Grandma was restless.

She called out to the twins but there was no response from the living room. She pulled back the curtain to see if they were playing outside but they weren’t there either. Eventually, she pulled herself out of her bed, reached for her walking stick and made for the door. Grandma wasn’t as energetic as she was before the arthritis. She found it very difficult to move herself, standing for long periods was a mammoth task. Age stole her youth and left her wrinkled and grey. Before Age robbed her, Grandma was a big time first-grade used-clothes seller. She sold ‘Okirika’ in bales and it was from the profit she ensured that all her children went to the university. Her pride had always been the fact that she was surrounded by her children and grandchildren. On that day, her grandchildren, Lucinda and Kingsley, who had come to spend the holiday with her, were nowhere to be found and that made her restless.


Grandma approached their room with bridled curiosity, partly hoping they were asleep. Something haunted her maternal instinct and she hoped that the twins were alright. She carried herself through the corridor, each time making a deliberate attempt not to make a noise with her walking stick as it hit against the marble floor. As she came closer, she expected the twins to run out from wherever they were. They had always run towards the “tap-tap” sound of her walking stick. She feared that the twins were in trouble. Although there was nothing to suggest such, her instincts suggested the contrary. She silently prayed that they would be inside their room. She gently opened the door and was held in the tight embrace of fear. The twins weren’t there, she had called out their names and they didn’t respond. It was at that point that she recalled that some labourers were digging a well in the compound the day before. She began to sweat all over, various thoughts struggled to rest on her mind but one got her really scared,



“Most likely, Kingsley was playing around the well and fell inside, then Lucinda was trying to help him out and also fell inside”

She struggled to move quickly through the living room and into the compound. She called out to the twins again.

“Kingsley! Lucinda!”

There was a chorused answer from the living room, “Yes Grandma!”

She struggled to move herself towards the living room. As she came closer, she could sense that something was wrong. Their step had lost its usual bounce and their faces were without smiles.

“What is the matter?”

She inquired

Kingsley was the first to respond, “Aunty Chioma is crying, I think it is about my Daddy and Mummy”

Grandma immediately added a spring to her step and called out, “Chioma! Chioma ! What is the matter?” Chioma was still struggling to conceal her tears inside a handkerchief but it was too late, grandma had already seen them. Her instinct had informed her that something was wrong. She had thought it was the twins but seeing the tears on Chioma’s face, she knew something was wrong with the parent of the twins. Eventually Chioma found the words she had been looking for,

“Daddy twins and Mummy twins were involved in a car accident, they are dead”

….. To be continued