Coming of Age - Episode 3

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Mummy held on to a crying Olanna.

My maternal aunts’ hurled obscenities and insults at my father’s back, he did not even react and his siblings did not defend him – it was indeed awkward to watch.

I did not know how to react, I did not know whether I was to cry or simply ignore them.

I watched as Uncle Tony left, no one else saw him, everyone else was too busy reacting to my father’s decision the best way they could. I watched Aunty Lisa and uncle Jamike deliberate in hushed tones. 

I sat there and watched everyone, oblivious of how or what to feel – maybe because hunger had dominated my being – so I stared and wondered why they were acting as though my father had issued a death sentence . The impromptu family meeting had lasted all of 45 minutes but I had a nagging feeling that those few minutes would cause a long lasting ripple effect.

I was ready for that.

I however was not ready for what happened next.

Catherine walked in with the boys and from the shocked look on her face she clearly had hoped everyone would be gone by now. 

I hoped everyone would ignore this new development, we had something delicate on our hands, but humans have always had a problem of misplaced priorities, because aunty Lota gave a long loud hiss.

The boys were clearly really sleepy and Catherine already had enough on her hands ensuring that they were kept steady.

"This is all your fault!" Olanna screamed.

Her first words for this evening and she had chosen those? The room was well lit enough to see that Catherine looked shocked and my mother looked impressed as she stood up from where she sat.

"Please excuse me, I need to get my boys to bed," my not-evil-at-all step mother responded and began to walk towards the stairs but my mum was yet to begin and this drama series could not end until she had proven her the point.

"Where do you think you are going to?" mummy asked as she let go of Olanna and walked to face Catherine.

"Please, I am not ready for any of this drama. It's late and I just want to sleep and ensure my family is tucked in for the night, and in fact you should be in your home, not here

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. All thanks to your lies it has been a terrible day. If you want to tell your daughter stories, why don't you stop reversing the roles and say things exactly as they happened? I am not in the mood for any kind of foolishness, especially not with my sons present," she said and began to walk around my mother. 

And she snapped!

But Ifunanya was not having any of that because she held on to Catherine's arm and kept talking.

“You want to sleep? Darling, that is only a pipe dream for you since you decided to mess up my life. You are the reason my daughters would be separated from me but for some reason you think I am bothered whether or not we fight in front of your sons. Catherine, mark my words, if my daughters really go to Nigeria, then be prepared to be separated from your own sons!" mummy threatened and let go of Catherine. She promptly picked her purse and walked out of the room, shortly after I heard her car starting. 

It was shocking, like something from a bad Nollywood movie my friends and I giggled over on YouTube, but sadly it was happening in my house.

Well that went well.

“Jesus! This is not going to end well o, Catherine shebi you are happy now?” aunty Rita said as she followed my mother out of the house.

"Girls we would see you tomorrow, please take care of each other," aunty Lota said and hurried after her sisters.

Catherine hissed and went upstairs, seemingly unfazed by the drama that just unfolded.

"Well, now what?" uncle Jamike asked.

Good question sir, good question.

"Girls, we all need to go home, your father has made his decision, and I know that while we all disagree with it, it is the best decision for now.  He won't deliberately do anything to hurt his daughters. Nigeria is not the end of the world and Aunty Angela would definitely be calmer. At the end of the day, it all comes down to you both, particularly you Olanna, behave yourself and you both would definitely come home within a couple of months.

Read " Mmesoma's Dilemma " by the same author ( Eboseremen )

. This is not a forever thing, it is only to serve as a sort of punishment. Just stay out of trouble and nothing would go wrong," Aunty Lisa said.

Her voice was soothing and it would have worked but her smile was fake – she was terrible at playing pretence.

"Girls you hear that? Please go to bed, okay, tomorrow we would revisit this matter, it's already too late," uncle Jamike said and stood up. He managed to coax Aunt Lisa into standing up with him through some silent telepathy relatives somehow possessed. 

I saw them out of the house and locked the door. In my opinion, it was time for bed, time to pretend that this entire day had not happened, tomorrow would deal with itself – but Olanna was still crying. I did not know how to feel or what to say to her – a part of me wanted to yell at her for causing all this and another part wanted to wrap her in a bear hug and tell her that everything would be alright even though I highly doubted the possibility of that.

So I did what I could, I sunk into one of the couches and buried my face in my palm.

I don’t know how long I was there, but I think I was in that threshold that doubles as the thin line between sleep and consciousness when someone tapped me, I woke up with a start.

It was Olanna, she was no longer crying, but she still looked sad though.

“Why are you not fighting his decision?” her question was confusing, like Greek, my brain was still scrambled and I did not understand her until I had rubbed my eyes and I remembered the day’s drama.

“Why are you just keeping quiet and not fighting his decision? You are making me look like the bad child and you are making it seem like mummy is over indulgent,” she complained, punching my arm.

Her statement made me chuckle. Was she not being the bad child? Was mummy not being over indulgent?

I did not answer her question, partly because I did not have an answer that would not lead to a quarrel tonight and partly because my brain seemed to be partly shut down, it was dunny that despite the siesta I had observed earlier that day I was stull so sleepy. – I would never understand my body.

“Ola, let us go to bed? Today has already been one kind and I know that you are tired. Plus you need all the rest for when you are getting ready for our trip tomorrow. So, let us go to bed,” I said and began to walk towards the stairs.

But like our mom, she was handsy and it was annoying.

“Kamsi, why won’t you answer me?” she asked and held on to my arm, her nails digging in and chasing away my sleep faster than a cup of well brewed coffee would have.

“Stop that!” I snapped at her and she pulled her arm away, she folded her arms across her chest and stood staring at me, a mischievous grin on her face – her pinching had been deliberate.

And I snapped.

“I am not fighting it because that is exactly what you need! You are being so problematic and mum is being terrible! Left to me I would rather go to Seychelles or Dubai, not Nigeria, but I cannot bear the thought of you in a strange land all by yourself. Plus what is fighting him going to do anyway? And mum has absolutely no reason or right to be angry with dad or Catherine! She started all this with her tale telling and you did not disappoint. Olanna you need to grow up and stop being a silly overindulged and dramatic child! Good night!”

And with those words I stormed to bed.

TO BE CONTINUED...

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