“My child, this burden is becoming too much for me to bare all alone” Hafsat pleaded, her wizened face clouded with worry as she looked up to her son, “Please get a wife for me, someone who would assist me in doing the domestic chores, I need another female in the house”.
Mubarak stood up in anger, from the wooden bench he shared with his mother, “But mama, I have told you that I'm not yet ready for marriage. I have plans and ambition that I want to achieve. I still want to further my education to the university level”.
Hafsat interjected. “Shut up. I thought you love me as your mother. Remember that I struggled alone to take care of you and your siblings when your father died. I turned down the proposal of all the suitors who wanted to marry me because I don't want you to suffer neglect in any step-father's home,” Her eyes brimmed with tears. With quavering voice she stood up, glared at her son and continued, “Now the only thing I ever asked of you; to marry a wife who would help me with the household chores and you refused. Do you want me to die slaving all my life for you and your brothers?” She didn't wait for a reply as she turned with a tearful face and walked back wearily, to the house.
Mubarak looked at the retreating emaciated figure of his mother and sighed tiredly, his dark handsome face creased with worry. He sat back on the wooden chair in front of the mud house, in the bamboo-fenced compound and gaze at the twinkling stars for solace. If not that it's a taboo in their Hausa culture for a male to be involved in domestic chores, he and his siblings would have gladly help their sickly mother in the washing, sweeping and cooking activities of the house. But unfortunately for Hafsat, she had four children, all male, who could only thank her for all her daily efforts in waiting upon them. Though he is of marriageable age, at eighteen, but he has the ambition of graduating from a university, get a good job and raised his family from poverty before geting married.
As he retreat his tall, thin figure back into his room, that midnight, he hope that his mother would see things from his own point of view.
“Mubarak, It's about mama,” His sixteen years old brother said to him, the following night, when the rest of the household has gone to sleep. Mubarak had been angry at first when his brother barged into his room, disturbing his sleep, after a stressful day of tending to their hypertensive mother who had experienced heart palpitation few hours after her row with him. But he knew that his conservative younger brother doesn't have time for trivial matters and this had made him to reluctantly pay attention to what he had to say.
“Mubarak, we can not continue to ignore mama's situation. I think it's time for us to take urgent decision before it's too late. As the eldest child, everything bores down to you to savage the situation.”
Mubarak sprigged up suddenly from the bed with a furious look. “It's enough. I know what you are implying but it would not work,” He began to pace the almost darkened room, lightened by moonlight.
“Abdul, Is marriage the solution to the problem? Marrying a wife would distract my studies. It also means an addition to the family, which would definitely affect our depleting family purse. Few months later, she would be expected to have my baby. With two extra mouths to feed, we would all sink deeper into the vicious poverty circle that has engulfed us since father died,” He shouted almost at a screaming level with desperate expression.
Abdul rose from the bed with a cynical expression on his face towards his brother and sighed. “Is your ambition and studies more important than your mother's health? Well fortunately, not everybody is as selfish as you are. I would pay the bride price on my girlfriend, in order for her to help mother with the household chores,” With that he walked out of the room, leaving his brother speechless.
A faint unfamiliar humming stirred Mubarak from sleep. Opening his drowsy eyes, he knew that it belong to his new sister-in-law, Aminat, who is busy sweeping the compound. Turning to the other side of his bed, Mubarak quickly snapped his mind away from self-pity. He knew in his heart that he would achieve his seemingly impossible ambition of studying in a university, despite the obstacles. In the long run, his family would appreciate his decision, and he would take back his rightful position as the firstborn of the house. With those motivating thoughts, he fell into his first peaceful sleep in months, encouraged by Aminat humming voice.
