Stronger Than Pain

Chapter Thirty Six

"So where exactly are we going to?" Aunty Mma asked as she pulled out of the hospital gate.

Mum was sitting behind with Zara while I was rocking the passenger's seat. Aunty hasn't missed to instruct me on the need for a seatbelt before I strapped it on for "my protection" as she puts it.

"Good" She muttered with a smile. "I'm still waiting Nekky" She added moving slowly towards the main road.

"Uhmmm.... I don't want to be seen around here Mma, I mean this city. I need a place where the kids and I would adapt to easily, a place with a cheaper lifestyle, a place no one will recognize us that quick....."

"You mean you want to relocate to semi-villages? No, like to a village? Like seriously?" Aunty asked, and I could see her veins pop up as she gripped the wheels harder that usual.

"I'm starting my life afresh Mma, with not much finance so I need to go for what and where I can afford"

"But you don't have to change all these Nneka. You don't have to change your life and these kids' life to do that. You don't have to live... "

"Mma?" Mum's tone was calm but rigid, and aunty Mma understood, lifting her hands off the wheel in mock surrender.

"So do you have anywhere in mind?" Aunty asked breaking up the silence that had enveloped the car.

"Diobu" Mum murmured and from the corner of my eyes I could see aunty Mma glancing at her through the rear mirror. She exhales hard.

"Maybe we can drive down there and seek out a very cheap hotel. When I say cheap Mma, I mean it and it mustn't be more than three thousand naira"

"And what kind of hotel would that be?" Aunty asked, stressing the word hotel a much bit.

"Because I didn't suggest we sleep under the bridge?" Mum retorted, the edge of her nose perking up in mockery.

"That wouldn't be a hotel Nneka. No good hotels accepts such token for a room, no matter how small!" The thought of it disgusts aunty and I don't even need to listen to her mind to see it.

"That's the major reason I'm choosing them. I don't want a five, four, three, two or one star hotel Mma. I don't even want a hotel that is "star'ed"" Mum spits out the word star as though it were a taboo. "If I'm going to survive on my own with these kids Mma, I think I should better start getting used to not having luxuries. The earlier the better for all of us!"

Aunty exhales and shook her head emphatically. Obviously, arguing with mum on this issue wouldn't make any sense at all.

Now at the main road, aunty slowed to a stop waiting patiently for eager drivers to speed past. When the road was a bit clear, and the oncoming vehicle still a bit far from us, she slowly joined the road while murmuring something under her breath.

Slowly and silently she drove, her face contorted into a sad expression.

At a roundabout which I recognised, I noticed her swerve towards the right, away from our usual turn and I watched as our real journey began. A journey to a new life, a life that from what mum has explained would be nothing compared to the life I've been used to. A life that will change every aspect of my living. A life from where I'll encounter obvious poverty.

And my promise rang in my ears again.

"Mummy I'm ready to sleep under the bridge, go hungry and lose this rich miserable life if that will guarantee you stay another day with me, without being sad and beaten!"

Those weren't mere words I'd said, that was a solemn promise; and I'd braced up myself to face whatever challenges that may be, if it'll guarantee my mum leaving that hell hole called home. My only fear was for Zara, if she'd cope easily from all we'll encounter.