It was early one Saturday  morning that she had got her first shocker and their lives would never be the same again. She felt dizzy and colourless, and she threw up too. She rubbed her protruded belly and thought it is painfully sweet. Her life at Oyoile had not been easy; she felt lonely and sad, but she loved it here too. They called her “Iyawo” and they doted on her, especially her mother in-law. The desire for food flamed up again. She looked jaded and felt awkward, then she slept peacefully. 

“Haa, Baba oko mi, good morning, sir.”

She hugged Kunle, this was the man who made her marriage to Atere possible, her father had cried and rejected Atere, describing him as strange, odd, and too old for his daughter. It was Kunle who stepped in to persuade Inoji, her father. Months after the marriage had passed, she began to realise that maybe her father was right, she had married the wrong man, a really strange man. 

“Have you heard?” Kunle asked.
“What, sir?” She asked. 
Kunle clasped his fingers, drank more water from the bowl, and stared at the ground. 
“Brother Atere has lost his job.”
“What? He did not tell me, my own is finished, this can't be, brother Kunle, this can't…”
He interrupted her, “That's how we see it, he was compulsorily retired by the government.”
She fell on the ground and bursts into tears. Kunle was finding it difficult to console her.
“I am finished, where will I start again? Brother Kunle, I am finished.”

“My wife, don't say that again, my brother will get another job, he is too brilliant to be idle.”

She still wailed and cried, she should have suspected all this while; he woke up late these days, he did not talk much and he looked disturbed. He never gave reasons for not going to his office at the Ministry of Agriculture. She had raised her head, drawing the curtains, the reality began to dawn on her, she dropped  onto her bed, but still couldn't sleep. She bit her fingers hard and kept gazing at the roof. She looked at her protruding belly, fearing for the fate of the innocent unborn, then she burst into tears again, her eyes were heavy, she cried hard.

Then he entered, she was watching him, he looked sad, sullen and expressionless.
He went to the well-furnished parlour, pacing about the large room, placing his hands behind the bar locker. She regarded him coldly and rightly so, she couldn't believe it was already 10 pm. Kunle, the bearer of the bad news, who had begged her not to reveal his identity must have now been back in Lagos.
He stopped pacing and rolled himself onto the chair and slept off.

She couldn't take it again. “Atere, stand up! stand up!!" She screamed.

“Honey, what is it? Is there any problem? What happened?” He asked.

There was a frown on her face, she burst into tears again. Atere who had often heard of pregnant women’s irate behaviors was alarmed. 

“Is it that our baby won't let you sleep?” He asked.

“Atere, is it true that you have been compulsorily retired from your job?”

He was startled, he made to open his mouth, he sat down downcast, looking rattled.
“Who told you?” He asked.
She suddenly clung on his trousers.
“You have killed me! You have killed me!! Finish the job and kill me,” she cried.
She would not be pacified, she kept bellowing and shouting, “You useless man, you unfortunate man, see where all your stubbornness has led you to now, I warned you, people warned you!”
“I have integrity and I have no regrets about what happened to me, I am honest and I will never encourage stealing  of public funds,” he said.
She clapped sarcastically, screwing a finger at his face.
“Mr. Integrity! The most honest man in the world who deserves an award!” She mocked.
“You can say what you like,” he answered.

She was in a mad rage now, she jumped on him like a tiger and tore at him with her sharp nails. 
“You useless human being! You bastard! My father never wanted me to marry you...Haaaahaa, I should have heeded to my father.”
He kept mute, grabbing a paper, she was infuriated further. Neighbors began knocking on their door intensely. Just a few weeks ago, a husband had beat his wife to death; they were incensed.

“He has killed me oo, help me ask him oo, I warned him oo, he was warned oo, he was compulsorily retired from work and he never told me his wife anything, don't pull me, let him kill me,” she cried.

Atere had escaped outside as their neighbors broke down the parlour door. She pushed Baba Solace away and ran after him holding a kitchen knife.

“I will kill you and I will kill myself,” she screamed.
“This is Satan’s handiwork, Madam, please don't let Satan use you, please we are all begging,” their neighbours pleaded.

She pushed past Baba Solace again and threw the knife, it caught Atere at the hip, he shrieked in pain, transfixed on the floor. Shoye was held as she picked up another knife. Akanmu who had heard the news of the fracas had rushed in and took Atere away from the ugly scene.
She suddenly threw up and collapsed, blood oozing out from her thighs. That was the turn around, their lives would never be the same again. They had lost their unborn baby.

