THEREE IS A CROWD (Part 5 & 6) – OPEYEMI OJERINDE AKINTUNDE

PART 5 “THREE IS A CROWD”
Opeyemi Akintunde

Florence stood at the balcony of her house looking at the gate, she had been waiting for Tade all night. This was the first of its kind in their two years young marriage.

She redialed his number but it was still switched off.

“Bang!Bang” There was a loud bang on the gate… Florence was startled; the bang was way too loud. Tade had his own key, normally he would open the gate by himself so why the banging.

“Yes, who is there?” Florence walked towards the gate

Mrs Adesina walked out of the house to the barcony, she was ready to pour all she had stored in her for a very long time. Today, the poor illiterate boy was in for it.

“Yes, who is banging the gate like that?’ Florence asked again

“It is the mother of the man who owns the house”

Florence couldn’t believed her ears. She ran back to her mother…

“Mum, it’s my mother-in-law” Florence said

“Ehn… Ehn… so? Go and open the door”

“What if Tade has reported us to her?”

“So will she beat me, Go and open for her, there is nothing new underneath the sky, I have mouth, she has mouth, if she says rubbish, I will finish her with nonsence, Rada Rada”

Mrs Dike Oluwagbemi couldn’t believe her daughter-in-law was not opening the gate for them. She saw how she ran back towards the house through a small hole by the gate.

“She is not opening for us” Tade’s Mum said to Gbemi, who looks like she had come for war…

“Maami, don’t worry, they don’t know anything. If it is to climb this gate, I will climb it, I will show them craziness & madness. Only God knows what they have done to my brother, we have been calling him since last night, and he didn’t pick up till the phone went off”

Gbemi was already climbing the fence when Florence Opened the gate…

“Gbemi what are you doing?’ Florence asked

“What does it look like she is doing? Are you blind or barreness is not enough ailment in your body, you want to add blindness to it”

“Ha! Mummy, Good morning ma”

“It is your family that they will mourn”

“Ha! I reject it in Jesus name”

“See, this witch calling Jesus, Ko shi Kuro” Tade’s Mum pushed her aside and walked into the compound. Gbemi also got down from her climbing adventure, hissed and walked past Florence.

Florence knew trouble had landed in her home. She needed to get these people out of her house as quickly as possible. She ran after them, and from behind them, she began to signal to her mum to please be calm about things…

“My in-laws, good morning, welcome” Mrs Adesina greeted Mrs Tade’s Mum and Gbemi, but neither of them acknowledged her greeting nor her presence.

They walked right past her into the living room. Florence saw that her mother felt insulted and could put her mother-in-law in her place pretty soon.

Florence quickly knelt before her mum.

“Mum please, just swallow anything they are throwing at you, I will get them out of the house soon Please” Florence pleaded.

*****

“Tade! Tade! where are you?” Florence heard her mother-in-law’s voice. She rushed in as fast as her legs could carry her.

‘Ha! Mummy, Tade is not at home, he left home very early. He travelled”

“To where?’

“Ehm… Abu… Abeokuta”

“You are a liar, I spoke with my son yesternite and he didn’t say anything about travelling. Where is my son?”

“Mummy, i…am… saying the truth ma”

“Maami, I hope this people have not killed my brother last night, where is my phone, let me show your evil faces to the world” Gbemi brought out her very expensive phone and starting a live show…

“Hello famz, I am presently in my brother’s house and I have this weird feeling that his wife and mother have killed him, my brother is not at home…” Gbemi burst into tears “look at their faces….”

Mrs Adesina approaches her in anger, snatches the phone and smashes it on the floor…

Gbemi could not believe what her had just flashed past her face.

“My eight months salary phone” Gbemi screams and rushes at Mrs Adesina. She drags her by her cloth, “You will buy me a new phone”

“You are mad, my God, Florence can you see the illiterate family you sold yourself cheaply into. No social literacy, no morals, Gush, you are a disgrace… get your hands off me… Useless mother, tell your uncultured daughter to get her hands off me, before I teach her morals”.

