LIFE THROUGH MY EYES- FINDING YOU 2

Finding You (2)

My father had been quite different from my mother. While my mother had been a force of nature,father had been quiet.He had been in the military and one can’t help but ponder how he coped there. I mean one had a ideal view about the military, being so brash and forceful, everything so authorative but there was father, an exact opposite. Mother would have been best suited.

Father had died that year I wrote my jamb exams. No one had seen it coming. No one ever saw death coming. It had been accident and for a while the whole house had been bleak. Mourning period had come and gone and I guess we returned to our own kind of normal.

“Aunty Jane, grandma says food is ready” I hear a voice say behind me. I turn to see my niece; Beatrice. Beatrice is Sarah’s and clocking ten next month. She’s the older of the two and quite got a mouth on her.

“Thanks darling” I say with a smile and draw her closer to me.

“Is that grandpa?” she asked shyly and I acknowledged with a nod.

 I’m holding a family picture of mine. In it is my parents and us kid’s smiling excitedly at the camera at my brother John’s matriculation. John is my parents first.

“Yes” I say. “And that’s me, your mother, Uncle John,Uncle Jacob, Aunty Rose and grandma” I continue. I remember the first time I had visited the university. Everything had been so shiny to me. We hadn’t spent too much time there though. John had already been displaying his big boy attitude and hadn’t wanted to be seen with parents. The rest of us had visited Sarah in her place of residence. She had been doing a pre-degree program then and there we had stocked our stomach to our hearts content.

“Let’s go downstairs before your mother send the whole house to come look for us” I say with a smile.

 Beatrice and I walk hand in hand and I couldn’t help but feel how life was simple then. At that period, we hadn’t thought so though. We felt everything was difficult and we told ourselves that we couldn’t wait for when we were responsible for our own lives and didn’t have to depend on anyone. Now, I see how wrong we had been. On the other hand I feel no period of life is difficult or simple and it only depend on how one saw it.

“Glad, you could join us” my mother says with cagey look. I want to say she’s angry but I cannot. You can never tell what was going on in mother’s head. I think I may have done something wrong or did i? Okay let’s backtrack a little. So I came into the house. I greeted her, said hi to my sisters and their husband/fiancé, had a little questions and answers with my niece and then went upstairs.

Oh no! I didn’t help them in the kitchen.

I quickly do a silent sorry in her direction. She looks at me with a frown for a while and then does a little smile. “That was fast” I thought within myself. Mother was known for her grudges and she being forgiving makes me feel edgy.

There is a knock on the door and the first thought that comes to my head is the “boys”. But I had chatted with them on the app "whatsapp" some hours ago and none of them had told me there were coming to town. My brothers John and Jacob lived far from us and if they were coming, mother would have been more excited. There were different looks for different occasions and this look was definitely not “my sons are coming to town” look.

I see my sisters exchange a look and the realization comes. “Oh no” not again. Not another setup. My mother and sisters have been doing this for a while now. Setting me up with different men they think would be suitable. At first I had let them had their way with me. I mean there was no harm in trying right? But it had gotten overbearing. After a few dates, I had told them to stop but my family was never one to let things go.

Beatrice is the one that quickly hop down the chair to go open to door. Had they instigated her into this too? I turn to look at mother but it seems there is something fascinating about the flower arrangement sitting at the table right now. My sisters would not meet my eyes either. Their partners on the other hand are all smiles. What’s so funny about this moment? If I hadn’t been known as the easygoing one, it would have felt good to walk right out of this place.

I watch the gentleman walk in. He says hi to Beatrice and I’m consoled by that. Not many people get kids. He turns to us and I view his profile.

Oh no, it’s him.

It’s Ben’s friend.

“Ben” I whisper his name.

And the memories come crashing me down.

*………to be continued*

Post by: Abdul Abubakar
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