He was downcast and angry with himself, all his efforts to find another job had proved abortive. He had walked the lengths and breadths of Oyoile, and all his journeys to Lagos and Abuja in search of a job had not yielded anything. The landlord had come with the police, he spent two days inside the dingy, old, smelly cell; they had been thrown out of the house, he watched her gather her things, cursing and weeping, and he felt guilty, she did not deserve this. He had cried bitterly as he packed his bags.

“Atere, I want to talk to you.” Shoye said.
“What is it?” He asked.
“Are you not going to work again?”
“But you know I've been traveling to Lagos and Abuja recently, let us be praying that something comes out of my trips.”
She flew on him. “Till when? Are we going to continue living like this. If you have been heeding warnings, this would not have happened.”

Atere was quiet, she was spoiling for a fight again, his silence only infuriated her the more. 

“People come and see oo, I have never seen anything like this oo, you unfortunate man, you mad man!” She screamed hysterically.
“Do you realize neighbors are listening to you?” He asked angrily.
“And so what? And so what? You are a useless, lazy man, if the neighborhood wants to hear, let them hear.”

She flew at him again, throwing a bowl of water at him. 

After another round of bitter argument with Shoye, he retired on the bed and closed his eyes, the events of the last months began to get clearer to him. The late night bickering only got worse over time.

“Where are you going?” She asked angrily the next morning.
“Forum,” he answered.
She cupped her mouth and clapped sarcastically, “Forum. Will Forum solve the problems of this house?”

His wife’s attitude was becoming unreasonable these days, and Forum had served as an escape route. The Forum was the meeting point of bitter old people who had nothing good to say about the government, it had become a melting point for all those who hated the government. Once, it was attacked by the state boys, the old men were chased and beaten, but they had gathered again the following day. That was the place he was finding solace these days, he could escape from the troubles of Shoye whenever he hid there.

When he got there, a man was talking.

“She left me yesterday,” he said.
Eyes were raised. Then there were giggles.
“They are all the same. Sorry, women sha,” another said.
He raised his head, lifting up his chin.

“I'm even happy she left, these days she wakes me up with curses and nagging, I'm relieved she left, folks.”

Atere shook his head with pity, taking a look at the unfortunate Badia who seemed not to bother that his wife left him. Sadly, he remembered Shoye his own wife's consistent nagging, like Badia’s, it looked as if it will be a matter of time before his own marriage would hit the rock too.

“That's how women are, when its good, they love you, once you don't have again, you are in trouble. Badia, how about the children?” Atere asked.

“She left them with me, imagine that Atere, I tell you this, women can be so irrational.” Badia said, looking very unconcerned.

Kaju laughed, rolling on his chair.
“She must have seen another man somewhere, you can never tell with this women,” he said.

“Is it their fault?”
Comrade asked quietly, not really expecting an answer.

“How will it not be like this when our government keeps denying us our basic rights, when our women are hungry and we can't feed them, they will be forced to look outside, once you can't carry out your responsibilities to them as a man, they will dump you.” Kaju added.

There were murmurs of approval.

“It’s over one year now that my own wife left me, I heard she is following one big chief now.” Nti added.

There was another round of laughter, only Atere looked subdued.

“So Comrade, what are you hearing now? I've not heard anything from my end so far,” he asked.

“I've heard nothing, people. It is clear this government does not care about us, this government wants all of us dead so that they can have more money to steal.” Comrade answered.

They all nodded and murmured a noisy approval.

“Did you hear of the eighteen million the Governor gave the family of that late pastor?” Comrade asked.

“It’s all in the papers.”
Atere answered.
“And some of us will not be given what is our own, imagine, giving them eighteen million, for what exactly?” He asked.

“It’s all so that they can win in the media, don't you see that the papers hardly write about our own plight?” Comrade chipped in.

“I wish I can strangle all those who voted in this wicked government.” Kaju said.

“What do all those market women know? All those motorcycle and korope drivers, they were given some loans before the elections, so the government does not need to do anything else for them, their eyes don dey clear now shebi?” Atere asked in pidgin.

“What you said is very true o, those market women and korope drivers, even those artisans too, they are not making as much sales as before, now they have joined the league of complainants Comrade chipped in.

“Did you people not read about the man that used his last child as a collateral to collect a bag of rice?” Kaju asked.

They were all heckling now, arguing.

“That man is very wicked, how can he do that to  his own child?” Atere asked.

Comrade shrugged his shoulder and said, “Don't blame him, hunger can lead people to do a lot of things, he probably had no other choice.”

