THE NECESSARY LIE - by Billywrites

THE NECESSARY LIE“Chinedu! Nedu come here” Mama yelled loudly, she was in the sitting room which we constructed by demarcating our one bedroom flat with a worn-out brown mesh fabric.“maaaaaaaa” I drawled out my response, hands dripping with foam from washing plates, as I arrived as quickly as my legs could move.“Where's the money that was in my purse, where's my Five thousand naira?” She heaved erratically, charging towards me like an angry guinea fowl“Mama I….” I was confused, already dreading how this would end, as I started to speak, she grabbed me roughly, pinching my skin with the grip of cloth she grasped. “Don't even lie to me you little thief, where is the money?!” She landed an uppercut against my earlobe and the pain made my entire head feel hot.“I took it! I am sorry, I bought biscuits and yoghurts during break today, it's the devil” I cried, turned and twisted to gain freedom from her tight grip.“I will remove that devil from your body today” she grabbed her three mouthed koboko, pinned me to the wall and decorated my back and buttocks with each violent swipe. I cried and screamed, each lash bearing my skin raw, preparing for the next, when she was done, she threw me violently against the worn-out carpet, spat on my face and called me a devil possessed thief“This will teach you a lesson, never to steal anything in your life again” she hissed and walked away raining curses on me in her thick Igbo accent.I wept heavily, as much tears as my lacrimal gland could produce, cowered in the corner, I cried for the pain radiating from my lower back, from the hurt of being treated so badly and bearing the brunt of poverty and an unhappy marriage. This was not the first beating nor accusations, whenever mama was frustrated or she and papa had a fight, she would beat me mercilessly to relieve her anger. I took the beatings, because she seemed to feel better and the tension around the house diminishes with every lash. When I finally found the courage, I stood up, looked towards my father. He was in his old rocking chair pretending to focus on the newspaper had been reading for the past week.He would not meet my eyes, for he knew what I knew and what Mama definitely knew. I did not steal Five thousand naira, she herself did not have Five thousand naira laying around in her purse, there was no kiosk within my school that I could buy biscuits from and poverty was strangling the living daylight from us.But these beatings will keep on happening and I will continue to endure them. That will be my own contribution to keeping the peace in my family. I will make sure the Koboko is hidden properly, henceforth. I walk carefully to the backyard, resume my position and continue to wash the dishes “tomorrow will be better”.

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