Hello and welcome to my blog.
Modupe is one of the children in the neighbourhood i lived about fifteen years ago. Unlike other children, MD as we call her, was a smart and intelligent kid of about ten years who can run errands more conveniently than a teenager would.
In return for her kind gesture, people offers her gift, but she rejects it most times saying .....my uncle said I should not collect things from anyone who is not a member of our family and i don't want him to get angry...
All was fine and good till one sunny morning around 10am when everybody had gone to either work, school or their business places like market or shop. I had off from work so i was heading back home when i saw MD sitting by the stair to their flat.
I called her sharply saying MD and used my hand to signal her to come closer. On getting to my place, i demanded to know why she did not go to school then she started the story from the very beginning saying ....aunty the house we are living was bought by my grandparents but it was bought from them by uncle their fifth son.
Then i asked her, MD i don't understand you, how can a son buy his own father's house? She continued by saying... what happened was that grandpa was in a serious debt that he needed to clear so he told uncle to help him borrow money from his office.
Uncle said his boss was demanding for a collateral for the loan, so grandpa had to give him the documents to this flat we are living. Unfortunately, grandpa could not pay up to half of the money he borrowed before he died. Uncle had to pay it from his salary every month for the past two years.
I believe he finished the payment last year because he had started disturbing my other uncles and only aunt to move out since last year. That was why aunty Funke had to quickly get married to uncle Alabi for the fear of being thrown out if the house and being homeless.
As MD was sitting in one of the couch in my living room narrating the story, she looked peeled so I had to quickly interrupt her story and asked, MD have you eaten anything today? To confirm my fear, she said no ma and I am going to tell you why. I had to tell her to give me few minutes so I can fix us something to eat.
To my surprise,she eat all the jollof rice and chicken i served her without leaving a crum expect for the bone from the chicken. She washed it down with a cup of room temperature water and let out a soft beached before saying auntie thank you. She took the plate to the kitchen and we did the cleaning together after which she continued her story.
....About six months ago, uncle called a family meeting, in the meeting he told his siblings including my dad to get a place for their mother to stay because he was ready to get married and his wife can not live with his old mother. At first, my dad being the eldest told uncle that he will be the one to move out because the house belongs to their parents which my their was one of them.
Uncle let out a wicked laugh saying hello brother this house now belong to me. Where were you when your father borrowed money from my boss and was unable to pay up before his death? Humm, the agreement i had with him on his dieing bed was that i should pay up the dept so the house can become mine. Thanks to heaven i made him sign deed of transfer of ownership to that effect.
After presenting the documents, my dad had to plead with uncle not to throw their mother out and the house. The house had been peaceful since then till yesterday when uncle announced his wedding date as next month and also said he give their mother till a week to the wedding to find a place to stay.
Grandmother could not sleep all through the night so her blood pressure was high and she was burning out. I had to call aunty Funke very early in the morning to come take her to the hospital and i was left alone at the house and that was why you saw me sitting by the stairs....
I was moved to tears after hearing all the little girl had to say. About three hours later aunty Funke came home to pick things for grandmother and took MD along. When grandmother was discharged from the hospital, her children did not allow her go back to that house. They rented a service apartment for her in town so i lost contact with MD. Marriage took me out of that area too so i never thought i would see or hear from that family again. This happened a little over fifteen years ago.
Recently, i was invited to a birthday party by a friend and i met someone who looked so much like MD at the party. I had to ask the person who invited me about this lady and he confirmed her to be Modupe as in our own MD so I worked up to her and re introduced myself. MD jumped on me shouting ah! auntie after all this years. We exchange phone numbers and she promised to call before the weekend runs out.
Truth to her word, MD came visiting and need i tell you that she has grown into a beautiful lady. During her visit i asked about everybody and she said they are doing fine including grandmother except for uncle, the one who threw them out of the house. She said karma caught up with him through his son, then I asked how?
She said .....uncle thought he had it all and was already made because he had a house of his own, married and doing well with his wife and children without getting an insurance.Seven years ago during one of the Harmattan seasons one of his children lit a match stick and left it carelessly then the house got bunt
His wife had to move in with her widowed elder sister, while uncle went to squat at a friend's place for a while before they could rent another house and start from scratch because their house was bunt beyond immediate repair.
I entertained her and she left.After she left, i started to think about life then i drew the conclusion that we should not do to others what we will not accept from them. Uncle made his mother homeless and his son in return also made him homeless. This life is indeed a twist.
Thank you for reading till the end.
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