A Child Till Now

Silly Grace

Life had been good to him so far. His father was a wealthy politician and his mother, an entrepreneur. Massi was the last child of a family of three siblings, two of which were women and married. Till the age of twenty-nine, Massi had had no interest in women. Not that he was a misogynist. There never was any real reason for him to enter a relationship. At least, his smart mother assured him when the time came, he would know.

As stated, Massi did not hate women. But this was with the exception of his sister in-law. She was a nosy girl of about twenty-two and was too big for someone of that age. Her legs, stomach, breast and even backside. She was all too big and pompous. Of all the days she could choose to come and torment him, Grace chose today. He didn't know why she always did that, but she intentionally entered his room. She took a full scan of him on the bed. Massi made no move. He slept on perhaps she would walk away but Grace put aside her rather fat handbag. Massi had anticipated this. He tried not to give himself away and at the same time, brace for her recklessness.

Grace began to go through his belongings, making sure whatever she touched made as much noise as it could. When Massi hung on, she grew frustrated, then grabbed a pillow and hit him on the face.

"Wake up, wake up, wake up," she said in a laughing tone.

Massi rolled face front to avoid being hit on the face.

"No one sleeps this deep, oga," Grace said. Suddenly Massi felt a heavy weight press his waist as if to break it.

"What are you doing?" He said, barely pushing her away.

Grace somwhow let out a fat kind of laughter. Her mouth was like a newborn moon on her football head and now, the moon seemed to be too static for that description.

"What do you want this time?" Massi asked her again. He slumped from the bed and took up his T-shirt.

"Okay," Grace said, trying to help him, "I know you always say I think you're irresponsible---"

"I've never said that---I can do that on my own, thank you. Can't you see you're a female?"

"That's my point. If you had let me finished."

Massi knew exactly what she wanted to say. It was either "You are not the owner of your business but your mother since she makes all the decisions" or "You should marry me before I get any chubbier." It was certainly the latter because his mother was not at home for Grace to discuss business with (as they always did).

"No," Massi said in a sense of finality which of course was futile if it was Grace.

"Tell me the truth: don't you like me?" Grace asked. The way she phrased, the way she sat still and turned full serious caused Massi to pause. As serious as she looked, she could be reasoned with. He could use the emotional method to tell her he wasn't into her nor any lady, nor would he be anytime soon.

"Grace you're the sister to the husband of my sister. It won't work."

"What if it could? I could talk to your mom about it. Maybe... maybe she could ... yeah give us her blessings."

"I don't believe in blessings," Massi dismissed her with whatever came to him first because he sensed she was faking her sense.

"No worries. I don't either. We will manage the curses, then." She went on laughing.

Massi shook his head in frustration.

"Mother is not home," he said. "I thought you were to come by ten."

"It's already ten," Grace said, tossing him one of his golden wristwatches. The time was eleven on it but eight on the wall clock. He threw it back to her.

"Don't touch my stuff," he said.

"I came to see you," Grace said half-mindedly.

"What for?"

Massi sighed, an assurance of no joke. She was still in his bed, laid and had covered herself up to her stomach. No, the sheet was too short to cover up higher. She was saying something but Massi wasn't listening because his phone was ringing and the caller was his mother. Quickly he picked it up but Grace snatched it from his hands and answered.

Massi was too infuriated to stop her. When she was done, Grace told him that his mother was home and wanted to see him.

Massi put himself together and moved on to the parlor. Grace came with him.

His mother was on the couch, sipping a fruit juice. Massi realized she wasn't alone. There was another woman, a lady with whom they chatted.

"You know, your mom is my role model."

Massi was startled by Grace's voice. In fact, he felt a bit embarrassed that he and she were descending the stair together. He hurried down and greeted his mother with a peck to the cheek.

"Good morning madam... " Grace began. Suddenly, her countenance had changed into one of discomfort. She didn't used to show this. She didn't used to care about what his mother would say with her rather too intimate relationship with him. He wasn't sure what it was that turned her all hot.

He noticed his mother answered her greeting but with her eyes on the other silent lady.

"I... um... Mas... " Grace stammered. "I'll just..." she motioned out and when she couldn't seem to get her words through, Grace hurried off.

A Type of Quarrel

"What is bothering her?" his mother asked, in her usual calm voice. Despite the question, Massi felt like she didn't want him to go find out. 

Massi stood between a dilemma.

"Let her go," his mother told him.

Reluctantly, Massi returned to his intended seat.

