It began with a tiny lump on her left breast. And then gradually, it began to eat into her. She complained about the swellings on the underside, about the sharp pain around her nipples, and then the fear.
She was afraid of what she had turned into. How could your own body become so unfamiliar to you? But it was not this unfamiliarity that feared my mother. It was the end result, the thought that there would be nothing left to recognize after this thing.
The first time my mother's nipples began to discharge something other than milk, she looked across the wooden table where my father was seated, and then she looked at us the children. But she said nothing. Her eyes spoke louder than her mouth ever could.
There were days they both went to the hospital. My father and her. It was always the worst times in our lives: how my mother would wear her green buba, and my father would shave his head a night before. And yet even before they would enter a motorcycle to take them to the hospital, they already knew it would be a futile journey.
"We don't have one million naira to begin the treatment," my father would keep mumbling as they returned. "They can't let my wife die like this."
But he was wrong. They would let his wife die if we did not bring a deposit. That is the way things work around here. Sometimes I tried to be strong. I stood beside my mother and forced her to eat. I forced her to come out whenever her mama Nedu visited her. I forced her to take a bath. I forced her to live, even if it was for this short while.
But we didn't do this for a very long time. I'm sure you already know how this story would end.
Consider this other ending, anyway: in one of those days when my mother refused to bathe, I refused to take mine. My sister did the same, and my brothers followed. It was a family's thing. But when, eventually my father declared he would never bathe again in this life, my mother touched him on the chin and said "Don't be ridiculous."
That was the first statement she ever made. The first time she laughed out loud.
My daily affirmation inspired by think and grow rich by Napoleon Hill
By November next year, I'm hoping to accumulate a net worth of $70,000 and monthly income in excess of $4,000.
To make this a reality, I'm willing to work for blurt blockchain if given the opportunity to showcase my skills. Just like I was told about blurt, I'm telling people about blurt also.
To know more about the zapata project, you can read it here and join the zapata community.