“You are the failure of a mother, a mother who trained a daughter who can not keep her home. You are the mother comparing your son-in-law with your daughter’s ex. Shameless woman”

“Oh he has come home to tell you, so that is why you are here to defend him?” Mrs Adesina replied laughing…

“Florence, shame on you, you ended your life with a mummy’s baby… Nonsense” Mrs Adesina shoves Gbemi off her and with no one seeing that coming, Gbemi hit her head on a stool

The sound was very clear.

“Won ti pa mi lomo” (They have killed my child)

“What is happening here?” Tade’s voice rang loud from the entrance…

“Ha! Tade, they have killed your sister” Tade’s Mum cried…

“She is not dead, she just fainted” Mrs Adesina said “Florence get me water”

It was at that point everyone noticed the bandage on Tade’s head, arm and leg.

Florence’s brain froze…

“Babe what happened?”

“Accident”

“Where? When? How?”

“Get the water first!” he screamed at her as he limped towards Gbemi…

PART 6 “THREE IS A CROWD”
Opeyemi Akintunde

Few minutes later, Gbemi came around; Mrs Adesina, being a doctor was able to resuscitate her, but she insisted she should be taken to the hospital….

******

“Have you checked your mental status recently?” Tade barked at Florence.

Minutes earlier, they had all just returned from the hospital. Gbemi had been cleared; there was no internal injury in her head. She was given some pain relief tablets and was told to have enough rest.

On getting home, Florence had blurted out without thinking.

“Gbemi, you can relax here today, by tomorrow morning, you can go home with mummy”

Everyone including her mother had looked at her like she just spoke like an insensitive fool…

“Have you checked your mental status recently?” Tade had barked at her

“Like seriously, you can’t wait to throw my family out of my house, while your mum plans on spending a full month here?’ Tade couldn’t help but ask.

“I just thought your family will rest better at home. Mum is not here to rest, she came for work”

“Oh Really? Florence why are you so insensitive and selfish, I left this house last night because of the words your mother said and in the process I had an accident, my mom & sister came to check on me because they couldn’t reach me, and just again, your Mum almost made me lose my sister”

Tade’s Mum started crying…

“God, this is not the kind of marriage I want for my son. Lord, after his father died, I became his father and mother. I suffered to take care of him. Even this phone business that has turned him to a millionaire , I was the one who took a loan from a co-operative to fund the capital… God, now that it is time for me to rest in my child’s house, his wife and mother-in-law are sending me away…” She stood up and walked to the room sobbing.

*****
“Tade, let me leave, let me go back home, with Gbemi, these people may kill us with rat poison” Tade’s Mum said while packing her things.

“Maami, e stop e, ( Mummy Stop it), I don’t like this, you are not going anywhere, I built this house with my own money” Tade said

*****

Gbemi wished she could get a knife and stab the foolish woman, but at that point, she was not ready to knock at heaven’s gate again, but she needed to put Florence in her place.

“You want to send a mother from her child’s house, and somehow you think you will stay in this house and have children yourself… You must be a joker, and you mummy, you slammed my head on a stool in my brother’s house, if by any chance your daughter gives birth in this house, that’s how they will be slamming their heads on the floor” Gbemi said and hissed, leaving the living room.

“I reject it” Florence shouted

“Reject all you want, since you don’t go to church regularly, you can’t know that it is written that “ a causeless curse shall not stand” but unfortunately for us, this curse has a cause… Enjoy the consequences of your actions”

*****
Tade walks out to the living room.

“Babe, Mum is leaving tomorrow” Florence said

“Good, but regardless whether she leaves or stays, my mum & sister will be staying with us till they choose to leave or better still when Gbemi feels strong enough to leave”

Tade said and without waiting for her reply limped to his room.