"Is something the matter between you, mother?"

"Forget about her," she replied. She removed her spectacles and folded the magazine. "I want you to meet Katharine."

"Hello," the lady, Katharine said. Massi had no idea why she was blushing. He didn't realize he hadn't answered her until his mother alerted him. She too seemed pleased at how Massi couldn't get his eyes off Katharine. No doubt she was pretty but no need to go fantasizing.

"I want you two to get married," his mother said.

"What?" Massi exclaimed.

"Is there a problem?" His mother said.

"Er... so married?" Massi was not new to his mother's straight-forwardness but the idea of a sudden marriage seemed all too not comfortable.

"Are you okay with it, honey?"

Massi didn't know how to respond. In fact he didn't know how to say no to his mother. Whatever she said was always right and what could be more than pleasing his mother?

"Yes, mother," he said. Somehow, at that instant, he felt tremendous affection towards Katharine, as if his emotions moved according to the pleasing of his mother. He saw that she was fair in complexion. She was obviously from a rich family (no doubt the marriage was to secure his mother a better business position). And he was grateful she wasn't chubby.

"Take her out, then," his mother suggested. She had only a faint excitement as if she had secured a minute business deal. Again, Massi was too accustomed with her ways to let that bother him. She had a natural air about her that told you she was always very conscious and deliberate with her actions.  

"Maybe we should start all over," Katharine said minutes after they had reached in a restaurant. "I don't want us feeling coerced into this, you know."

"I guess so," Massi said, his heart slamming against his ribs. With his mother, he was perfectly fine with Katharine, but now he felt helpless. He kept touching things to mask the shaking of his limbs.

"So I'm Katharine, the daughter of chief Toyin."

Massi took her hand rather too fast.

"Am... I mean... I'm Mas. No not Mas... Massi. Grace calls me Mas, not that we need to talk about her."

He felt he might have said too much.

"Massi," Katharine said, relishing the sound of her own voice. Her dimples were shallow but very visible when she smiled.

The rest of the date seemed rather like a job interview, with Katharine asking the questions and Massi responding. When he dropped her off, Massi went on to meet Grace.

He dodged a ripe Mango from making a splat on his face.

"Grac---"

He ducked another again and found shelter from Grace whose laughter was rather surprising of what he had anticipated. 

"Stop... it... "

"I'm touched. You came for me?"

"No," Massi said. "You took my phone."

Grace appeared before Massi. She handed him a mango then advanced to sit on the long seat beneath the tree. 

"What was that in front of mother? You were acting weird."

"You know," Grace said, seriously, "I try, believe me, I do, to stop making you uncomfortable."

"What do you mean?" Massi said. He joined her on the seat.

Grace held on for some seconds before speaking as if the words really really needed to be said:

"Can't you see that your mother is using you?"

"Is this one of your jokes?"

"Since the day you were born, she has determined your every move. You eat what she wants, spend how she wants and even see who she wants."

Massi found her incredibly unbelievable. When he laughed, for the first time, Grace didn't. His own faded.

"She's my mother, Grace. She knows what's best for our family. For me."

"And now she's got you thinking the way she wants. You revolve around her finger."

"Don't be silly."

"What? Wasn't that Katharine one of her schemes?" Grace said. She too was finding Massi incredulous. Since they had known each other, Massi and Grace had never had a real fight. She was never serious to have one with. Today however, Massi just couldn't believe her. He couldn't understand how hard it was for her to see that she was simply being jealous.

"You want to marry that girl?!" Grace exclaimed when Massi let her in on his thoughts. "Holy... Actually I thought that was the reason your mother must have brought her there, although it seemed silly of me. Live your life Mas. Your mother ---"

"Don't mention mother again!"

Grace bounced up and rushed into the house, stumbling on her long gown, cursing all the way in.

A Change of Plan

He returned home infuriated. Massi almost went by his mother without noticing her. She drew his attention just when he realized her presence.

"Mother... " he said, putting in a great effort to look calm. He didn't seem to need to. His mother did'nt notice, because she was in a hurry.

"Forget the marriage with Katharine," she said, hastily. "I want you to do something else."

"What is that ma?"

"This will cause you a little physical pain but you'll be okay."

Massi waited.

"I've been trying to get us a deal but the clients have been stubborn. They don't see how what I am proposing is needed in Nigeria."

"Just tell me what I need to do, mother," Massi said determined.

"Could you starve a whole community to death?"

