LET’S PLAY CUPID

CHAPTER 1

Adam was four years old when he found his mother sitting
by the corner of the bed crying, his father and her had, had
another fight; they always fought.
Sometimes he would hear a thud then his father’s voice
would roar vibrating though the walls ,
“See what you made me do. You deserved it you wrench”
then the walls would shake again and then it would
become still. His father had left the house to return many
nights after, drunk.
With a black eye and a slight cut to her lips she would pull
him to her and cry in his hair.
“I hate papa!” hw would say with his tiny voice
“ I hate him, when I am old enough I would beat him just
the way he beats you mama” his tears would flow freely
“No my baby. Don’t hate your father. He loves you Adam,
he loves me” she would tell him wiping her tears and his,
but he would reply her shaking his head with conviction
“ You don’t hurt who you love mama. Like one time when I
hurt my finger on purpose because I was angry. Teacher
told me that if I love myself I won’t hurt myself. Or one
time..I pushed Carol off her seat because she was making
fun of me, she had told me we hurt those we don’t
love and I felt bad so I told her I was sorry. But papa didn’t
tell you sorry. Papa doesn’t love you. Papa doesn’t love me
else papa would talk to me and carry me like other fathers.
But papa beats me and chases me out of his study. He tells
me I am not his son. He..hates me and I hate him and when
I am big enough I would take you far away from here and
he would never make you cry anymore.” He nods, but she
would shake her head.
‘’No Adam,you are his son. You are Adams Pope, son of
Gerald Pope. Your father is just..sad because of what I did,
my mistake but he loves you Adam, he does” she would tell
him pulling him into a hug.
But he didn’t believe her because how else could she
explain the nights he had crawled to their room and heard
his father asking her why she never aborted him, or when
he had told her that some days when he comes home and
sees him suckling at her breasts he wanted to fling him
away from her bosom and throw him out to die in the cold.
Or how could she explain how many times his father had
called him a bastard, and one without a father. Or the
times he pointedly told him that he wasn’t his son, .
No, nothing his mother said would make him believe
otherwise. His father hated him, he knew that growing up
but what he never understood was why. And why that hate
stems from the fact that he was his wife’s son and
something that had happened years ago. It went on like that
for a while. And then it stopped. it stopped because a new
family member joined the tiny circle they called home.
A group of his parents friends had introduced them into
counseling. Gerald Pope was a proud man, who hated to be
told his wrongs and one who turned his anger on weaker
persons, his wife and his son..or his bastard; Adam.
Whenever he had gone out to look for work and he had
come home unsuccessful he would lash out, he would tell
her things she had done while he was away suffering and
making ends meet. He would curse the day he met her and
when him, Adam came.. he would lash him with his belt
and lock him outside. It was a constant that even Adam
had gotten used to it. Until the day people from their
church had paid a courtesy visit and found him locked
outside and his mother crying inside and his father getting
comfortable with his fists.
She didn’t want to leave him, she loved him. He heard his
mother tell them so many times.
Gerald, He had promised never to resort to violence ever
again and indeed wanted help to fix up his family, when
Gerald was asked why he did what he did, he would look at
him, Adam, anger in his eyes and then he would look at his
mother with further disdain, but instead of saying what was
on his mind he would look away saying
“Even I don’t know why. There are some demons a man
exhibits that he cannot explain” he came to know years
later the reason why his father hated him, but it still didn’t
justify why he hated him and that was the reason why his
own hate for the man grew proportional to his.
With counseling, Gerald had stopped using his fist But in
truth, Gerald’s mouth and words became as knives tearing
down one’s heart-ed walls into tiny little pieces. In front of
people he was the loving husband and doting father but at
home he was cold. That was okay, as long as he stopped
hitting his mother Adam was fine with it. After all their
feeling of hate towards each other was mutual
Gerald and his mother had gone for the couple’s retreat,
leaving him at home with his nana, (grandmother).
A month later they returned, and there was a spark to his
mother’s eyes and a sudden gait to his father’s… oh sorry
Gerald’s steps.
They kissed, they danced, they held hands and they
laughed. But whenever he walked into the room Gerald’s
mood would sour.
For a moment he hoped he had changed, he hoped that his
father would want to hold him and even call him “Son’’ but
that was a far away dream, it was like he was chasing
ghosts, ghosts that didn’t exists. But that was okay too. The
light in his mother’s eyes was what made his heart swell in
love for her, if by any chance she was happy again and if
Gerald was the reason of her present happiness, then he
would tolerate his presence. But other than that.. they
could go on having their own space and hatred.
At ten, Adam he had come a long way from that little boy
who used to cry in the corner waiting for his father to love
him. He was a lot older, stronger and wiser even for a ten
year old, and just like his father he was stubborn, proud
and tough, and bending wasn’t a rule. Showing weakness
was for fools.
He soon realized the reason for their sudden spark and
chance at love and happiness again, he was having a
sibling. But to him he prayed he was having a little brother.
Someone to teach and hold by his hands. Someone who
would smile up at him and call him “Brother! someone he
could wholeheartedly love. He broke into a huge smile
hugging her
“ A Brother? I am having a little Brother mama?’’ he hugged
her tight
“A sister or a brother Adam” she laughs kissing his
forehead.
“ No it’s a brother. I want a brother, gimme a brother” he
told her
“of course baby, God willing, you would get a brother big
and strong and handsome just like you” she told him
laughing.
“No son of mine would look and be like him Thelma, girl or
boy they would be nothing like him and I forbide him to
come near them” he breaks them apart
“you can’t stop me from playing with my brother?” Adam
faces his father, his nose flaring and his chest rising
His father ..or no Gerald walks towards him, anger in his
eyes flashing, his mother pushes him behind her and lays a
hand on Geralds’s chest “Please, no Gerald please” she
pleaded
“ if you don’t want me to run him through the wall Thelma,
if you want him to remain here, keep him away from my
child” he had said too silently and walked away.
“no one would keep me away from my baby brother mama,
not father. No one” he had told her crying
“He won’t baby, he won’t” she had held him to herself, he
felt her body shake once and then twice and then it didn’t
stop, he held her tighter, he wished he could stop her tears
or her hurting, if only he knew why his father hated him so
much.

