CHAPTER 0NE
In the month of October, when people
were being given admissions into the higher institutions of greater learning,
Stephanie had been at home for some time and due to fact that her academic
pursuit in life was her ultimate, she became quite frustrated with waking up in
the morning, preparing breakfast, tidying up the whole house, washing the
school uniforms of Stan and Gold, preparing among all other chores.
One morning,
the clock struck 4:00am, she rose up and decided within her that nothing would
be done that day. The frustration made her think of nothing but leaving the
house. “But to where?” this was the question that ran through her mind. Her
friends gained admissions into different schools while she and a few others had
to spend some more years seeking for admission. This made her to draw closer to
God, but in the aspect of coming to God, the devil equally brought himself.
New friends were made at the church
ranging from the youths to the young couples and then to the little children;
she being a lover of kids. On this day, she had gone to church late on the 26th
of December at the closure of service and was ashamed to enter into the church
premises. It was then she met Emmy who had attended the same church; he was a
short but fine looking gentleman but unknown to her, in every gentleman, there
was a wild animal.
Actually,
she thought to herself, “The devil equally comes to the house of God”. The
choristers sang and the instruments were played while Stephanie moved her body
especially her waist to the rhythm of the song. The first question Emmy asked
was, “are you from Owerri?” she looked at him and as someone she hadn’t met nor
talked to before, she replied, “no, but that is my maternal home”. “Wow!” he
exclaimed and said, “I can see the reason your waist moves so well”. The young
girl who couldn’t utter a reply only smiled and continued with her dance. At
the end of the whole activities, contacts were exchanged and she headed for a
vehicle which would take her home.
Their
friendship began, Emmy did most of the calls while Stephanie on her own part
received and paid attention. In most cases, he complimented her and told her
how much he liked her.
Indeed men
are deceitful; they act from their heads while the soft natured female folks
act from their hearts. One day, he invited her over and she complied thinking
that since they attended the same church and believed in the same doctrine,
that nothing wrong was going to happen.
She got his address, and arrived
there on the appointed date. The compound was large owing to the fact that it
was a family house, he was out to meet her and then he took her into his
bedroom after introducing her to his siblings. He took her by her arms and led
her inside, offered her a drink and a seat. They talked and he professed his
love for her; she being a little girl couldn’t respond positively, he began
touching her body, he felt her ass and touched her breasts but she pushed him
away. “What is your problem?” Stephanie asked, “Can’t you stay on your own?”
Emmy looked at her, hissed and said, “So I can’t touch you, as in?” She made
way to leave and turned, smiled at Emmy and asked, “You wouldn’t see me off?”
He kept his pretense to himself and walked behind her until they got to a
tarred road where she boarded a bike. They only waved goodbye and she left
while he went back to his little abode.
There was a knock on the door. “Ann,
check who is there” I sat still and picked the remote and began to change the
channels to see if any station got my attention.
“Yeah” I
said when I found this one which played the latest songs and videos as well. I
tuned to it and saw some young girls almost nude, dancing to the rhythm of the
song.
Ann
approached the living room with a brown envelope shaking it like a child that
one would think she was not up to 14 years of age. “Aunty”, she called out to
me. “Who gave you that?” was the question that leapt out of my mouth.
I quickly
dropped the remote that stuck like glue to my hand and rushed to meet the young
lad. It was due to the recent bomb attacks on lives of people that possibly
hastened my collecting the envelope from Ann. Since the suicide bombers had
sought every possible way for the termination of the lives God gave to mankind.
But my question was, “why would someone want to take the life of another or
even that of himself whereas he can’t give life? Yes we are all sinners and God
is faithful and just to forgive us all our sins but should these sins keep
repeating themselves?” many things ran through my mind as I saw Ann dangling
the envelope. “Ann, I called out to her and collected the envelope from my grip
and dropped it on the center table.
