Onyema flipped through her son’s report card, a smile peeling her lips back for the first time that evening. She had survived a long day at work and returned to find her new houseboy, Ebuka, loitering in her husband’s study, running his unwashed hands over carefully shelved books. She made him kneel at the backyard and threatened to send him back to the village the coming Christmas to continue toiling in his widowed mother’s farm.
“Mummy, did I do well at school,” her son, Chukwualuka asked.
“I am so proud of you, nna and I promise to get you anything you ask of me now – just say it,” she replied, snapping the report card shut and pulling him to her chest.
“Can Ebuka come to school with me,” Chukwualuka said, his face breaking into a brilliant smile. “He comes into my room every night to help me with my homework because you and daddy are always tired - can he come with me, please?”