The Lifetime

Just a short Story really about a family who have gone through heaven and hell and have finally gotten what they want........just read and tell me what you think

The Lifetime.
by
Gabriel Okpunor Okei

 CHAPTER 1- WELCOME TO THE FAMILY
On a Saturday morning, blue sky, sun shining, flowers glowing, kids playing outside because its the weekend and parents outside relaxing after a long week of stress at the office, this particular neighbourhood is seen as heaven for those living in it but the Derron Family thinks otherwise; this is an intresting family, very interesting i must say.
May 10, 2014, the Derron Family moved to Abuja after fleeing from Lagos,  due to probably bad debts or murder or whatever the reader wishes to have in mind. Derrick, Emily, Tim and Claire are kids of Anthony and Claire Derron, these are the members of this Family. Where this family goes problems follow suit, there was one time Claire took up a job as a cleaner and after searching for a job for a long time, thieves showed up the day she was hired, might be a coincidence to some people but where shes from there are superstituitious believes, the most reasonable explanation to them should be that person is cursed. Even the kids have similar issues, where one child is asked a question and he answers it perfectly but when he enters into the exam hall he becomes blank some may say thats a blockheaded child, some may say that witches are following the child from the village or some other fetish "mumbo jumbo". Mr. Anthony, the head of the family has also his own issues but i dont really see it as an issue i see it as male attributes that is, what men are generally; so ask yourself "Womanizing; is it an attribute of a man" or not, each of my various readers now would have different answers to this but its ok, Mr. Anthony has an issue with women he cant help but to chase everything and anything in skirts, no doubt he is fine a man with a charisma but there is no excuse for such acts; if he knew he would like to womanize he shouldnt have gotten married.
Claire, herself, is not a clean pot as she is a thief;  i know now your suspecting her for the bulgary when she took the job as a cleaner, dont worry she was actually innoncent but she has actually stolen items of great values from different people, her kids; those are a chip-of-the-old-block. There was this one time, she actually walked into a grocery store with her kids and told them " We are going to have to steal if we know we are going to survive" Wow, what a mother?. They had this well thought out routine to steal; here the kids would put products into carts of shoppers who are not paying attention to their goods and pay whatever amount they are told, yes! they are people like that and Emily, the second child always had the ability to know those kinds of customers. So when they have paid for it, Tim considering how tall he was would pose as a trolly pusher and they would accept and he would steal all they have put into the cart without them knowing. Risky right? yeah i know but thats the life they have to live if they know they are going to survive but i ask what if they dont agree for a trolly pusher to take their things then what happens? They would starve. You know atimes i dont really blame them, that is the Derron Family, Anthony isn't helping matters, as recently he has gone into drinking and has delved deeper into his womanizing activities, so you can see where the money is going to. But till today i still ask myself why hasnt Claire Left him yet or why hasnt she filed for a divorce? I think its love: what do u think? beacuse she beautiful, really beautiful like Scarelet Johanson beautiful; OK too far now, back to the main matter, so where were we? Yes, although Anthony's various and numerous problems has lead Claire to outright poverty, she has still managed to stand by him, that is an attribute of a true woman, only if we had women like this around now. Some women i know would have left his sorry a*s for good.
Things where not aways like this for the Derron Family but the wicked blow of fate just swung at the family. There was a time where the family before any break summer, christmas, easter, name it; they would gather in the living room and discuss on where to travel to for the holidays, some of them would say Paris, some would say, England and others would say Ireland. The Derrons lived the life then, he would travel to America and back for the weekend just to relax and it wouldnt move his bank account he owned over six cars in his garage, he paid a whole lot of peoples school fees both relatives and non-relatives; some would even call him "Father Christmas". Claire too, would buy jewelry, clothes and the likes which women adore.The kids were kind of young then really to enjoy the money but Anthony and Claire took them to the most expensive schools in that particular area. So you can see their life wasnt always difficult. Yeah you can ask, what ever happend to them? Well its Simple, Eve! most christians know who she is but for those who dont, she was the one who the devil sent to tempt Adam to sin against God remember that story? Ok yeah, a woman actually caused the downfall of Anthony Derron, where he wanted to marry another wife and neglected God's hatred for polygamy, so i guess its repayment for his sins but i hope God forgives him though, his kids are all im worried about because now they beg to enter school when they have not paid their fees and even when they ask Anthony for money he flairs up constantly; trust me the kids have it hard too.
The Derron Family though are trying their best to go back to their previous "status quo" to atleast wipe the disgrace off the face of their family but things are looking like their going from bad to worse, which is beginning to tear the soul of the kids apart. Derrick; their oldest, got to a point he wanted he to sell his property like his laptop, his phone and other valuable items of his. Now the kids beg to go back to school saying atleast in school we get food to eat.......wow...... is that really how one should live? Just imagine how they feel when they wake up in the morning, the sorrow they feel when they ask for something and their parents cannot provide for it. This is something i do not even wish upon my enemy.

