Life With Tutu

Separation was hard at first, but I had to man up…or is it woman up? I would prepare him for school in the mornings and the driver would take us both to his school. Hubby didn’t like the idea of crowding his son and heir apparent with other kids in the school bus. Upon leading him to his classroom, he would give me one final desperate hug and I would kneel to be loudly and fervently kissed robustly on both cheeks! Sean grew up healthy and strong. Everyday, I kept blessing the day I conceived him. All was well with my world….with Sean in it. When he was two, hubby said we needed to go do some tests as he was perplexed I hadn’t gotten pregnant again. To be candid, I wanted a playmate for my son and I was equally surprised because the nightly couplings were even more frequent than before: I really ought to have conceived. And, the litany of tests begun. We even tried IVF when Sean became three, to no avail. I noticed hubby was worried as his conversations tended towards the pressure he wa...

  I was told I slept with reckless abandon. The injection I was given felt like an overdose and I woke up feeling so lethargic….so lethargic I had forgotten I had just given birth! It was the cry of my son beside me that made me stir and the look of adoration I gave him, made him gurgle at me. Chai! I’m crazy about this boy! My one and only. My light in the darkness of my life. My sunshine, my beacon of hope and love. I carried him in my arms and thought of the name to give him as my mother bustled in inquiring as to what I wanted to eat. Eat? Suddenly I felt ravenous. I hadn’t eaten for close to twenty four hours. I ordered for pounded yam and white soup. My husband had booked a private room in a very expensive hospital for us. We got whatever we wanted to get, whenever we wanted it, and how we wanted it. All this my mother observed and thanked her chi that her daughter was ‘ well married!’ I ate when my food arrived with much gusto. My mother held my son as they both watched me e...

Life fell into a steady pattern. I would stay at home whilst hubby worked as a business man. The nature of the 'business' I knew not. He always patted my arm condescendingly whenever I asked him. Apparently the great oaf felt such things were not meant for feminine heads! Anyways, why should I care? I was well taken care of, my mother and siblings got regular and generous allowances monthly and they were happy….very happy at my own unhappy expense. I think I know not how to be happy. I have always been very melancholic even as a child. Always kept to myself except for my brief fling of sorts. Maybe happiness was never going to be my thing. Maybe happiness is only for certain groups of people  Whilst hubby was at his ‘ business', I spent my time exploring the house. It was enormous and we have a maid and a cook to assist. Hubby was a traditionalist…his wife had to prepare all his meals. I had no issues with it as it gave me something to do. I do not know how to be idle and I...

  I could not just believe my eyes as it was an ogre that stared right back at me. The smile plastered on his face, just made him…..more beastly! He moved into the room and sat beside me on the four poster bed, the last time I would be sitting on the bed as a spinster in my late father's house. I could not cry. He laid his hand…better yet, his great paw, on my lap, for he was a large man. I cringed at his touch, revulsion rising. My bridesmaid looked at my bowed head, with sympathy, she later told me. Hatred rose up betwist my breasts at the same time. This was an imposter! This was completely, totally disimilar to the fine pictures I had been shown by my…..very wicked and heartless uncles! May thunder and brimstone fall on their heads! At last he was done talking and took his leave. I raised my head at Chinonso, my bridesmaid, my face bathed with tears of rage and helplessness. Chinonso silently took me in her arms and wiped my face as best as she could. My make up had to be re do...

I stare out of the window. It is raining heavily. Not as if I have an appointment or something. I am a full time housewife. What you’d call a kept woman. I am kept, how well ‘kept' you wouldn’t want to know. I walk away, slowly from the window. I will not call my walk a waddle.....but it is a waddle to be frank, for I am quite heavy now. Heavy with a child I really do not want. A child I really should not be having. He kicks ferociously. I can almost hear him reading my murky thoughts. He knows I do not want him and is angry with me,hence the kick, I can only presume. It’s all good. God knows, I shouldn’t even be here, in Lagos with a husband I also do not want…better yet a husband I so urgently dislike. We must make the best of every situation we find ourselves, I can almost hear my mother saying. Poor, helpless mother! My mother was also a ‘kept’ woman. So kept, she had not worked a single day in her life. Father was comfortable, we had all we needed until he upped and died. At w...

Emenike prepared his mind for the worst. What could even be worse than losing his limbs minus one, his mother and the prospective loss of his beautiful sister? If the Sherpherdhood felt his sister was next, so be it. He was powerless, now. He took to throwing his all into his business, he wanted his affairs set in order, just in case he was next. He wasn’t surprised when he got a call from his aunt in Owerri the following week; Chioma was in a critical condition in the hospital on account of a ghastly motor accident. Emenike mourned his sister, he knew it was the end. He however sent funds for her treatment and was making arrangements to go visit her in Owerri when he was called again that she had passed. Emenike cried like a baby. He was inconsolable. For days he refused to bath or eat.  Eventually, he had to see to her burial as the first son. He travelled down in the company of his driver, nurse and family for the burial. It was a sad affair, her fiance had cried himself hoarse,...

'Madam, I’m afraid I have some bad news' Nash looked numb. Doctor adjusted himself in his seat as he continued ‘We’ve conducted some preliminary tests on your husband. He appears to have suffered some form of paralysis as a result of the trauma he suffered in the accident' Nash lips were moving noiselessly as she kept staring at the doctor.  ‘I just want you to prepare your mind. We’ll still conduct more tests to ascertain the extent of the paralysis. I am so sorry’ Nash did not know how she left the doctor’s office. She walked to the loo on legs that had suddenly turned rubber like. She locked herself in and shed bitter tears. She never bargained for something like this. What was her crime she kept asking herself, what was her husband’s crime? They gave generously in church, and out of church, to the poor, the widows and the orphaned. No, they didn’t deserve this! Meanwhile Emenike was trying to see if he could move his limbs which strangely felt so very heavy. He complain...