episode 19

Contd.......I kept looking at the picture for a while trying to see if she was the one or not. My mum (the mum that raised me) had shown me the pictures she took in the 1980s and that was exactly what she looked like.
I asked Dr Musa's mother if she knew the person standing next to her room mate in the picture. She said no that the person must have been another guest at the party.
I told her that the person looks like the mum that raised me. Dr Musa's mum took the picture and looked at it very well. She shaked her head and said,
"its been long, I can't remember her or her relationship to the bride, we were about taking picture when she joined us I think but I am not sure. Haa its been over 30yrs."
I didn't know what to think or say the hausa lady looks ‎so much like me but I have heard and seen people who look alike yet they are not related but the birth mark couldn't have been a coincidence and to make matters worse what was my mum doing in the picture.
Tani had slept off in Dr Musa's mum's hands, ‎so the sitting room was silent. Dr Musa's mum asked, "what do ‎​you intend doing?"
"I still don't know" I replied and added "tell me about your roommate."
"What exactly do ‎​you want to know about her?"
"Her name, any thing u remember and want to share."
"Haven't I told ‎​you her name?" She asked.
In truth she had told me the name but then I was still doubting ‎so I didn't really get bother about the name.
"Yes ‎​you have but I can't remember.' I replied.
She relaxed on the couch, still carrying Tani she said, "Its alright her name was Halimah Yahya. Halima was studying economics while I was studying business administration. She was the quiet and very blunt type. She hardly talks but when she does she says what's in her mind not minding whether ‎​you like it or not. She met the man she married in school, they started dating when she was in her 2nd year and he was in his finals, by the time she was in her final year he had proposed to her or maybe she got pregnant I can't remember. But I know she was pregnant before they got married, I wish I could remember the man's surname because I know I use to tease her with it. she called me once after she got married to tell me she had given birth and I remember she said it was a boy and I told her that her Aisha would have to wait because she had always said she would name her daughter Aisha which is my own name, that's all I remember about her for now."
"Interesting, ‎so if this Halimah happens to be my mother then I won't be her first child and if I am her first daughter my name ought to be Aisha." I said.
"‎so what do ‎​you intend doing?" she asked me again.
"I still don't know." I replied.

Before Dr Musa's mum left that day she was able to persuade me to go back home, if not for anything but to find out the relationship that was between Halimah Yahya and the mother that raised me. We mapped out a plan and in that plan I would leave for Abuja 2weeks after the day we had the discussion because of Tani's clinic appointments. (To be contd)