CHAPTER 2- ANTHONY DERRON
Anthony is an average in height, fair, somewhat built - body wise and Ofcourse we know he is Anthony Derron the womanizing drunkard we know about right? Yeah, but he wasnt always like that. Anthony was a sweet loving man as at when he got married but you know what they say " everyone has a dark side just waiting to be let loose" well that saying is true about Anthony. Anthony was brought up in a polygamist home; thus explains his womanizing and was the only child of his mother who loved him very much, she raised him with the little she had, they were not rich but they were comfortable, comfortable enough for him to finish his education and he was able to stand on his own as a man. When Anthony met his wife, he was not rich but was comfortable then he was probably into 419 or some illegal thing; that was probably how he made his money, well im not sure though but that was sha the gist going around. Then came a break through for Anthony, he made "mega-bucks"; where he could afford exotic cars, "crazy-a*s" houses and trips to wherever in the world he pleased, then the burden of responsibilty of various relatives and non relatives fell on his head; some who were under him - he paid their school fees, paid for their tickets to travel abroad, built houses, provided for their families and a whole lot of other things; people came to Anthony for it and Anthony being a man with a "Golden heart" he would give, give and give even give his head too but as the world would have it; the tables turned on this family. Who would wish to the Anthony at this point? Trust me no one will.
On one tuesday night; i heard sounds of a screaming woman as it pierced through my heart, i woke up with shock and ran outside and yeah i was that brave, i saw Anthony dragging his wife by her hair saying she would leave his house - wow, who would have known Anthony had a hot temper? Obviously any sane person would know, theres alchol plus womanizing obviously the only thing probably keeping him from being a savage is the hot temper which is obvious he has. The temper is one of the bad things about Anthony as even Derrick has taken some of these traits from him but trust me thats not all he has taken from him if you know what i mean. Even its bad enough that his wife gets to see this temper of his but also his kids are also victims; they fear him like a plague.
There are so many instance where it would be right for Claire to sue battery or whatever form of violence against Anthony but she didnt, which still makes me ask "what the F*** is wrong with this woman, does she have a death wish?" i sometimes answer the question for her - YES!!. Well whatever "jazz" or "juju" Anthony has on her its working, its working good but i just hope that when all these end that it doesnt end with Claire and her children in a coffin hand made by Anthony. Well God knows best.

