smiling and telling everyone she was in a better place.

Rip godmother!

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