FAMILIAR ENEMY (EPISODE 6)

FAMILIAR ENEMY (EPISODE 6) Written by Glorie Adepoju

Aunty BB is a business woman to the core, she is a major distributor of foreign designer clothes, shoes and jewelries. Her husband, he is usually addressed as Uncle Ade by the housekeepers.

Aunty BB put me in charge of attending to anything that concerns her welfare in the house. I had no business with Uncle Ade, all I had to do was attend to Aunty BB.

I didn’t think I would be doing much. I couldn’t be more wrong. The workload was more tasking than I imagined. Every weekend, I was expected to select all her clothes for the week.

Take the clothes to the dry cleaners ahead of time. I was to arrange the clothes in her closets according to each day of the week. The same for her under garments and lingerie. Aunty BB was the life of party, I was expected to be abreast of social events she would be attending, finding out the appropriate clothes for each occasion, making sure they were ready before hand.

I had to keep record to ensure that she never repeats an attire for any social event, ever, she made it emphatically clear that it would be a grave mistake on my part if it ever happened.

The jewelries, shoes, wigs, bags, I oversaw selecting and arranging them ahead of the next day. It would have been easier to handle these tasks if Aunty BB wasn’t so difficult to please.

Sometimes after I had returned from the dry cleaners with the clothes, then she would insist that all she would have on her for each day of the week must be from a particular brand.

I must ensure that her jewelries, shoes, bag, accessories even perfume were from a particular brand, meaning I had to choose new sets of clothes all over again.

The work was not only tasking but it also exposed me to areas of herself and Uncle Ade’s life that I wished I didn’t know. Aunty BB was a heavy drinker, lived an extravagant lifestyle.

Uncle Ade was a chronic womanizer. Sometimes he travelled so much I would hardly see him for months, at other times, he would be around, quite engrossed in his work.

After one full year of working with them, the first child Omomayowa was born. I had made up my mind to stop working for Aunty BB, until that day she called me into her room.

“You haven’t even taken a second look at him. You haven’t carried him in your arms, have you?” Aunty BB asked with baby Mayowa in her arms, there was that accusing undertone in her voice, she handed him over to me.

Reluctantly I took him into my arms, and looked down at his innocent and happy face. I was mesmerized as I took a good look at him. I had deliberately avoided having anything to do with the new baby.

The circumstances that surrounded Mayowa’s birth and the part I played in it still haunted me, I had even made up my mind to get away from it all, until I carried him in my arms.

“Your job description just changed. Nanny, I think that’s what it’s called, that’s your job now. Full time, you would have whatever you need, just make sure you dedicate every waking hour to nurturing this golden boy. Do we have a deal?” She asked emphatically.

“Is this some sort of compensation?” I thought.

…to be continued…

pEn&pApEr
GLORIEADEPOJU