She looked
at me as though I had done something extra ordinary. I grabbed her by her arm
and sat her close to myself. The song on the screen had been playing all
through bit it seemed as if it had been ignored by the coming of the envelope.
When she got
her breadth, she said, “aunty, what is the problem?” I looked at her and saw
the scare and fears in her eyes. “My dear”, I said “You would not understand.
So tell me who gave you that envelope”. When she got her breadth completely,
she said, “a young man knocked at the door and when I went to open the door, he
told me that he was asked to deliver the parcel”. I looked at the girl and my
gaze moved to the envelope on the table. Well, the parcel had to be opened no
matter what.
I got up and
stretched my arms to retrieve the parcel I had dropped earlier. But stood aloof
and the only thing that crossed my mind was the saying of Patrick White in one
of his poems that said, “fear no obstacles admist ……….” With these words, I
picked it up and opened it. Guess what! My fears were vain; the envelope
contained some jewelries and money including a letter which my husband Chris
had sent to me from Canada. Smiles eluded my face as I read the short letter.
Chris was not a man of many words rather his actions spoke more; the letter
encouraged and strengthened me especially the aspect that assured me of our
marriage vows and commitments made.
Ann began to
touch the jewelries which I had brought out and placed on the table. The moment
her eyes met mine, she speedily dropped them. She removed her face and said,
“Aunty, I hope there is nothing wrong”, I replied with the nod of the head that
everything was in control.
Curiously, she asked me about the content which I indicated were from her
uncle; the young girl smiled and sat still, possibly waiting for me. I gathered
the gifts together and sat down next to her as we were seated at first. She
said, “Aunty, please continue” and then I began.
Days turned into weeks while weeks
turned into months but Stephanie was nowhere to be found and her phone numbers
weren’t connecting. Emmy went out with other girls in the neighborhood whilst
waiting for Stephanie whom he claimed to love so much. At
last, the waiting was over, she gave him a call that she was prepared to visit
him. He tidied up the little room and got a bottle of alcoholic wine haven
known that she never took alcoholic drinks. Stephanie came and was welcomed;
well, but her mission had always taken a different tone. She embraced him and
sat on the couch, lifted his album and began going through the pictures; she
saw the pictures of his siblings and that of his childhood. While these things
happened, she had not said a word. Emmy who was confused at the turn out of
events spoke out and said. “Stephanie, what a surprise to see you again”. She
looked askance at him and said, “It’s not a surprise because I called you and
informed you of my visit. So why are you acting as if you have just seen a
ghost?” Emmy said, “Yes you told me you were coming, that is after how many
months? Yes after two months, since May”. She said nothing in reply and he
offered her the drink which she disproved of but he encouraged her and said,
“it’s not alcoholic, its only 7% alcohol for this big bottle”. Stephanie said
with a frown on her face, “you know I do not take stuffs like this, please” but
he persuaded her until she succumbed and took little quantity. She said, “Am ok
with this” as she tasted it, one would not detect if it were sweet of sour. She
drank little more and relaxed with her eyes blinking. One would guess what he
had done to her drink. He drugged it and alas, it had worked for him.
Ann shouted
at the top of her voice “what! Men are wicked”. Well, that was the absolute
truth, what could I say? I spoke aloud, “this is a man’s world”. Ann looked at
me with a sad face and said, “Is that what the female folk face on the hands of
their male counterparts?” I smiled and said to her, “my dear that is one of the
reasons we have feminists in the society today, ok”. Ann asked, “What happened
afterwards?”
Afterwards, Emmy tried all he could
but Stephanie resisted even in her sorry state, yet, he tore her clothes and put
in his key into her tiny hole. When he got up, he looked into her eyes and saw
tears yet the only thing he could say was, “do you know how many girls I sleep
with in a day?”
“I wonder
the sort of satisfaction one derives from an act like this, in the name of
pleasure” I said to myself. I looked at Ann who had started sobbing even before
hearing the last words.
