MARCH MADNESS -DAY 7

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Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6

Chapter 7

A week after my exams, I went to the village. My grandfather on my maternal side had called. He said he wanted to see me that he misses me. I loved to visit grandpa. He was the most patient man I had ever met. He doesn't get angry. This made him the village peacemaker. He was the easygoing type, the villagers loved, it was so obvious because whenever I visited, everyone had one or two gifts for me. My luggage was heavier whenever I went back home.

When grandpa says he misses me, it meant something more than that. It meant he misses his late daughter, my real mother. My real parents died when i was 6. On the day of the accident, I was in the bus too, we were returning from a night vigil when a truck collapsed with our bus. There were 15 commuters in the bus but only 2 survived; I and a seventy year old woman. The woman I now called mother whom i lovely refer to as Mama Yinka, had told me I slept a lot after incident. I couldn't comprehend death. I asked about my parents for months, she had said. Until one day I stopped asking. Like i knew what happened and Just wanted to be in a delusion that it didn't and if i kept asking, they might come back from wherever they were.

Mama Yinka was my mother's elder sister. She had twins two years after her marriage, they both died two months after. Ever since then, she couldn't conceive. At first the family had decided i would stay with my grandpa but Mum's elder sister said she would raise me. She told them I had to keep schooling and there were no schools in the village. So, I became her son.

I stayed with grandpa for two weeks. He looked frail and pale. It was old age. He had more wrinkles on his face especially the cheek region. The wrinkles folded into each other given the pattern of fish scales. But when he does smile, they got drawn to the back, his small mouth giving him a childish look.

He had a cassava farm. That was the main product produced in Atanu village. I helped him with the weeding. He inter cropped with corn, so we harvested some corn home to cook. The villagers were coming to greet him about my visiting. As usual they came with gifts. On saturday I played football with the guys in the community but most of my time were spent with grandpa. He told me about things that had changed since the last time I was around. The neighbour that got married, those that travelled to the city in search of greener pasture, those that were keeping malice, those whose farmland were no longer fertile - i listened attentively. He had been saving all this discussion for when i came visiting, and i made sure not to interupt him when talking. I was sure he loved that.

When i was finally leaving, he prayed for two hours, singing and praying for God' protection over me. He sends his regards to mother and father. .. I will miss him.

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Home was just as i left it. Days went by as I await my result. I still attended Mr. James lessons, but this time it was for my JAMB (Joint Admissions and matriculation board), this i had to write to get into a university, It was the first step in getting into one. Mr James also got me a job at his friend- Eng. Dayo. I worked as a typist. I was becoming better at it. I didn't know how to use the MIcrosoft word at first, but his P.A Amaka Chukwudi, a lady who was a year older than i was, also waiting on admission to the university had been of great help. We bonded and became really close. She was first true friend. I was an introvert in secondary school, so my classmates never liked me. They thought i was a snub.

I and Amaka would do everything together. A time i caught her taking a snapshot of me, she said i had a mean look when i was working.I loved the way she calls my name because she was Igbo, dragging the 'n' letter in my name 'Yi-nnn-ka' We went for our lunch break together and go home together. I loved working at Eng. Dayo's , his office was in a serene area in Lekki. It was completely different from the kind of life i was used to at Ajegunle

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Day 7 prompt:Snapshot
Word count : 770

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Total word count:6,859