Consequences

Chapter 39

I was once again back in my parents' house, and it bothered me. Sitting at the dinner table with them, I kept wondering what my life would be like from now on. Would I go back to my house, the very house I shared with my deceased husband? This question alone bothered me more than anything else.

What became of the house after Ola's death? Apparently, it was something that seemed to be tied into the mystery of Ola's death. As I quietly ate, my father looked up at me from time to time. Then as if knowing I was bothered by something, he placed his hand on mine. It startled me and I looked at him.

"My big girl, you'll get through this, okay?" I nodded. "It might not be an easy feat, but I know you are strong." My father was right. I was strong, just like my grandmother-his mother, was.

Thinking back at what the stranger had told me, I couldn't tell if I was luckier than she was to have survived, or unfortunate because I couldn't save the man I loved and got married to.

"I know, just like grandmother." I said without thinking. My mother looked up from eating.

"Tola, what has your grandmother got to do with what your father said?" She asked, looking seriously at me. I stared at her shocked to have even mentioned the word grandmother. And she perhaps thought it was her mother I was referring to. I had to quickly come up with an answer to make it look so.

"I mean, she's out there in the village all alone. Perhaps I could go there and stay with her for some time."

"Tola why do you want to go to the village to stay with my mother?" She asked me.
"Maybe I could go there and relax myself a bit. I mean, it could help me overcome my loss."  Looking at her, I had a feeling she didn't believe me. But my dad quickly came to my rescue.

"Tola, if it is a distraction you want then follow me to my office in the morning. I'll find you something to keep you busy."  I was relieved to hear my father say that and could only nod my agreement.

But this didn't satisfy my mother who looked at me suspiciously. She perhaps was thinking that there was an underlying motive in my bringing up the idea of going to stay with her mother. Seeing her looking at me suspiciously, I decided to face my father and ask him about my job; the one I had before Ola's death.

"Oh dad, I still have my job at the security firm." I told him. My father looked up from eating and observed me. Then he said,

"As a matter of fact, I talked to the manager and told him to terminate your appointment." I was about to drink the glass of water I held in my hand when he said that. Holding the glass to my mouth, I stopped and looked at him. I then slowly put the glass of water down.

It was hard to believe I didn't have a job anymore. But more difficult it was, to believe that, my father could just walk up to the company manager and tell him to fire me. 

Thinking of all that happened and this latest development, I came to realize that I had no control over my very own life. Everything about my life was being controlled by others. I was only the puppet they were moving up and down as they wished. It saddened me a lot but I tried to remain calm.

"So are you saying I can't go back to the company anymore?" I asked him

" No, not after what happened." He replied. I couldn't go back to my job and as much as I wanted to, I knew even going back to the house was completely out of the question. But I had to be sure about it.

"And what about the house, I hope I can still go back?"  He looked up from his food and stared at my mother. Then they both stared at me.

"My big girl, that house has been auctioned off." He sighed, as  if I was asking him too much.