EPISODES 16,17, 18 19,20
16
Ada was lying on her bed when mum knocked on her door. She stood up, looking surprisingly at the door. That was strange,
nobody ever knocked on anybody’s in this house. Something was wrong, she was sure.
She walked up to the door and opened it, not knowing what to expect. Mum was facing her; they stared at each other for
some seconds and mum walked into the room looking around the room like she was seeing it for the first time.
Ada continued to stare at her even as mum sat on her bed.
Mum looked intensely at her from the bed, “Have you been crying? Your face looks swollen.”
“No mum but…”
“It’s okay, you just have to brighten up… sit down, I will like to chat with you.” Mum quickly said.
Now this was definitely strange. How was Ada going to have a mother daughter chat with mum? That would be weird, she had
never seen mum from that angle. What will they talk about? This was something she wasn’t used to and didn’t even know
what to say. She would have taken it easier if mum had come to shout on her and call her names for being pregnant.
Something wasn’t just right, Ada noted. She sat down, looking at her palms.
“For how long now have you noticed that you were pregnant?” Mum softly asked.
This melted Ada’s spirit. She looked up at mum and surprisingly could hold the stare. She suddenly saw herself as a
child, “I have been late for three days and it has been bugging me.” She replied, her eyes pleaded for help.
Mum could see it.
Mum felt really bad all over again. She didn’t even know the dates that surround her daughter’s monthlies. What kind of mother was she? What good was she then expecting from them if she couldn’t just play her part as a mother?
But she was a bit hopeful that Ada might not be pregnant after all. “What has been bothering for the past three days?
She asked.
“I don’t know mum, I …”
“Don’t be afraid, I won’t scold you,” mum encouraged her.
“I had unprotected sex with… my boyfriend the last time I wasn’t safe and it had gotten me scared all these while; I
have been anticipating my period even before now.”
Mum continued to stare at her, but there was no trace of anger in her face. “Ada, I must be honest, I have always
suspected that you were sexually active and I am very sorry that I didn’t do anything about it. The problem now is that
you are doing it without protecting yourself. Why are you taking such risk?” she gently asked.
“I… I don’t know mum, I didn’t know what I was doing.”
“You are too young to make sex your priority; you obviously cannot handle it. As you can see it is capable of
distracting you from your focus in life and by the time you know it, it is already too late as time waits for no one.”
Mum really felt good saying those words to her. “Now you are not even protecting yourself, you could contact HIV or
other sexually transmitted diseases. Presently, pregnancy could be knocking on your door. I am sure that you can now see
that the risk you have been taking is not worth it.”
Mums words were really affecting Ada. Painful tears started to flow from her eyes, “I am very sorry mum, I didn’t know
what got over me. I didn’t think anybody cared and got carried away by frustrations. I allowed myself to be deceived by
Mike and…” her sobs couldn’t allow her finish.
Mum could now see it, there was an unconscious and uncontrollable desire in her that wanted her to hurt her parents for
neglecting her, and the best way was by hurting herself. None of this was actually Ada’s fault, mum thought, she and dad
were to blame.
“It’s okay now,” mum said and held her onto her b0s0m, it felt good to have her baby back. “I promise that you won’t
feel neglected again, I will always be here for you. Don’t cry.” She allowed Ada to cry for some time, “Now I want you
to promise me that you will start acting accordingly, No more missing lectures for anything, you party with only my
permission, I want to know who your boyfriend is, bring your friends home and make me a part of your life. Can you do
that?”
“Yes mum, I will try,” Ada answered, wondering how she could fulfill the promise.
“Don’t worry, we will work together to bring you to the right path, and I will also like to learn some new tricks you
girls have nowadays, you know I am already old fashioned?”
This got Ada smiling, “You are not old fashioned mum, you are still young and beautiful,” she said, surprised at how
easy that came out from her mouth. This wasn’t going to be difficult afterall.
Mum sighed heavily, “Ok, I want you to have a rest, relax you mind and allow nothing to trouble you.” She stood up and
headed for the door, she remembered that Ada’s mobile phone was still with her since dad had given it to her to read the
dreadful text message. “I wouldn’t like to see something that might spoil my day,” she said as she handed it back to
her. “I will be preparing food for everyone with your dad in the kitchen.”
Now this astonished Ada, “With dad?” she asked.
“Yes, and I will call you when we are through.” Mum winked at mum and shut the door behind her.