Damien, bright eyes, a happy and chubby baby.. his laughter
was a delight for sore eyes. He remembered that night his
mother’s screams had pierced his dreams, he had woken
up to find her in the pool of her own blood. Gerald was out
of town, one of his many trips had paid off. He had gotten
his dream job and working on being one of the best
scientist at his field.
Adam scared, had rushed to a neighbors, it was raining, it
was cold but he had ran to the nearest clinic when no one
was at home. Dragging one of the nurses along he had
screamed
“my baby brother is coming.. help my mother please, help
her” he had cried and together he and the lady had made a
run back to his house, hearing his mother’s screams as they
ran through the door.
It was that moment he had felt so scared, seeing her blood,
hearing the pain in her voice, seeing the woman’s face a
mask of one who knew what she was doing as she held his
mother down and told her to push
“come here boy, hold her hands boy and talk to her..tell her
to push” the woman had told him
Coming closer he had held his sweaty mother’s hands,
clasping it together he had cried with her and told her to
push, cleaning her forehead with his shirt he had sweated
with her, and as her hands squeezed him he bite his lips in
pain, as her fingers dug into his palm he swallowed the pain
and held her tighter
“Push mama, push my brother out, push mama” he told her
“I am here mama, I am here. Push mama, push my baby
brother out” he begged
It must have taken hours or so, he didn’t know. Then he
heard that cry, and then he heard that laughter from his
mother he had grown to love. After his mother had
breastfed the child she had called him
‘’come here Adams, see..meet your baby brother “ she said
to him
He was bursting in love for the little bundle of joy his
mother was carrying as the nurse wiped the blood from
between her legs..
“I told you mama, I told you I wanted a brother” he said,
touching his tiny hands, and just on impulse, the little child
held his tiny finger in his own tiny hands.
“yes Adams” she laughs
But you see, while mother held him in her hands and
rocked him to sleep, the little baby held his finger tight,
Adam felt as though his heart would explode in his chest.
He was bursting of love for this little one. And he knew
nothing on the face of the earth could separate him from
his brother, not even his father Gerald. And nothing did.
As they began to grow in years, their love for each other
grew. Adam felt God smile down on him, his father didn’t
love him but he had a brother who did, and he doted on
him. No matter how many times Gerald tried to separate
them it failed.
Because of Damien he had to send Adam to school.
Because of Damien he had to let Adam eat on the table
with them
But as Damien grew and became a copy of his father, the
more his father loved him and the more Gerald knew he
was right all along. Adam was not his son and nothing on
the face of the earth and beyond would make him love him.
But you see, that was okay. His mother loved him, Damien
loved him and he loved them right back. To him there were
the only family he had and those were the only two people
he lived for.
Older now, Damien was a straight A student, following his
father’s footsteps in the sciences. A wealthy man now,
Gerald could afford so many luxuries, a fancy house and
estates, cars and money to spend. Flying all over the place
and owing his own company.
His heart had space for only his son Damien
“You are my lucky charm son’’ he would tell him. He gave
him all that he wanted and didn’t want, he threw parties for
him whenever he got home with a good grade and when he
made first class and came out as one of the best young
graduates of medicine… he was ready to give him half of all
that he owned
“Father, there are two of us, my brother and I, we would
