— Adunni...
Adunni, the well-known daughter of orange vendor Iya Adunni, was accustomed to maneuvering her way through pregnancy.
She was ready to commit to the childbirth process this time. She was not getting any younger, and she considered Bayo to be a relatively responsible man.
Though Adunni was six years older than Bayo, she continued to have faith in him as a capable father for her pregnant child.
“How will you handle the situation?” Tinu asked Adunni with a concerned look.
Adunni, pacing in the little room she sleeps in with her mother, replied calmly. “Bayo is an innocent boy. Men are irresponsible. I’ve figured out that the only way I could keep Bayo is by getting pregnant.”
Still pacing in the room, she said, “I am not saying I want him held bound to me; I am just concerned about myself. Look at me, thirty years old, with no man to settle with. Ade, Kola, Gbade, Gbenga, and all those guys whom I have been with for years have failed me consistently.
“I would give them my mother’s money, peel oranges for their friends for free, worst of it, and give my body free to these men only to be treated worse than a loser. I thought they said women who asked men for money were worthless. Rather than be classified as worthless, I gave myself to them free of charge.”
Tinu sat on the small chair while listening pitifully to her friend. Her friend had told her that she was lucky to be getting married soon.
“You know you do not have to mention my forthcoming marriage?” Tinu asked her rhetorically.
Someone listening to you talk about my marriage with Femi would think you had said something important.
“Is it Femi, for whom I waited for eight years before reasoning about my bride price? Or isn’t it this same Femi who already has two sons with different ladies? At age 32, I am just planning my marriage when it should be my third child’s birth, like Dupe.”
“If I were you,” Tinu said with a wry smile, “I would think carefully before comparing myself with others.”
“What was that nonsense you and your daughter displayed in my absence?” Bayo asked Adunni and her mother, who, in turn, gave him an unconcerned look. Adunni exchanged glances with her friend, Tinu. When the mother could not contain the silence, she spoke up.
Also Read Bayo’s Struggles – Page 2
“It is never the cow’s fault for losing its tail. It is only foolishness that will make a man see an exit, yet ask for an escape route.”
“It is never your fault. Imagine a small boy like you for my daughter.”
“Adunni,” she called.
“Who was that man that drove in yesterday to ask for your hand in marriage?”
“Alhaji Abbey,” she answered with rolling eyes.
“Tell me the headmaster’s name in St. Matthias who brought wrappers for me the last two weeks,” she demanded hastily.
“Headmaster Olakunle,” Adunni responded with a repressed smile.
“Have I mentioned your late uncle’s friend, Mr. Olobe, who came with his younger brother to discuss his marriage proposals?”
With eyes fixed on Bayo in anticipation of a reply, she passed the baton to Tinu.
“Tinu!” She called
“Maami,” she answered with a non-dramatic look.
“Sorry, my dear, I know this is a family matter, but you see, a cock that has lost its crown must be given another head lest we call it a hen.”
“Please remind me of the man who brought bread to my shop yesterday to say he likes my daughter.”
“Alhaji Abbey,” Tinu replied timidly.
“Alhaj what?” Bayo asked shockingly
“Oh, now I see clearly.”
“You want to take what is mine from that old man, right? You have failed.”
Bayo, willing to renegotiate, turned to Adunni and requested a private talk.
“Where did your manners go before?” Iya Adunni asked.
After walking a few blocks with Adunni, he settled into a small tea shop.
‘I’m sorry, my woman,” he said.
“You should have told me about Alhaji Abbey. I hope he hasn’t touched you. Has he? Please tell me.”
“What are you trying to say? Are you insinuating like a mother, like a daughter, or what?”
“I never said so,” he replied immediately.
“Alhaji Abbey, your boss is just interested in me. I’m sure he wouldn’t mind raising your child once I told him about my pregnancy. I could even decide to terminate the pregnancy.”
“Ah”! Bayo screamed.
“How can you be so heartless without the fear of God? This is the life we are talking about.
“Adunni, you are a murderer.”
“Shut up.”
“Have you brought me here to be educated or what?”
“Are you even educated?” she scoffed.
“Well, will you accept this pregnancy or not?”
“I have,” he said hurriedly.
“I have accepted you and your child. This is a competition between the rich and the poor. You have suddenly become everyone’s choice; I wouldn’t want to be left out.”
Unsure of his decision to accept Adunni’s pregnancy, he went to see Adio. As usual, Adio was with a lady. A petite lady with a towel tied around her body appeared at the door.
“Yes?” she asked with a look indicating he had disrupted something important.
“Where is Adio?”
“It’s like you have missed your destination,” she replied with a distasteful look.
“Yes?” Adio appeared with the blue shorts Bayo had known him to wear whenever he had a new lady around.
“It’s me, Bayo,” Bayo said happily, like a puppy that had found its lost home.
“So because it is you, I should not sleep in my house, lost friend?”
“You should have checked your time before coming.”
“But, bu-t, Adunni is pregnant.”
The door flung open like an emergency room.
The lady with the towel opened her mouth in bewilderment, as if it were her matter that was being discussed.
“Come in,” Adio said meekly.
Stepping into the room he once slept in for two years, he looked at the roof to see if the creaky fan was still hanging on the wall. He turned to the bedside to notice the table Adio had gotten from his friend in Igbesin Oloto.
Two boxes of St. Louis sugar with honey were placed on the table. Adio had a mixture of sugar, lime, and honey each time he was back from work. Adio could run out of money but never ran out of these items, which he referred to as essential things in life.
“Tell me about it,” Adio requested after Bayo got himself a place to sit beside the bed.
“Well, I do not know where to begin, but you must know that I first heard it from the chief tenant. I didn’t take him seriously, knowing he would say anything stupid just to annoy me.”
“I have however confirmed it to be true from Adunni’s mother, likewise Adunni herself.”
“So, why are you here?” Adio asked, concerned.
“The problem before me is much more than Adunni’s pregnancy. Tina is also pregnant.,”
“What?”
“When I asked you the last time to be kind to women, I didn’t mean for you to not know what you were doing. You started on the wrong foot. Anyway, there is still time for you to erase your mistakes.”
“I already promised Adunni to accept her pregnancy, especially because Alhaji Abbey is competing with me,” Bayo said soberly.
“Which do you value most, your job or Adunni?”
“I value both at this moment. I had no intention of accepting Adunni’s pregnancy, but after the suitors her mother mentioned, I had to reconsider my actions about not accepting the pregnancy. I can’t stand by and watch while my child is being trained by someone else.”
“And how do you know the child she’s carrying belongs to you?” Adio, seated with legs crossed and arms on his cheek, asked.
“I have told you to get sugar and lick, get honey, and taste that your life is sweet. Do not allow these Lagos Island girls to ruin you.”
“Aina,” he called to the lady still wrapped in his towel. “You may go; I’ll settle you tomorrow.”
Aina turned to the vacant space between the wardrobe and fridge to change into her clothes.
“You are yet to say what you intend to do about Tina’s pregnancy,” he said to Bayo.
“We’ll get back to that later. Let’s get something to eat.”
“How about Suya and Garri?” Adio asked.
“That’ll do,” Bayo replied.
