Three generations episode 5 – 6
THREE GENERATIONS
WRITTEN BY: OGECHI ALABI
CHAPTER 5
During the Christmas holiday, Nwakaego came to stay with her in-laws. She stayed with them until the New year. Sympathisers came to see her. Some of them gave her money. Her mother-in-law collected all the money from her. Nwakaego was able to hide some of the money but her mother-in-law took most of what she got saying she had returned to her people so she wasn’t entitled to it.
She went back home to her father’s house on the third day of the new year. She was in the market trading when she saw her husband’s friend Chijioke. He was surprised to see her there. He had heard rumours but didn’t pay much heed to them. Now he saw a woman who should be in mourning selling in the market wearing her mourning clothes. It is only women who had poor husbands that went in search of what to eat not the widow of Anozie who was comfortable. The money she was given during the Christmas period should have been enough for her until she removes her black cloth. It is only greed that can make her disgrace Anozie’s family this way, or was there more? Nwakaego wasn’t a greedy person and so there was no way she would want to soil Anozie’s name.
He approached her. She was astounded to see him. What was he doing in her village? She wasn’t expecting to see him.
“What are you doing here?” he asked her.
She didn’t respond. It was obvious what she was doing and she seemed embarrassed she was caught. He could see she was uncomfortable so he added, “I will wait for you to finish selling your wares then I will take you home; we need to talk”
He went to sit in his Opel while he waited for her. When she finished, she came to join him.
“I cannot drive with you in the same car otherwise people will talk”
“I don’t care what anyone says or thinks. I have to understand why you would tarnish Anozie’s image like this”
At the mention of Anozie’s name, Nwakaego broke down and said to him, “I didn’t have a choice. I can’t continue to live off handouts from my father when I can work and earn a living”
“Your father? Why are you collecting handouts from your father?”
Nwakaego took her time to explain everything to Chijioke.
“What of the money our age group contributed to you and your daughter’s upkeep?”
“My mother-in-law took everything from me after everyone left. The little money I could sneak away from her watchful eyes is what I used to start this trade.”
“But this is not Anozie’s village. What are you doing here?”
“This is my village and I am living with my father until the mourning period comes to an end”
“I didn’t expect this from Anozie’s family. Mbanu, it’s an abomination. Don’t they have shame? You will stop this trade until you remove your mourning clothes. I will take you home.”
Chijioke drove her to her family house. He saw Nwanneka and therefore believed all she told him. “So, the rumours were true?” he thought to himself. He brought out all the money he had on him and gave Nwakaego saying, “I will come back with more money for you. I will also task my age group still in the village to help. Please, don’t dishonour Anozie by trading while mourning. We are capable of taking good care of his widow. Do you know what Anozie has done for many people in our community? That is why he is called Ekwueme. He never disappoints.”
“I don’t want any trouble from my husband’s people”
“They will never know”
He kept to his word. She had enough money to tide her over until she removes her mourning clothes and still a sizeable amount extra. They also promised to set her up. She grabbed what she could now. She divided the money she got so she would have money to start her trade in Port-Harcourt. She remembered what her mother used to say, Nkemjika which means the one I have is greater. She couldn’t speculate on promises which she wasn’t sure would be fulfilled. She would rather save what she had at hand.
A year after her husband died and was buried, Nwakaego came to end the mourning rite. She gathered every clothing item she used during the mourning period and burnt them. She was free to wear her usual clothes.
A family meeting was held and it was agreed that Nwakaego would travel to Port-Harcourt with Obi. She would follow him to Anozie’s office and claim his entitlements. They were to bring the money back home for it to be shared by the family. She agreed.
She was also instructed to release all the property doc-ments, bank doc-ments and any other relevant doc-ments her husband may have left behind.
“We will have to search the house for the doc-ments you are talking about. Anozie never gave me any doc-ments and I didn’t come in contact with anyone when I was there”
‘You will have to search for them. You can’t come back until you find them”
They left for Port-Harcourt very early the next morning. Before noon, they arrived. They went to the Railway Corporation office where her husband worked. His colleagues sympathized with her and helped her fill out the necessary forms required to receive his entitlement. They were told to come back in a week to collect the cheque. There was no way they could go back to the village that night so they went to the house to pass the night.
