ADUNNI…
For the child who grew up in the not so sweet home…
‘Keep quiet woman!’, ‘Lai lai, don’t tell me that!’, ‘Everyone in your family is the mad one!’, ‘Stupid man!’, ‘May God judge you!’, ‘Witch!!!’, ‘You are provoking me o!’, ‘I have married a disaster!’, ‘I made a mistake marrying you!... the squabble continued.
8-year-old Adunni hid herself behind the sofa in the sitting room crying as she used her both hands to cover her ears from the hateful shouts.
She was afraid, afraid that the quarrel would lead to a fight. She was ashamed, ashamed that she would continue to get the look of ‘the girl from that fighting family’. She was ashamed of her parents, ‘Why couldn’t they be like her friends’ parents or like the other parents in the compound’. Once again, what was happening deepened the substance already given to her fear of marriage.
‘Maybe I should run away until all this is over’ She thought to herself but the shame of facing the people who were outside held her back, the people she was sure were already gossiping about her parents’ incessant fight.
*knock* *knock* *knock*
‘Thank God Papa James is here’, she said thankfully as she stood up from where she was. At least, now her parents would stop. Papa James was the eldest man in the compound and her parents respected him, they certainly would listen to him…
Adunni watched as Kemi’s parents laughed together, took selfies and teased each other.
‘Why won’t my parents be like this’, ‘Why do my parents hate each other’, ‘Weren’t they once in love?’, ‘Maybe sometimes love turns to hatred’ she thought. ‘Certainly it does, at least for a larger number of people. But how would I even know if the person I will be getting married to will love me forever?. Hm, I’ll just not get married because I don’t want troubles’.
Adunni was lost in thoughts, her fears flashed before her eyes again, she trembled softly, the shouts that echoed hatred between her parents replayed in her ears, a tear dropped from her eyes.
‘Adunni!, Let’s go jor’, Kemi called, jerking her shoulder. ‘What’s wrong with you Adunni?, why are you crying?’
Adunni tried to clean her eyes with the hem of her blouse sleeves. ‘ Something entered my eyes and it hurts’, she lied.
‘Sorry, come let’s go and wash your face at the tap over there’, Kemi motioned her to the tap.
.
.
.
With smiles on her face, Adunni walked home that evening, excited to tell her mother all that happened at lesson earlier that day. As she got to the gate of her compound, she heard shouts coming from their flat, her parents were at it again, raining curses and abuses at each other. She wanted to run back, at least to her lesson teacher’s house but she was stopped by the voice of Iya Bose.
‘Adunni, how are you?’
‘Fine ma, good evening ma’, Adunni answered.
‘Go and stay at my flat, Bose and Olu are around, go and play with them, I will go and talk to your parents. Once they stop, you will go home. Okay?’
‘Okay ma’. Adunni replied sadly as she made her way to Iya Bose’s flat.
‘One day, when I’m grown, I will leave this house and not come back again’ she resolved within herself.
17 year old Adunni picked her GES 101 text as she set out for lectures. Her phone rang, it was her mum who was calling.
‘Hello mummy, good morning ma’
‘Good morning dear, how are you? Are you on your way to class already?’
‘I’m fine ma, I’m on my way. How’s daddy and everyone?’
‘Hm, everyone is fine o my dear but your father ehn, that man just wants to kill me, I’m tired! he has been giving me problems, blah, blah, blah…. (she sounded like she had been crying)’ The rant continued…
‘I understand mummy, please just be patient, you have been patient until now…’
After about two minutes of rants and pacification, the call ended.
‘Hm!’ Adunni sighs, ‘I thought I was free from these people but they won’t stop calling me to settle their quarrels at least once a week, I’m tired oo. Anyways, let me go back to class before I miss so much, I shouldn’t even be distracted, exams start next week’.
Adunni’s phone rings again, this time, her father.
‘Hello Daddy, good morning sir.’
‘Good morning my daughter, se daada ni (meaning hope all is good)’
‘Yes daddy, I was even in class, I just had to come outside to pick your call’
‘Oh my dear, sorry ehn, I’m just calling to report your mother to you, you need to talk to her, she has been insulting me since morning, she even woke me up at night just to rain abuses on me…..’
Another rant…
‘Anyway, don’t let me waste your time, you should be in class now, just call her and talk some sense into her and don’t pick up her bad attitudes so that you can be a better wife and mother someday, so gbo ? (understood?)’
‘Okay daddy, e ma binu sir, please forgive her, I will talk to her, please don’t be offended’
‘No problem dear, I just thought to report her to you, go back to class and be a good girl’
‘Okay daddy, bye sir.’
‘Hm, God how long will this last for, I just want peace, I can’t even get my mind together knowing that there is no peace at home. I doubt if I'll be able to concentrate in class again, these people don’t even know they have distracted me. This marriage thing is definitely not worth it’
‘Please help me God, just help me’.
‘Hello Adunni', Tunji said with the most charming smile Adunni thought she had ever seen.
Adunni thought her heart had just skipped a beat, she thought she couldn't risk crushing on anyone… ‘Hello Tunji', she said quickly as she hurried back to class.
Tunji's smile lingered in her head and she thought she couldn't understand why.
‘Adunni, concentrate. You don’t like anyone, one day he might end up hating you. So, you like no one, okay?’, she said to herself…
To be continued…