Chapter Two

The first thing you would notice when you come to our house in Lagos were the sunflowers that mother tended. They shone as bright as the sun and it was one place mother never let us play close to when I and Akunna were younger. She would rather we broke a tumbler or anything than fall or trample on her sunflowers. "Why do you care so much for these flowers, it is not like they are even real things?" Akunna had asked her once. I think she was eleven then while I was seven and mother had chuckled.

"Aren't you thought that flowers are living things too?" Mother asked back.

"I know that but they aren't like we are. They don't talk or live life or love like humans do." Akunna argued.

"But they can feel love," mother said in that calm manner that I don't think father will ever learn to be in. It was like they were two contrasting people who got married. Father was fire while mother was cool water. It was on very rare occasions that she raised her voice. I can only even think of one occasion when she had been really angry and it would surprise you to know I was the one who had gotten her angry.

That day I had acted foolishly (maturity has made me realize that). I had been playing around the house and she had warned me calmly to be very careful. I didn't listen. I kept on playing, scattering things and pushing them out of their usual spot. Mother had called me countless times, warning that I sit still and let her concentrate on what she was doing but I was very excited that day because I was to be the princess of one of our sport houses the next day. I can't even remember what had tripped me but the next thing I knew was that I was falling and it was on nothing than our flat screen television which father had gotten from his company. The crashing and breaking of screen brought mother out of the room and before I could even stand up, the slap landed right on my cheek.

The first thing I felt that moment was surprise instead of pain because I didn't expect that from my mother. I would have anticipated the slap or beating from my father but not my mother. Then when the surprise dissipated, the pain came crawling in like an army of ant stinging me and that was when I cried.

"Look at what you have done." She said still calm but I could read the anger that sat comfortably behind the calmness. It wasn't even trying to fight its way out. It just sat there and let the calm emotion do the talking.

That day when father came back and saw what I had done, he came to my room late at night and put pepper in my eyes.

Now as I entered the house from work, the sunflowers shone but I have gotten used to them that I don't coo and woo around anymore. From the living room, Father was screaming and the rest I had thought I would have once I got home from my strenuous job, just knew it would have to wait. As I walked towards the door, it opened and Akunna came out in anger. She looked at me as if surprised then she walked away towards the gate banging it so hard.

"Very stupid girl!" Father was screaming. "Very stupid girl." He said again. I took in a deep breathe and walked in. Mother was sitting by his side but she had her eyes on the plastic flowers we had on the centre table, while father stood pacing.

"Good evening Father, good evening mother." I greeted. Mother nodded but didn't respond while father did neither. "Father, what is the problem?"

"Ask your sister." He said immediately like that was what he had been expecting me to ask instead of repeating salutations.

"What did she do today?" I asked.

"Remember Ugo, the son of Chief Justice who studied abroad?" I nodded. "Good. He came today with his father to ask for your sister's hand in marriage and she turned them down, can you imagine? She turned Chief Justice and his son down!" I sighed because I didn't know what to say. "Can you imagine?" He asked again like I really needed to imagine. "What kind of a child is she? Is she a witch sent to cause me pain and unrest?"

"Father calm down." I pled.

"I will not calm down! Don't tell me to calm down!" In the state he was, the pores on his face seemed to open wider and his shaved jaw looked like the wrinkled legs of a broiler chicken. "How many suitors would Akunna turn down before she settles, how many? No tell me how many would knock on this door before that stupid girl who is so full of herself pick one and make a home for herself. She thinks this world is wrapped in her palm but she has seen nothing. Ignorance is like a blindfold, not just a blindfold but a deceitful one which makes you think you see but you don't know you are blind." Father lamented. He stood still, hands akimbo and I thought that was the end but then he went on. "History will not repeat itself in my house, especially a history as rueful as this one." He said with finality and stormed into their bedroom.

Mother sat there still looking at the plastic flowers. She hadn't said anything since I walked in and it wasn't like I was expecting much from her at the moment. I knew she would still Father's raging storm later and then things would be normal but then the cycle would repeat itself again and again, the shouting, the banging of gates, the plastic flowers on the centre table receiving mother's gaze like sunlight during photosynthesis and then calm. I knew this and many more would continue maybe until I left the house to start my own life.