The little
girl Ann couldn’t hold herself and cried out aloud to my utmost dismay which
got me a little worried because she was a growing child who was still in her
early teens. I was forced to console my little companion whom at least in my
husband’s absence stayed with me in thick and thin. I moved closer to her and
held her tight, she raised up her face and stared at me for a long long while
before eventually she spoke and said, “that girl has suffered, aunty, I hope
she didn’t get pregnant after that terrible incident. “Oh! My God”, I said to
her, “Ann! See, what people especially the females face every day in life is
not easy. Their stories could make up an anthology. I just told you this so
that in your dealings with people, you would be careful, ok”. Ann wiped her
tears and nodded positively.
The day was
far spent and we weren’t hungry but could only take a glass of juice or two. I
rushed to the refrigerator for the fruit juice I bought two days back on my way
from work and also two glasses. Speechless Ann didn’t utter a word as I
approached with the drink and glasses, I poured out a little quantity into a
glass and gave it to her while I poured myself a glass too.
I looked and
kept looking at Ann and thought to myself, “what an emotional creature”. I
rushed my juice and said, “we have to go and sleep and prepare for tomorrow. We
would have a tedious day”. She finished hers and followed behind me.
CHAPTER TWO
“A call coming from the office says
that there is a meeting slated for Thursday at 10:30am in port-Harcourt. That
means we would be leaving tomorrow morning. You are lucky your school is on
vacation” I said to Ann in the bedroom. Ann got up and made for the wardrobe
and said, “Let me start packing my clothes” “No”, I said, “that would be done
in the morning, ok. It’s just a weekend trip. Not much to pack”. She laid back
on the bed.
The night
was so calm and as I turned, I saw little Ann’s pretty face and felt that she
had taken a lot already; the thought of the Port-Harcourt trip crept into my
mind. “Wow!” I uttered almost inaudibly and thought of my sweet husband whom
had gone through thick and thin to endeavor to go down the aisle with me. After
all the wrongs which I had done to Chris, who would think we would be together?
My experiences in the hands of the male folks had turned me into a monster when
it came to the issues concerning men.
What an
incident! I met Chris at a wedding, although he looked responsible and
expensively dressed, I bluffed him aside when he asked for my audience. You
wouldn’t blame me, would you? After my experience in Port-Harcourt the last
time I went there.
Come to think of it. It all started
one morning, Ugo came to the house at that time, Oluchi had gone to work and
Chioma and I were left. The electronic gadgets as at then were limited and the
youths had none compared to this present day when every Tom, Dick and Harry
possessed at least an expensive mobile phone. That was what year? If I could
remember vividly, that was 2006, wow! Years ago.
Ugo had this
gadget and frequented the house with it and so got our attention. I was younger
and more naïve than Chioma was and so she asked me around as one would do
servants although we were cousins.
On this
particular day, she asked me to go to Ugo’s shop and get his phone so that at
least we could see pictures and play some songs, which I did. He gave me the
phone and promised to come and collect it at home when he was done for the day.
As a young girl, I collected it and raced to the house and then gave it Chioma.
Ugo came after about 20 minutes and then I was in the bedroom but upon hearing
my name, I emerged from inside on one of the singlet and short my mum had
bought for me, the orange was my favorite because although am not light, the
colour went well with my skin tone; as I entered the sitting room, I noticed
his eyes on me and at once I became shy so shy that my limbs couldn’t move
either forward or backward that I speedily ran to the nearest couch. As a
little girl, I said nothing and took it as nothing. After he had left, it was
Chioma who said, “He likes you”. I was dumbfounded and had nothing to say but
only smiled and returned into the room.
