"Did you remember that?" Her Mother asked.
Temi that had been listening to her Mother narrate what had happened when she was still in third grade rolled her eyes she tried to remember when that was.
"Yeah, yeah, I...I remember that!" Temi said.
"You remember, right...?" Her Mum asked.
"Yeah, t...that happened in third grade...!" Temi said.
Her mother nodded.
"That's good!" Her Mother said.
"But when that happened was a month after the prayers were done, and you remember who got caught?" Her mother asked.
Temi nodded.
"Yeah, I think I remember...it's a boy, it was a boy, what's his name again?" Temi said as she clicked her fingers, trying to recollect what the name of the person was.
After a while, her eyes brightened as she remembered;
"Terry...!"
"Terry...that's the name!" Her Mother said.
Pausing, her Mother continued;
"And then what happened?" Temi's Mother asked as she leaned forward.
"He got expelled...!" Temi replied.
"He got expelled,...!" Her mother said as she leaned backward and then was quiet for a while.
"He got expelled...!" Her mother said as she thought back to that day, that time when Temi had come back from
school.
She had narrated everything that had happened, from how she had been accused of stealing their teacher's iPhone, to being caught...
______________________________________
It was a Monday afternoon, 3 pm, the sun shined and burned. It was the Lord had. ade it so to punish someone.
*Knock Knock Knock*
Someone was heard knocking on the door.
"Who is it?" A woman's voice was heard.
No answer.
Frowning, the woman asked again;
"Who is it?"
Still no response.
Slowly, but gently heading towards the door, the woman looked through the window as she drew the curtains, then she saw, standing there, was her daughter.
"Temi!" The woman exclaimed.
Startled, the girl that had appeared to be in deep thought, rose her head up to look at the door.
"Mummy?" She called.
Quickly unlocking the door, the woman pulled her daughter in for a hug, that was when she realized her daughter was trembling.
Slowly releasing her daughter from her embrace, she frowned a she looked at her.
"Temi, why are you all shivery and trembly?" Her Mother asked concerned.
"Did you catch a cold?" She asked.
Shaking her head, but still trembling, tears began to roll down the eyes of eight-year-old Temi as she answered;
"No Mummy, no...!"
Then she burst out crying.
"Shhhh, darling, shh...!" Her mother said as she shushed her to calm her down.
Looking left and right, Temi's Mother gently carried her up as she took her into the house.
Sitting her down on a sofa as she got little Temi a blanket, she wrapped her up and then headed for the kitchen to get her some hot chocolate.
When she was back from the kitchen, she found her daughter, tears all over her face and also with mucous everywhere, one would kit be able to identify any.
Ruching over to be daughter, Temi's Mother Keo that hot chocolate on the side table as she bent down to look at her daughter and wipe the tears away from her face with some wipes on the side table.
"Temi, what's wrong?" Her Mother asked.
"Mummy, is Dad at home?" At first, her Mother felt a slight hint of disappointment, but she didn't know why she felt it that way.
Besides, she was the one who had welcomed Temi and brought her in, caring for and stuff, right?
"Don't think that I want to tell just Daddy, Mummy, it's the both of you I want to tell...it's both of you that needs to know, and at the same time...!" Temi said to clear her Mother's doubts.
Her mother was surprised that she could have guessed her so easily so she slightly raised her eyebrows.
Gulping as she became uneasy, she asked;
"What's it about?"
"Is it serious...?"
Before she finished her second question, Temi's head was already bobbing her head up and down, her Mother feared that it might fall as tears streamed down her eyes.
So gently holding her daughter's head, she calmed her down...
"Shh, Temi, calm down baby, don't worry...!" Her Mother said.
"I'm sure that whatever it is, it's gonna be alright, alright?" Her Mother said.
Sniffing, little Temi slowly nodded her head, then her Mother got up and carried her up from the sofa and sat down in place of Temi and then placed Temi on her lap as she placed her head on her chest and she began to caress he head.
After about ten (10) minutes in that position, someone barged in through the door.
Temi and her Mother had already started dozing off on the sofa when they heard someone barge into the sitting room.
When they woke up, they realized that it was the man of the house.
"Ah, you ladies would be a bad watch out or security!" He exclaimed once her saw the two females on the sofa in a sleep-like position.
"Keeping the lookout would not be a good job for the both of you!" He added.
But none of the females moved at this joke as usual and this had him worried.
Seems like Temi got her sharp sense of observation from her Dad because once he said that but there was no response whatsoever, he sensed something was wrong...
With a slight frown on his face, he slowly walked over to where the two females were.
Crouching down beside the sofa where his wife and child sat, he mouthed to his wife;
"What happened?"
Now, Temi's back was faced to her Dad, so she couldn't possibly have seen him as she was in a sleeping posture, but somehow, she acknowledged that her Dad's presence was in the room, so she asked;
"Daddy, is that you?"
"Yeah, baby, how are you? What's going on? How was school today?" Her Daddy asked concernedly.
Sitting up on her Mother's lap, little Temi hugged her Dad as he carefully carried her from her Mother's legs, thinking that she might have broken her leg or something.
As he gently carried her, he looked at his wife and mouthed;
'What happened!'
Shrugging her shoulders, his wife murmured;
"I don't know, she didn't tell me!"
Looking away from her, he took little Temi to another couch as he placed her on his lap.
Seeing that there were tears in her eyes, he gently wiped them away with his index finger, then used a tissue to wipe away the mucous that had made its way out of little Temi's nose.
When he was done wiping her face, he calmed her down by rocking her back and forth gently.
Temi's Mother standing up from her previous position, walked over to sit by the side of her husband.
As she gently sat, she placed her head on her husband's shoulder.
Her husband looking at her, and she raising her head slightly to look at him, they smiled gently at each other, before each other's attention was drawn back to their daughter who had been crying from school.
If Temi had not been in a down stare right now, she would have been led and teased both of them, she loved scenes like this.
Romantic ones, where you could feel the moment right in front of you...
But instead of feeling the utmost happiness of this, she smiled bitterly as she watched them display their love in silence.
If not for the fact that she was feeling unhappy and down right now, they would have been kissed right in front of her and wouldn't mind, but once she was down and sad, they were also down and sad.
What kind of parents did God bless her with anyway?
She couldn't help but ask herself as she thought of this.
Whenever she felt like not going to school, her parents won't go to work to settle down and monitor her, to know what was wrong.
If she wasn't feeling too well, her Mother would stay back or if it happened the very next day she didn't feel like going to school, her Dad would also stay, unless if her Mother chased him away to work.
But even at that, her Dad would sometimes be stubborn as a mule to move out.
He would say that as a Father, he too is also responsible for his daughter's health.
"But she's not dying or anything, she's here and I'll take care of her, don't you just worry...!" Her mother would say.
But her father would shake his head and cut her short as she would say;
"Nah, I'm not worried all right...!"
"Then go to work!" His wife would say.
"Do you know why I wouldn't leave?" He would ask.
Her mother would put her hand on her hip and the other one on the kitchen table as she would tilt her head and ask;
"Why?"
"Because I don't want a situation, whereby, when she grows up, she becomes great, takes over the company, start and own her own business even, I come to her house one day and she says that 'Nuh-uh, who are you, I don't know you!'" Her father said.