₦airaland Forum

Ayaayo:
ewoooo!!!! classic definition of fry pan to fire. Nice piece Sparkleboy, I am hooked henceforth, but i don't like suspense oo, do and conclude the story so u can start another one.

Hi! The author is actually softandmoist I'm just the publisher

Unita


I had been putting off registering for antenatal classes until I had an infection, and this morning I’d come to treat it. The doctor and had advised that I get registered for the baby’s safety, if not for mine, and I had immediately complied. I was lying down on the sonographer’s gurney, the coolness of the gel on my lower abdomen soothing me.
‘So when did you say your last period was, madam?’ he asked, all serious. I told him.
‘And this is your first baby?’ he asked. I sighed. He had asked me all of this before, and I had told him. Was it routine to ask questions twice? That was how the nurse at the ANC clinic had asked if I had any previous abortions. Of course I denied it.
‘Yes please, it’s my first baby’ I replied curtly. Perhaps his age was the reason why he was forgetful. His mane of white reminded me of biblical characters who lived up to five hundred years.
‘Well, I was wondering why your womb seems so big. I just noticed two heads and more than two limbs. I think these are multiples, madam.’ He said, looking at the screen and typing in some data.
I went white in shock, too afraid to speak. Multiples? It was bad enough that I had to deal with one baby. How could God sit on his throne and hand me twins for such short pleasure? What did I do?
I quietly stood up and collected the test results. The man wished me a good rest of the day, but I was too stunned to answer. Later, in the car, I dialed Duke’s line. This was more than we’d bargained for.


Duke

What was this witch calling me for? I was frantically looking for Tolu everywhere. Where could she have gone? She wasn’t picking her lines and I was scared to call her parents. If I didn’t find her by tonight, I’d have to call them. I had rushed out of the shower with soap suds all over my body, thinking Tolu was finally returning my calls only to find that it was this home wrecker that was calling. I quickly shut one eye as soapy water stung it, and answered the call.
‘Hello, good evening’ I answered, willing her to hurry it up before the soap ruined my eye.
‘Good evening. How was work today?’ she asked.
Work? She called to find out how work was, and I had to rush out of the shower and have soap sting me in the eye to listen to this?
I almost hung up, but replied for courtesy’s sake, ‘Work was okay, thank you.’
‘Alright, Duke, since you don’t want to be chatty, I’ll get to the point,. I went for ANC today, and I had to do an ultrasound’
‘Okay?’ I willed her to continue. I rushed backed into the bathroom and rinsed my eye. I knew all these routine with ANC after all Tolu was also pregnant. One naira extra, I won’t pay if she tries any rubbish. I’d already sent her a hundred thousand naira for preliminaries.
‘I’m having twins, or rather, should I say we are?’ she said.
My head grew so big her voice sounded like it was coming from miles away.
‘You’re having twins?’
‘That’s what I said, Duke. And it’s we, not just me, so ‘we’ need to see to talk about this, and put things in perspective. Things have obviously changed, and we need to talk.’

We definitely needed to talk. How was I going to cope with having four babies within months of each other? Suddenly, the soap stinging my eye was the least of my problems, and I felt the bottom slide out from under my world.

