DEFEATED NOT - Episode 4

[4 min read]

My new mother and I got home around 7pm. I met my two new brothers and I honestly did not know what to do, because I had never really been around boys, it was difficult to know what to say or do, but I felt certain they would be better than the girls back at the house-that was what the orphanage was called. So I smiled and said good evening. I could not tell if they were happy or angry so I stopped smiling and bowed my head. 

My new mother ushered me into my new home and asked me what I loved to do. I told her reading. She smiled and gave me a storybook from the massive shelf standing behind a couch that looked similar to the emotional couch in the house. That was the only familiar thing, so I sat on it and opened the book. Believe it or not, it was a Christian storybook about a boy named Samuel. His mother, whose name was Hannah, gave him up at a really tender age to serve the Lord. This just doesn't make sense, how will a God that claims to love mankind ask a nursing mother to give up her baby to serve Him in a temple? Well, what do I know? 

She called me to the dining table around 8pm and apologized that I had to eat so late. ‘Thank you ma’ I said with a smile. She introduced the boys over the food. I was starving and so eager to eat, that I did not immediately get their names. And so we ate amala, ewedu soup and fish for dinner.

I had a room of my own, it was bigger than I expected. Mom gave me time to look around the house. MOM... It was really nice to be able to refer to someone as my mom. She asked if there was anything I wanted and I said no.

‘Where is your husband, their father I mean’ I asked.

She laughed.

‘He is your father too, but he's out of the country for the moment.'

Father came back two weeks later and by then I knew Segun - the younger one was really sick. Father was really nice and he bought me so many clothes, shoes and junks. I slept everyday expecting to wake up in the house, but I woke up to find myself in my room. I had never been happier. Though I wasn’t allowed to go out and I did not start school immediately, but I also was not allowed to meet visitors, only selected members of the extended family and the family doctor.

My mind was too numb to suspect anything due to the love I received from everyone. The house was very big and there were so many things to do, so many things to learn.

Mother gave me details about the illness after a while though, Segun just had another attack and had been rushed to the hospital. I, as usual, was not allowed to follow them to the hospital.

I laid on the familiar couch, but didn’t get much sleep.

Mother came back the following morning looking stressed. I watched her hurry around the kitchen preparing breakfast. She made my favourite breakfast, and I was as happy as well as confused. Shouldn’t she have made Segun’s favourite since he was the sick one?

She watched as I ate and cleared the table when I finished, I was mildly surprised.

‘How is Segun?’ I asked

‘I’m actually glad you asked about Segun, Fona, because I've been meaning to talk to you about him.'

‘Ok mother.'

‘You see, about 18 months ago, Segun became really ill and we took him to the hospital to meet our doctor,. I'm sure you know him he has been here few times, diagnosed him with leukemia.'

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