CHAPTER 3- CLAIRE DERRON
Have you been able to picture the look of Claire? No? Well let me help, Claire is a fantastic complete woman, she's everything a man would want in a woman. Claire is a dark lady of average height or kinda short though, she has b***s full of life not saging just upright, her hair is very black and silky it smells so perfect, when you see her you will just beg to see her daughter; so tell me have u pictured her now? Ofcourse you have. Claire is the loving mother of the family, the ever patient woman who has stayed by the side of her husband through the bad and worse and yet is still ready to stay till death, that is one woman who has taken the vow of "till death do us part" so personal, which truly is a good attribute of a woman, women like that don finish for market oo.
The term " Na Condition Make crayfish bend" describes Claire's kleptomaniac behavious, Claire has resulted to stealing on many ocassions, so as the husband has problems the woman has problems of her own. When things went south for the Derron family i think it just turned her. Stealing just became a part of her but like i always say i dont blame her, if Anthony had quit drinking and womanizing all these wont be happening; he would have put is act in shape and faced his family issues. Claire's stealing got so bad that it started affecting her children - the kids are called thieves in school because they have been caught stealing from school also remeber the incidents in the grocery stores? So what if you had a mother like that what would u do? i believe its because of the love she has for her kids and her urge to make them comfortable just like everyother mother would.
Claire has always been at the recieving end of Anthony's violence and has always been a victim of his torture he calls marriage but through one would say "who tie em leg for the marriage" Claire has decided to be with Anthony till death do them part, which i fully understand ; Yeah i do, i understand shes interested in dying early that is what i understand because i dont know what baffles me more is it the fact that she endures the beating and abuse or the fact she still treats him like a husband cooking for him and doing what is expected of her, i am ever lost and confused. The kids though have taken a liken to the mother becaue they are aware of the various bad things  Anthony does and see that they are wrong.
Claire has been made to wear the shoes of a man in her house where she has been made to provide for the family, Anthony is broke to the core and she has too look for ways too provide for her family even if it means prostituting herself and stealing. She has prostituted herself to various Alhaji's, its Abuja for God's sake its easy to find them especially those ones that dont noe what to do with money or have over 15 wives at home, she has also on so many ocassionsgone to beg for money from her brother and sisters just to be able to feed her family. This is a clear example of a mother who is capable of doing anything to make her children happy even after all these she has done for Anthony, he still turns her to a punching bag and degrades her in so many imaginable ways.
I still thank God for the fact that Claire is still in Anthony's life and im sure he does too because through the rough roads and all Anthony has been able to seek financial help from Claire's family and they are ever willing to help him; luckily for Anthony he was nice to a few of her family members who could remember the good he did for them. So i guess thats one good thing he did for himself. Claire is a Religiously Strong, Versatile, beautiful, talented, intelligent and alot more, i see no reason why a woman like that should be subject to such hardship; Well one can say its fate another might say its destiny but i tink God has a plan for her. What do you think?

CHAPTER 4- DERRICK DERRON
Double D as popularly called by his friends, is the first son and child of Anthony and Claire Derron. Derrick was a dark fine man, he was sort of tall maybe 5"5ft or there about, he had a thing for the ladies - a real ladies man i must say. Derron was born on the 10th of Febuary,1997 during that time Anthony and Claire were not all so equipped money wise but they were comfortable. Derrick grew up around a alot of old people which would tell why he turned out the way he did. What way? Lets see.
Derrick had issues with his anger, which was noticed very early in his life and for a child at the age of 5 to exhibit such traits is not a good sign and should be handled with care and it wasnt handled as he grew up with it and at a point almost killed his sister, Emily. You can say that is one trait he has adopted from his father, Anthony; this bad trait acquired has spoilt alot of things for Derrick especially in his numerous relationships with girls which has left him wrecked especially this one girl he thought he would go far with he told me about her everyday, how "fair" she was and the fact that he didnt like fair girls but yet was still drawn and wanted to create this exception but that anger spoilt it for him and she ran away far way but i feel he will get over it though but this particular one seems to be different. His love life has been an 'up and down rollacosta'  because where he has a girl that really likes him and he spoils it with his anger or jealousy.
Jealousy! ah! thats another crazy thing about Derrick, you know due to his past relationships where the girl leaves him for another guy and all just kept Derrick in a very tight position where he just felt that any girl that is with him should have attention for him and for him alone this brought about trust issues, which some girls didnt understand, i know its difficult to be restrained from doing what you want to do but suprisingly i understand his problem and any girl that says they really like or love him should be willing to stick with him and understand him. Derrick just has this ideology "i wont do it if u dont do it" which i understand completely. This is another one of Anthony's traits passed on to Derrick which i dont know why he had to acquire all these bad traits; there was the time where Anthony and Claire were travelling and at the airport Anthony stepped away and a man approached Claire and started talking to her,  Anthony saw him from afar and saw the way Claire was smiling and he ran and said hi with a punch Yes! a Punch, he was pained! But at the end of everything he found out that the man was a classmate of hers and he felt so stupid. Luckily for Derrick, his own hasnt gotten to this point.
Derrick hasnt always been the brightest kid amongst his siblings but he had dreams, he has this dream of becoming a renowned movie/music/video producer, his dreams look like real dreams dont they? but i see them coming to pass. Derrick has always been promoted on the basis of "Let my people go" in school until 2011 when he got to Senior Secondary School 1 (SS1) then he began to see the neccessity of school and what could happen if he didnt study and pass. That year began his academic rise and also drop in his morality level, Derrick was then faced with the troubles of drugs, womanizing, alcholizim and cultism. Derrick became involved in all these and was led to the dark side but suprisingly could keep his grades up and pass his WAEC. After his secondary education he tried leaving all these and he did except one Cultism which still hunts him till date as he regrets all the things he did while he was still involved and asks for God's forgiveness.

