Leaving home [Writer's contest 2]

Today is indeed the D-Day. The day that I bid farewell to everything I had known from the moment I took my first breath and made my first resonant cry that symbolizes my grand entrance to this world. Mama has always said that the pastor prophesied at the time of my birth that I am the ONE that would bring forth the glory of my family and when the opportunity of America arose, mama could not but beg the indulgence of every member of the church to join her in praising God with twenty one hallelujahs.  Some prophesies take a lifetime to be brought to fulfilment but mine is about to be brought to limelight at a very young age that even the witchcraft power of my grandmother’s step sister from the village could stop me.

The day finally arrived and feelings inside of me were too mixed to be understood. I would miss my family sorely but I am too excited to reveal it because it means getting out of papa and mama’s shadow.  My father has given me the best sermons from his archive and if I could take notes at those instances a forty leave book would have been exhausted. Mama has prepared my favorite dish of amala and abula, a delicacy that to my best understanding and experience mama cooks best. I had to overeat that day because according to the report from my mother’s sister’s husband’s cousin there is no place to get that kind of food around there.

My father’s pension is all I am taking with me because that’s all my parents have and I already have a standing order/threat of being disowned if I by any chance try to be reckless in both my spending and lifestyle. To be disowned by an African father when you are up and about in a foreign land is considered a thing of shame and I am not ready to be “shamed” by my father. Remember the child of whom you are is the anthem that has been ringing in your ears for days. Before the arrival of the transporter, I squat on the little abandoned stool in the room I shared with three of my siblings and I began to ruminate on all that has been said about the vast journey laid ahead of me. In between my thoughts, I abruptly caught myself and decided to give thinking a break. Why worry about the journey ahead when it has not even started? After all, whatever happens and wherever it transpires the human body has being created to adapt to any kind of situation.

I stood at the entrance of the room that has being my abode and hiding place for almost all my life and after one last glance I wheeled my luggage out and shut the door. I stepped out of the house like a newborn child. The future is not secure but at the same time it is not as bleak as it was last night. Whoever prophesied good things at the time of my birth must be really close to God because He must have seen this day coming.

NAME: Tayo Owoeye