Screw It,Go Ahead and Quit Cold Turkey

By Jennifer Mairo Akporehe

"This story depicts resiliance, unconditional love, family and determination - all much needed themes in a reality TV world torn by alienation & violence."

New York Times Bestselling Author
Enitan Bereola

Screw it. Go Ahead and Quit Cold Turkey is the enthralling story of a woman who had her share of a husbands bad behavior. When Mariam met Muttallab she thought she had met the man of her dreams and a gift from God to her. She was certain that she had met the father of her children but she was wrong because this man had an ulterior motive and wanted to marry her for a specifi c reason. One after the other all his plans begin to unveil and Mariam soon knew he was a wolf in sheeps clothing. This story shows the sufferings of a woman who would do anything to protect her marriage but when she saw that it was too much and couldnt take it anymore, she.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Jul 16, 2010
• ISBN: 9781453522806

Jennifer Mairo Akporehe

Jennifer and Barnabas Akporehe have been married for fi ve years; together they are blessed with a threeyear- old son, Andre. Prince Barnabas Akporehe is a geologist-studied at the ObafemiAwolowo University, Ile-Ife Nigeria. He is also a successful entrepreneur.Currently, he is studying for his B.A in Political Science in the University Of Texas at Dallas, because of his love for public service. Jennifer is the author of “Screw it, Go Ahead And Quit Cold Turkey”. She is also the founder/chairperson of the Pamela Erere Foundation, public speaker and translator. She hopes to conclude her graduate degree in Law, in the near future. They both believe that their experience in their fi ve years of marriage has helped them, their family and friends and have therefore decided to reach out to the world through this book, hoping to change lives in their own little way.

Book preview

Screw It, Go Ahead

And Quit Cold Turkey

Jennifer Mairo Akporehe

Copyright © 2010 by Jennifer Mairo Akporehe.

ISBN: Softcover    978-1-4535-2279-0

ISBN: Ebook         978-1-4535-2280-6

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

This book was printed in the United States of America.

To order additional copies of this book, contact:

Xlibris Corporation

1-888-795-4274

www.Xlibris.com

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Contents

Dedication

Preface

Acknowledgement

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Dedication

This book is dedicated to my husband Barnabas, the man of my dreams and my best friend. You amaze me more every single day. You have shown me how to be the best that I can. For all your support, love, patience and understanding. I appreciate you and I couldn’t have had a better partner. I love you.

To my son Andre you have shown me what it means to love unconditionally. I thank God every time I see or think about you.

To my grandparents Chief Dr Odudu and Chief Mrs Felicia Odudu for your unconditional love and support. Thank you for being there even when it was impossible for any other person to be. For the financial support and words of wisdom, without you both I wonder where I would be now.

Preface

SCREW IT, GO AHEAD AND QUIT COLD TURKEY

Struggle, Love, Commitment and Prosperity. That is what life is all about. If we are fortunate enough to endure the first three, prosperity should be a given. However, as new generations come and go, our descendents seem to have no problem begging for and being unwilling to work for that which has taken us a lifetime to build, having never endured the first three—struggle, love and commitment. Perhaps, we must learn to allow our children the benefit these four concepts, rather than shelter them from the hardships of life, those hardships which make us appreciate our prosperity and have made our lives worth living.

Much background on the lives and love of Halima and Mustapha was presented in the brilliant elucidation of the eloquent writer, Jennifer Mairo Akporehe. The struggles they endured in pursuit of the stabilization of that love, in the procreation of their subsequent offspring and in the building of their home, business and wealth was an example to all of us, as to our own struggles for love and prosperity. Indeed, the lifelong commitment displayed by the author in the characters of Halima and Mustapha should have been the aspiring of the ensuing characters, who would emerge as the main characters in the book, Mariam and Muttallab.

Akporehe enhances her well-developed plot with an element of Omen that indicates the looming of a dark and sinister outcome within the story. The ominous elucidations are further inculcated by the Id, Sophocles’ Chorus, the soothsayer, if you will, that presents itself in the form of Mariam’s dreams. Her dreams are never wrong. This guides the reader to an undeniable certainty that what the main character believes will go wrong, ultimately goes wrong, putting to bed the idea of Murphy’s Law and, yet, putting an exclamation point on it!

