Hauneg:

You better come and do justice to this and stop double booking

I have plans for both spaces dear

Divepen1 I hope i'm not breaking rules already

"I'll be back " in *Arnold Schwarzenegger's voice*

Epilogue


5 years ago....

It had rained heavily for two days straight and when the sun had risen today, it had been especially bright, given the early morning a really nice warmth... Kind of an apologetic stance thought Salma as she raised the living room curtains.

"Abdul has taken it upon himself to clear out your little garden"....remarked Adda as she strolled into the room and couldn't help but laugh at the mortified expression on Salma's face.

"Abdul!!!!.....Abdul!!!...." salma yelled as she hurriedly went past adda into the kitchen and disappeared outside, clearly ready to stop the boy from his unwarranted and certainly unsolicited botanical help.

Two hours later, with all housework done and breakfast duly eaten...she carried her laptop to the kitchen to attend to the her thesis...with her 3 year old son off to Islamic school and her help Adda busy with her sowing , anisa sought to maximize her Saturday morning... But first a quick call to her husband jafar to check on him, she was mildly surprised that it went straight to voicemail for jafar had always been available...

“Maybe he had board an early flight she excused, mentally registering the time difference between Oyo and Singapore.

Her attention was brought back to the screen by the notification icon indicating mail...absently clicking... She perused and then.....
Nothing....She kept staring..... Hearing her name being called from afar but then again it was as surreal as what was on her screen...

Then she fell off the high chair into blankness....





CHAPTER ONE (Another Saturday)

"Is there an unwritten rule cosigned by all tv stations that at a certain time of the day in a random week we would all air 'Crap'..." Salma thought aloud as she switched off the TV.

"Hmmm"... Adda remarked not looking her way...." Your mood is as bright as lace ".
"lace? Really ..." As she regarded the dark haired cat...and smiled Adda always knew how to keep her in check.

"So what are we going to eat today Adda ?..."
"I plan on cooking jollof rice" said Adda...
"Then count me out...I will simply take another cup of tea..."
"Yayy" screamed a voiced that startled both women.

"Abdul....there are more cultured ways of entering upon people" rebuked his mother...."sorry mama...Adda are we really eating jollof rice today?"...he asked happily.

"Yes dear...if I set about it now it's almost noon..." Adda replied rising.
"Ohh .... I wish it was tuwo"....remarked her daughter, Mufeedah.
"Mufeedah...you also don't know how to greet abi..." Inquired Salma with a mild frown.
"Sorry mama, I forgot"...came the honest reply from her smiling four year old.
"Mufeedah would you like a piece of cake?" Asked Adda from the kitchen.
Not waiting for a second invitation she dashed to the kitchen to obtain her own piece of the sweet delight.

Salma silently watched as her son, the woman who had grown to be more like a sister and her daughter departed the room, her gaze lingering a bit on the latter. She had been the silver lining at a time when calling her life a dark cloud seemed a gross underestimation. Quite intriguing how destiny tends to arrange the sequence of events in life.

"When you have a peeler you don't have potatoes and when the potatoes eventually arrive you have discarded the peeler in search for a pestle" as her step mother culinary describes it, she remembered with a smile.

Mufeedah was no ill-timed potatoes but she had certainly been a lifeline at a time when she most certainly found fading from existence a suitable notion her baby girl had kicked inside her stomach reminding her of every reason she had to keep on living.

She was glad she did for she had come to terms with certain aspects of life, it seems her mind had made a silent pact with her heart "keep the wolves at bay and it wont hurt so much" and so far it worked unless on certain occasions such as weekends which seem to give her ample time to reminisce.

Once alone, she picked her phone and idly went through her social media accounts....anything to keep the wolves at bay...

She hated weekends with a passion, to the world it was restive ...to her it is an excuse to be idle and a hurtful reminder of him. Always leaving much office work to keep her occupied but always manages to finish most by friday night she cursed her clinical efficiency, subjecting her to 48 hours of mental warfare with herself.
She was always sourly during that period for even her children preferred Adda's company. She loved her weekdays as she threw herself into work and simply forgot the world.

Since her moving back to Kano, she always found a way to keep busy...noticing that in between her lecturing job and research, she had spare time she offered writing articles for a women mental health website for free? Which they graciously accepted (as the editor queerly wrote in her acceptance mail, "it would be refreshing having the opinions of an emotionally wronged soul on the platform" as if she was a character of some utopian literature gone wrong). Smiling she found it queer herself, that the absurdities of life always came to her by mail.

But then again she had survived thanks to Adda whose presence was supposed to be for a month in her life but spanned to five years and counting, her two kids; 7 year old Abdulrahman who had a stratospheric IQ which kept all his tutors, mom inclusive struggling to stay ahead and 4 well almost 5 year old Mufeedah who is as expressive as well you go figure....because she had clearly run out of comparative analogs for her princess and her family (always Nana, her intrusive-but-only-for-good-intent stepmother, her practical father, Alhaji Abbas, Umar, her supportive step brother who seemed have to taken it upon himself to right the wrong a member of his species did to his sister, and of course her stepsister, Zubaidah whose optimism matched their father's rationality).

Five years later, the result, her kids were turning out quite well, had a great relationship with her family, had her publications in high impact international journals, supervised dozens of students and was well on her way to professorship with earned respect from her peers in academia, yes there was a certain reward for sailing through the storm of pain through, you will always get to calmer shores though the desirability of the destination has been called to question often atimes by many. Even by her at a certain point for despite all she made up for when she lost "him", she though grudgingly admits, a part of her faded into the abyss as far as emotions were concerned....


The strange ringtone startled her back to the present: Mufeedah's handiwork, seeing Nanahs name across her screen she proceeded to pick the call but not before she made a mental note to change her password.

“Assalam alaikum.... Good afternoon Nanah she breathed all at once.
"Was alaikum salam ... Salma"...."how are you?"
"I'm fine ....how is your health and that of Abbah ?"
"We are all well....how are my kids?"
"They are fine...thank you"
"Adda?"
"She is also fine"
"Good....are you busy tomorrow?"
She didn't like the sound of it because knowing Nanah her "tomorrow" just became busy but she had a feeling it’s not the type she was going to like but never the less she answered:
"Not really"
"Good dear could you possibly come over and help me make a few decisions on an order I received yesterday for a certain wedding".
"OK" groaned Salma already regretting her honest penultimate answer.
"Please bring the kids along and adda too, its been a while since I last saw her"
"OK"
"Nanah I know when you go all monosyllable it’s simply because you don't want to argue but still thank you for doing this".
She smiled her step mother reads her like a book.
"No problem Nanah, till tomorrow God willing"
"Ok thank you... Till you come" and she switched off.
Sighing Salma placed the phone back beside her but she had barely removed her hand when the now accustomed though still not agreeable ringtone began again.
It was still Nanah.

"Oh Salma....I forgot to extend my warmest regards to Adda and the kids"
“Alright......”
"Good bye"
"Bye"
Nanahs etiquette rubbed off on everyone in the family, thought Salma and a warm feeling crept to her heart.

A pleasant smell began drifting to her from the kitchen and making her seriously question her earlier decision not to eat and wandered if Adda could spare her a plate. Knowing the older woman she will have to beg for it…. And beg she did.

Booked again

Booked

Hello everyone,

I've done a lot of writing over the years but not once have I written fiction(not even a short story )

I would like to use this space to experiment and write my very first fictional story.

Observations and constructive criticism are welcome.

Cc your people to come over and read.

I give you:

AMNESIC PILLS

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Disclaimer :
This book is purely a work of fiction any resemblance to life, people or experiences is purely coincidental.