I rolled my eyes, completely uninterested and said, “Mama, I don’t know what you are up to but whatever games you are playing, please I want no part in it. I don’t know who this girl is and I’m not interested.”
I saw the girl’s expression change to that of fear. “Bia, Ezinne, take the tray to the backyard, I want to talk to my son.” My mother told her and she meekly obeyed and walked away with a sad look. My mother turned to squarely face me now. “Chike, what was the meaning of that nonsense you just said now? Do you know that this girl is from a very respectable home? Anyone who marries from her family never
regrets it. In fact, she’s a twin and her twin is married. If you marry Ezinne, you’ll bring twins into our family.”
“Mama, one does not marry alone for the sake of children. Please don’t keep that girl’s hopes high, because I’m not going to marry her.”
My mother frowned in displeasure now. “You won’t marry her kwa? What is it that she lacks? She’s of good behaviour, she comes from a very respectable home, she’s plump and fleshy, she even has enough uku to last you a lifetime. I have chosen Ezinne for you and Ezinne it will be. If you are considering marrying any oyibo woman, you had better change your mind because I am not interested in half caste children. Those women cannot even make fufu or ofensala, they can’t wash your clothes clean the way Ezinne would and they take too long to give birth.”
I sat down where Ezinne had vacated now and asked pensively with my fingers locked and my chin resting on them. “Mama, who got Zainab pregnant?” My question seemed to catch her off guard and she gave me a surprised look. She leaned against the buglary and folded her arms, turning her face the other way.
I lifted my eyes to look at her and said, “Mama, I’m sure that you heard me.”
To be continued…
© Angela Okoduwa