CHAPTER 5-EMILY DERRON
Do we really have to know about the whole family? Well, duh! do u have a better idea? Emily is the second child and the first girl of this family, she is a light skinned pretty girl and a body that one can die for; you can say she got the beauty from her mother, her skin shines way bright under the sun and every guy wants a piece of her. She is the most calculative out of all the members of the family, she is also the smartest in the family and she looks like a complete angel; first glance at here one would think she doesnt talk.
Emily has a very catching spirit, she enticies everybody she comes in contact with, as a child when the family would enter a store the attendants would actually give here things for free and this went on for a long time even till date and it has helped this family during this trying time. Just recently a man saw Emily walking on the streets going to buy something for her mother, the man already enticed seeing the shape and skin of this girl stopped and came down from his range rover vogue and stood under the sun trying to convince young Emily to tell him her name; this already shows you how enticing her beauty is, he got what he wanted though and offered to take her to where she was going and back to her house which he did. This went on for a very long time, where he bought Emily an IPhone 6plus and several clothes not from konga but from the best boutiques in town just after knowing her for three days ah!! I wish i was a woman then came the foodstuff he would buy for her house as he was coming to see Emily.  Claire had no issues with what was going on ofcourse she had no problems, considering the present predicament of the house as they was no money anywhere and kept the house running and this was kept away from Anthony as they knew if Anthony knew he would spoil all their "runs" and trust me that was not needed as things were bad enough as they were. As we all know nothing under the sun can be hidden it must come out eventually, one faithful day, the day for the owner of the house came and Anthony staggered into the compund half drunk talking some rubbish and spoilt everything because unknown to everyone the man was told that Emily's father was dead and Anthony walking - sorry staggering into the compound spoilt the whole thing for them; no wonder the man was so cheerful in giving and never asked for the father. Everything just went back to square one from that day.
Emily has an issue with anger too, Yes! i thought it was just Derrick that had anger issues but apparently Emily does too and her's is worse than Derrick's. Imagine where a girl has anger issues. Emily and Tim dont get along with eachother so well and thats where Emily gets to pour out her anger she couldnt do it with Derrick because hes way stronger. She fights with Tim on a daily basis, she would kick, slap, bite and throw things at Tim for the littlest things. There was this time Tim was cleaning the plates and he accidently let one go and it broke, Emily was so angry took a piece of the plate and almost stabbed him with it; i think she did though. She got locked up for therapy and she  had to learn how to breath and relax when she is about to be vexed. Sometimes i wonder how she copes in relationships, where a guy breaks up with her; she would be like one of those chicks that would pull out the breaks of the guy or give him poison to drink or spray paint his car or house, to tell you the truth i pity for the dude.
Emily has also experienced her fair share of bad relationships, im worried though because shes a girl and she need to actually get married. Her compass is broken, she is always pointed in the wrong direction when it comes to men; she leaves the good and moral guy infront of her and goes for the bad and immoral guys  thats so far away from her, i understand that girls are usually drawn to the bad boy types but her's is actuall excessive dont you think? When someone tries to even talk about it she shuts them out and says " im not a child!!!" and people let it be. On several occassions has she let the good ones go and on several occassions has she gone after the wrong ones. I guess shes not as smart as we thought.

CHAPTER 6-TIM DERRON
Tim, the third child of the family the complete carbon copy of his father physically. Tim is very skinny fair child, first look at him you might feel hes suffering from malnutrition. He is quite young though so he doesnt really have a dirty past that i know of but i knew of a few things. Tim has actually turned into a ladies man - Is everyone in this family a womanizer? Im tired sef anyway Tim also has shown women issues recently, where he gets calls late in the night from different women this has given his family cause to wonder if its just his father's physical attributes he got.
Tim is Claire's baby, he is a spoilt brat - Do u have a brother who gets saved by your mom everytime? Yeah thats Tim but i think he dosent get saved all the time because if he did he would not be clashing with Emily all the time. Emily and Tim are like sworn enemies, they have never agreed on anything, they argue on the littlest things which allows Emily pour outt her aggressiveness on Tim and the funny thing there is that all though Tim looks for trouble all the time it is expected that he has strengthbut he dosent he just looks for trouble and runs to Claire. In the house, Tim is also considered the laziest in the family he dosent do anything useful in the house he just wakes up and goes back to bed which is irritating to everybody especially Emily.
Tim and Anthony dont really have this bond that Tim shares with Claire probably because of his drinking attitude and not always being around for them but the littlest time he has spent with him has passed down alot. Tim now is having woman issues at this age! What exactly is wrong with this family? Im F****** lost with this family now. Tim is about 11 years old and already has issues anyways Derrick started having issues with women when he was way younger than that so i aint suprised though. This Family has serious issues that only God can solve.

