The Visit

The other day, Veronica said that she would like for me to meet her family. I had understood Jim to say that she lived nearby with her mother, a short walk from our place. However, the "family visit" involved a good deal more. First, we walked to the house in which she stays during the week in order to be close to work. There, I met Mary, who Veronica calls her mother, but who may or may not be related. Another woman, Jacqueline, the person who Jim had believed to be Veronica's mother, lived in another house nearby, but who is in fact an auntie. Veronica proceeded to change from sweat pants to a pretty dress and then told me we first had to take a taxi into town where we would then get into another taxi to take us out to her family home. After quite a long ride - almost out to the airport - and directly across from the Army's Bahwah Barracks, we exited the taxi in front of her father's compound. Veronica's father, Jacob, is a retired policeman who lives with his two wives on a compound he built several years ago. With great pride, he gave me a tour of the premises. There, I also met Veronica's birth mother, Abalise, along with Jacob's senior wife, Larama, who Veronica refers to as her step-mother. Jacob informed me that he sired eight children with his senior wife (two of whom are deceased) and six with his second wife. Husband and wives happily posed together for a family photo.