The mobile phone rang in Ada’s hand just as mum closed the door; it was Mike.
“I really can’t talk to you now,” she spoke to the phone without interest. Yes, I said I will come but I didn’t and
you’d better start getting used to that,” she rudely spoke to the obviously angry Mike at the other end. Some she felt
good, she finally could say how she felt or what she wanted without fear of rejection.
17
John gently raised his head when dad walked into his room. He had been sleeping but was already away minutes before dad
entered. To dad, he looked like someone who was tired of life. That wasn’t a welcomed development for dad.
John slowly sat up as da entered, looking at him suspiciously. He couldn’t understand why dad was in his room. But dad
wasn’t looking angry and that helped calm him down a bit.
Dad sat down beside him, an awkward moment of silence lingered. Dad couldn’t help but stare at John’s childhood picture
on mini drawer beside John’s bed. He stretched his hand and picked it up, looked at it, smiled slightly and dropped it
back.
“You know I attempted smoking when I was quite young.” Dad was gentle, John listened. “I really didn’t want to do it,
but then, my friends would think that I was too dull and wouldn’t want me to continue to be their friends again. I
wanted them to like me. I was so young and inexperienced and my need to belong misled me into putting up with the wrong
friends. But then my grades began to depreciate and luckily for me one of my teachers called me to order. He made me
realize that I was following the wrong path and I knew that my dad would be very disappointed in me if I didn’t change.
Do you know that most of those boys were expelled? Some destroyed their bright future just for a few minutes of
satisfaction. I even heard one of them became addicted to drugs and is presently in a psychiatric home now.”
John shifted uncomfortably on the bed.
“And if I hadn’t changed from bad ways, I wouldn’t have been able to have a wonderful family and even be able to carter for them.” He stopped and stared directly at John “Why did you do it son?”
John looked up into dad’s face in confusion. He didn’t answer the question.
Then in a very soft tone, “Why did you make the choice to start smoking at a very young age?”
“I… I don’t know dad. My friends were doing it and… just like you, I wouldn’t be their friends if I didn’t join them.”
John stammered.
“But didn’t you know it was wrong?”
“I… I knew it was wrong dad but… I didn’t have anybody to talk to. I was afraid of losing my friends and doing it felt
right even though I knew it was wrong. I couldn’t talk to you or mum and my teachers are always mean; I couldn’t
possibly talk to them without getting my friends into trouble.”
Dad sighed “I am really sorry son for not being there for you. But always remember that there must come a time when you
must make decisions on your own even without the presence of a guardian. You must know how to make the right decision
for the sake of those you love and those who love you, the fact that you are just 14years old does not mean you should
not be wise in making tough choices”
“I am 16 dad,” John injected, but with a smile. He was already overwhelmed with the way dad was talking to him.
“Sixteen? Wow!” dad was really surprised. When did you get to sixteen? My little boy is almost a man,” he said, hitting
John lightly on the head. “But seriously, you must learn not to be afraid of your friends leaving you and most
importantly, you must learn not to be afraid of making the right decision.”
“But how do I know I am making the right decision dad?” John asked with a childish innocence written all over his face.
Dad saw it and felt worse. How had he allowed this young man wonder off all alone? “We all have conscience son and we
always know when we make the right choice. And if you are confused about making any choice, come to talk to me.”
“But you are always at work dad.”
“I promise you that as from today I will always be there for you to talk to. Don’t worry about my work; I will work out
something that will be fair to every one of us.”
“Thanks dad,” John said, he was deeply glad.
Dad stood up and stared at him for some time, “You know I can’t believe how big you have grown. Just yesterday you were
my little boy and it hurts me to realize that I have missed out thought out your period of transiting into a man.”
John smiled sheepishly.
“I know at this stage in life you are filled with so much energy and excitement about finding out much about you and the
world at large. You are filled with so much curiosity and you will want to do everything and feel like an adult. But
remember that you must be responsible to make the right decision and be mindful of the information you get, how you get
them and what you do with them. Do you have a girlfriend?”
John looked sharply at dad, “No”
Dad regarded him for a while, wondering what he was doing with a sachet of condom.
“Girls don’t like me and I am scared of talking to them” John found himself saying.
