“On one occasion, one of them, a certain Mrs. Angelica, brought a prepared meal of hot yam and a soup of native leaves, a meal that my father so loved. My father, having been told expressly by her that the food was for him and had wanted him to eat the food right in her presence, remembered his mother’s warnings and promised the lady he was going to eat the food later. As soon as she left, my father poured out the food to the dogs, and to be frank, all the dogs and chicken that tasted that meal met their death immediately. The strongest dog didn’t even run up a meter before he landed face–flat, biting the dust. With this experience, my father became extremely cautious.

However, this was only the beginning of his nightmares.

Then, through certain black magic practices, the once safe haven that my father lived in was broken into pieces. All of a sudden, his father began beating his mother, which he had never done before, even before the birth of a child, which they had waited for eight years.

The house started breaking up. By this time, my father’s other siblings had been born, so as usual, when such a thing happened, my father’s siblings began to take sides. My father, being the first child who had seen a lot of good before this episode of their lives, refused to take sides, and this earned him a bad position with his siblings as they looked upon him as a saboteur.

Soon his siblings forgot their rivalry and now focused on him as their prime target. Sensing this, my father left the house and went ahead to hustle for his life. He settled in the city, and it was there he met his friend, Mr. Peters. He was already working in a company as an administrative officer, dispatching his duties with all seriousness and professionalism; his boss was proud of his work. Things were going well. He was living okay. As a young man who was turned bachelor at a very young age due to family hatred, he mastered the act of fending for himself, but then the seed had already been planted.”

“What seed?” Mr. Jones asked.

“A seed of anger, self-bitterness, and hatred.”

“Wow, that was brutally honest,” Mr. Jones said, wearing a curiously serious face. “I like that. Go on.”

“Then, on that faithful visit, he met my mother. As of then, my mother had already left her family as she was a maid in a family house. Though she was still going through strings of suffering, eating the leftovers when others had eaten, always being the one doing the chores, it didn’t affect her much as she was already used to hardship and torture. But till today, I can’t wrap my head around the reason why she chose him over the person already coming for her. Love, the people outside called it. However, it happened.

Well, they got married in spite of the battles from both sides to stop the marriage. During their wedding, there was no atom of support given to them, but they pushed on anyway.

Some years after the marriage ceremony, there was no child. Then the rumors began. Rumors flew everywhere to the extent that some even had the courage to visit my father and tell him to his face that his recompense for not listening to them when they were against the union had come. They mocked him even to his face. Frankly, I do not know why in my native land, it is the fault of the woman if a child is not born, and then it is also her fault when a child is born, and it’s not a male child,” Simeon said, wiping his face with his handkerchief. “Well, it’s their ideology and mindset,” he said, shrugging his shoulders.

“So, during this period, my mother began to sorrow, going from one specialist hospital to another, drinking prescriptions upon prescriptions until the day she encountered the former supervisor of the artillery department, Mr. Richards. The man, may his gentle soul rest in peace, warned her to avoid going to her hometown for some time and also avoid telling her friends about most of her activities. This was because despite the mockery and jest she received from both sides of her marriage family...hope you understand what I meant?” Simeon asked.

“I’m guessing you mean both from her side and your father’s?”

“Yes, Doctor. That is correct. Though she was mocked, especially by those from my father’s side, she never stopped visiting them and taking home gifts and food items to them, but that never deterred them from mocking her. Worst of it, my grandmother joined in as she had a lady whom she had already arranged for my father to marry before my father came home with my mother to present her to them as his fiancée but little did she know that the other ones, who joined in this mocking activity, were just doing it so that her son’s marriage will be the first to be broken in the family.

Then just like a dream, three months after the prayer, my mother started noticing signs of pregnancy. Out of joy, she told my father about it and also her best friend, a certain late Mrs. Clarence. The woman, who claimed to be her best friend, went ahead to tell the hometown of the impending news of delivery, and boom!

Five days after announcing that to her friend, many people came to visit, and my mum’s step-sisters even helped cook the food that was used to entertain the visitors. They even went as far as taking extreme care of her and doing almost everything in the house, including running the farmland and barn, along with the animals on it. Some days after the celebration, my mother lost consciousness on her way to the grocery market. By the time help could arrive and she was taken to the hospital, the baby had been lost.”