Battered Wife

10

"Ekule o." I greeted as I walked into my parent's living room after driving for nearly three hours to get to their home in Ibadan City.

"Omo mi, Kabo, kabo." My mother welcomed us home in yoruba as she walked out of the kitchen as soon as she heard my voice.

Adesewa and I kneeled down to greet both of my parents in yoruba. "Ekasan Mama, Ekasan Papa."

"Ekasan Grandma, Ekasan Grandpa." Adesewa kneeled beside me and repeated the greeting wishing my parents a good afternoon.

"Oya stand up quickly jo." My mother helped me up while my father helped Adesewa up, swinging her into his arms.

"Adesewa bawoni." My father greeted her with a wide smile on the face, showing the kindness that a grandparent should have for their grandchild regardless of their gender.

Adesewa's yoruba was shaky at best and my junior brother, Olamide, had to help her find the right response to this question. "Say mo wa sir."

"Mo wa sir." Adesewa said in a milky, unnatural yoruba intonation that made all of us chuckle.

"Good afternoon, Sister Lola." Olaolu, my other junior brother and the naughty last child of our family greeted as he walked out of the room area.

"Laolu, bawoni." I responded to his greeting, asking how he was doing before turning to Olamide who had greeted me earlier. "Bawoni Lamide."

"A wa." They responded, assuring me that they were doing fine in Yoruba.

"Laolu, go and take the stuffs in the booth into the house. Lamide, you carry me and Adesewa's bags to my room and help me dust the place up." I instructed as I sat on the couch beside my dad who was holding Adesewa in his lap and having a whispered back-and-forth conversation.

"Okay." Olamide and Olaolu responded before going to do as I instructed.

After waving to Adesewa, whom my father was helping to turn the TV on to a cartoon station, while asking her about school, I followed my mother to the kitchen.

As someone who hadn't been home for quite a while, my mom didn't allow me to work. She just allowed me to sit by the side while helping her pull ewedu leaves for the ewedu and gbegiri soup we were going to eat for tonight's dinner.

***

It was only later in the evening after Adesewa and my father had gone to bed that my mother asked me for the real reason why I came home suddenly.

"I know you said you suddenly had a break at work but your mood was really low when you got home. Did you fight with Remi?" My mom knew me better than anyone in the world so while I'd tried to act happy, she'd seen right through the lie.

My nosy brother, Olaolu, lowered the volume of the movie he was watching, not even hiding his desire to spy on our conversation.

I glared at him before responding to my mother's question. "Remi slapped me."

"Ehn!" Olamide was my brother who was born right after me and he was my most protective brother.

He immediately walked over to the dining table, sitting on the other side while staring at me. "How dare he?"

Of course, the annoying last born of our family had to butt in with unpleasant words, "Sister Lola, did you do anything to make him angry? Bro Remi is so cool and gentle. He would never slap you for no reason."

I glared at him. "Brother Remi, ehn? Why don't you just come and say that I deserved to be slapped then."

Olamide smacked him on the head. "Shut up!"

My mother ignored them, "What really happened? Tell us the whole story."

I repeated everything that happened and by the time I was done, I was already crying. Olamide was standing beside me, patting my back and my mom was holding my hand in hers.

"Mama, I want to get a divorce. If we continue the way things are. Adesewa will soon not be able to say a single word. I was wondering why before. She would be so quiet and withdrawn. She doesn't jump around or play with her peers. She just sits in one place and stares. If I leave her like this, I'm afraid..." I was afraid that she would lose all of her self esteem, become more and more withdrawn until she couldn't even offer me a smile.

My mother was quiet and she could no longer say a word of support for Remi now because she had finally realized how dire things were.

"Wow, I never expected that brother Remi to be this type of person. And he seemed like a good person o. Even when I sent him messages, he would regularly respond." Olaolu murmured, his face scrunched up with indignation.

"You sent him messages?" I asked, staring at him.

"Ehn. He's my brother-in-law, can't I?" Olaolu said. "He even sent me money two months ago. If I had known, I would have told him to go and eat his money. Yama yama person."

"Olaolu, don't ever ask Remi for money or talk to him separately again, do you hear?" I said, staring at him seriously.

"Ehn, I've heard. Don't worry. I only spoke to him because I thought he was a better person now. Who would have thought he was just a green snake hiding in green grass. What a shame." His overly dramatic expressions made me laugh.

I looked up to Olamide who was standing beside me and staring at me with worried eyes. "Don't worry Ola, I'll be fine. You'll see."

My mother smiled at my optimism and patted my hands.

With her quiet smile, I knew that she had approved of me getting a divorce from Remi.

"Mama, can you help me to talk to papa about this?" I asked because I really didn't know how to discuss a matter like this with my father.

My father loved me very much but he was a very strict father and I was quite afraid of him to a certain extent.

The reason was simple. I was his first child so when he was younger and less tolerant, I'd gotten punished and beaten for making mistakes that my junior brothers who were born much later were able to get away with because his temper had cooled significantly by the time they were born.

My mother sighed. "Don't worry. I'll talk to him. You just be careful. What are you going to do next bayii?"

"I don't know. I'll think about it while I'm here." I said.

"Okay, then. Take your time. You're going back to work by next week Monday, right? Well, just relax here. I'll cook catfish pepper soup for you and Adesewa tomorrow." My mother consoled me.

Our conversation drifted to food as Olaolu rushed to say, "Sister Lola, mama made a new pepper soup recipe last month. Thank God you're around. We can eat it again. Mama, how many cat fishes are you adding to the pepper soup? Let Sister Lola add money so we'll buy plenty cat fishes."

Olamide slapped his arm playfully. "It's only food that you know."

"Mama, see brother Ola o. He hit me."

"I don't think I hit you hard enough? Come let me try again?" Olamide joked and I couldn't help but chuckle as the pain and regret that had filled me with bitterness through the drive to Ibadan slowly receded in the company of my family.