A Story Of Deceit

Episode 18

‘Eh, oya dide, dide, (stand up, stand up’, nurse Bidemi said, ‘stand up jor’, she dragged me up forcefully, I was confused, she opened the door and asked my mother to come in, ‘Una want make I kill person? ‘, she asked furiously, ‘what do na? ‘, my mother asked her, ‘this girl no get belle na’, she said. ‘Eh, you say this girl, Uwa is not have pregnancy?’, my mum asked, ‘I say she no get belle, na so I for don go cut another thing for her belle’, she said. ‘But she have all the signatures and sinptons of a pregnancy person’, my mother said, ‘you for find out well well na’, she said, ‘no worry wait, I go tell you wetin dey do am’, the nurse said.

After much examination, the nurse said I had hormonal imbalance (PCOS) and Malaria. she didn’t put it that way then, I can’t remember what she called it. She explained that it was the reason I missed two months cycles already, my sudden weight gain and the malaria was the cause of the dizziness and weakness. I can’t explain how elated I was hearing that I wasn’t pregnant, I felt sudden strength, probably, it was an overdose of joy, my mum didn’t even jubilate, she just stood there asking the nurse the kind of drugs I would take. I didn’t care if she was glad or not, I wasn’t pregnant and that was all that mattered.

We left nurse Bidemi’s place later in the evening, I still felt weak but I knew all was going to be fine because my mum had tons of drugs, that the nurse prescribed for me and food my mum got for me. We got home that day late but my mum still said she wanted to go out. I pleaded with her to stay with me, I even tried to act weaker than I felt but she was persistent. When she left, I thought of Dayo again, I know, I wasn’t pregnant for him but I imagined the scenario of being pregnant for him and actually aborting the baby, I thought of the fact that he didn’t care about me, he was also the father of Yemisi’s unborn child ‘useless somebody’, I cursed. When I remembered Yemisi, I picked up and dialed her number, it rang for a while before she answered the call.

‘Hello’, she said camly, ‘hello Yemisi, how are you? ‘, I asked, ‘I’m fine’, she said, ‘Uwa’, she said, ‘what? ‘, I asked, ‘my mum wants me to abort the baby, my dad wants me to keep the baby’, she said weakly, ‘what do you want? ‘, I asked, ‘of course, I’ll go with my mum’s advice, I still want to go to the university’, she said, ‘what about your dad? ‘, I asked, ‘my mum will eventually win anyway’, she said sounding so sure, ‘oh, okay’, I said, we talked for a while but I didn’t ask her of anything concerning Dayo, I didn’t want her mood to change, it seemed to brighten up when we started talking so I didn’t want to ruin it. She ended the call on the note that as soon as she got rid of her baby, which would be done secretly in two days without her father’s knowledge, she would go back to the city with her mum. I almost told her about my plans to leave the village but I held back.

I sat down to think of my life and what I had achieved so far in the last seventeen years of my life,I just couldn’t place my hands on anything, my eighteenth birthday was approaching and I didn’t want to spend it in Boma, staying with the likes of Bimbo was a negative impact in my life, Dayo had gone back to the city, Yemisi would leave anytime soon. I pondered over what exactly, I was still doing in Boma, I had already lost my job, if I stayed more, I would start spending the little I had saved. I took my drugs after having dinner and decided to wait for my mum to inform her of my plans to leave the village . I didn’t know what was keeping my mum that late but I was awake till 1:00am, she still wasn’t back, hence, I dozed off, I woke up some minutes to 3:00am, she wasn’t back, I was worried, she didn’t have a phone, going out to look for her that late, was risky for me. I just stared till I dozed off again. Some minutes after 5:00am, I woke up and turned to the other direction, I saw her face, she was fast asleep, I tapped her arm gently in an attempt to wake her up and inform her that I would leave Boma soon. ‘Mama, I called severally, ‘yes’, she said in a husky voice like that of a man’s, which scared me like hell, I decided to just wait in the morning to inform her. Around 8:00am, when I woke up, I thought seeing my mum earlier was a dream, she had gone out. ‘mtcheeeeew’, I hissed. ‘So, she has gone out again’, I grumbled.

That kind of drama went on with my mum for a few days, she wouldn’t even tell me of her whereabouts and why she had left the time ranges of returning at 12:00am or 1:00am, to returning within the ranges of 3:00am or 3:30am. Even if I managed to wait for her, she would return and dismiss me harshly saying she needed to rest, one morning, I told her, I would be leaving for the city in a few days, she paused for a while, stared at me, shook her head and went out, she probably thought I was joking. I got angry, ‘eh, maybe when I leave the house, she’ll understand’. I concluded. I was healing swiftly, I had regained my strength again. The plans for leaving Boma was becoming realistic, I needed a bag for my things, carrying that sack was the last thing I would do. I contemplated buying a new bag but estimating the costs, I figured it would decrease my money a lot and I still needed a place to stay, I actually felt that houses in Lagos would be as cheap as it was in Boma, I needed just a room anyway. I chukled as a mischievous thought came to my head. I saw my mum’s leather bags, she packed her all clothes into those bags, ‘it wouldn’t be bad if she used one and I used the other, I got all my things out of my sack bag and transferred my mum’s clothes from one of the bags into it. I did the same with my clothes too.