Unita

Nkoro and I were shopping for groceries at the mall, and I was trying to work the news of my pregnancy into the conversation. I had left Port Harcourt as a disowned daughter. My father had nearly brought the roof down, calling me unprintable names and telling me that since I chose to disgrace them, I was henceforth forbidden to call him father. My mother had stared at me with pity in her eyes, but she dared not question my father.
Walking down the aisle, checking out the labels on canned foods for additives and preservatives, I felt my heart sink lower into my chest. If the father of my baby didn’t want to marry me, and my parents didn’t want to have anything to do with me, my problems were bigger than I could fathom.
‘Which one are you just doing slow-slow today?’ Nkoro nudged me at the ribs with her elbow, smiling to reveal a perfect set of white teeth.
‘Nothing o, just a little tired.’ I replied, trudging along.
‘But this kind of ‘tired’ that didn’t even let you gist me how your Port Harcourt trip went, hmmm’ she said.
I wheeled my cart along, too weak to talk about my trip or anything.
‘Abi the guy don score?’ she pressed on, taking off her nerdy fashion glasses to look at me closely. I swear down, the bitch is a witch.
‘Yes, he has, how do you know?’ I asked, raising an eyebrow and finally warming up to some conversation. I put back a jar of peanut butter containing additives on the shelf and took a crunchy, healthier flavor instead.
‘Eh, eh, it’s a lie, my friend has swallowed cockroach!’ she exclaimed. A few heads turned in our direction, and I gave two women who were paying extra attention to our gist the middle finger. They turned away in horror, and I smiled inwardly at my small victory.
‘Yes, I have, and I am 4 months gone’ I said, and suddenly burst into tears. Damn these hormones. I had no idea what had come over me but I cried for no reason these days. The other day at work, someone had parked in my space and I had cried so much people thought I was bereaved.
Nkoro rushed to my side ‘Oh my, Unita now, why are you crying, what is it?
Even though I loathed her, I had no one else to turn to at the moment. I went into her outstretched arms and sobbed for a while, then took the handkerchief she offered and blew my nose. We headed for the cashier and I sobbingly recounted to her how I’d found out I was pregnant, but conveniently left out other facts.
‘Oh dear, let’s go talk about this at the butchery over there’ she pointed at a corner of the mall where Ice cream and pastries were sold. Our groceries had been bagged and my hands were quite full.
‘I can’t even take ice cream! In one of the newsletters I subscribed to, I got a million and five reason why I shouldn’t eat undercooked or raw food’ I whined.
‘It’s okay dear. You can have water while I drink for two,’ she said, pulling me in the direction of the butchery.
‘But how did all these happen and I didn’t know? What are your plans? I’m sure you want to keep it abi?’ She could ask so many questions, this Nkoro.
I rolled my eyes.
‘Of course I’m keeping it’ I said.
‘So when is the wedding date? I’m sure you don’t want to look like a whale in your dress. Of course, I’m the bridesmaid and god mother. Ooooh, I’m so excited’ she prattled on.
We sat at a table that had the view of a water fountain gushing into the mouth of a thirsty statue. A pleasant waiter came to take our order, and we continued where we left off.
‘There’s no wedding actually, NK.’ The earlier she knew the truth, the lesser the pain and guilt of being and unwed mother would be for me.
‘Why not? Even if it’s a small registry affair and a party afterwards, you must do something o’ she argued.
‘Okay, the guy is married. That is why we can’t get married’ I told her, and waited for her judgment. Sure enough, it came soon after.
‘Married? Are you serious? Abasimbok!’ she looked at me with terror-filled eyes. ‘How could you, Unita, why didn’t you find out about him? In these days of social media and all, I’d have –‘ I cut out all her ramblings. She had always been the better person, and she was winning again. She had never had to make a mistake, and even when she did, someone was always there to take the fall for her. It was easy for her to say ‘How could you?’
I stared at the statue, wishing a solution would come like water through my soul and sort everything out.
After what seemed like a life time of preaching and advising, we parted ways at the mall. She was going to see her dress maker for adjustments to her wedding gown. I was going home to lie down and forget my sorrows.
I drove languidly, to the chagrin of the other road users. A few of them swore at me in the lingua franca of Lagos, Yoruba. I didn’t let it get to me.
I got home and sat in my car for a while, before bringing out the groceries and heading for the door. I found a brown box wrapped in pink ribbons by the potted plant where I sometimes left my key for Duke. Who would send me presents?
I picked the box and opened it carefully to find a cute puppy staring back at me and whimpering. A feeling of warmth spread through me as I patted its head, my fingers tickling its ears and bringing it pleasure. I had stood there caressing it for a while, then I jerked back in realization. Duke wanted a truce!
If he thought getting me a dog would make me change my mind, he was joking. I went in, dropped the groceries in the kitchen and headed back to pick the puppy. It stood on its paws and tried to lick my hands. How cute, I thought, but this wouldn’t do.
I called Duke’s phone, and he answered in a gruffly voice ‘Hello, good evening,’
‘Good evening yourself. Please come and take your puppy before I drown it’
‘What puppy? When did I ever tell you I was going to get you a puppy?’ he sounded angry, but I didn’t care.
Imagine! He was even rude on top of it all.
‘So who brought a puppy to my house?’ I asked him, very annoyed.
‘How will I know? Am I your security guard?’ He hissed and hung up.
The cheek of him!
I stared at the phone’s screen and stomped inside angrily. Who would send me a dog so beautifully wrapped? Had Duke’s wife found out my address and tried to kill me? After all, this was Nigeria; you could never trust anyone not to go diabolical.
I took the dog back outside and left enough space for air to get into the box. There was no way I was keeping a gift whose sender I did not know.