The tenant that had locked the house gave her the keys and told her if she needed help, he was available looking suspiciously at Obi. She thanked him and the went into the house. Their relationsh¡p had been hostile so she cleaned up the bedroom for him while she moved into the other bedroom. She asked for money to cook which he gave her. She went to the market came back and cooked. Obi sat down on her husband’s favourite chair and ate the food she cooked. Tears dropped from her eyes.
She cleaned the entire house and used that opportunity to pack her belongings and those of her daughter. She didn’t touch anything that belonged to Anozie. She cried as she cleaned while her husband’s brother went to take a nap on their bed.
Nwakaego heard a noise in the bedroom. She noticed the door was closed she decided to check what was happening through the window. She peeped and saw Obi. He was wearing Anozie’s shorts and T-shirt. The wardrobe was scattered and some of the contents on the floor. The drawers were also on the floor. The mattress had been lifted. Everywhere was a mess. She wondered what he was looking for.
Later that evening, the tenants came as a group to commiserate with her. When they met Obi wearing Anozie’s clothes, they were taken aback. She offered them seats. She called her brother-in-law aside and asked for change to entertain them but he refused. She smiled at him, went into her room to collect money from where she hid it and went to get the refreshment.
“When I told Amara what happened, she didn’t sleep for days. She wondered how you knew. How did you know from here?”
“He came to tell me he was gone. It is sad but what can I do?”
“What of Nwanneka?”
“She is in the village; we came to collect his entitlement. I will go back there”
“Who will take over the house if you go back to the village? Isn’t the mourning period over?”
“My in-laws will manage the property. It is step by step. You will be duly informed”
Obi had a smirk on his face when she said this. The tenant that refused him access to the house the last time he came will be the first to be thrown out. He stood up and entered Anozie’s room. The tenants quickly handed an envelope to Nwakaego. They whispered to her to hide well. She smiled and thanked them with a whisper. They were heartbroken when they left. They knew how much Anozie loved his wife; it was an open secret. Now, she was at the mercy of her in-laws. She had aged because of the grief. All they could do was pray for her.
Obi came into her room the next day to search for whatever he was looking for while she was in the bathroom. She met him there ravaging through her belongings. She was wise. She hid the money the tenants gave her in,side a bag of salt that was in the kitchen, there was no way he would go there to check for anything.
“What are you looking for?” she asked him startling him in the process. She had a wrapper tied around her chest and her hand on her wa-ist.
“Where are my brother’s property doc-ments?”
“I have told you I don’t know where they are or what they look like, he never showed them to me”
“What of his bank cheques and passbook?”
“I don’t know, maybe we should check his office in Enugu”
“Enugu office said he had no personal effect there. So, where can it be?”
“I honestly don’t know; I told you from the village. Please excuse me, I want to dress up”
“You can dress up”
“Why should I dress up in your presence? You are not my husband and can never see my uncladness”
“You are part of the property we are going to share. I will see your uncladness as often as I want so you can talk as much as you like”
“Over my dead body will I belong to you. You and your wife share in the same wickedness. I will never accept to be with you, I would rather die. You watched me suffer and did nothing about it instead you instigated your mother against me. I would rather give this body to strangers than to you”
“Say all the nonsense you want to say, just know that you will grace my bed soon, whether willingly or otherwise” he left the room.
That night, she used a big box against the door to secure it. She had also planned to scre-m until the tenants come to her rescue if he tried anything funny.
On the fifth day, the gratuity cheque was issued in Nwakaego’s name. Obi insisted they go to the bank together to cash it. She collected a total sum of N3,150.00. This was a huge amount of money. Obi’s eyes w¡dened when he saw the cash.
When they got home, he gave Nwakaego money to buy him fresh fish and cook pepper soup for him. He also requested for cold bottles of beer. Nwakaego wondered at the extravagance. The money he gave for food was very little but now he wanted to spend so much on fresh fish pepper soup. She realized it was her husband’s money he was spending. She bought two big fish which she used to make the pepper soup. Before she served him, she took some in a bowl in,side her room and hid it. Then she called him to eat.
He sat down and devoured almost all the food. He asked her to keep what was left for him to eat the next morning.
“What about me?”
“You want to eat fresh fish? If you want to eat, come and lay with me in my bed then you can eat as much as you like”
She packed everything away while he finished six bottles of beer. He dozed off on the chair, she had to wake him up to go into the room to sleep. When he had retired and she heard him snoring away, she sat in her room and ate her own pepper soup with chilled soft drink. She quietly took the plate out and cleaned up the kitchen.