Days passed
on and no one saw or heard from Ugo but suddenly he showed up one day when it
was drizzling and Chioma and I were outside and being the younger, had come in
to take the clothes which had been washed earlier. After keeping the clothes on
the bed, I came out only for me to meet with Ugo who requested for drinking
water. How was I to know that he had something else in store. He collected the
water and drank his fill while I went inside to drop the cup, I made haste so
he could leave likewise myself. Lo! The next thing I noticed was that my legs
could not touch the ground. “Was I floating?” I asked myself with tears running
down my checks, he threw me on one of the long chairs and began kissing me
passionately. The tears never seized flowing. I hid my lips but he forcefully
kissed me and gave me a deep bite. He tried and tried but when I acted as
though I had been defeated, he got up from me and left the house. Tears never
seized flowing till I left Port-Harcourt for Umuahia to meet with daddy and
mummy. Chioma who called herself my cousin cared less but only pointed out that
I had left her outside whereas I was enjoying myself inside. Look at that,
“even the so called females are in opposition” I said aloud.
Yea, I knew
it wasn’t any fault of mine that Chris had to go through what he went through
in other to marry me.
That wasn’t all, you could imagine;
he who called himself “my cousin”, indeed this cousin thing doesn’t work.
Seriously, it doesn’t; Mezie couldn’t stop frolicking with the vital parts of
my body, he squeezed my breasts and ass at any given opportunity and each time
I complained, he only said, “I can do anything but not sex with you. Blood is
thicker than water”. Hello………….. What name would one call what he did to me at
that tender age. Yet, no one asked me anything, they only pretended as if they
were unaware.
I couldn’t tell anyone all I was
going through in the hands of strangers and relatives. Mum never sided me on
issues like this and dad? Let’s not go there, that was no go area. One could
not talk of issues concerning male and female to their hearing. All they wanted
to hear was academics and current affairs. That was not all life had in store,
there were other issues aside these but the only time dad spoke about men
coming close to me was probably when he got drunk or had issues with mum. That
was unfair; I had to go back into my cocoon because I didn’t have friends
either who were close to me.
I felt pity
for Chris but I was scared too because of previous occurrences. Life is indeed
a misery; one can’t solve all the puzzles life puts in front of us.
I could remember one day after
school, I in company of my classmates decided to go home and take off our
school uniforms then change into casual wears. Of course, who wouldn’t want to
go out with her classmates? I got home and changed my wears, informed mum and
dad of my outing with my classmates and obviously got the permission.
Victor’s
house was quite large and spacious that everyone took to doing anything, some
of us played cards, some sang, some danced while others chatted away their
time. The guys thought it wise to go back home because they lived far away
while the girls lived close by. We stayed back i.e the four of us including
myself. A call came in and two left for that of a friend of theirs and then
Uche and I were left. Obi came in and started up a quarrel with Uche which
landed in a heated argument. Uche ran away and left Obi and myself inside the
house. Come on! I didn’t think of ant thing because we were classmates and he
was our class representative for that matter. Although he looked irresponsible,
he had a lot of responsibilities on his shoulders, I thought.
Unfortunately,
the lock at the door could only be unlocked from the inside- a fact that was
not known until the end. Obi lifted me up and covered my mouth so that I
couldn’t scream, talk nor cry; he took me into Victor’s room and threw me on
the bed.
Tears filled
my eyes. I was confused, victimized and ill-treated by my classmate. Obi was
too strong possibly because during weekends, he helped in the construction
sites for pay, I could imagine the kind of jobs he did there.
He looked
into my eyes, hissed and then took away his heavy self from my petite body. The
only reason Victor knew what may had gone wrong, was the sound of the bed when
I was being thrown on it. Victor shouted at the top of his voice and said,
“Obi, I don’t like that, leave that girl alone, I don’t like that”. Obi left
the house and banged the door. It was due to Victor’s intervention that I
wasn’t hurt; Victor and Uche kept pleading and apologizing trying to console
me. I was ashamed to enter the classroom the following day; but I had no choice
and as I walked, I counted my steps and kept quiet throughout.
