Ade's Chronicle 25.
December 15, 2013 at 1:12pm
''Mrs.
Yinka Orilowo (nee Adelanwa) became our step mother after our mother's
death. All wthigs went smoothly but one thing was never known about her,
she was a LESBIAN, though secretly. She was one of the early importers
of the act due to her wide travels. She had sworn then that she would
never marry but when her finances began dwindling, she had to go back to
her vomit and then she got hooked up with my dad. But unknown to
anybody in and out of the family, she had continued her acts secretly as
she had been doing.'' Shola continued her tale.
Rotimi had softened a little because he had not known where the story is heading to. I also suspected nothing because what Shola was driving at was still beyond me and barrages of questions had begun to form in my mind.
''Two years into their marriage, things began to take a different dimension. My eldest brother fell ill while dad was abroad on a trip. Our step mother never took care of him as she ought to. Two days after the illness began, he died at home. That was only when she took him to the hospital. The doctor had said that he died of complications as a result of untimely treatment of the jaundice that had attacked him. Yinka had came to destroy the joy that dad and mum had toiled to build. But she encouraged dad and his business. What went on, we never knew because we were too young to know.'' Shola cleaned a tear that formed in her left eye.
I was begining to feel for her. But how did she become this bad? What happened to her second sibling? These burned in me.
Rotimi shifted in his chair, a sign that he was going with the flow of the story and that was a good sign.
''Dad was a prosperous businessman. He took us with him once in a while for holidays and a year after my brother's death, dad was to take us all on his trip but Yinka convinced him to leave us at home and go with her alone. So, we were left in the care of our nanny now of blessed memory. She took care of us well, but fate would always deal us a big blow. I was eight that year my brother was ten, we knew next to nothing about electricity other than switching on and off the teevee. That day, Mamee, as we call our nanny, went to the market. We were watching the teevee when it suddenly went off, my brother went to the socket to see what happened. I remembered he went to the kitchen to take an iron spoon and into the socket it went. I saw my brother shaking, I thought he was dancing till he fell down clutching the spoon in the socket. I ran to him, touched him and a force threw me off and I landed on my butts. When I woke up, I was in the family hospital with dad, Mamee, and Yinka staring down at me. My brother never survived that incident. That was how I became the only one left of the three of us.'' Shola paused.
She was sobbing silently. Her cry was muffled and I was sobbing inside. My eyes were moist from unshed tears and they threatened to start forming a torrent. I sniffed to hold them back. Shola had suffered, I pity her.
Rotimi was not better. He was an emotional hump. The anger he had minutes earlier had suddenly become grief. He was openly sobbing. He brought out his handkerchief to mop up his tears. He was almost distraught. Such was the Rotimi I knew. One minute mad, the other minute a pitiable sight.
''Shola, please before you continue, it would be nice if you can get us a bottle of water.'' I said as I saw the need for us to have a slight pause from the highly charged and sad atmosphere in the room.
She stood up from her seat and walked as fast as her legs could carry her to the dining room. She came back with the earlier tray she had brought. The only difference being that she changed the bottle of water for two colder ones and she came with three glasses as against the initial two she had earlier brought.
She placed the tray on the centre table, opened it and filled a glass. I thought it was for either I or Rotimi but she disappointed me as she downed the content and went for a second before dropping the glass and going back to her seat.
We needed no further invitation as Rotimi was the first to get to the table. He downed three glasses of water too before going back to his seat. I took only two glasses before muttering a silent 'Thank you' to Shola who did not respond.
''By her fifth year in our house, Yinka hadn't given birth to any child. This got dad worried and I think they made a lot of attempts and their efforts yielded result a year after my brother was electrocuted. She got pregnant and had a baby girl two months after my ninth birthday. She still kept her lesbian affairs secret and was successful in the secret keeping. When her daughter clocked a year and I had clocked ten, something happened to alter my life till date.'' Shola recounted fresh tears springing from her eyes. She cared less about cleanong them as she went into the story of what happened.
Rotimi by now was on the rug his shirt soaked in sweat despite the airconditioned room...
© Yettocome™ 2013
Rotimi had softened a little because he had not known where the story is heading to. I also suspected nothing because what Shola was driving at was still beyond me and barrages of questions had begun to form in my mind.
''Two years into their marriage, things began to take a different dimension. My eldest brother fell ill while dad was abroad on a trip. Our step mother never took care of him as she ought to. Two days after the illness began, he died at home. That was only when she took him to the hospital. The doctor had said that he died of complications as a result of untimely treatment of the jaundice that had attacked him. Yinka had came to destroy the joy that dad and mum had toiled to build. But she encouraged dad and his business. What went on, we never knew because we were too young to know.'' Shola cleaned a tear that formed in her left eye.
I was begining to feel for her. But how did she become this bad? What happened to her second sibling? These burned in me.
Rotimi shifted in his chair, a sign that he was going with the flow of the story and that was a good sign.
''Dad was a prosperous businessman. He took us with him once in a while for holidays and a year after my brother's death, dad was to take us all on his trip but Yinka convinced him to leave us at home and go with her alone. So, we were left in the care of our nanny now of blessed memory. She took care of us well, but fate would always deal us a big blow. I was eight that year my brother was ten, we knew next to nothing about electricity other than switching on and off the teevee. That day, Mamee, as we call our nanny, went to the market. We were watching the teevee when it suddenly went off, my brother went to the socket to see what happened. I remembered he went to the kitchen to take an iron spoon and into the socket it went. I saw my brother shaking, I thought he was dancing till he fell down clutching the spoon in the socket. I ran to him, touched him and a force threw me off and I landed on my butts. When I woke up, I was in the family hospital with dad, Mamee, and Yinka staring down at me. My brother never survived that incident. That was how I became the only one left of the three of us.'' Shola paused.
She was sobbing silently. Her cry was muffled and I was sobbing inside. My eyes were moist from unshed tears and they threatened to start forming a torrent. I sniffed to hold them back. Shola had suffered, I pity her.
Rotimi was not better. He was an emotional hump. The anger he had minutes earlier had suddenly become grief. He was openly sobbing. He brought out his handkerchief to mop up his tears. He was almost distraught. Such was the Rotimi I knew. One minute mad, the other minute a pitiable sight.
''Shola, please before you continue, it would be nice if you can get us a bottle of water.'' I said as I saw the need for us to have a slight pause from the highly charged and sad atmosphere in the room.
She stood up from her seat and walked as fast as her legs could carry her to the dining room. She came back with the earlier tray she had brought. The only difference being that she changed the bottle of water for two colder ones and she came with three glasses as against the initial two she had earlier brought.
She placed the tray on the centre table, opened it and filled a glass. I thought it was for either I or Rotimi but she disappointed me as she downed the content and went for a second before dropping the glass and going back to her seat.
We needed no further invitation as Rotimi was the first to get to the table. He downed three glasses of water too before going back to his seat. I took only two glasses before muttering a silent 'Thank you' to Shola who did not respond.
''By her fifth year in our house, Yinka hadn't given birth to any child. This got dad worried and I think they made a lot of attempts and their efforts yielded result a year after my brother was electrocuted. She got pregnant and had a baby girl two months after my ninth birthday. She still kept her lesbian affairs secret and was successful in the secret keeping. When her daughter clocked a year and I had clocked ten, something happened to alter my life till date.'' Shola recounted fresh tears springing from her eyes. She cared less about cleanong them as she went into the story of what happened.
Rotimi by now was on the rug his shirt soaked in sweat despite the airconditioned room...
© Yettocome™ 2013
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