Plum Stories

Early the next morning, I went to work. I cleaned up the entire house before they woke up. Auntie Nneoma met me cleaning upstairs when she came out. She praised me and went about making food for her husband. The house had changed and it was evident someone new had taken over. “No one ever cleaned this well in all our days of having house helps. Even the woman who cleans once a week has never cleaned this well. Nne, stop her from coming. Akwaugo should manage the house for us. Even if she cleans once a week it is still better than what we have experienced before. Take this N20,000. Go to the private school down the street. Buy the entrance form and get me the school bill” I couldn’t believe what I heard. I fell on my knees in gratitude. I was going to the private secondary school I saw when we were coming. I had admired the buildings. It was beautiful. From outside, the compound was very large. I couldn’t wait to explore some more. “Nna anyi, please let us not send her to that school. Y...

Suddenly everything changed. In order to deliver jobs promptly, father visited his sites regardless of the weather conditions. Well, he fell terribly ill. He had a cough which refused to go. He grew very lean and couldn’t move around anymore. He refused to visit the hospital saying they would just take all he had made.  One day, he woke up but couldn’t stand up. As he laid on the bed, he was very restless. We couldn’t go to school that day because father looked terrible. He couldn’t even communicate with us. Obinna went out of the house while mother and I sat by father’s bedside. Mother was helpless and in tears. Obinna returned with a taxi. He and Ikenna carried father into the taxi and we went to the hospital. The doctors on duty quickly attended to him as they could see he was in distress. They took information from us while admitting father. “Are you aware your husband is hypertensive? Has he been taking his medication?” “Hypertensive kwa? He is not o” mother replied. “He is. A...

CAVEAT. The content of this write up is the exclusive intellectual property of Ogechi Alabi.  We were seated in front of the Sacred Heart altar as we said our morning prayers. As Catholics and members of Sacred Heart of Jesus Society, we had an altar that had a light on at all times. The light was never to go off. The altar had images of Jesus and his mother Mary, a very big rosary, pictures of his sacred heart and a special table cloth which was white with blue writings and a red heart.  As early as 5:00am every morning, we gathered at the altar to say our morning prayers and the rosary. After that, we got ready for Mass which starts at 6:30am and from there we go to school. It was a daily routine except on Saturdays which we all went for confessions in the evening. Today was different, our father, Michael Ozoemena had an announcement to make. We had sensed there was a problem but as children, we couldn’t place our hands on exactly what it was. The telltale signs were our mot...