Family Hacking

She had been sitting on that crowded train for almost two hours now with her two kids listening to the chattering of the passengers mainly women, waiting for the train departure.

She cast her mind back trying to recall how it all began that led to her sitting on the train bound for East.

She noticed that it had been smoldering for almost four or three years now, she have even forgotten the exact day and issue that led to the first shouting match. 

She was wondering the type of power or is it influence that; family, kin and siblings has on the man she married that was a man when she married him, now, she can not even tell correctly who or what she is married to any more.

Six years into the marriage, what had been bliss for three years started turning into what she can not pin point now.

She knew somehow that money was behind the problems she is having in the marriage She is sure God ordained but Satan has so far been able to penetrate somehow not through known marriage breakers like: sickness, arrogance, poverty or lack of understand but through intruders that masquerade as in-laws, siblings, elders and kin’s and other groups that were poking their nose into her marriage even refers to themselves as well wishers. Could you imagine the abuse of positive phrase like that?. Well wishers. 

Most- illiterates, irresponsible, useless and none entities. She was still baffled by the affront of those busy bodies poking their dirty noses into her marriage.

It all started with the so call kins asking why she doesn’t attend the women village meetings regularly. Could you imagine the questions like that?, she knew about four years ago when questions like that started dropping unguardedly from their mouths that she was on top of their search engine. She had put her ears on the ground to know what was happening and met road blocks. She took stock of all the utterances she heard and from the source it came from and concluded that those women uttering those words were nothing but transporters. The initiators were who she is interested in. 

She decided to analyze the situation with data available to her. She arrived at the concluded that the best action plan was distancing the herself far way from the meetings, some women and whatever it was they were brewing in that meeting. It must be a case of too much familiarities.

Among those village women, they are many that were civil servants like her. How come no one was asking them why they don’t attend meeting regularly?. ‘ why me?, as if they don’t know am civil servant like the others'

Not attending meeting wasn’t the issue, it was just excuse they use to penetrate her. Those fuckers were interested in her family and she intends to know why.

For a year, she kept away from them, they even sent two people they believed she will listened to to ask her questions they knew the answers already. That their move confirmed what she had suspected for long. There are many women in that village that doesn’t belong to that meeting and no one was asking them why.

She told their representative to tell their senders that she asked them to keep far away from her family before she would be forced to do something she would regret.

That meeting was of no particular importance to her even, the gain there was that it provided opportunity to know a lot of people at close range. The aspect of helping you to prepare foods during celebration and aiding during burial ceremony is of little significance. No one needs those services nowadays.

They changed tactics and started penetrating her through her mothering law. The woman she have lived with for year’s now, started finding fault in everything she does, questioning her every move and wanting to know what had been happening to her son’s money for years.  

“ So, my Son is no more marrying only you but your entire family”

“ How do you mean?”

“ How do I mean?, why is my son’s money being use to manage your father’s house instead of his father’s house, what happened to your papa and his sons, can't they take care of themselves?”

“ They have been taking care of themselves even before you know they existed and is capable of doing so as long as Sun endures”

“ Ah, why have our stipend been heading to your fathers house since they are capable of taking care of themselves?”

“ Maybe, it was in your dream you witnessed hat movement, above all, in that your dream, you didn’t observe well the compound you saw your son’s money enter. For sure, it won't be my fathers compound”

“ In addition to the money, why are you not regarding your Sister-in-laws as humans, why do you keep locking doors when ever they are here?”

“ Well I acknowledged that my house was their house before becoming mine, but it is mine now. So, there are some no go areas they just have to adhere to now.”

So, she figured out from the exchange that her problems had been from her husband sisters and she suspected that her husband knew this from the beginning hence his behavior. 

Rumours had been spreading that she talked to her mother-in-law any how and whatever any how means to them, she doesn’t know.

She knew that something deeper was going on and what it was, she doesn’t know. She had tried to talk to her husband to know if she knew what was happening, but she was always snappy, telling her to focus on her works.

This had continued for year’s and they were even suggesting that she sell her car and money given to husband for him to meet his family commitments he had been negreting for years now. She was wondering if they knew at all that she was the one that bought the car in question with her money.

“What commitment are they talking about?” she asked her husband.

“ I have told you over and over to forget this people and focus In your work”

“ It is my work, I want to know, what commitment are they talking about?”

“ Okay, family one”

“ What family?”

“My father’s family of course”

“ Have you not been taking care of your responsibilities before”

“ Not in that sense”

“ In what sense then”

“ I have told you to forget these people and….”

“ Why should I forget…..”

Voice rising

“ Then don’t, you can go…….”

“I am a…..”

The man rushes out of the room.

Zannu was of the opinion that her husband Chaaki wasn’t telling her the whole truth in what was actually going on in that family. She had done her own investigation and found out that there was nothing like endowment or anything such nature any way so, there was nothing to share. But being treated like outside after two births is not what she will stomach from any one, her husband inclusive.

So, one early morning, she gathered her things and taking her two kids with her, they found themselves in a train heading to East and the kids were squealingan about the natural rural sceneries that were delight to look at through the window.