Single mothers and Oranges (II)

 

The Omo-Ibadan in Queen that had recently started getting expressions wanted to give her sharp answers immediately but she was unable to come up with a proper answer for the situation. So her “It is” was lower than the usual volume of her voice.

“Is it ASUU or something else?” The nosey woman asked again, her voice a notch higher.

The rake that Queen used to pluck oranges from the tall trees got heavier in her hands and she managed an “It is oh!” The 'oh' was necessary and it was a subtle ring that would have given way to the cryptic response lodged in her throat.

The more Queen thought about that unusual dialogue, she was glad that she had not gotten the message that day. The catastrophe of not being able to conduct herself properly for the rest of the inescapable talk would have been legendary in the history of developing estates.

Her “Is it ASUU?” meant, “Hope it is not pregnancy?”

At home, with her mother’s husband, there was a neighbour whose daughter’s lovechild clocked 5 years or so. The beautiful black girl had expressive eyes that her mum referred to once in a while.

“You were like that too,'' Her mother would say, tears welling up in her eyes every time she remembered the difficult decision she had decided to follow through in her younger years.

Thanks to Omoge, for a love child, her daughter grew up well.

So, Queen understood the slight jab; she was a love child too. Then, it was said that Omoge’s last born had given birth to a bastard. The journey from being called a bastard to now being called a love child was a long and windy one. It was not the nosey grandma’s job to point it out.

It could have been about some innocent oranges sitting on a tall tree that grabbing hands could not reach but she chose to display her ignorance instead. Queen used to wonder why her mum spoke distastefully of the woman. But now, she realized that it was both ways. They hated one another.

Like other married women, her mother was easily spooked into condemning single women, stating with her full chest that those women were out of their marriage because of their bad character. Single mothers look at married women and snort, talking about how miserable married women can be in a patriarchal society.

This is a society that constantly reminds a woman more of her biology that is not on her side and advises her to get tied to a man than refers to women who hold authorities that once belonged to only men. It refuses to show how much potential there is in an average woman; married or not, with a child or not.

And worse, it sponsors a feud between women; causing them to get at each other, comparing how society treats them differently.