share it equally” Damien would say
“He is no son of mine” Gerald replies
He knew whatever his father said always hurt Damien and
he would want to fight him on it.
“Don’t bother D, Gerald doesn’t acknowledge me as his
blood. I know my place in this house” Adam tells him
“Don’t be like that brother, you know father wouldn’t ever
mean that”
“His eyes tells a lot of story Damien”
“At least you are not as stupid as I have always thought!”
Gerald retorts
“Father please, you cant always treat him as though he is
trash. He is your son. You take care of me and you don’t
take care of him, you give me expensive things and you
don’t bother with him, you send me abroad and you
delegate him to the background. He as much as me is your
son and I wish you could tell me the reason why you keep
treating him like this but you don’t, even mother doesn’t
want to talk about it and I hate it”
“ you would not talk to me like that Damien” his father
thunders
‘’ I am sorry father but this thing between you two has gone
on for too long, when would it end? How do you think I feel
to have all the love and attention of the most prestigious
scientist Mr Gerald Pope and yet, my brother suffers”
“ he doesn’t suffer. He eats and sleeps in this huge house
and does whatever he wants”
“ he leaves like a prisoner in his father’s house. Like a
slave, “
“ no he doesn’t. what do you want from me son..to give him
money? I give him money”
“ money you throw at his feet to pick it, money you would
give beggers”
“ I sent him to school and what does he do. At least he
should have proved to me for once he is not daft and stupid
and that he is not a .. bast..” he trails off when Damien
stares at him , he sighs “he should have proven to me that
he deserves my help, my attention. I sent him to one of the
best high schools because you forced my hand Damien, I
made sure he got into Harvard because you wouldn’t talk to
me for a month because I sent you to one of the best
Medical schools in the country. But what does he do, he
comes back aftand says he wants to be a writer..a bloody
writer??’’
“because that’s what he wants to do”
“then he is a fool and I won’t waste money on him”
“but he became a lawyer for you papa”
“a certificate he threw inside a drawer as soon as he
graduated” his father retorts “Enough Damien, Enough.
You are my son, my only son and you I love, Adam..that boy
means nothing to me and that’s final”
With that he had walked away leaving the sad Damien
alone with the hard faced Adam staring after him.
“don’t take it to heart brother, father loves you, he just
doesn’t know that yet” he said grabbing his head and
placing his own forehead to Adams
“it doesn’t hurt me, not anymore. My heart is made of
stone, thick as congealed larva made of melted gold” he
tries to laugh
“ well..at least I love you and mama loves you. “
“ yeah,.. well that’s enough” Adams says as they hug each
other.
He had known right from then on that there was never hope
for him and his father, Gerald. But at least nothing could
separate him from the love of his mother, who seemed to
go weak by the day spending more and more time in her
room.. or the love of his little brother Damien. Not his
father’s hatred for him. Nothing on the face of the earth
could steal this small joy he had, in his heart.
But he was wrong.
For that cold night in August was the last he saw Damien
smile. And it was all his fault. His mother never recovered
from the shock..his father Gerald never forgave him and he
hated himself and never forgave himself too.. and the hate
his father had for him intensified.
But it was a night he would never forget and he wished he
could go back in time and change it..maybe then, things
would have been different.
He shouldn’t have listened to Damien that day, he
shouldn’t have !!

TO
BE
CONTINUED……

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