I decided it was time to let Yemisi know of my intentions, I called her but as usual, she didn’t pick up again, she sent a message saying she would call me back. I got angry at Yemisi too, my mum and Yemisi were the only ones I could confide in and none of them had time to to hear about my plans to leave for the city. ‘so, if I go, no one would call me, nawa ooo’, I complained. The bags I switched caught my mum’s attention that morning when she returned and she woke me up with questions of why I had the audacity to switch her bags. ‘Shebi, I told you I’m going to the city but you didn’t answer me, I needed a bag so I took that one ma’, I replied, ‘wait, you mean you isn’t a lie, you are goes to city, how money getting to you to have plenty to transportation your going to the city?’, she asked, ‘it’s the money, I got from my job na, I have been saving it’, I said, she was still doubting me, then I went to my bag and brought out the money, I had saved. When my mum saw it, she screamed, ‘ I feared you, all this money are lived in this houses in your bag and I wasn’t knows’, she said. Her expression was amusing, so, I let out a snicker, ‘why were you laughter na? ‘, she asked, nothing mama, I said giggling.

My mum was skeptical about letting me go, she groused that I was still too young, she even had tears in hers, she said, she didn’t know I had such great plans for my future.
Then, she began the great lecture of how to live my life in the city, she asked me to keep away from men, ‘you sleeping with boy and belle did not come out, will not stopped you from carrying belle if you does it again, wait till you marry in your husband house, stay out of bad friend and kindness to people too, she said. For someone who wanted me to be a prostitute and for someone, who didn’t care about my whereabouts since I was little, hearing that from her was hilarious. Nevertheless, to fulfill all righteousness, I assured her that I had heeded her advice. She was so happy, she even refused to go to the shop the next day, I guess my sudden departure brought out her best behaviour. she made emphasis that as I would be leaving the next day, she wanted to spend more time with me, she didn’t have a phone, contacting me would be impossible and she didn’t know when I was going to return. I struggled with the thoughts of giving my phone to her and buying a new one later when I had enough money in the city but I was unsure.

The next day, at 5:00pm in the evening , my mother and I left the house, the distance from our house to the park was far so, we needed to leave early, if I had to catch up with the night bus. I choose the night bus in order to get to Lagos in the morning and sort myself out before dark. We got to the park by 7:30pm, the bus would leave in an hour, so, the bus was still quite empty. I bought the bus ticket which was a little more expensive than I thought it would. ‘mama, go home na, it’s getting late’, I said, ‘is I a baby, I shall waiting till you left’, she replied, I was moved to tears, I was going to miss her grammar composition. ‘ehen, come Uwa’, she called, dragging me to a corner, ‘take’, she said and stretched out her hands filled with money, I collected it gladly but I asked how she was going to to survive, the money she gave to me could feed me for a month or at least three weeks. ‘Is I a baby? ‘, she asked again, ‘worry not for me, I have plenty money’, she said, even when I knew she didn’t.

She had done something for me, I had to do something too, I brought out my phone from my purse, I went to the tickets seller, after begging for minutes, I was given a pen and a piece of paper, I wrote down three numbers, mine, Yemisi’s and Dayo’s number.

At first, I didn’t want to write down Dayo’s number but I remembered that I would buy a new phone that would require a new SIM which would have a number he didn’t know about. My mum hesitated a while, till I convinced her that I would buy a new phone soon to call her, then, she collected the phone. She asked me about my accommodation, I told her, I had sorted it out but I hadn’t, I was just desperate to leave the village, she asked me how it was sorted, I told her it was some kind of process she would not understand. While we talked, the driver alerted the passengers to get into the bus and occupy the seats they paid for.

I hugged my mum tightly and entered the bus, I sat at the second row near the window, I could see that my mum’s eyes were as teary as mine, I signaled her to leave because it was getting late but she refused, she showed me the phone, ‘called me oooo’, she yelled, ‘yes mum, I will’, I yelled back.

She stood there waving at me till the bus was set in motion to leave, we said our final goodbyes and she started heading home.
Several thoughts ran through my head when the bus left. How was life in the city going to be for me?, how long would I stay in Lagos, before I returned to Boma to take my mum to the city?, so I would start living alone?, where would I spend the night?, who would I talk to ?,’ all these questions would only be answered when I reached the city in the morning.