She expected they would leave the next day but that wasn’t the case. Obi wanted to remain and enjoy so more of the city life. He went out the next night and came home with a girl of the night. He took her into the room. Nwakaego cried all through the night. “Why would he desecrate their bedroom like this?” she thought to herself.
The next morning, he summoned the tenants. He requested for their rent, they informed him they were not due yet because they paid for three years. Obi wasn’t happy about this; he had dipped his hand into the money received. He had to explain to them why it was short.
CHAPTER 6
Nwakaego asked when they would be going back to the village. Obi claimed to have more work to do. She told him she couldn’t wait any longer. He insisted he had to find the property doc-ments and other doc-ments before leaving. She told him to stay back and look for the doc-ments but she had to go back and take care of her daughter; she was all she had. She packed all her personal belongings in the house and some kitchen utensils which she bought over time. She asked for transport money, Obi refused to give her.
“It is better you give me the money or I will go to the village and let them know what you are doing with the gratuity we collected from the Railway. If you give me money, I won’t say anything until you come. I know the reason why you want me to stay here is so that I can cook and clean for you. I am not ready to do that”
Obi still refused to give her money believing she didn’t have any money on her. She went to get a taxi, she loaded her belongings into it and left. Obi was shocked when she left. He knew how much she had when they came and there was no way the money will take her back to the village as she spent some of it in the house. Where did she get the money? Then it struck him, he could accuse her of stealing money from him.
Nwakaego went to her village to drop all her belongings. She packed a few things for her in-laws’ house. She gave her father the money the tenants gave her for safekeeping. Then she went to her husband’s village. They were surprised she came back alone. She had left Nwanneka there and she wasn’t sure her mother-in-law would take care of her well. She was happy to see the child was looking well.
Obi came back three days later. He did not wait to find out what Nwakaego had said to his people, instead he called for a family meeting. “She has hidden the property doc-ments and his bank doc-ments. I looked for them everywhere, I couldn’t find them. She even stole from me to rush back here”
“Why didn’t you come back with her?” his father asked.
“I was still searching for the doc-ment”
“For how many days? When did you collect the entitlement?”
“Last week Thursday”
“Why didn’t you come back immediately?”
“I was still looking for the doc-ments”
“How much did you receive; how much was the entitlement?”
“N3,150”
“That is a lot of money. Give it to me”
“She stole some of the money”
“How much did she steal?”
“N150”
“Nobody can steal from you Obi if anyone steals from you the person will have a mark to remember their mistake. I don’t believe she stole your money and you allowed her to leave” his father announced.
“She ran away before I found out”
“And she ran back home after stealing such an amount of money? That would be stupid of her. Nwakaego, what happened?”
“I didn’t steal his money, he spent the money on fresh fish pepper soup, beer and ndi akwuna, pr-stitutes. If money got missing, he should ask them. I didn’t share a room with him and he locked the door of the room when he wasn’t there even when he goes to take or bath or use the toilet. We both know no money got missing, you spent it”
Immediately, the first daughter stood up and announced, “Whatever is missing was when you had the money and I believe Nwakaego, she didn’t take the money. That money will be taken from your share”
“What share? You don’t have a share here. Onyedika and I are the only ones entitled to this money according to custom so what are you buffing over?” Obi asked.
“According to which custom? We had an agreement. You were to come back with her but you stayed for extra days carrying akwuna and spending the money on frivolities. Now you remember custom and tradition. What of his parents? Don’t they have a share?”
“I don’t know what the argument is about. Obi, bring the money. I will decide how it will be shared” Obi brought out N3,000 from his pocket and gave his father. “Now, Nwakaego, this is your husband’s entitlement. How would you want it to be shared?”
“Anyhow you want to share it, papa. I know you will be fair”
“Nwakaego, I will give you N1000 from the money, the rest will be shared by the rest of the family. My wife and I constitute a unit, the girls will get N150 each, Obi and Onyedika will get N450 each while the rest will go to us. We will remove the N150 Obi spent from his share. Next time, you will behave responsibly”
“Why does Nwakaego get N1000 while I get N150?” the first daughter asked.
“Nwakaego had a child for your brother. Wouldn’t she be taken care of? That is the only legacy he has. I will keep the money and give it to her when she needs it.”