“I don't agree with you, why can't he go to the markets or streets to beg with his children, someone might have had pity on him, he is simply a greedy fool.” Atere added angrily.

Kaju didn’t quite agree with him, he stood and talked to Atere angrily
, “That is arrant nonsense. Who will give him money on the streets, is it you or me that has not also eaten? Is it the market woman who has not sold a single thing that will give him food?”

There were murmurs of approval again, everyone was eager to be heard.

“This is so sad, this is unfortunate, this useless government has really destroyed a lot of lives.” Comrade said, looking into empty space. “You will see, the case of that thieving grass cutting minister will be laid to rest soon,” he added.

“When was the last time you saw it in the news? It has been swept under the carpet, don't you know that this country’s laws are meant to protect the rich but designed to punish the poor?” Kunoye contributed.
“You have spoken the truth Kunoye.” Atere told Kunoye reassuringly.

There was a knock on the door, they all froze, frightened. The events of that  fortnight was still fresh in their minds, when some state-sponsored thugs had stormed here to beat and assault them.
The knocking was persistent, Comrade dodged under the table, some hid behind the curtains, the rest had scampered to the backyard window and jumped through. All hell broke loose, there was pandemonium as they ran helter-skelter. Only Atere had remained.

“It’s me!” Kadoki said, pushed the door open and entered  the room.
“What is wrong with everyone, why are they running?” He asked Atere.

Atere grinned and burst into a hysterical bout of laughter. “They thought the state boys have come again.”

“Oh it’s me, I was not here but I heard about it in town.” Kadoki said, with his face down.

Comrade came out from under the table, the ones who had hidden behind the curtains came out too, all embarrassed.

“You scoundrel, I will strangle you, you scared the living daylight out of us.” Comrade told Kadoki angrily.

Kadoki fell on Atere and they both laughed hard. Comrade watched both of them with utter disgust.

“See grandfathers jumping over windows and hiding under tables.” Kadoki teased. “I've brought bad news, honorable men,” he said.

They all switched their eyes, and all focused on Kadoki. They were used to bad news anyway, but they were still eager to hear Kadoki.

Kadoki cleared his throat and talked in a low voice, “That gentleman, I hope you men still remember him, he do come here regularly until recently, Barawi, he died at the state hospital yesterday.”

They all shouted and shrieked, Comrade held his chest and collapsed on the chair. Atere went to the door, transfixed and shocked, some cried and cursed hysterically.
Badia sat on the floor, holding his head in his hands.

“What killed him? What happened to him?” They asked in unison.
Kadoki who had been watching the drama now looked really sad. “Diabetes, he became very sick on Sunday,” he told them.
“And died yesterday? Tuesday?” Atere asked.
“Yes.” Kadoki answered.
"but that disease does not kill like that" Baruwa wailed
" He has not been able to buy his drugs for a long time" kadoki answered.
They began to leave the Forum one after the other,
they all had the same thought and fear.
“Who will be the next?”

criticism is welcomed, even if its harsh, thanks.

Shoye was in a very bad and depressed mood. She had visited her father. She touched the bones on her neck and sighed, she wept in despair. Her father, Inoji had rebuked her and had told her to pack her things and leave her “useless husband.”

“Come back home Shoye, can you now see what I told you from the very beginning?”

Shoye fell into her father's embrace, she wanted to cry, she needed to cry.

“My daughter, you said you want to leave this useless man, it’s not too late to get a man, now I say, pack your loads and leave him.”

She wailed , Inoji pressed her tighter to himself. He loved Shoye, she was his favorite child. He had rejected Atere from the very beginning.

“Are you out of your senses? We are Lagonians, you grew up in Lagon, how can you bring a man from far Ido-osun?” He had asked her.
“I will cope, Baba, just give me your permission to marry him,” she had insisted.
“No I can't, he looks like a political idealist, can't you see? He hides his feelings and does not open his heart.”
“How do you know all this Baba? He is not like anything you described,” she had said.
“Shoyeee! What do you know? What an elderly person sees squatting on the mat, a kid can never see it even if he climbs the tallest ladder,” he had told her.
“Baba, just give me your blessings, he is the man that I want to marry,” she had maintained.
“I will not have a hand in this.” Inoji had thudded and stormed out.

Not even her hunger strike moved him until Kunle had come and persuaded Baba.

He had called her on the eve of the marriage and had told her, “I'm not in for this, but I give you my blessings and support, isn’t that's what you want?”

She remembered it all now, and tears streamed down her face. Atere was wrong for her, she could see it all, now.

lol.. pensioners are the most endangered species in this county.