The book brings to light the solution to irreconcilable marital problems, which many Westerners take for granted—divorce. It makes one wonder how different Mariam’s life would have been, if she had decided (which was not traditional for a dutiful wife in Nigeria) to end the relationship early, listening to the voice of her brother, Idris, and succumbing to the attentions of the Captain in Chapter Eight (someone who never knew of her family, nor their wealth and wanted to marry her anyway).

This book is a tragedy. However, it is also an indicator to us all that life goes on . . . Yes. There are those who prey on the well-intentioned and the meek. Yet, thematically, Jesus said, The meek shall inherit the earth. Yes. People do bad things. Therefore, Akporehe illuminates the age-old struggle between good and evil and appropriately leaves no clear answer as to: Who won?

Who wins, when innocence, lies, love, greed, children and deception affect everyone in a family? Who wins?

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Dr. Terence Candell

2544-73rd Avenue

Oakland, CA 94605

[phone]

Acknowledgement

To my father, Deacon Patrick Emerhana. Thank you for your words of wisdom and for bringing me to this life. For teaching me discipline and independence at an early age. Look daddy, it paid off.

To my mother, Pastor Esther. For your prayers and love. For making me know that I can do all things through Christ Jesus that strengthens me. I salute you.

To my brothers and sisters Elo, Terry, Ema, Akpos, Edith, Efe, Seba. We are one.

To my extended family the Odudus and all my friends, I appreciate you.

This book would not be here without your support and encouragement. We did it guys! We did it.

Chapter One

It was the 10th day of October 1960; exactly nine days after Nigeria gained her independence from Great Britain. All of Nigeria was in awe and acknowledged that had come at last. In the midst of the and, Halima was giving birth to her first child and daughter in Kaduna, land of Kaduna State in the Northern region of the country. Her husband was not at home and she was by some of the women. This was normal, as doctors and nurses were not at the time. Nigeria was barely even developed, nor did it have electricity or roads. Doctors and Nurses were a of the future or maybe one that could never happen.

With the final push by the supposed midwife, Mariam was born five seconds after her father returned from the farm where he had been cattle rearing. He was perplexed by the beauty and divinity of his newborn daughter. Never had he laid eyes on anything more pure and beautiful. That very day, Mustapha Hassan became the proud father of the first of ten children.

Halima was new to the whole mother situation, but she tried her best to take care of the ba also bring up her daughter the best way. Mustapha knew more than ever before that this was time for him to prove his manhood by providing for his family and loving his wife unconditionally.

While Mustapha did his best to provide for his family, Halima did all to support him and their daughter. He always came home to hot meals she commenced a petty trade in the local market. The sky was their limit. As Mariam grew older, the family grew even closer and spoke occasionally of their dreams and aspirations. Mariam was growing up adequately and they were their lives as a family. One day, Halima told Mustapha that she was pregnant. He was delighted since Mariam was already over a year old. He promised her that he would always be there for her and she believed him.

During this time, the level of supposed witchcraft and evil happenings in the village was on the rise. People were dying mysteriously and villagers became about who would be the next to join their ancestors. Mustapha and his wife became and so had every villager. They were afraid for their lives, especially that of their daughter and their unborn child. Soon afterwards, Mariam became sick, Mustapha and Halima became worried. Could our daughter be next in line? This illness is strange and uncommon. They wondered to themselves.

Halima knew that, if she left her daughter in Kaduna, she would die. So she confided in her husband and told him that the best thing was to take the child away from the neighborhood. Mustapha was skeptical and wondered where else they could go. Lagos, she said, the land of development, of opportunities, where the white people leave all of their equipment when they come to Nigeria. Yes, that place would be a place for my daughter. Mustapha promised he would think about it.

Three days later, Halima ran away with her daughter in the wee hours of the morning, after realizing that if she did not make the move, her husband would not either. She packed an overnight bag and embarked on her twenty-four-hour journey to the city of Lagos without her husband Mustapha. She was doing this for her daughter’s safety that was all that mattered.

