‘Help! My twin brothers scare suitors off

Cornelia is sad at the moment because of what her twin elder brothers are doing to her. She said her brothers are not helping matters in relation to suitors coming to ask for her hand in marriage.

“Now because of their great expectations from suitors who had been wooing me and the embargo they placed on me, they no longer come as before. I'm worried,” she bemoaned.

Cornelia has three siblings. “My elder sister Elizabeth who was the first born and then my immediate twin brothers Thompson and Timothy, who are five years older than me. According to my mother, she never knew she would have still been able to conceive and gave birth to me after five years of having my twin brothers. She said she thought she wouldn't be able to get pregnant again because of the complications she had when she had my twin brothers. When I was eventually born, I became the toast of the family. I was loved and pampered.

My twin brothers were always there for me, protecting me from any abuse one could think of.  More so, they said I was the prettiest in the family, so I was loved. They expected a lot more in return probably from men who were wooing me.  That was how I grew up,” she recalled.

Elizabeth, the first born, was the first to get married.

“My father loved her so much that people were thinking she wouldn't get married early enough. But she proved them wrong. When Uncle Akanna, my elder sister’s husband  who lived in Malaysia because of greener pastures sent his people to come and see my parents and declare their marital  intention over Auntie Elizabeth, they came very ready. They brought all they were being asked without bargaining over it. When the Malaysian returnee  eventually came home to my village for  my sister’s traditional marriage, it was a carnival-like event…a marriage the entire Umuagu village won’t forget in a hurry.

My mother who always loved to boast of good things that happened in her family was all over the village inviting both her friends and enemies to the marriage ceremony. She wanted them to come and see for themselves what God had done for her.

“While the marriage preparation which took almost a month was going on, my mother would wake up early in the morning to pray. Her prayer usually started at 4 until 5. One hour shout prayer, where she would thank God for his goodness in her life and family. She would recount her miracles one after the other and the whole village would be listening in envy. She would proudly say that God went to Malaysia and brought a special suitor for her daughter, so that her enemies would die in envy. She never cared who was listening and that was a kind of prayer I didn't like because, according to my father, it can ginger enemies to attack the family.

But mama never saw things our own way. She would tell me that if indeed the enemies wanted to stop it, they would have done that even without her prayers because they too see in spirit. So, it was through her prayers my sister’s marriage was made public, they had already known where her suitor was coming from. Those money-mongers in my village got prepared and jacked up the bride price and things they wrote on their list for the marriage. I thank God that my brother-in-law was equal to the task,” she said.

After Elizabeth’s marriage, Pa Emmanuel, (Elizabeth father’s life) changed for the better.

“Papa, who was always gloomy before his daughter’s marriage, was now all smiles.  I could remember how my mother usually asked him what he was brooding over and he would scornfully answer her that he was battling with the nonsense called life. But after the marriage, life started making a meaning; it was no longer nonsense, but fun. He was always seen in the village- drinking-joints gulping and buying palm wine for his friends and well wishers.

“The first assistance he asked from his son in-law a few months after the marriage was some money for a chieftaincy. He said he had come of age for such a title but because of lack, he couldn't go for it. Uncle Akanna who didn't see anything wrong in a man obtaining chieftaincy gave him money for that and even made the ceremony colourful with his  presence.

He came with some of his friends and business associates. As if that wasn't enough, the car he brought to Papa which was used to convey him and Mama to the venue of his coronation, was eventually left for him by my sister’s husband. He has been cruising round the whole village as a titled man. My mother’s old habit of praying loudly in the morning has increased,” Cornelia said.

·    To be continued.