THE MISTAKE OF MY LIFE
Episode 4
“good-day DAD” i greeted fearfully as he approached me, but he simply gave me a terrible look, spat and shook his head, “you are no daughter of mine, you are a big disgrace to my family, just look at yourself and what you have done to your future” he muttered with an angry tone, walked into Mum’s shop cursing angrily. I was extremely disheartened and downcasted.
“dear lord open up the earth and swallow me, please” i knelt and cried.
People passed by and watched me silently, some laughed, some murmured inaudible words, some scoffed, some sighed in pity, some shrugged and cursed my parents, but none came forward to help me. Not even my younger sisters.
By 4pm that fateful day, i returned to my landlady’s shop with a broken spirit and a weak body. There were tears in her eyes as she saw me walk in. She quickly offered me a chair before giving me a plate of rice.
‘Oh i really would have died that fateful day if not for her’.
I can never forget all she did for me. Our land-lady fondly called Mama Joy by everyone who knew her was a very kind hearted old woman, who managed to raise her three children all alone with the little profit she made from the small street corner “food-Joint” she owned. Her husband{our landlord} was just a well known drunkard and gambler who spent all the money he made from his old house, drinking and gambling. He really made ‘pool promoters and agents’ very wealthy with his stupidity.
Mama Joy was thus forced to fight for her children alone, perhaps that was the main reason she felt and understood my plight.
“don’t worry my dear, i’ll talk to Nnamdi when he returns this evening, i really don’t understand men nor boys of nowadays” she assured me as i ate with a broken spirit.
“what will i do if Nnamdi refuses to listen to her” i wondered fearfully, “perhaps Mama Joy will allow me work for her” i reasoned with a dry smile, “but where will i be sleeping” i asked myself sorrowfully.
I really was very worried as we waited for Nnamdi to show up that fateful day. But to my extreme surprise, he came home by 9:30pm, dragging a young strange woman who looked like a whore with him. I was broken hearted, dejected and in tears. Mama Joy simply shrugged and held me.
“that’s some of the things we poor women face in life, don’t let it bother you” she calmly advised. But something deep down told me i had lost Nnamdi forever.
The little hopes i had were dashed that moment.
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