My mother fought our battles for us with love

It was nice to watch her like this. She barked instructions at the characters in the game she was engrossed in and cheered excitedly when she won a level.

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The small smile on my face wiped itself as my mind took me back to that estate in Lagos where I had first watched her.

I had just woken up from sleep that night, it was raining and the flashes of lightning, accompanied by thunder, scared me. When I turned to grasp my mother's wrapper, I discovered she was not in bed with me. Fear stricken, I began to look into every room to see if my mother was there.

Eventually, I found her on the balcony, seated on the ground. She was rocking herself slowly to an inaudible rhythm.

I advanced so she could carry me but I stopped all of a sudden. I could hear whimpering. I didn't understand it at the time. Only children, babies in fact, were supposed to be seated in a corner of the house wailing their eyes out, but whatever made her cry seemed to clutch at my chest too.

I lowered myself to the ground and began to cry with her. At first, it was a low sob that was easily drowned by the sound of the heavy rain pelting down on roof sheets, but when the next thunderstruck, I gave a scared yell causing her to notice me.

She hurried up without wiping her tears away and scooped me up into her arms, shushing and cooing as she took me back into the room I shared with her.

The following morning while she prepared me for school, I watched her carefully. I desperately wanted to know what made her sit on the ground to cry her heart out, however, I didn't have the courage to ask yet.

I thought I was going to have a nice day at school like every other day but after recess, I began to feel extremely dizzy and laid my head down on my desk to sleep. Suddenly, I felt a painful tap on my back and when I raised my head, it was my teacher, Miss Bolu. I stood up when she asked me to and jumped before the entire class while the other kids laughed at me.

When it was time to go home, I was crying profusely.

“Treasure what is it?” My older brother who had come to pick me up from my class asked.

“Miss Bolu hit me with her cane and asked me to jump in front of the whole class. They were all making fun of me”

“Well, what did you do?” My older sister who joined us without our notice, asked.

“I was sleeping” I responded, a bit ashamed of myself.

“Then don't sleep in class next time. You can always sleep when you return home” she advised, rubbing my head fondly.

My mother did not come to pick us up from school that day so we walked home on our own. She was there to receive us with open arms, kissing each person's forehead like she did every day after school.

“Take your clothes off immediately and pour water on your bodies so you can feel fresh. By the time you're out, there will be food waiting for you,” she said. I rushed over to her excitedly so she could help undo my zip and that was when she saw it.

“Treasure,” she began quietly again, “who did this to your back?” She traced her fingers along the single welt that had spurted on my back.

“Miss Bolu…” my mother did not wait to ask what I did. She rose immediately, carried me on one hip, and marched back to my school.

Miss Bolu was just packing her things to leave when my mother stormed into the school and threatened to have her arrested if she ever put marks on her child again.

I watched in admiration as the woman who looked frail and helpless just the night before, was now charging like an angry lion.

“If anybody, man or woman, lays their hands on you or any of your siblings again, just let me know. Everything I am going through right now is so that your children can live a good and comfortable life. I will not let anyone jeopardize it”

I hung on to my mother as we continued the walk back home. From that early age, I got to discover who a mother was meant to be. One that bore the weight of her children not just in her womb, but also in her heart.

My own mother had been a woman with many battles to fight early in life but as I watched her now, I could see that as we grew, she was becoming free.