Massi was terrified to his very bone. He wanted to ask why but there was no need to. There was nothing to base his irrationality on.

"Don't worry. A few will die but it's for their own good," she continued. Then went thoughtful. "But it'll be more effective if your daddy exposes you. Trust me. We'll have it both ways in that case."

The Man Who Thought He Was King

Even when she left, Massi spent minutes unknowing of himself. He told himself she was right. He knew she was. She had to be. Why wouldn't she be. She was right. Whatever she did was for his own good (particularly). Surely his father was never at home to admonish him on any matters. Maybe he would have been much clearer. No doubt his father was in support of his mother's plans. The two often spend months without seeing each other but they were always on the same grounds. Wasn't the fact that their marriage was still intact proof that they were good people. Massi didn't know how this logic worked but he was sure of it. He didn't need to understand anything. His mother understood. She always told him his father understood. Somehow, he felt reassured of the love of his parents. His mother was so loving and it was the same that she told him his father had left since Massi was two.

But to his shock, Massi found himself packing. He found himself in tears. He didn't know why but at the same time knew why. He was leaving. No, he was running. He was betraying his one and only mother.

Out of fear, he didn't want to meet Grace at her place. He called her. She didn't pick up. Of all the days. His phone fell off due to the shaking of his hands. When he reached for it in the car floor, it began to ring. He knew who it was: his mother! She must have found out! She always did.

Massi wasn't sure whether he had intended to pick up but he had mistakenly rejected the call. He was sweating even in the cold of the night. A second call startled him. But this time, it was Grace.

"I came to apologize. Where are you?"

"Wh... where are you?"

"I'm at your place.Your mom is terrified. She has the police looking for you."

Massi lost it. His dread reached its peak. He remembered everything. He couldn't forget----the story his mother used to tell him since he was two years old. That there was a man so loyal to his queen. She ruled the world and could get whatever she wanted. And this was so because of that man. Until one day, he betrayed her. The man thought he was king. But he was wrong. This woman dispatched her soldiers, mercenaries, everything she got. She hunted the man down and made sure he was only remembered as an example to the younger generation who were loyal to her. Massi remembered it all. Their housekeeper disappeared like his father when she was caught telling him that the man in the story was his father.

CID: Fear or Freedom

Grace's voice pulled him from his trance.

"Hey, Mas---"

"I need your help."

He cut the call and drove off into the night.

Within an hour, his nightmare came true. Massi's face was all over the news: WANTED DEAD OR ALIVE.

Grace had managed to reach him. Because there was no way to leave the country, they found a safe place to hide. Even if he could, Massi had no money. It was now that he realized that Grace had been right. Nothing he owned was his own.

"For a common disobedience she wants to kill you?" Grace said. She had managed to work her calming magic on him. Although he was far from calm, he could at least think.

"No," Massi said. "She's afraid I could expose her for who she really is."

"Who is she?"

"She's a monster!" Massi said this with as much alarm as to make him more aware of his betrayal.

Perhaps it had had the same effect on Grace, too because she spent seconds contemplating. As time went in, she seemed to have made up a decision. She reached into her shirt and removed what seemed like a badge.

"I'm with the state CID," she said. "Mas, I'm sorry but we've been trying to crack your mother for over a year now."

"What?"

"Sit. I'm not one of her fake police."

"But---" Massi said. He cut himself just as much as Grace did him.

"I need you to cooperate with me. Are you sure you have what can bring your mother down?"

Massi wanted to leave this place. He felt insecure and helpless. He searched her face to find whether this was one of Grace's jokes but this wasn't Grace. This was a totally different fat girl. That silliness was all gone. All that was left was a passionate patriot. She went on to give him a short explanation of her relationship with his sister's husband. Wait, was he even sure if he truly had sisters? It was a story his mother used to tell him, anyway. What kind of sisters never visited them?

"You have to make a make a choice, Mas," the lady, Grace interrupted his alarmed thoughts. "Your freedom or nothing but fear. Take this advice, choose freedom."

"But she's still my mother," Massi said.

"Part of this job is the realization that every criminal is somebody's shoulder in life."

Massi didn't know what to do. Maybe if he returned to his mother she could forgive him. But in that tale, their was no forgiveness. His mother's face carried that message whenever she told it. It was often like a reminisce to her. A bitter and rage-inciting memory.

"I'll do it," his mouth said without aligning with his brain. He paid for this decision with tears. He wept repeating those three words as courage:

"I'll do it. I'll do it. I'll do it."