The Inheritance
A #HumansOfTime Story
June, 1912
The paper crinkled as she held it. Her palms shook slightly but she took no notice. The lady, dressed in black, from head to toe, smoothed out the paper in her hand and gently placed it on her dresser. She placed one of the perfume bottles on it to hold it in place. She did not read it again for she had read it many times and she now knew the words by heart. They sounded right. They sounded the way she wanted them to sound.
She turned to look at the room behind her. She knew she would never come back. Her life would end tonight. It had to be done. The man with the funny eyes had told her this and she had agreed. Whenever her resolve wavered, she would remember and it would hold firm again.
They had called her “weak” and treated her like a pushover. Tonight, that would all change. Forever.
She turned and walked out of the room for the last time.
April, 2016
I smiled at Titi, the intern working at reception as I hefted my laptop bag more securely on my shoulder.
“You’re still here?,” I asked, moving to the employees register so I could sign out for the day. “It’s past 6pm. Are you trying to avoid taking work home this weekend?”. I teased her.
Titi was smart but she could be lazy. My colleagues and I liked her because she often contributed intelligently during brainstorm sessions. She was also very funny and we liked her carefree attitude.
“No ma. Work ke? I am downloading the new Will Smith movie. I am using the wifi. Almost done now”.
I laughed.
“See this girl. Is it company Wifi you’re using to download movies? Shebi you know that’s wrong?”
“Ah Ma, I know but I am desperate. I don’t have any money to go out this weekend so I will just stay home and do movies. Company should understand. Perks like this motivate me to come to work and give my best.”
I laughed again.
“Just don’t let MD catch you on his way out. If he does, you and I never had this conversation and I don’t know anything about this o.”
“Yes ma!”
I shook my head. Such a cheeky girl. I dug into my bag for some money and found a couple of 1000 Naira notes. I passed them to her.
“Oya take. Use this to buy some snacks while you’re watching your movies. It’s not much.”
“Ah! Thank you ma! You didn’t have to but I am too desperate to say no. Thank you!”
She stood up from her seat and made several abrupt dipping movements, bending her knees, a way of expressing gratitude.
I laughed again.
“Kai Titi. I am going home. I can’t laugh again. Good night dear.”
“Good night ma,” she said, punctuating her words with another dip.
I smiled as I stepped out of the office complex walking towards the car park. As I reached my car, I heard my phone ring. I dug through my bag for it, found the phone. I smiled as I saw my husband’s name displayed, slid my finger across the screen to unlock it while continuing to dig for my car keys.
“Hunk”. He hated that nickname. He said it embarrassed him.
“Babe, where are you?”
“Hey. I just left the office. What’s up? Are you home yet?”
“No babe. I’m running a bit late but I should be done in 20, 30 minutes.”
“Okay. Good thing you called. I’m too tired to cook. Can I pick up Chinese on my way home? Do you mind?”
“Nah. It’s fine. Order me my usual. See you in a few. Drive safe.”
“You too baby.”
I clicked off the phone, smiling. Dale and I had been married for 3 years but I still smiled like a girl with a crush whenever I heard his voice. His haulage company, Fleets on Wheels was in the last stages of signing a deal with one of the big online stores so that they could branch out into logistics. It was a big deal for him and he was very excited. The company had always been his dream even when we were in the University. I was excited as well. My man was doing so well and I was proud of him.
I got into the car and dumped my bags in the backseat when my phone rang again. Thinking it was Dale calling back, I picked the call without checking.
“Hey.”
“Have you left him?” The chill snaked through me as I recognised the voice.
“How did you get my number, Mother?”
“Never mind that Ojone. Have you left him?
My mother was obsessed with my husband. She wanted me to leave him. She said the same thing everytime she reached me until I changed my number again.
“Mother, I am not leaving Dale. I am never leaving him. Why would you even think I would?”
“You must leave. To protect him. Leave today”
Another reason I never spoke to my mother was that she had tried to kill my father when I was little. We were having dinner together one night when she went into the kitchen, picked up a knife and came back in to stab my father for no reason. She stabbed him twice in the back before he overpowered her and shouted for help. The neighbours saved him. My father divorced her and took me away.
Mother just simply went crazy. She claimed she didn’t mean to do it. She said something forced her to. Then she went even crazier saying it was a curse and a woman who had died years before placed it on us. A cursed inheritance that made one woman in my ancestral line kill the man they loved in every generation.
The family had tried to help her. Take her for psychiatric care but it never really helped. Now she lived in Oro, a town in the South far away from us all and whenever she called me, I changed my number.
“Mother, I have to go. Please, stop calling to say these things. Good night.”
I ended the call and drove to Emperor’s Chinese. I also made a brief stop at the pharmacy.
I got home just before 7pm and left the food in the kitchen so I could go grab a quick shower before Dale got home.
I was on my way to the kitchen when he came in.
“Hey hunk,” I smiled as I went over for a hug and a kiss.
“Hey beautiful. Did you get the food? I’m famished,”
“Yes. Grab a quick shower. I’ll serve it in five.”
“Music to my ears.”
I brought out the plates and dished out the food. Then I picked up the pills, ground them in the pestle and sprinkled over one serving.
We ate in front of the TV, gisted and laughed. We went to bed. I woke up alone.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Photocredit: Solitary Retreat
The Inheritance is the 4th story in my #HumansOfTime series, a challenge which I came up with on Facebook.
Read the other stories:
RIPPLES… https://medium.com/@Nuyo/ripples-bc4ebeca7a13
TIME MACHINE… https://medium.com/@Nuyo/time-machine-fb09d9048464
DREAM PLAY… https://medium.com/@Nuyo/dream-play-8ebe3f6710
The Inheritance is the Instalment for August and is dedicated to Tsavkegh Moses.
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