A Story Of Deceit

Episode 29

‘Uwanah, can’t you obey simple instructions?’, my uncle yelled. ‘Yes, sir, I’m going’, I said and went very slowly to my room looking depressed. If telling me, to pack my things, had anything to do with what happened that afternoon, then my uncle should have listened to my side of the story, not just abruptly instructing me to pack my things. I returned to the living room with my things, I hadn’t unpacked, so, it was easy for me to pick up my bag’. ‘Sir, I’ve brought it’, [/b]I said. ‘is that all?’, he asked, [b]‘yes sir’, I replied looking dejected. ‘Okay, Uwanah, pick any other vacant room in this house of your choice’, he ordered. I couldn’t believe my ears, I now knew the cause of the sad expression on Stella and her mother’s face. Apparently, Stella’s mother had narrated a fib to my uncle which still triggered questions from him about what had happened. While I narrated, I had the saddest face on, in order to receive pitiful remarks from my uncle. ‘Wait, did you just say she slapped you?’, he asked, ‘Yes, sir’, I replied innocently. ‘Why did you hit her?’, my uncle asked his wife, ‘she was disrespectful’, she said trying to defend her actions. ‘And Titi, why did you give her that room?, I strictly gave instructions that no one should stay in that room, it practically has no window and it’s too small’, he yelled. Mrs. Martins twitched her mouth in a funny way and gave no response to her husband. He sat on the sofa with his newspaper and insisted, I choose a suitable room in the house. ‘Thank you sir’, I said, ‘you’re welcome’, he replied.

Mrs. Martins was astonished at her husband’s behaviour. Fury was written all over face. Stella had no clear expression on her face, she just stomped her feet and went back upstairs to her room. I didn’t know why they hated me that much. Before, I thought the hatred was because of my maid status in their house. Why couldn’t they just accept me?, now that, I was part of the family?. I had a smirk on my face as I walked passed Mrs. Martins to my new room, the room I had always wanted to occupy since I stepped foot into the house. It was several times better than the previous room, I was given. My mum called me that night to know how I was doing. ‘Hope, she doesn’t disturbing you again?’, my mum inquired, ‘yes ma, she’s not disturbing me’, I assured her, ‘okay, don’t worry, tomorrow, I have come and be beside you’, she said, ‘okay, ma’, I responded. ‘Okay, goodnight’, she said, ‘goodnight ma’, I replied. After the call, I started unpacking my things and David called, ‘Hello David’, I said, ‘Hello Uwanah’, he said, ‘how are you?’, he asked, ‘I’m fine, Uwanah, you?’, ‘I’m fine, really missing you here’, he informed, I let out a giggle and said, ‘I wasn’t doing anything for you na’, I reminded him, ‘yes, you were, your presence here was enough to make my day’, he said, ‘don’t worry, we’ll see tomorrow’, I said, ‘okay, no problem, goodnight then’, he said, ‘goodnight’, I responded. He still hadn’t ended the call, ‘David, cut the call na’, I admonished, ‘no, you cut the call’, he said, we argued about who’d cut the call for a while, till I found it childish and ended the call. I started unpacking my things that same night, my clothes didn’t even fill half of the wardrobe, I wanted to call David to bring some of my things the next day, but I thought about it and scrapped the thought, ‘I will collect it by myself joor’, I said.

It was the first time, I slept in my uncle’s house but, for some reason, I slept really comfortably and woke up a little late, the next day. I had not taken any siesta since I arrived at Lagos, it had been all round sleeping for five hours at night which would always cause severe headaches in the morning. When I finally opened my eyes, I still lay on my bed lazily with several thoughts crossing my mind. I knew I’d be taken care of in my new house, but, I still needed something to do, staying at home all day, was so not my thing and I certainly, had no plans of staying in my uncle’s house for the rest of my life. I would be eighteen in a few days. I needed to start mapping out plans for my life.

‘Uwanah’, Ngozi knocked on my door, ‘yes, come in’, I said. ‘Good morning’, I greeted, ‘ehen good morning Uwa’, she responded. ‘Madam is calling you’, she informed. ‘Madam!’, I exclaimed, ‘why na, what for?’, ‘I don’t know ooo’, she said. ‘okay, I’m coming’, I said and she left. ‘why is this woman calling me now?’, I grumbled because, there was nothing good, that would come out from Stella’s mum calling me. The day was still young, I didn’t need any trouble. ‘Good morning ma’, I greeted as I entered her room. She stood up from her bed and said, ‘you, shebi you, because of you, my husband was angry at me, you think you can just come here and pretend so that everyone will just like you abi?’, she queried, ‘anyways, my husband said, I should apologize to you and because of the respect, I have for him, I have apologized, so when he returns, if you like, tell him, I didn’t apologize to you’, she said. ‘Ma, I……….’, I was cut short by her yell, ‘Abeg, get out of here jahre’, she said. I shook and walked out immediately.

I didn’t want to start my day before, I was still planning to sleep more but Mrs. Martins had managed to spoil my morning so, I went to freshen up and have breakfast in a bid to depart to my former house and get the rest of my things.

