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.
KEEP UP
Lol..serves the woman right but again, here i am pitying her, lol
ReplyDelete-Lyndsay Fairweather, England
-
Aww..i hope she's really changed for good
ReplyDelete-Ci, russia
She can be nice when she chooses to be..hatred is learned, we were all born with love
ReplyDelete-Kyle, sweden
Hilarious...but true, women are generally averse to having rivals, i wish her well
ReplyDelete-Aisha Umar, Abuja
Good for her..karl is becoming such a nigerian, lol
ReplyDelete-VAUGHAN, PH
Well written, your family is quite interesting
ReplyDelete-Andy, belgium
Karma beckons to the matriarch
ReplyDelete-Ngozi, benin
i enjoyed reading...keep it up
ReplyDeleteMtseeeeeewww
ReplyDeleteTHE GREAT ANON
Get the fuck off
Delete-Annabel, lagos
superb
ReplyDelete-Mandy, abuja