The Good And The Bad

Lanre shook her head in much pity. “Even we older ones should learn to apologise to the little ones”. Lanre said. She was indirectly telling Ify to apologise to Chidinma who already left the living room to go join Mrs. Olayinka in the kitchen.

The woman was busy preparing pounded Amala and ewedu. She wanted Ify to taste her food. She had planned to go back to Ibadan the following day now that she was sure her daughter will live and not die. She believed if Lanre keeps taking the native medicines she gave to her, she will recover in no time.

“Your mother is nothing like you Lanre. Are you acting kind to cover the darkness in your heart?” Ify asked.

“Why would I cover it if there was darkness in my heart?” Ify asked. Then she told Ify that just like any other person in the world, she has two sides to her. The good and the bad.

“Ify, no man is fully good, nor any fully bad. Everything is a choice and one could choose to be good until an external force stronger than his will pushes him to the wall and he comes back bouncing with evil”. Lanre said. Ify scoffed and asked her if that was what she did to her because she felt right now to only do evil to Lanre. Lanre laughed.

“I did not do you anything. Is it not obvious that you never enjoyed being good. Being good means you never reminding the people you helped what you did for them. The day you count the fingers you have to a man, instead of respecting you, they will see it as an insult”. Lanre said.

“Coming from someone who is pure evil herself!” Ify said. Lanre asked her if that was how she saw her. Ify asked Lanre if she was expecting her to see her as an angel when she would not be happy for her that she was getting married soon.

“But I never did anything to stop you from getting married, why did you have to publicly humiliate me?” Lanre asked. Ify told her she did not tell Victory anything. Lanre chuckled slightly.

Lanre asked Ify how it was possible for Victory to know about her rejecting K’s proposal when the only person that knew about it was her aside from K and herself. Ify told Lanre that she needn’t whine about it since she already humiliated her on social media.

“But then I will expect it from you. They told me not to trust people like you, but I let my guards down. I was told the Yoruba’s are always after their self interest and knows no friend when it gets to that. No wonder the civil war became a fight for the freedom of Biafrans, because the Yoruba’s betrayed the Igbos”. Ify said to Lanre.

It must have sounded funny to Lanre because she laughed. “I wished Chinua Achebe knew there was never a country before he gave his book that title”. Lanre said this spiting up Ify as well.