The whole village was in a joyous mood. All the villagers have come to celebrate and felicitate with the members of my family.
There were different dishes of food to pick from; ranging from Amala to Iyan, Fufu, Lafun, Ikokore, Asaro, and accompanied with different soups and orisirisi types of meat.
My siblings and I ate with gusto and ecstasy, like we had never eaten before. It was our father's wedding party and we were eating like the oniikan, like the owners of the party.
''Tewogbade, warn your siblings, you all shouldn't soil your new attire with soup oooo, because only the gods know when next you'd have a new attire to wear'' Aunty Aduni, our father's younger sister warned.
It's a known fact that our father was the wealthiest and richest man in the village, after the King.
But he never spent a dime on our mother and us.
Mother was the one who took care of our feeding and wears from the little money she gets from her farm produce.
We hardly eat good food or wear good clothes, despite the fact that we have a rich father who wears the best of the best and eats anything he likes.
Now you understand our reason for eating the way we were eating at our father's wedding.
Our father is getting married today to a woman from another village.
Her name is Arike. She is the fourth woman my father has married and tried to start another family with after he married my mother to no avail.
They all ran away from our house the next day after the wedding.
Don't ask me why.
I watched as father danced graciously and flirted with his new bride on the dance floor.
Father was a good looking man with nice set of teeth and a gap tooth; he was tall, lanky and fair in complexion.
No woman has ever been able to say no to his good looks and charm. Everyone says I got my good looks from him.
After the party, everyone went home and we retired to our mansion, every one to his or her room to have a good night rest.
Some minutes after Father and his new bride entered their room to do what newly wedded couples do on their wedding night, a loud shout came from Father's room.
it was the new bride. She has found a big live python under the blanket on her side of the bed.
She ran out of the room and out of the house, shouting that Father should bring her boxes yet unpacked.
As she doesn't want to marry Father anymore.
We all came out of the house to beg her to stay, while Mother was laughing hysterically in the confines of her room.
She didn't come out to beg.
The snake planted on the bed was her handwork, same with other atrocities she has done to chase the other women Father had married away from the house.
Orisa je n pe meji obinrin o si, says our people, but my mother acted the proverb out every time Father marries another woman.
She does everything in her power to make sure the women leave Father the night of the wedding, to return no more.
Her reason was that over her dead body would her irresponsible husband marry another woman while he has refused to take good care of us.
Arike went to her family's house the next day, never to come back again. Mother had won yet another war.
Seven months after, we are here again with our party. Music as loud as always. Food and drinks as surplus as always. A new bride to take home as usual.
When night came, the only noise we heard from Father's room was the sound of sweet love making between the newly wedded couple.
Mother couldn't sleep all through the night, she paced the length and width of the whole house.
She didn't know why her plan didn't work this time.
In the morning, Father's new bride came out of Father's room bearing Mother's precious snake around her neck to the amazement of us the children and the fury of Mother.
She went straight to the fireplace and started to prepare the snake for eating.
"Good morning Iyawo." We all chorused, prostrating to greet our new Mother.
"Good Morning my children ", she answered us.
Mother has seen her superior, this new bride wasn't going anywhere.
Aderonke E. Adeyeye 2017
Kudos
ReplyDeleteThanks a bunch
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