“That’s not true; you are a very handsome young man. You see, girls like intelligent and confident men. That’s why you
must concentrate on your studies and build your self confidence as you discover your strengths. All these you can’t
achieve by missing classes. You must be focused and know what you want. And by the time you know it you will have as
many girls as you want. But you must realize that for you to indulge into sexual relationship you must be matured and
responsible. You are way too young to even start thinking about that. Right now your only priorities are your studies.
If your friends can’t accept this decision then you leave them. People will respect you more when you make the right
choices always; you are only a fool when you always make wrong choices. Thank God you were even thinking of protection,
but can you handle the consequences? No. it will only succeed in distracting you from your studies.” Dad preached.
“I am sorry dad,”
“I want to trust to make the right decision and talk to me when you are confused. I want you to promise me that you will
concentrate more on your studies and make better grades this term. Will you do that?”
“Yes dad, I promise,”
Dad stood up. “On your own, you must know how to handle your friends. I won’t follow you to school to stop you from
being their friend, but you must know what to do to make you a better person from now on. No more smoking, no thinking
about sex and always study your books.”
“Yes dad”
“I believe we are all starting afresh. Please do not disappoint me.”
“I won’t dad.”
Dad walked out of the room leaving John feeling more relieved than ever.
18
Mum was very busy in the kitchen that she didn’t notice dad standing at the door, and carefully observing her.
“How did it go?” Dad asked.
Mum quickly looked behind her, “Oh, you startled me,” it was not every day that dad comes around to meet her in the
kitchen. “Well, the response was fine and I am glad I talked to her, I don’t really think she is pregnant, she is just
anxious that all.”
“Wow, that would be a great relieve. I had a long talk with John. Hopefully if we play our parts right as parents from
now, we will witness a positive change in them soonest.” He slowly walked up to her and held her by her waist, “What are
you preparing” he asked in a soft husky tone.”
“Your favourite, do you want to join me?”
“Of course…” he looked at mum deeply in the eyes “Do you remember when we used to cook together?”
“Yes, it was one of the memorable times of my life,” mum replied as she chuckled and laughed out softly.
“Then the kids started coming. And we shifted focus from us to them.”
“We wanted to give them the best in life but we had to go through a lot of pressure to keep up our desire.” Mum added.
“As a result of this pressure we lost communications not only between the two of us but even between the kids.” Dad put
in again.
Mum maintains Dad’s stare, “And this is where it has gotten us to.”
“It’s about time we have a real family, you know,”
“Yes and thank you very much for coming back to us, I have missed you, mum whispered as they both shared a warm make up
kiss. I was sitting in my room, still wondering what I was going to do about the key in my possession. I was really scared and
needed someone to talk to. The only person I could think of was sister Ada. I had have never been in this kind of
situation before and right now the only choice I felt I had was to talk to either of my siblings.
I was sure they would get angry with me and blame me for causing them get into trouble with dad, but I’d rather prefer
making them angry than having dad mad at me, not even today. Beside if I could tell them, then automatically I wouldn’t
be alone in this crime, we would all be in it together.
With the bunch in my hand, I hurried into Ada’s room.
Wow, she looked different. Don’t ask me because I really cannot explain what was different about her. There was just
nothing to fear in those eyes. In fact from this new look of hers; I instantly knew I could confide in her.
She just stared at me, expecting me to say something.
“The key is with me” I cried.
Her eyes opened up wider in shock. “You have been with the key all these while?” she asked, obviously trying to
understand what I was up to.
“I didn’t know I was with it, I must have ‘sleep walked’ it into my bag last night before going to bed.”
John must have heard me from his room, because he rushed out of the room to make further enquiries. “Did I hear you say
you have the keys with you?” he asked as soon as he approached me from behind.
“Yes, I mistakenly put it in my bag while parking my books last night before going to bed.”
“But why didn’t you bring it out all day,” Ada asked.
“I found out when it was already too late and I was scared of letting anyone know.” Tears filled my eyes.
But surprisingly they were staring at me thoughtfully, no mean face and no rude words.
“What do we do now?” John asked Ada.
We? I wasn’t sure I heard him right.
“Give it to me, mum and dad are in the kitchen right now and once they are through they will call us to eat. I will open
up that I am with the key.” She looked at me and drew me closer, “Stop crying, dad is not going to be mad at you.
I later went back to my room to lie down; feeling like a heavy burden had been taken away from me. I couldn’t believe
Ada was going to take the blame on my behalf. I resolved that I wasn’t going to allow her to do it.