Tolu.


The cab man had lived through a lot of Nigeria’s history, it seemed. He regaled me with tales of the independence and the Civil War. I had packed my things and sent them ahead of me to Ilorin, and I was going to the airport to live with my parents. My mom had insisted that I shouldn’t do the road travel at the stage my pregnancy was in, and I complied. Getting a ticket had not been easy as the airline claimed very few people bother to fly so they could only go twice a week. It was with mixed feelings I had left my matrimonial home, and my heart was heavy. I knew it was best that I left the house until things were saner, and I needed all the support I could get. The cabman dropped me off and I went to the ticket counter to check-in. After a few hassles about being too far gone in pregnancy to fly, I was allowed to board and before I knew it, we had taxied on Ilorin’s soil.
I was home.
My dad had sent his driver, Dare, to pick me, and he was very helpful. Perhaps he thought I had only come home to have my baby, because he kept on chatting about how everyone would see the motherly care I’d received by the time I returned to Lagos. I replied him in monosyllables, too worn from the short trip to indulge him. I slept off just before he turned into Gaa Akanbi, and didn’t wake up until he’d parked in our driveway.
My parents had built a house in Fate-Tanke, choosing to settle in Ilorin after retirement. All the rooms were spacious and made the house we lived in at the staff quarters seem like a hut. That house brought back a lot of memories. The times Duke and I took strolls around the staff quarters and we’d sit on the culvert, holding hands and talking about our future; the times he’s stop by for a drink or a meal, and he’d compliment my cooking, telling me I was 100 yards of wife material. That was the duke I knew, fell in love with and married, not the man that had thrown our vows to the dogs and gotten another woman pregnant.
My Dad had heard the car, because he came out to welcome me. I looked up at him, and I smiled sadly.
My daddy.
He had defied age and gravity, and still stood tall even in his sixties. I walked close to him and went on my knees to greet him ‘good evening daddy.’ He pulled me up and hugged me so hard the twins kicked I jealousy. I let a tear escape, and quickly wiped it.
‘How are you, Tolu, he said, holding my shoulders and looking at my face closely. I looked down at my toes and muttered that I was fine. ‘Are you fine, Toluwanimi, are you?’ he enquired.
‘Ahn ahn, won’t you let her come in first?’ my mom walked out briskly, her orange Boubou accentuating curves that would put some women to shame. She pulled me away from my dad and embraced me fully. Dare was done moving my luggage in, and stood at the corner shuffling his feet.
‘You may go,’ Daddy waved him off, and we walked in together, my mom and I ahead, him bringing up the rear.
I went into the room I always stayed whenever I visited and took a shower. I planned to rest for a few seconds, but woke up when it was very dark. I noticed the darkness because I had parted the drapes to let in fresh air as there was no light when I arrived.
I put on my maternity pajamas and went into the living room. My parents were at the dining table, and the maid, whom I hadn’t seen before, was clearing the dishes.
‘Tolu, you’re awake’ my dad said, washing his hairy hands in a bowl of water. I could see some left over semolina and vegetable on the plates, and my stomach reminded me that I had not eaten since leaving lagos.
‘We thought it was best to let you rest, which was why we didn’t wake you for dinner. Seun will serve you now’ my mom said, picking her teeth with the end of a dental floss.
‘Thanks ma, I was really tired o, to have slept like that’ I said.
‘Pele dear, it’s not easy to travel, let alone do it in your condition,’ my mom said. My dad coughed, as if to warn her of something. I looked at them both, wondering what secret message they were sending each other. They had always had their own codes and could communicate in a large gathering if they saw fit.
‘What is it, daddy? Mommy, what’s the matter?’ I asked, frowning.
‘Errrm, I just, errrr, we just feel it’s best not to talk about your condition for now because there will be time for that later, abi, MD?’ my dad asked, turning to my mom.
I didn’t wait for her response. ‘It’s okay, you can talk about it. I would prefer if we even discuss things tonight, Mom.’
‘Are you sure about that?’
‘Yes mommy, I’m sure. I think I can handle it. Besides, my tear tanks have emptied, so I think I will do just fine.’
‘Alright then,’ my dad said, pushing his chair backwards and getting up from the table, ‘I’m going to watch the news. MD, you should join me’
‘Yes, I should,’ mom agreed, standing up and walking in the direction of the living room.
Seun had served my meal, and as I took the first scoop into my mouth, I felt lighter than I had in days.
I was home.