Unforgivable 5

Thus began my quest for Mother. I had to go through her relatives, who had equally abandoned us when things  were dreary and dark. Father gave me the address of her elder brother who told me he hadn’t set his eyes upon her for years, as he was told she had relocated to Port Harcourt. She had married a business mogul who dealt in oil and gas.
I was able to get her phone number and I called her. She was excited to hear from me. She told me she was back in Lagos and that I could come to her house. The address was sent and I had to steel myself ahead of the visit. Face to face at long last with my thoughtlessly cruel mother.
I dressed carefully, I wanted her to know, we weren’t wretched and could not be called wretched. I drove down in the car Mickey had bought for me, as a birthday present. When I got to the gate of the house, I called her on phone. She came out to open the gate. I could see the shock and bewilderment on her face
‘ Up yours, Mother!’ I thought, keeping a pleasant smile on my face.
The house was old, the paint peeling off. She occupied a self contained apartment amongst a block of self contained flats. I was ushered in, she kept staring at me, as if she was seeing an apparition.
We sat down, the chair creaked beneath my weight. I looked round, first at her face carefully, missing nothing. The years had not been kind to her. The toll of bleaching and re bleaching had left her skin badly wrinkled with green and black patches. She had aged, badly. I looked at the tiny sitting room, badly and poorly furnished. I smiled back at her, ever so nicely. Touché!
‘ I know you must think badly of me, Abike' she started wringing her hands.
I noticed the left hand was absent a ring.
‘ I left your father for what I thought was a far better prospect. Alas!’
I looked at her dispassionately. In my mind I was furious at myself for bothering to look for this…..very selfish woman. Then I remembered Mickey’s caveat. She had to sit with father at my Trad wedding plus Church wedding. I cleared my throat.
‘ What could have made a mother leave her husband and three little children. Your last baby was barely three!’
‘ Abike please find it in your heart to forgive me. I don’t understand it myself. It is the work of the Devil!’
I couldn’t stop myself from laughing. It just burst out of me. I laughed and laughed and laughed. How quick we are to blame the Devil when things go South as a result of bad decision making, or our thoughtlessness.
‘ The Devil made you leave your family. The Devil made you never to look back, never to visit or call them. Wow! Must be some Devil!’
She started crying, quietly. The tears rolled down her cheeks, steadily. I looked at her, without compassion. As far as I was concerned, it was medicine after death. But, I was on a mission, needing speedy execution.
I told her I was to get married. She cried some more. I was a trifle irritated. She enquired after Wole,Oyin and finally Father. I promised I’d be back with Mickey and then I left. As I was driving off, I saw her lonely figure in my side mirror, waving sadly at me.

To be continued….