It was the dawn of a new day when the bus arrived in Lagos city. Halima thought she was dreaming. Never had she seen anything more beautiful and busy. People were on the go and everyone seemed to be in a hurry. She came down from the bus and strapped her sick daughter to her back with a wrapper, while carrying her six-month-old pregnancy in front. Halima was brave; she knew that it was time to put her destiny and that of both her daughter and her unborn child in her hands. She could not continue to wait for her husband to make up his mind.

Halima was intrigued at the kinds of cars, and clothes she saw in the city. She had heard of these beautiful things from the few people that had returned to Kaduna from the city of Lagos, but she had never once imagined that it would be this beautiful. When the driver yelled at all the passengers, Come and carry your bags or you will never see them again, Halima was called back to the real world. She rushed to the trunk of the bus and grabbed her small wrapper, which carried a few clothes and some oranges. She knew that this was a new adventure in her life, and she was prepared.

Halima and Mariam began to look for shelter and tried to ask people for help. A lot of people wondered what a pregnant woman with a child was doing walking in the streets of Lagos without any help. Where is your husband? some asked. Do you have any family members here in Lagos? others asked.

She tried her best to explain herself to the people that she came across that her daughter had taken ill and that they had both fled Kaduna in search of help. She narrated how she had left her husband and how she wanted to make sure that her children were safe, but, it was difficult communicating with people; she spoke her native Hausa language and a little broken English. Whereas, people in Lagos spoke Yoruba. She was frustrated. Halima continued to struggle and tried to take care of Mariam as best she could. She remembered a man from Kaduna who was a successful businessman in the city and a dear friend to her husband and therefore decided to look for him instead. She thought that would be a good place to start. No one in the whole of Lagos seemed to know him. This was a large city and people simply could not be recognized by their first names. She was distraught, and her daughter was dying. Halima eventually located a government hospital that would treat Mariam if she promised to work for the hospital for a period of one month. They would accommodate them both and take care of her sick child until she gave birth to her second baby. She was delighted and took advantage of the opportunity. After all, she would do anything to save her daughter’s life. That was why she had left her husband in the first place. Nothing was impossible for her to do, even becoming a cleaner at the government hospital sounded luxurious. This was Lagos.

Meanwhile, back at the village, Mustapha was losing his mind; he loved his wife and their daughter so much and blamed himself for not having made a decision sooner. Lagos was a big city, and he did not know how they were faring. As much as he was disappointed in himself, he was also saddened by Halima’s rash decision. She was fond of such behaviors and never doubted her instincts. Once her mind told her to do something she obeyed willingly. He cried himself to sleep and awakened only to resume crying again. On the third day, the villagers had noticed that Halima and Mariam were no longer in Kaduna and began to ask questions.

Mustapha needed to make a quick decision, the same one he had refused to make that caused his wife and daughter to go to Lagos without him. He thought of how he would leave his farm and start all over in a new city, a city where people would not even notice a common man like himself or even give him a chance. He was terrified and uncertain.

Mustapha always had the gift of healing people with herbs, but with orthodox practices on the rise, he wondered how he would make it in a city like Lagos. He knew he had to make a decision and fast too. He thought of his beautiful wife and her long virgin hair as well as her scents and straight legs. He imagined his daughter and what could happen in his absence. Then, he thought of his unborn child.

Two weeks later, during a nap, Mustapha closed his eyes and after just five minutes, he opened them and there it was. He had made his decision. He was going to go to the city and look for his family. He was nothing without them, and he vowed that no harm would come to them unless he was dead . . . Even if it was the last thing he did. Little did he know that leaving Kaduna was the best decision he would ever make in his life.

Chapter Two

In Lagos, Halima continued with her life. She had sent several messages to her husband through bus drivers at the park, but none of them took her seriously. She wanted him to know that they were doing fine and that Mariam was well now. She wanted him to know that she had a job and he could come and join them, that they could start anew. It was certainly against her will to leave her husband behind, but she could not watch her daughter die.

One day, while Halima was cleaning at the hospital, a man called her by her nick name, Halimama! She was stunned. No one in Lagos knew her by that name. Whoever it was, had to be a person from the village. She turned around and realized that it was Tanko, the businessman she had asked the entire population of Lagos about