Incorrigible Lovers

Sometimes you hear some stories and wonder if they are true, you know for sure that this was not how God intended the world to be. Then you start to think of the people involved in the stories especially the villains, do they think? Do they have a conscience? Is it too much Western education or watching too many movies? Personally, I cannot fathom what goes on in the minds of some of the characters in the stories people send or narrate to me.

Ever since I started writing, I go fishing for stories, I beg people for their stories while some voluntarily send me theirs and some other times the stories just drop on me like manna from heaven. And just to say again that any story you read on my blog is entirely true, the names are always fictitious for privacy sake, I am not yet Linda Ikeja and so if I get sued now, my blog may close down permanently.

The stories I got today gave me a head ache instantly, I will share the first one which actually gave me that head ache, the puzzle it caused in my head will take a while to fully unravel.

Boma and Soma are sisters in their middle fifties, both are happily married and have raised very decent children, they are from a very close knit family, they look out for each other and to them, family comes first. They also extended this close relationship to their children who love each other exactly the same way.

Boma’s daughter Janice gained admission to study in a University somewhere in Europe and since her aunty Soma had a home there it was going to be easy for Janice to settle down to a new life in that particular country. Uncle Dean, aunty Soma’s husband was there more than he was in Nigeria; he accepted to help Janice with all that she needed to do while there.

Upon Janice’s arrival, uncle Dean was available as planned and he made everything easy for Janice, he helped with her registration, arranged a private accommodation for her and took her shopping to get all that she needed for school.

Uncle Dean constantly checked on her to make sure that she was comfortable and stayed focused on her studies, when she had some breaks; she spent time in her aunty’s home. As expected with any young adult, Janice’s mother knew that a day would come when her beautiful first daughter would fall in love, she was almost getting impatient. So it was such a welcome development when Janice told her mother over the phone that she met someone and had fallen deeply in love with him.

Uncle Dean was her only guardian and when his sister in law reached out to him over this new man in her daughter Janice’s life, he assured both his sister in law and his wife that he was a very good man and that their little girl was in safe hands.

A Nigerian saying goes, “No matter what the eyes see, it will never shed blood”. It happened that Boma, Janice’s mother and Soma her sister travelled together to visit Janice, Soma was also visiting her husband, Dean. What they witnessed, defied the saying above, they shed blood and not tears; the man who uncle Dean and Janice spoke highly of was Dean himself!

Yes! Uncle Dean and Janice had fallen in love with each other or so they claimed and no matter how much the two sisters pleaded with the two incorrigible lovers, all their pleas fell on deaf ears. Janice was convinced that what she felt for uncle Dean was nothing but true love and uncle Dean felt the same way about her. The couple also told the two women that they had concluded plans to get married. What is more? Janice was expecting a baby.

Boma and Soma quickly left for Nigeria and the trip was the most depressing trip that they had ever embarked on together. The awkwardness of the trip was on another level, Soma wasn’t sure if Boma had become an enemy and Boma was not sure what to say to her younger sister Soma; her daughter had just ruined her sister’s happy home. Soma lived with her husband and children happily until one of them had to be back home with the children for a brief stint in the Nigerian system; they wanted their kids to be in touch with their culture. So where did Soma go wrong. It was her husband’s idea and they were all meant to go together but he changed jobs and was no longer opportune to go. She made the sacrifice for her family and now look where it has gotten her.

They hardly said anything to each other throughout the duration of the flight but when their plane landed in Nigeria, both just burst into tears at once, all the questions came flooding in; what would they tell Soma’s children? Their cousin just became their step mother and their would-have-been niece or nephew would be their step brother or step sister. How will they explain to their mother that her son in law had become her grandson in law? Boma had just become her sister’s husband’s mother in law. Janice who is aunty Soma’s niece is now also her husband’s wife. (My head ache just returned. Phew!)

Janice had her baby and Boma being a mother had to go be with her first daughter as she birthed her first child, it was hard telling her sister that she had to go support her daughter. Like it is said, “You do not throw the baby away with the bath water”, Janice messed up but she is still someone’s daughter and still deserves a little bit of attention and care. What type of conversation would Boma now have with Dean? Sadly, the couple are still very much together; I just cannot wait to hear of how badly it ended.

 I know that my own mother would never speak to the person again and would not even know if she had that baby or not but I guess people are different and not everyone has a stone cold heart like Janice! I am still shaking my head in disbelief. I also think that Soma has every right to be angry with her big sister Boma for going on this latest trip to help her daughter with the baby. (Omugo like most Nigerians call it).