It is something.

And even something more.

Listening to this tall, handsome, fair skinned and curly haired doctor in his late thirties tell me his story.

His voice low, warm and controlled.

His british educated self evident in his near perfect diction and elocution.

"... I was four when my father was executed. He was a soldier and had taken part in a coup. The officer who commanded the firing squad was a student of my father. He knew my mother very well because they were secondary school classmates. After my father was killed, he came home to console my mother after begging for her forgiveness. He told her that he loved my father and as a soldier he had no choice but to obey superior orders. He told her that my father told him as he stood there tited to the stake that he forgave him and understood his predicament. He and my mother cried together. And eventually, he married my mother as his second wife. His first wife accepted my mother and she is like a second mom to me. Their children are like full blood siblings to me and my sister. And my mother and him have continued to honour my father's memory by not having any children together or having intimate knowledge of each other. He says that they agreed that his marrying her.was the only way to provide for her and us, in addition to protecting her from marauding senior officers who prey on the wives of fallen soldiers..."

Lagos

Jude Idada
November 10, 2023