Holding On To Life

Chapter 59

It's been 3 days since Bilqees returned to school maama and Aunt Ma'u had bonded pretty well.

Nonetheless she always leaves the living room whenever she hears Paapa's car in the driveway or when she hears him coming down the stairs, maama informed him of aunt Ma'u's discomfort around him.

"No matter the kind of conversation we're having she finds an excuse to leave once she acknowledges your presence." She spoke a little worried.

He smiled a little.

"You know people from towns are shy like that, and that to them is showing respect."

She nodded in agreement.

"Besides I need to talk to her, with every passing day she looks more like someone I know and I sincerely can't place her."

Maama rolled her eyes at him.

"Admit that you're getting old and being forgetful."

He laughed at her cuteness, and then carried on with their conversation.

**

Paapa was going through some old stuff in his room late in the evening when he stumbled on some old black and white colored pictures of his childhood.

In the picture were his late mother, his older brother Abdul Samad, who was about 7 at the time, he himself who was at the age of 4 and his mother's older sister.

He looked at his aunt's face longer in shock, his brown eyes widened and his mouth slackened.

He turned to the back of the picture which had names of people in the picture. He stored his aunt's name in his memory and shoved the picture in his pocket before hurriedly heading to the living room.

From the stairs he could hear Aunt Ma'u's laughter while she conversed with Maama. The children are most likely in their rooms.

Immediately he appeared, her laughter died down and she got to her feet.

"I'll go get some rest." She abruptly brought an end to their conversation catching Paapa by surprise.

"Good evening, she muttered as she walked towards the stairs."

"Good evening. Please come back and sit. I have something to ask you." He spoke, as he sat next to his wife.

Maama stared at him questioningly. He didn't say anything about asking her questions.

"Can you please tell us about yourself. Like your parent and so on."

Maama gave him a hard look. She smiled uncomfortably at aunt ma'u as she felt embarrassed by her husband's request.

"I'm sorry if you feel comfortable, the thing is you look a lot like someone I know, and I want to be clear.

Aunt ma'u smiled a bit, without thinking hard about what he said.

"Well, I'm an only child and mother gave birth to me after about 12 years of marriage."

"Uhm, did your mom have siblings." He asked her a little nervous.

She smiled again.

"My mother told me she had 5 siblings, two of which were stillborn.

She had a sister and a brother who died before he was 15.

She and her younger sister Mama Habiba were married off on the same day to their father's students, who was a renowed Islamic scholar at the time.

While my father settled in Niger state a few years after marriage, my mother's sister and her husband settled here in kaduna." She heaved.

"Do you know where they are, your aunt and her children."