Nana was in her teens when she lost her mother, Shirley, to what doctors said was acute malaria. Shirley was the only relative she ever knew-Nana never got to meet any aunt, cousin, uncle or even distant relations.
Her mother, who was ostracised by her family for getting pregnant while still in school, forbade her to even ask after them. She never forgave her family for maltreating when she was pregnant.
The only person who kept in touch with Shirley was her bossom friend, Fatimah, also her classmate, made sure she travelled the several kilometres to the neighbouring city to visit Shirley who had taken to hawking in order to put body and soul together.
Nana didn’t even know who her father was. Her mother had lied to her that her father died shortly before she was born. Nana’s father was actually Shettima, the son of Shirley’s father’s creditor. Because of the humiliation meted out to Shirley’s father by Shettima’s father, for his inability to repay a loan, Shirley’s family felt it an affront for her to allow her father’s creditor’s son to impregnate her.
Shirley felt she had done no wrong and couldn’t understand why the misunderstanding between both parties should affect the love she had for Shettima.
Unknown to her, Shettima wasn’t in love. He fled home to avoid his father’s wrath and never even made any attempt to get in touch with her or her daughter.
So it was that Shirley slaved and toiled to raise up her daughter and just when Nana was almost through with her secondary school, death snatched away her mother.
There wasn’t much that her mother’s friend Fatimah could do except helping out with some pittance to encourage her to complete her secondary school education. Her inability to cope with toiling made her take up prostitution- she felt it was the easy way out.
Business boomed for Nana since she had blossomed into a beautiful young lady with very vital statistics, enough to attract even a monk.
Ironically, her fame spread beyond the vicinity where she plied her trade, simply by word of mouth. Unfortunately, one of those who came from far to see for themselves the exploits of the wonder lady, was her father, Shettima.
Shettima soon got hooked and the more he related with her, the more he saw that she was just another victim of circumstance. He was a widower and succeeded in convincing her to quit her trade and give him the chance to make something better of her life – possibly marriage.
He took her home to be introduced to his family but he concealed the fact that she as a prostitute.
But the two got the shock of the decade when Fatimah, Nana’s mother’s friend, recognised Shettima. That was what saved them from having an incestuous marriage.
by Nkarenyi Ukonu
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