Tushen Mu Daya Part 1 Complete Hausa Novel

The curtain to the room was thrown aside forcefully, without any greeting or request for permission. I quickly lifted my head, which was pounding terribly, tears running down my face, and looked at the woman standing there, breathing heavily as she looked me over from head to toe. I quickly bowed my head again, my heart sinking, because I had not known it was she who had come in. Though I had expected she would come eventually, I had not expected it to be now.
“Oh, I see, so this is where you have settled yourself,” she said, clapping her hands angrily. “So because I told you to come out and wash the dishes, you came here and put him in front of you, crying fake tears as if someone has told you the day of your death has come.”
She turned to Ahmad beside me. Since the moment she entered, he had lowered his head, his eyes swollen and red.
“Oh, I see, so she came to report me to you, and you sat there watching her cry crocodile tears as if I beat her. Me, Mero? I have seen enough already, and if it is not enough for me, it is enough for Allah. And now Ahmad, you have already become some weak, spineless husband under your wife’s control. Since when did you marry and begin showing your wife that I have no worth or respect in your eyes? All because I said she should wash dishes, the girl comes and starts saying headache, headache, crying because of her scheming mouth, and you too cannot show her my place as your mother. Hmm, let us wait and see if the spark I throw will become a real fire.”
She finished speaking and turned to me.
“And you, Anna Mimiya, get up and let us go. Because of your nonsense, everybody in this house has finished their work and washed their dishes clean, and it is me you have turned into a fool. Shame, shame, shame. It is still 9 a.m. and you have not washed mine. So you want me to remain dirty? Get up, I said.”
By then, tears were all that kept falling from my eyes.
I did not know what Hajjo wanted from me in this life. What kind of humiliating life was this? A life I had never imagined for myself, not even anything close to it. I drifted deep into thoughts of the condition I was in.
Hajjo simply fixed her eyes on the two of us, me and him, while neither of us said anything more.
Ahmad too had drifted into thoughts about his mother’s behavior.
He did not know what to do with her behavior. Ever since he got married, she had changed into habits he had never known her for. He had never imagined his mother could do this to him, but now she had denied him peace of mind, both for himself and his family. He did not know what she wanted, because despite every condition she had laid down for him, he followed them and did what she wanted, yet every day she came up with a new style.
The sound of the slap she landed on Aminatu brought him back from the world of thought he had entered.
“Wallahi, you have become stubborn. Get up, let us go. So your disrespect has reached the point where I am talking and you ignore me? Or is your father so great? I tell you, even your father Salisu is too small for me to bother with. Get up, I said.”
I raised my head, holding my cheek, and looked at her. Then I turned to Ahmad. Tears had gathered in his eyes, and he lowered his head.
Quietly, I stood up, shaking my head, while she stood at the doorway holding up the curtain, waiting for me to come out.
I passed in front of her, leaving my body to trail behind me.
As we walked, she kept insulting me. Since there was some distance from the corner room to the door of her own room, she reached there before me.
When I arrived, I found that she had already gone inside. I looked at the washing things, and the pile of dishes looked like dishes from a wedding house.
I picked up a bucket and fetched water. I checked among the dishes, but there was no dishwashing soap there. I moved to the entrance of her room and paused there before saying,
“Hajjo, the dishwashing soap? It is not here...”
It was as if she had been waiting for me to say it. She immediately burst out, “Where is yours? Why can you not bring your own and wash with it? Or did you buy this one? Useless stingy girl. If you will bring yours, then bring it. If not, I will get up and go to the person who bought this and ask if he too says you should not use what he buys now that he has become weak.”
Quietly, I turned and went back to my corner to bring my own soap. I did not let Ahmad know I had returned, so that he would not stop me.
I came back and began washing the dishes that looked as if they would never finish.
While I was still washing, Dan Ladi came out from the room beside the entrance, stretching. I lifted my head and looked at him. He was wearing nothing but a pair of short trousers that did not even reach his knees. He fixed his eyes on me with that look of his that resembled hatred, though I did not know why. Since I came to this house, it had only been two weeks; I had done nothing against them and harmed none of them. I quickly looked away, pained by their rude behavior, their lack of respect for people, and the fact that their mother had not raised them on a good path. Even though he was older than me, as the wife of their elder brother no one gave me respect. Every day their wish was to see me in distress.
He hissed loudly, picked up a water pot, and went into the bathroom.
I continued washing. Then Umar, their youngest, came. Without speaking, he reached over and shoved aside the dishes near me, found a plastic container, and handed it to me. He did not care about the ones he had scattered, nor did he gather them back.
“You will wash this plastic one for me too. And honestly, scrub it well, because even yesterday’s washing still smelled of soap.”
I looked at him, a boy not older than my fourth younger sister, yet he was ordering me about. When something is beyond your strength, there is no remedy except Allah.
So I washed it and handed it back to him. Then I gathered the ones he had scattered and finished the washing. I carried the things over to a table where she kept the dishes, then took a broom and, with patience, cleaned the place.
I turned, intending to go back to the corner where my room was. It was as if she had been watching me.
Then I saw the curtain pushed aside and she came out, full of pride and arrogance, looking at me.
“You…”