Chris approached me and to me, he
struck like one of them but I guess he is quite different although we hadn’t
stayed for long in the marriage. My attention was called back at the striking
of the clock which revealed that it was 6o’clock am but the day was still young
and dark. The light in the room shone so bright it revealed the face of Ann who
stared at me without my knowledge and I haven’t even known how long that little
child had done that. I had so much love and affection for that little child may
be due to the fact that I gone through a lot before I got to her age.
I got up and
tapped her who had closed her eyes in sleep and moved for her to get up. We a
little late for our morning prayers but we had to as a matter of must, do it.
She got up and we began praying- prayed and sang hymns.
The day had
begun and we had to do a lot. The wardrobe was flung open and then I brought a
sizeable box and some clothes while Ann stood looking. When I noticed that two
hands alone did the work and the hands were that of mine, I spoke without
lifting up my face and said, “come, do you expect me to find your clothes too?”
she said with fears and scare in the tone of her voice, “no, I was waiting for
you to finish”, she bent and began picking her clothes and put them into the
same box. The packing didn’t take long after all, it was just for the weekend.
Breakfast
was made- toasted bread with tea, and the dishes were tidied up, the kitchen
was arranged and we had our bath. We were set for the trip.
At 10:21am, Ann
and I were already at the station waiting to purchase the tickets; the queue
was so long that people began to retreat. Finally, at 11:24 am, which was over
an hour, we got our tickets and went straight to the luxurious bus which had
waited for so long to be heated by the butts of the travelling people. We got
into the vehicle and at least relaxed our bodies that had gone through stress
haven stood up for over an hour. The vehicle left at 11:45 am and then the
journey began. The journey was not an easy one.
Just as it all began. Ann had
already slept off a little while after the vehicle took off. I felt a little
revealed for virtually everyone had slept and I had to have the entire serenity
to myself until anyone awoke. In the middle of my happy mood and amidst the
quiet environment, the sobs of someone was heard. A young
girl, whose age was probably between ages 17-21 sobbed with difficulty? I
turned and she was at the 2nd row after mine and fortunately enough
for her if I were to put it that way, there was a passage for easy movement but
the problem was where I was to sit and sympathize with that poor girl. “Ok”, I
said to myself. When Ann made a little move of which I took the opportunity
and asked that she exchanged seats with the girl. Ann grudgingly accepted haven
been sleeping. Ann left without a word but all her words were buried in her
face but although I felt bad, the most important issue was the reason for the
tears. The young girl sat close to me and continued with her worries, I asked,
“dear, please, what is your name?” she replied with her face down and wiping
her tears with the palm of her hands, she responded, “Stella”. I said, “Ok
Stella, why are you crying?” “You wouldn’t want to know”, Stella said. I kept
my gaze on her and said, “If I according
to you, don’t want to know, I shouldn’t have met you in the first place. So tell
me what I need to hear ok” her sobs increased, “quite crying, stop stop” I
continued. This was one of the traits I portrayed, trying to console,
sympathize and advice people but I never liked to be treated that way. Stella
said, “It’s my in-law” I said almost at the top of my voice, “what about your
in-law? Is he or she dead?” Stella shouted as she responded, “no, he is alive
and well but it would have been a little bit softer if he had died”. “Why say
such of your in-law? He is married to your sister or what?” Stella nodded
positively to affirm the question. I asked her again because I thought that
maybe, she didn’t hear the question and said, “What did he do to you?” she
raised up her face and for the first time since we had been talking, she looked
at me for a while and shook her head and then said, “I went to my sister’s
house to help her take care of the house because the nature of her job didn’t
really give her time for house chores. The recent happenings of house helps and
peoples husbands made a lot of people change their mind towards the issue. My
sister promised to train me in the University and we had just taken JAMB but
the result is not out yet”. She continued with her tears and spoke, “this man
who calls himself my sister’s husband, came back from work one afternoon while