‘Uwanah’, David called breathlessly after I picked my phone call, ‘yes, David, any problem?’, I said, ‘no, no problem dear, I just got to work now, I woke up late this morning and I brought all your things, so you have to come and collect them, before madam will notice that I just came in’, he said. I was not expecting him to do that for me. Getting my clothes for me, without asking him to do so, was just very nice of him. After thanking and collecting the clothes from him, I informed him, that my mum would arrive that evening with my uncle,and that, she had probably left Boma by now. ‘oh, wow!, I’d love to meet her, if she doesn’t arrive too late tonight, I can wait a while after work but, if she arrives late, then seeing her would have to wait till tomorrow morning’, he said. ‘Okay, thanks again for the clothes, by the way, have you eaten this morning?’, I asked, ‘no, I haven’t’, he replied, ‘Why na?’, I questioned looking worried. ‘I just didn’t want to’, he said, ‘why?, it’s past 9:00am already’, I said. He laughed out loudly and said, ‘Uwa, you know, I don’t joke with meals, of course, I’ve eaten’, he said. I was actually offended that, he made me ask several questions of why he had not eaten, till he said, ‘Uwa, thank you’. ‘For what?’, I asked, ‘for getting worried when you thought, I hadn’t eaten, it really means a lot’, he informed. ‘David, you’re not serious, you are very funny’, I said. ‘Okay, see you later’, he said and ran off. Those words from David actually struck me, me worrying about him, meant something to him, it was thrilling to know that, he was one of the most special people in my life, if not for him, I would have never found uncle Bassey, he was someone with a rare and genuine attitude, which was very difficult to come by. And from that day, a little spark, lit up in my heart for David.

I called my mum after breakfast, she informed me, that she was already on her way, ‘I for have called you, but credit have finished in my account of phone’, she said. ‘Okay, ma, safe journey, get here soon’, I said, ‘okay, you too’, she said and I ended the call laughing noisily. ‘why would she say, “you too”, I’m not on any journey na’, I said aloud laughing. I couldn’t wait to see her, it had just been a few months but, I missed her. I didn’t want to stay in my room all day, then, I remembered there was a television in the living room, that I could keep myself busy with. The T.V was always dormant, no body came out to watch, so, I assumed, I’d have the living room all to myself. I got to the living room and changed my mind.

The house was really messy, Mrs. Martins had not found any maid yet. She’d have ordered me to clean, but for fear of her husband, she didn’t. I had to forgo watching movies for tidying up the house. I did my same work in the house, only without the usual maid’s attire.

‘What are you doing?’, Stella asked, I was with a mop and a bucket, why would she ask me that kind of useless question?, I didn’t want to be rude, I just answered, ‘Stella, I’m mopping’, ‘why are you mopping?’, she questioned. Now, she was really getting on my nerves but, I still decided to be polite. ‘The house is dirty, that’s why I’m mopping Stella’. She sarcastically mimicked my words and laughed me to scorn. ‘Good girl indeed, pretender’, she mocked and entered the kitchen. Her actions just displayed what she was, “A kid”, who needed growing up and if she didn’t watch her speech, I’d help her grow up in the hard way.

After the day’s work, David called my phone and said, he wouldn’t be able to wait any longer for my mum. ‘But, it’s just 6:00pm’, I said, ‘yes, I know, but a friend is waiting outside for me, he doesn’t have a place to stay for now, so I have to go’, he said and hung up. ‘What friend is coming to his house?’, I asked myself.
Nothing popped into my head as, I had no idea whom his friends were. Three hours after he called, I went into my room with the intention of calling Yemisi when I heard a car honk, I was certain, my mum had arrived with my uncle. I jumped out of my bed and ran outside. The car stopped and I raced towards it. It was truly my mum, they both came down from the car, I greeted my uncle and hugged my mum passionately. She didn’t really respond well to my hug, as she just patted my back gently. I didn’t blame her at all, she was probably as astonished and amazed as I was when I stepped foot in Lagos and in my uncle’s compound. ‘Help your mum carry her things inside’, my uncle said laughing. ‘Yes, sir’, I replied.

Then, like my mum was released from a powerful spell, she screamed, ‘Uwanah’ and gripped me tightly. ‘Let’s go in first’, my uncle said. Stella and her mother were already seated in the living room, pretending like, they didn’t see my mum. Mr. Martins signalled them severally to greet my mum but, they ignored. My mum noticed their backwards attitude towards her, she moved closer to Stella’s mum and asked, ‘are she the person who have slapped your face?’.

‘No, mummy, don’t worry’, I said, ‘moving closer to her’, ‘is your ear not hear, are she the person who slapped your face?’, she asked again. Stella laughed uncontrollably, obviously because of my mother’s use of words. ‘So, you even told your mum, I slapped you?’, Mrs. Martins asked me. ‘why aren’t she telled me?’, my mother questioned furiously.
Stella let out another scornful laughter.

This time, nothing and no one could relinquish the rage building up inside my mum, from the look on her face, I knew Stella was in for trouble. ‘Are she this woman daughter?’, my mum asked, ‘yes, ye….s’, I replied stammering. My mum drew closer to Stella, jacked her up by her dress and slapped her furiously. ‘Ekaete!’, my uncle exclaimed, ‘Mum!’, I exclaimed.

‘Oh my God!’, Mrs. Martins exclaimed. I rolled my eyes in anger, Yes!, they were disrespectful and insolent, but my mum slapping Stella on her first day of arrival, wasn’t just cool. Mr. Martins wasn’t looking happy at all, he looked like someone with regrets. My mum kept on yelling and warning Stella that she would deal with her mercilessly.
Then, I thought, ‘deal with her mercilessly in her own house?’, I thought it was impossible until the next few days, when I saw submission, respect and fear for my mum, from both Stella and her mum.