I live in a home where my dad's words are rules and decrees we must all follow; failure to do so would attract punishment, and most times those punishments are always hard to bear. This doesn’t reduce the love we have for him because he never stopped doing his job as a father, even when we disobeyed his words.
Now that we are all adults and know what is right and wrong, the only thing my dad could do is give us advice and support us in whatever decisions we make. The 2022 Big Brother Naija live TV show was about to start. It's a show many Nigerians watch because it's a live TV drama. You get to pick your favorite housemate and vote at the end of the show.
It was Saturday night, and we were all expecting my dad to return home since he works in the city and only returns home during the weekend. My mom was in the kitchen still making our dinner while my siblings and I were in the living room watching the Big Brother Naija live show.
“Itunu, Itunu, Itunu. my mom called as she made her way to the living room with her wrapper tided to her chest "Won't you come and help me in the kitchen? So you want the food to be ready, and you will bring your big mouth to eat, bah?” My mom yelled at my big sister, but I was un-bothered because I was hardly called to the kitchen. My big sister refused to answer because she was so engrossed in the ongoing drama on screen. My mom moved into the living room with her wrapper around her chest while sweating. She walked towards the TV and turned it off.
“Ahhhhhhhh, why did you turn off the TV? Big sis, can you go to the kitchen and assist mommy?” I yelled out loud. “You must be stupid for that word you just uttered right now; must I be the one to always assist mommy in the kitchen?” I could see the anger on her face while she was talking as she made her way to where my mom was. She tried putting on the television, and my mom gave her a threatening warning. “You won't dare put that television on.”
She ignored my mom, and while she was trying to put the TV on, my mom walked towards her with the long soup spoon in her hand and wiped it on my big sister's back.
“Mommy, why would you do that? I just wanted to turn on the TV, then come assist you in the kitchen.” My mom refused to listen to what any of us were saying. She was so adamant about us not putting on the television again. My two little siblings did not even say anything because they knew they would get in trouble if they did. My little brother was on the couch, watching what was happening with fear in his eyes. Amidst the pandemonium, my dad walked in without anyone realizing, but the question he asked made us all halt in the position we were in: "What is happening here?"
My mom explained everything to him because he was only going to listen to her; she even said we tried to beat her because of the show. “So you all are so grown up that you want to beat up my wife in my house because of my TV," my dad said to us while we were all on our knees. “From today onward, you all are banned from watching the Big Brother Naija show in my house; if you want to watch it, go build your house and watch it.”
It was the beginning of silence in our home, and my mom felt bad for us because throughout the weekend we couldn’t watch our favorite TV show. It was Monday again, and it was the day my dad returned to the city where he works. We all bid him goodbye. As soon as he was out of the house, we ran back to the living room and switched the TV station to our favorite live show. My mom walked in and said, “If your dad catches you all, I won't interfere.” Well, we weren’t worried because he would be back on Friday.
The week went by so fast, and it was Friday morning. We were all expecting my dad at night, but the unexpected happened. While we were watching our show, the electricity went off. One feature of our decoder is that if the electricity goes off while you're watching a show, when the electricity is restored, the station you were watching last will appear when the decoder is turned on. Immediately after the electricity went off, we all became scared, but I gave them a little motivational talk: “Don’t worry, there is still time. Daddy will be home at most 8 p.m., and this is just 2 p.m."
7:30 p.m., daddy was not home, and the electricity wasn’t home either. We all began to panic; my mom was already warning us not to mention she was home when we were watching the show. I was panicking the most because I was the one who put on the TV and switched it to the live show station, and my siblings won't hesitate to sly me when my dad is involved. How would I Escape this? My mom's phone rang, and it was my dad calling, “I am almost home; please help me boil some water for my bath.” We all heard it loud and clear because my mom put her phone on speaker.
My little brother has kneeled down and is praying. I was thinking of who I could borrow a generator from. I picked up my phone to call a friend, but then the electricity was restored. We all rushed to the living room to put on the TV. As soon as the TV went on, we heard my dad parking inside the compound. The decoder was still loading, and the TV station wasn’t on yet for us to change it. I asked my little sister to lock the door so we could all pretend like we didn’t know he was around until he knocked on the door. My big sister rushed to close off all the windows so he wouldn't see what we were doing. The knock came, and the television and decoder went on. My little brother went to open the door as soon as I changed the station. We all gave a deep sign because we had just Escape from the grip of fear.