I was tidying up the kitchen. Funny enough, I don’t prepare his meals, he came
into the kitchen and pushed me aside feigning anger but I only greeted him and
continued with my work. While I was doing that, he approached me still and told
me that he noticed that I am beautiful, young and have my packages in the right
places.” She paused and moved on, “suddenly, he began kissing and caressing me
and when I tried to move away, he smooched me to the wall and then I had no
option than to push him away and run. He adjusted himself and went into the
sitting room, he called me but I ignored him, and when I responded, I came into
the sitting room and called me but I ignored him, at the time I responded, I
came into the sitting room and he instructed me not to tell my sister”. “Wow”,
I thought to myself, what an instruction. One did something terribly wrong and
instead of apologizing, he only issued an instruction. I said, “But that is not
enough for the tears, is it?” she continued again, “to cut the long story
short, he forced himself on me severally and one day, a neighbor caught us and
reported to my sister who didn’t even give me time to explain things, she came
into the house and asked me to pack my things and go back to my parents”. Hmm,
that story was really a touching one but her sister didn’t act well neither did
she. Yeah! The case was not taken likely because it seemed as though it
ill-favored one person and I asked, “What happened to her husband?” Stella said
that she didn’t know his own judgment. Again, she spoke and said, “I don’t know
if she would train me in school again” and she began to cry once more. I
pacified her to stop and told her to all things to go down then call the
sister, apologize and narrate to her what had happened. At least, there was a
proverb that stated, “The anger of a sibling does not get to the bone”
possibly, there would be a positive side to the story. Stella accepted and
thanked me for my time, listening ears and advice. At that time, the passengers
had started waking up and so she returned to her seat while Ann returned to
hers fully awake. The journey had almost ended and so I thought the bottle of
drink which I bought before boarding the vehicle and sipped haven known that I
could ease myself any moment from then.
Finally, we
got to Port-Harcourt and stopped in the station where we would stay till
meeting was over and we were set to go back. We got into the taxi and asked for
a nice hotel of which the distance was a bit far, the taxi took us to the hotel.
CHAPTER
THREE
The previous day’s trip had been
memorable; various people with their own experiences and dark sides of life.
Eric’s
birthday was on Friday and he had invited Oma his girlfriend his house at
Port-Harcourt to celebrate with him. Oma left her school on Thursday morning so
that she would get there on time and prepare for the mini-celebration. At about
10:48 am, she got to his place and dialed his number to inform him of her safe
arrival. She had the keys to his apartment and had to stay there alone until
lunch time when Eric arrived from work. They embraced each other and settled
down. He made her lunch being a guest although they had been dating for some
time. He prepared a delicious plate of indomie for the both of them and brought
two cans of juice due to the fact that none of them took alcohol. They played,
ate and drank before he went back to work. Oma slept throughout the day haven
been left alone till about 5:00 pm when Eric closed for the day.
He came back
and the fun continued. Eric remembered the time they started dating and said,
“my silly soul mate”, Oma looked at him with a feigned frown and said, “How
come the title?” he asked, “what title?” and she said, “the title silly”. They
both laughed over it and cuddled themselves whilst they slept.
The day broke quite early. Oma was
still engrossed in her love affair with Eric while he untangled himself from
the mesh and dressed up for work. She turned and said, “Sweetheart, good
morning. Happy birthday” Eric lent close to her and gave her a kiss and then
said, “Thanks dear”. Oma rose up and adjusted his wear while he took his
briefcase and said to her, “make sure you have something for breakfast o. you
know you don’t like to eat”. Oma smiled at him and said,
“Do not worry yourself ok, I will. Have a nice day”. Eric left for work and she
laid back on the bed.
In the later
hours of the morning, Oma got up and stretched herself and then staggered into
the bathroom, had her bath, and dressed up and then off she went to the
kitchen. She had her breakfast and tidied up the house. Since there was nothing
much to do, she saw some movies and slept.
