By Sunmola Olowookere

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A man is in trouble and it is double palaver for him as the hook he sunk into the lake had caught two fishes.”
Abiodun was a womanizer who loved winning young and trusting girls. He had wooed the first girl with so much persistence that she found it hard to resist his overtures. Then she thought that their relationship would probably end at the altar, how wrong had she been?
The relationship had been so hot then. she had thought Biodun to be the man of her dreams but later discovered that the idol that she had placed on a pedestal had a feet of clay.
she gave him her heart and he took it and trampled that fragile part of her body in the dust. He threw her over for a younger girl. Two years into t h e i r relationship, he started going out w i t h a girls from another secondary.
At first, She was deceived. He told her that h e w a s helping the girl with her studies and since she had not caught him red-handed. she decided to let it go. But on subsequent times, she would come to his room and meet the girl partially undressed. But he usually gave the excuse that it was the heat.
The girl too was like a younger sister to her. Eventually they became friends and they became so close that she gave out some of her old clothes to the girl. Unknown to her, neighbours were looking at them with pitying eyes.
Some of the neighbours would joke tagging both of them” senior and junior wives”. Then she got pregnant. Though she was a little bit afraid of her mother’s displeasure but she consoled myself that everything would come out right at the end and that Abiodun would solidify their relationship.
She told him about it and though he was shocked at first, he seemed to come around later. And he promised to come to see her mother. Little did she know that the girl she thought her husband to be was assisting to teach was also pregnant for him.
The cat was let out of the bag when things got to a head one night and her mother declared that they were going
to his house to see him having expected him for a month and he had failed to come.
It was around 10.00 in the night. Imagine their dismay, shock and embarrassment when both mother and daughter saw the girlfriend there that time of the night.
she asked point blank “Funmi, what are you doing here?” Though, Abiodun was fidgeting and trying to .shush the girl, she brushed him aside and said, belligerently.
“Auntie, it has happened 0!, I am pregnant and I am not ready to abort my baby.”
The old woman was aghast while the daughter was filled with a terrible realization of what she had suspected all along.
her mother said to her “see how you have ruined your life. You can stay here for allIcare”.”
She made to leave the room but the poor girl held onto her arms fast.
“Please mother, don’t desert me too. Not at this crucial time. Who will I turn to? I have only you now. Please, don’t leave me too”.
S h e pleaded and burst into tears. she was filled with regret. Had she known that Abiodun would dump her, she would not have allowed him access into her life.
Her mother now turned to him “Now what do you plan to do?”
He began to stutter “ma-ma-ma reality I love your daughter. But, you see, Funmi, is still too young to be asked to undergo an abortion, she could die and I would be a murderer.” He said earnestly.
The mother now said “So it is my daughter that should go for an abortion?” He protested “Nö, mama. I did not say that!”
Her mother then asked “At your age, you are ready to be saddled with the responsibilities of two wives!” She shook her head’ sadly and turned to her daughter.
“So this is the kind of man that you gave your love to and you ‘allowed defile you. You have made a very grave mistake”.
The whole thing became too much for her to bear. And she fainted from the shock. Her mother’s shout for help attracted other residents who rushed there to revive the lady.
In the commotion, Abiodun had quietly slipped out of the room. People were surprised at his actions and irresponsibility. He came back one quiet afternoon when most of the residents had gone to work and packed his load.
The families of the two girls looked for him all to no avail and none of them knew his parents. That was how both of them became single mothers at such a young age.