19
Ada walked into the kitchen, went straight to mum and whispered “I am on” into her ear. Mum looked at her and both of them smiled at each other.
“What are you ladies smiling about?” Dad asked from the door.
“Nothing” both ladies chorused.
“Okay, okay, that’s none my business, I understand.” Dad said and walked out of the kitchen.
It was time for lunch. The whole house was famished, and even though mum had asked Ada to wait unto her call before coming to eat, Ada had decided to come down and help. Dad was obviously not being very useful in the kitchen; he was just distracting mum. Both were trying all afternoon to reason out what happened to the key. It was really surprising to them.
In no time John and I joined them. The kitchen became filled up. Everybody wanted to feel the new vibe in the house. It was just warm.
I was no longer afraid of telling dad and mum that I was with the key. There was something in their faces that calmed me for the mean time.
Soon, lunch was ready; I joined dad and John on the dining table.
It was strange having everybody on the table, eating together!! Dad was all smiles. He looked more handsome in his mood.
“Let us pray,” Dad said after the food had been served. “Linda, pray for us.”
Somehow, I just knew dad would call me. “Thank you, father in heaven, for this meal. Thank you for today and using the lost key to bring us all together. Dear Lord, we ask that you sustain this new atmosphere of love you have bestowed unto us. We also ask you for forgiveness of our sins in the past. Forgive me specially for being responsible for the lost key. I believe that if you forgive me, my parents will also find it in their heart to forgive. Thank father for answering my prayers,” Everybody chorused, “Amen”.
I didn’t open my eyes immediately, but I could feel pairs of eyes staring at me. Then I opened my eyes and looked straight at dad.
He was smiling.
“Why did you take the key?” He gently asked, he wasn’t going to allow this spoil his mood.
“It was a mistake dad; I mistakenly put it in my school bag last night before going to bed. I was feeling so sleepy that I didn’t know when or how I did it. I didn’t even remember what happened before I left the sitting room,” I said, with genuine remorse.
“But why didn’t you say anything about it since morning?” mum asked, she was really surprised that of all her kids, I was the one in possession of the missing key.
“I was scared mum. It was already too late when I realized that it was with me. The fear of what dad, who was already angry, would do to me didn’t allow me to tell anyone that I had it.” I answered.
“It’s alright, you don’t need to be afraid of me again, do you understand?” Dad said, with the smile still on his face. I guess he was amused by the fact that I had included the issue in my prayers. “Alright then, give the key to me.”
I looked at Ada, who was at first concerned that I had rattled myself out despite promising me that she would take the blame.
“I have it with me,” she said as she brought it out of her pocket.
“You knew about this too?” Mum asked.
“Yes mum, she told me not quite long ago.”
Can we now eat our meal? I am starving,” Dad said.
It was wonderful having the family come together and eat. Even though the eating session was somewhat awkward, but it sure looked like something we would get used to as long as it was done more often.
After meal dad said, “I want to apologize for not being there for you all in times past. I promise to be a better dad as from today.” I can’t explain how warm and comforting it was hearing those words from him. He looked like a changed man; his usually mean face was now softened with kindness.
“Let’s all try and ensure we have dinner together more often, there must be a genuine reason not to be present. I want you all to feel free with me, I am your father and it is wrong that we all don’t get along. We are one family and we must act like one. Am I understood?”
“Yes dad,” we all chorused, looking at each other amusingly.
“Finally, every Sunday will be our family day out. We will eat outside and visit exotic places in town. But for today, we can also take some time out. So I want you to decide where you would like to visit this evening. Go get dressed up, because I will be taking you to any place of your choice.
We all smiled and giggled excitedly as we dispersed from the sitting room. Ada helped mum pack the plates while I and John rushed into our rooms to dress up.
The lost key had turned around to be a good thing after all.
20
The next day
Dad didn’t switch on his mobile phone until he got to the office. He was ready to resign but wasn’t ready to hear anything that would spoil his new found mood.
Well, after a long discussion with his boss, he was given the choice to state his working condition.
Dad was very valuable to the company and the sacrifice he had made couldn’t be over looked. An apology was rendered to him and he was given the choice to state his working conditions. The burden of work on him was also reduced by the provision of a capable assistant.
Thank you all for reading and I hope you enjoyed the story and as well took note of the message the author meant to convey.
Thanks for ur cheers.
