Last updated on April 27th, 2023 at 07:21 am
It was Monday. I woke up feeling a sense of relief even though the day had not started. I even got up earlier than usual. Aunty Cecelia would clean the house while I dropped Dimeji at school. Even as my body protested, I got up to make food for my family. It was funny that I didn’t go to work but I had to be up before everyone and sleep later than everyone.
I brought a bowl of stew out from the fridge and put water to boil. I would soon have to wake Dimeji. I remembered the time Jude helped me when I was pregnant. He would bathe Dimeji before leaving the house. It was easy for him to do the jobs because I did the maintenance while he was at work. It was a sweet division of labour, more like unity than division. No one felt overworked.
***
Jude went to work before I took Dimeji to school. He could always drop us off at the school even if it was the other days of the week apart from Monday, considering the rush. I dared not tell him that or even suggest it to him, he would probably say I wanted him to lose his job.
He just left and I rolled my shoulders letting go of the anxiety that came when he was at home. Everything irritated him in the house. It was hard to admit that when he was around I felt tense. Even talking or cracking a joke with him took a lot because he might not even reply. He hated noise, even if it was from the kids. He hated a spill of water on the floor. He hated seeing the kids’ toys around. He simply hated everything.
There was a day he called me with so much intensity, only for me to see that he wanted me to pack Dimeji’s toys from the living room. He is a toddler; how do I tell him not to be one? I screamed at Jude that day and told him to pack them if he was so irritated.
Now, I could breathe, until he returned at night. I went to check the table where he left our money. He dropped two thousand naira per day. It was one thousand five hundred naira when it was only Dimeji and me. At least he noted that we had a new human in the house. Today, however, he dropped only one thousand. I bent down and started checking under the dining table. The money might have dropped. It definitely did. While I searched, I began to think if we offended him over the weekend. I did not do anything. We had sex last night even, though he never refused sex even when he was not talking to me. But, really, I did not offend him so he could not have slashed our allowance for the day.
I had told him to consider increasing our allowance, but it was not my money and I didn’t work, so I managed it. He gave us separate money to make food and to shop so that settled a bit. I was feeling flustered already. Aunty Cecelia was already sweeping the compound; this allowance was my hope. I had some money in my account saved for rainy days and not to sustain something constant like this. It was only thirty thousand naira, how long would it pay her for? What happened when it got exhausted?
I should have more than that saved up, I know. But when you had kids, you always found something that they needed. I picked up my phone and called Jude. I felt sad already and checked the time—Dimeji would run late today. He did not answer his phone and I dialed it a second time, feeling uneasy.
“Hello.” He snapped.
“Hello Jude, sorry I am interrupting your morning. I hope you are at work already.”
“Is this what you called for?”
“Umm, no,” I cleared my throat. “I saw one thousand naira on the dining table instead of the usual two thousand.”
“So, what is the problem here?”
“Maybe the money dropped from you.”
“Madam, that’s the amount I have, manage it.”
“I-” Jude hung up before I could say anything else. I looked at the phone and felt a twist in my chest. Tears welled up in my eyes as I sat on the dining chair, feeling lost. I wanted to just lock myself indoors, but not taking Dimeji to school would be a bad idea. I wore his shoes for him, strapped Daniel to my chest, and set to go out.
***
I saw Aunty Cecelia sweeping in the compound and went to meet her. She stopped sweeping as soon as she saw me and greeted me.
“Good morning, Aunty Cece.”
“Madam, how are the boys? You are going out, what of the key? I would soon finish sweeping here.” She sounded so excited and eager, I did not know how to break it to her. I had to, not like I had any money to give to her if I insisted on her starting.
“I just wanted to say, you don’t have to worry.” She looked sad for a moment.
“Why madam? I can do this job well. I reduced it to ten thousand because of you, ma.” I wanted to cry, the amount we even concluded on was too little, but I knew Jude reduced the allowance because he knew it was an option for me. I shouldn’t have told him.
“It’s not that o. It’s just over the weekend my husband made some calls and his sister offered to come around to be helping me.”
“Ah. Okay ma. It is well.”
“Thank you, Aunty Cece. I would ask my friends if they need any help and I would refer you.” I turned and headed for the gate.
Friends? Who was I deceiving?
Up to 30 of a dose is excreted in the urine, with about half as unchanged drug priligy ebay