Mrs Osakwe’s ‘office’ was a small space carved out in the common room area, with wooden boards demarcating it from the rest of the room and giving a false sense of privacy. Her desk was a scratchy dark-blue plastic table with piles of paper crowding it. Our Daily Manna devotional sat atop the hill of […]
Forty and Counting… Episode 10
Benin was demure in a way Abuja wasn’t. There were no men in flashy sports cars zigzagging through the streets, intimidating other road users. Some of the roads were riddled with potholes and patches of elephant grass. Where Abuja thrived on the cab system, most of Benin’s occupants ambled about in red and yellow buses. […]
Forty and Counting… Episode 9
“We have a project that we think you are the perfect person to oversee,” Mrs Ajayi said. “Is it church project?” Imade asked. “No, my dear. It is personal. Something that has been on our heart for a while. We want to acquire an orphanage.” Imade gasped, “that’s amazing!” “Yes. We want to do something […]
Forty and Counting… Episode 8
After Yvonne and Olive left that evening, Imade didn’t feel up to going out with Mena anymore. What she had wanted to talk to Mena about had already been taken care of, and she was in a bad mood. Why couldn’t life come easy? She wondered. Why did one have to fight and fight for […]
Forty and Counting… Episode 7
Both women watched her as she left and Imade felt the tug of longing in her bosom. Children. Perhaps more than a husband, she wanted children. A little girl or a little boy she could call hers, running around her home.
Forty and Counting… Episode 5
He was holding her left hand now, tapping her fingers like keys on a piano and Imade wondered what it would be like to have a diamond ring gracing her ring finger…
Forty and Counting… Episode 4
Five weeks had passed since Olive’s diagnosis and even though Olive appeared oblivious to what her body was saying, Yvonne seemed to be feeling all the feelings for her.
Forty and Counting… Episode 3
Oluwole & Oluwole was one of the top corporate law firms in Abuja; top on Imade’s Top Law Firms in Abuja list when she got back from her Master’s in the UK, and after dropping off her CV at sixteen of the firms on her list, being told the customary we will get back to […]
Forty and Counting…Episode 2
The lobby at Babangida hospital was freshly-painted nude walls, narrow space lined with metal chairs and frames of smiling babies, old men and pregnant women, alongside motivational medical quotes – “Your body is a temple, treat it right” “COVID-19 is real, mask up”, “Minding your business is good medicine”. The receptionist’s counter was cordoned off […]
Forty and Counting…
The mesh of voices delivering the happy birthday song jolted Imade back to the present. One of her guests – Mena – was showing off her voice while singing, throwing in a few twists and turns that would give contestants on The Voice a run for their money. “…birthday to you…ou…ou.” Imade caught the tail […]