Obi flared up, “You are not being fair papa. I told you Nwakaego stole the money from me. How did she get money to come back to the village if she didn’t steal it?”
“I didn’t steal your money. The first day you requested for pepper soup and beer, how much did you give me? Didn’t you bring it out from the crispy notes that we collected from the bank?”
“That doesn’t explain how you got money to come back” He replied.
“The tenants heard our argument, called me and gave me money so I could travel back. You can send someone to Port-Harcourt to ask. They gave me N50 which was enough to bring me back and reserve the rest”
“That money should have been declared and added to the money to be shared” Obi insisted.
“When sympathizer came to visit after Anozie death, all the money I was given were collected from me. I expect we will be sharing the money too” Nwakaego added.
“Shut up your mouth! Who collected the money from you?” her mother-in-law asked.
“You did. Every kobo, you collected from me. That was why I couldn’t feed myself or care for my child. If all the monies are brought out for us to share, then I bring out the balance from the N50” Nwakaego was nervous as she spoke. She was scared they would attack her but surprisingly, they didn’t.
“What about the house rent?”
“The tenants claim they paid for three years and don’t owe rent”
“That money must be somewhere. We will keep digging until we get the information we need. We need the property doc-ments so they will be kept safely and his account details. Once we get the money in the bank, 50% will be for Nwakaego and Nwanneka. The rest will be shared amongst us. Any other issue?”
“Father, it is a year Anozie died, what now happens to the widow?” Obi asked.
“What happens to the widow how?”
“Wouldn’t she be given in marriage to one of his brothers?”
“Obi, you think you are smart? Because the father is keeping money aside for Nwakaego and her daughter you want to marry her and collect the money. No wonder you don’t bring your wife home anymore. You have interest in Anozie’s wife. Tufiakwa, you are a terrible person” his sister rebuked him.
“Obi, you have a wife and children you can barely take care of and now you want to marry Nwakaego? No way. Onyedika will marry her instead” Papa insisted.
“Papa, I should marry mama Nwanneka? She is much older than me. I have a girl I want to marry”
“You will marry her to help keep the lineage. You have a responsibility to the family”
“I can’t marry Onyedika. This is a child that served me when I had my daughter, now you want me to lay with him?” Nwakaego insisted.
“I am the best person to marry her. I can control her since I am older than her” Obi replied.
“You will lay with my dead body not while I am alive and breathing. God forbid! You think it is that thing you tried in Port-Harcourt. I will like to appeal to you, father, I know I didn’t have a son for Anozie and therefore I don’t inherit anything. You have been gracious to me by keeping money aside for his daughter and me. I am appealing to you papa, please, allow me to go back to my father’s house. If I remain here, I will have serious fallouts with Obi and his wife. I don’t want that. Death has separated my husband and I and I have mourned him for a year. I would never meet a man like Anozie in my lifetime, therefore, I have decided not to get married again. I will remain single for the rest of my life”
“My daughter, you are still a young girl. There are still good men out there who can marry you if you choose to leave. Do not close your heart to love. I will grant your request; you are free to go back to your people. Even though Anozie didn’t have a son, he had a child. Whatever rent we collect from the house he built; you will get a fraction of it. God bless you, my dear”
“You want her to leave and stain Anozie’s name? She will bring disgrace to us” Anozie’s mother retorted.
“But if she stays here, you won’t take care of her. Death severs all relationsh¡ps especially a marriage. Why can’t she remarry after her husband’s death? Nwanyi, you are being too difficult, I am yet to understand what this girl did to you for you to despise her this much”
“She killed my son, that’s why. Why Anozie had to travel that night is still a mystery. I believe she is not telling us everything”
“Go and ask Chukwu, he will answer you. Anozie loved her and she loved him in return. Did Anozie appear to you when he died? He appeared to tell the one he loved and she understood immediately. I believe Anozie wants his wife and daughter taken care of and that’s what I will do no matter what you or anyone says. If she is happier in her father’s house, let her stay there until she gets a suitor”
Nwakaego went back to her father’s house. She was happy with her father-in-law; he was a good man. She was also happy she was done with Obi and his siblings. She couldn’t believe they could turn against her like this. Her mother-in-law was the biggest shocker but she understood her. She was still grieving the death of her son. He was the only prosperous one amongst them and his life was cut short.
Tbc