'momma,when are you going to come back home'i asked the frial woman lying on the white sheets covered with tubes and wires connected to machine and life support system.
mother smiled at me.....her beautiful infectious smile.....it was no longer beautiful....It was sad,over these past few months sickness has eaten deep into her.she was looking like a shadow of her self.she looked so lean and weak....she wanted to raise her hands and touch my cheek as she normally does when ever I visit her and ask her to come back home with us...but she couldn't lift her arms.
'mami'as she fondly calls me and held my hands instead....'soon....soon mami'.
then she pulled me down to her bossom with teary eyes....
mother has been sick for as long as I can remember....but she was getting well or so I thought.most night I will wake up and find her vomitting in toilet.... sometimes at night,when I wake up to pee...I still remember her sitting down decectedly on the grey cushion in her room crying her heart out.i thought she was missing father..as she would normally tell me whenever I ask why she's crying when everyone's asleep.but at least she still carried on with her life like every healthy person and took care of me like every caring would her child.
oh! how I miss those days.
But then last Christmas,I became worse...I had to be separated from her,as she had to come to the hospital and get proper treatment as aunt kemi said.
I want my momma back home,but I want her to get better too...
'Auntie mi,you have to tell her'kemi said to my mother patting my back as if luraring me to sleep on my mother's embrace.
"no....she's just a child...I don't want to distress her"momma replied back.
"but you have to call him....he deserves to know....have you thought of what will happen later?....the confusion she will be in? if you are not there to explain things to her....Mami deserves to know that her fat...."
"enough"momma cut her short"kemi,it's enough.i decied what my daughter is good for my daughter....do you know what Pete will do if he learns of my predicament?"momma asked rhetorical
"he will ask for custody,and the court will grant him that"....her voice cracks..."I don't want to separated from my Mami.... she's...the only thing I have left"mother weep.
"Auntie mi,you can't hide her forever....and time is not on our side any more....it breaks my heart too to see you in this condition, but man cannot question his Maker"kemi console.
"auntie kemi....I want ice cream"I suddenly remembered the ice cream we bought on our way to visit mother
"you can go and take it from that black polythene bag....be careful...don't spill it on your clothes"she instructed
I ran off to do as I was told,I was already feeling uncomfortable standing on my foot and leaning on money...and the smell of disinfectants in the room was already making me nauseous.
"kemi you must promise you will take care of Mami,when am no longer here"I could her mother pleading with her younger sister
Auntie kemi has been staying with us since the middle of last year before mother got very sick...that she had to live in the hospital.
Auntie kemi who was still single, was posted to Abuja,for her youth service year .... decided to live with us and save the accomodation fee.she has been the one taking care of me,while my mom was sick in the hospital.
"Auntie mi,how ...how? ....am just a single.....
her voice faded away,as I ran to the reception to enjoy my ice cream with the cartoon showing on their television.