Fire Ice

JULIANNA

After dropping her six months old baby off at the creche not far from her home, Julianna briskly walked down to the bus stop to board a bus to her place of work. She didn't have to wait long before a bus came by and she boarded with two other passengers.

She had lost her husband when her baby was just two weeks old, he was a soldier who had been away from home on duty. He was on his way back home to visit his wife and newborn baby when he lost his life during a highway robbery attack. 

He was murdered in cold blood, shot at point-blank simply because he was wearing a military uniform. He never had the chance to see his daughter whom he had named  ''Abidemi" which means 'born during her father's absence. 

Unknowingly, a tear silently trickled down her cheek, she missed him so very much and It hurt so bad. He never got to see his daughter, the daughter whom he had bonded with while still in the womb.

She remembered how he touched her belly and waited patiently just to feel the baby's kick. How he would lie down with his face very close to her belly and talk to his daughter.

She would always cry each time she remembered that he's never coming home to her, that she's never going to see him again in this life.  

Thank God for her mother-in-law who has been like her pillar of strength, otherwise living would have been hell since she has been orphaned herself since when she was fifteen. 

"Lady are you alright?" A voice asked beside her in Hausa. Not clear about what the voice said, she turned in confusion towards the elderly woman who just spoke to her and asked in the same language.

"Sorry, what did you say?"

"What could be the problem?...why are you crying?"  

"Crying?..." She asked in surprise, her right hand silently made its way to her face to feel the tears running down her cheek. Feeling moisture on her fingers, she quickly rummage in her bag for her handkerchief and wiped her face.