CHAPTER 7- CLAIRE DERRON
Oh look your almost done, Claire is the last born of the house, the baby of the house, the angel of the house, the joy of the house and the light in the house. Claire was the sealer of Claire's fate before she got pregnant for Claire she was contemplating whether on t leave Anthony and she prayed to God and he answered her with Claire.
Claire is an exceptional child, she is a smart child most people might say she smarter than Emily which i feel is highly impossible, Emily is very smart in every school she has every gone to she has won prizes of all sorts but Claire isnt like that but let me just guess that its because she is still still young and she hasnt gotten to where Emily has gotten too. Claire is regarded as the grandmother in the house because of the way she behaves she stresses her eyes and talks like a grandmother to top it up all of she bears this crazy resemblance to Anthony's mother.
Claire doesnt really have anything wrong with her now and i hope it stays that way because only God knows the evil that lurks in her.

CHAPTER 8- Present Day
Now lets fast foward to the present day, what does the present day have install for the Derron Family? Imagine Anthony without a drinking problem; Yes!!! He hasnt taken a drink in like 4yrs and it has worked well for him and hopefully i have see that he has stopped the womanizing and has found himself a good job and is now a CEO of an huge family. He has been able to get his s**t together and make his family happy, Anthony lives in a huge mansion in Abuja now with security details and escorts and is living the life he once had and its even better now because now he has a better relationship with his family now he dosent scream or beat them or ship them to another country so he can be with one of his mistresses, he is a changed man and a good man. Anthony is now a born again! Who would have ever thought that would be possible, he goes to church now everyday of the week and conducts prayers in his house every hour hes at home. I thank God for his life and for the life of his family, this just shows God is not asleep.
Wondering where Claire is? Claire is now the happiest woman on earth even happier than the first lady that her family is back to its feet. Claire now runs one of the biggest clothes, bags, jewellery and other accessories importations in Nigeria now. She takes several trips to Paris, Italy, Rome, London you name it just to shop and spend the holidays. She too has turned to God, well who wouldnt do that? After what has happened to her family, God is the woman who has made this possible for them. Claire's stealing spirit has gone away though, she is now amending her ways and goint toeach shop that she stole from and paying for the goods obviously it was in form of contributions to businesses. Claire's family are the happiest because Claire is the most loved in her family and also the family were already getting tired of feeding their family so i guess that was the major reason for their happiness.
The kids - their happy extremely happy, Derrick is done with the first degree in Petroluem Engineering and with his NYSC and now Anthony got him a job with Shell and is standing on his own as a man, the next step now is finding a wife. Derrick though has not giving up on his dream of being a successful Movie/Video/Music producer, he still chases this dream and i am sure God will grant him his heart desire. The other kids are enjoying their lives really, Emilly is in her 3rd year in medicine now, Tim is about writing WAEC and Claire, shes having fun as the last baby - In the end everyone is happy, greatful and thankful for the big turn around in their lives . So you can see the storm did whither after a while, i just pray that anyone who reads this can actually  draws a lesson from it because this is a true life experience and one should understand God's hatred for polygamy. Destiny can be delayed but can never be denied -  this is the moral of the story.
I feel so happy that someone can i actually sit down and read this short story of mine and i hope that same patience will be there to read my other short stories and one day a book.

- Okei Gabriel Okpunor.Jr

Author's Note

whats your take on the storyline? what do you think i can adjust?

Reviews

[Ibidun]

Hey, you write well. A first draft is not the final book so for a first draft you are on the right track.
A second draft should be good enough for any editor but first, you must work on developing your characters.

Good start.

[Gabriel Okpunor Okei]

Lots of Corrections.....but thats what i need....what do i have to do to make this skill better.....I never said i Was freaking Ben carson though