My Call (A Journey) – Chapter 1 || Early Life

My Call (A Journey) || A Fiction Story

Author: Oyesanmi Aminah

 

Chapter 1 – Early Life

Ahhhhhhhhhhh! Came the scream of a pregnant woman in the late hours of the night “What’s wrong?” Asked her husband in fear
“I think it’s the baby” she replied in a near shout
“Is the baby coming?” He jumped off the bed to her side to hold

“Ahhhhhhhhh! She screamed again
” it’s coming, the baby is coming o” she bellowed at her husband

“Oh my God, at this time of the night? It’s one in the midnight for God’s sake” he said while frantically searching for his short and shirts and putting them on as quickly as possible

“Is it my fault the baby is coming at this time of the night?” She shouted at him

“What am I going to do now? How are we going to get to the hospital” he asked no one in particular confused

“Ahhhhhhhh, it’s coming o, I’ll die o,” she said and gave a loud gasp holding her back in a show of agony

“Please don’t die o, let me go and call our neighbour to help us out, I’ll be right back,” he said at the door and sped out of the room to the neighbour’s room. The neighbour Mr Collins was a taxi driver in the evening and a government worker by day.

The man ran to meet him for help, Mr and Mrs Collins had been worried, but Mrs Collins had to stay at home with her children, the man also had two other children who they gave to her to take care of and allow that they sleepover at their home.

Mr Collins went to dress up and together they had helped his wife into the car amidst yelling and gasping.

Mr Collins had sped as fast as he could to the nearest direction but before they got to the hospital, the baby was born.

“We got a car baby girl,” said the man laughing hysterically

“Why are you laughing,” said his wife pinching him and joining in the laughter, still sweating. “Collins this is your car baby, so you get to name her for us,” said the man

Mr Collins had parked at one side of the road, he turned around, laughed and took a long look at the baby. Seven days later, he gave the baby her name. That baby was me.

My name is Mary and I was born to a well to do family in one of the boisterous areas of Lagos.

My family consists of five, my father, a strict businessman, my mother, a calm woman and an average trader and then we the children of which I was the last born and the only girl.

I have two older brothers, John and James. John is the oldest sibling, he is two years older than James while James is Five years older than me.

It was said that my parents had believed James was going to be their last child and that they had no plans for me but I crept into my mother’s belly without prior notice, my mother found out she was expecting with me only after she was two months gone. My parents jokingly say I was indeed a strong head child and we had often laughed about how I had been born.

As at the time I was born, my parents lived in a room and parlour in a face to face house but after I was born, my dad’s business had expanded and he was able to move to his house which he had bought in an estate in Lagos.

My father was just like a typical Nigerian father, he was a disciplinarian and a no-nonsense man, he ensured we had little friends as possible and made certain to scrutinize the character of every person we bring to the house before letting them be friends with us.

Any weekend when we have friends over, he will be in the room eavesdropping on every conversation and keeping an eye on us.

I remembered a time when James had invited one of his friends over for video games, they had been in the living room playing and gisting when James friend started discussing girls in their school

“Omo, you remember that thick girl for school now?” James’s friend had begun in Pidgin English

“Which girl be that?” James had asked

“That girl wey get big front and big back now” he had proceeded to exaggeratedly using his hand to describe the girl he was talking about

“Plenty girls dey our school wey get that kind qualities now” James had responded with a confused expression

“That one wey dey SS2B, wey she dey waka with that yellow pawpaw girl, wetin be that her name self?” He had asked trying to remember the girl’s name when James had recollected and quickly gave the name of the girl

“You mean Chioma?”

“Yes, that Chioma girl, you suppose don remember the girl I dey talk about be that,” He said with a happy clap

James gave him the girl’s name “Oh you mean Bridget?”
And his friend continued excitedly “Yes that babe, she come meet me say she like you” James said surprised “She likes me as to how me I no want o”
His friend retorted, giving James a side-eye “Naso she talk sha”

“Why you say you no want?” He asked curiously

James replied with a serious expression on his face “I get a girlfriend now, where you wan make I put Cassandra?”

James friend laughed hysterically, mocking him and replied with a shrug

“Guy why you dey dull like this? You no be guy again? Na you go know as you go take play your game now” he instructed

James shook his head with a force and retorted in a stiff voice

“Guy I no too like girls like that, if no be say that Cassandra self I just like am die, I for no date am now, you know say my father be strict man, he no go wan hear am say I get a girlfriend”

He laughed again “You be daddy’s boy now, me wey be sharp guy, I know as I dey run my thing on a low” James friend had said in a mocking voice, shaking his head in amusement as if James was stupid.

They had continued their discussion oblivious of anything around them a while longer

It was at that time our dad had called him into his room. James startled at my dad’s voice, he had completely forgotten that he was around and knew he had heard their discussion. With his heart pounding he ran to meet him.

Dad told James in a calm but firm voice to go tell his friend to leave his house. James noticed that our dad was so relaxed, and that meant trouble was brewing so he wasted no time getting his friend to go home.

That night after John had returned from his Computer training class and I had returned from my lessons, we came back to meet dad beating James blue-black with a cord twisted together popularly known as Koboko, after he had beaten him, he sat us all down and gave us a two hours lecture about keeping good friends and warned us to steer clear from bad friends like James’s own.

John had been mostly a prim and proper boy, he had followed our Father’s rules and regulations diligently without complaint, for this, he was without a doubt our father’s favourite son, while James on the other had become a rebel to my Father’s rules as soon as he had entered into the University.

I was another fish in the kettle, I could neither be rebellious nor raise an eye. I was to always be submissive and obedient at all times.  Read chapter two here

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