Eric
returned quite early probably because it was his birthday. When she saw him
coming, she ran and embraced him and they both kissed and she said to him,
“hope your day was fine” he looked at her, smiled and said, “Yea, hearing your
voice on the phone made it splendid”. She replied, “Wow! That’s so sweet”. He
dropped his bag and took off his clothes and came into the sitting room where
she lay reading a novel. Eric said to her, “Baby, you would do the cooking,
hope you know”. Oma smiled and said, “I know, birthday baby. So, what do we use
for the birthday celebration?” He said, “Well, it would be rice and salad”. Oma
left and started the cooking and before long, the food was ready.
It was evening and there was no
light, they waited patiently, closed up the windows to avoid the free entry of
mosquitoes and then sat down patiently in the compound, chatting and playing.
Eric got up, went to put on the generator set while his dear friend retired to
the living room. The light shone in the entire house and suddenly there was a
knock on the door, Eric peeped and discovered who it was. It was Mirabel- his
ex-girlfriend; he rushed into the room and embraced Oma to her surprise, she
asked, “what was that for?” the look on his face was not encouraging and then
he said, “Baby, please a friend of mine just came to surprise me on my
birthday”. Oma looked at him, smiled and said, “That’s nice, so where is he?”
not knowing that the figure was a female, she stepped away from him but he held
her back and explained things to her and at the point she heard that it was his
ex, her smiling face turned to fierce anger, she spoke out and said, “I don’t
get it”. Eric haven known that it wasn’t going well with her said in a gentle
tone, “she came to spend the night here and would be leaving tomorrow”, Oma
stared at him and tears filled her eyes but she held them from flowing, she
said nothing and Eric continued, “Oma, you are not saying anything, talk to me
please”. He held her tight but she moved away from his grip and said, “What do
you want me to say? Well, she is your guest, give her your best in terms of
hospitality”. Eric looked at her, shook his head and said, “Is that all you
would say?” Oma whose anger had risen to bursting point only looked at him,
hissed and left. Then, he opened the door for Mirabel, embraced her and ushered
her in.
The issue
then was that all the rooms in the house were occupied by Eric’s friends and
the only place that was left unoccupied was the sitting room. Eric took Mirabel
into his bedroom and took away Oma’s bags and wears. Could you believe that?
What a cruel world. How could someone who called himself someone’s boyfriend do
this to a lady? Well, that’s not the end of it all.
Oma was at the balcony when she got
a message on her phone from Eric, apologizing, and asking for her forgiveness.
After reading the text, she smiled mockingly and deleted it.
When she got
into the sitting room, she saw her bag well-arranged at one corner of the room,
she was dumbfounded, angry, worried and all but just settled down there and
picked up a novel.
Eric
approached from the bedroom and sat down close to her and waited for to bring
up a discussion but to no avail because she had concentrated on the novel as
though she didn’t notice his presence.
He haven
noticed that she was in no mood for any discussion, he said, “Am going out on a
stroll, when you are hungry, eat ok. I will be fine”. Oma didn’t utter any word
but only looked at him as he got up and left the house.
Oma couldn’t
eat anything because the anger was boiling inside her; she got up, had her bath
and changed into her nighties. Since she was to pass the night in the sitting
room, she laid down on the couch. Eric came in and asked her if she had eaten
but she replied, “Am not hungry”; he passed a glance at her and made for the
bedroom, called Mirabel out and went into the kitchen, dished out a quantity of
food for himself and Mirabel and they both went to the balcony and began
playing like two love birds. “Are you serious? Are these people really past or continuous?
Were they still dating?” these were the questions that Oma asked herself because
unknown to them, she had tiptoed to find out things for herself. They ate
together and then he returned the dishes to the kitchen where he met with Oma
who left him without a word.
Oma laid down on the couch till day
break. She couldn’t sleep nor was her mind at rest after the incident of the
previous night. The weather was too cold that she caught cold and ended up with
a swollen face because of the tears she had shed.
As early as
possible, she got up, had her prayers and went into the bathroom, had her bath,
dressed up and was making up when Eric came in. he was astonished at her
actions and then asked her, “Baby! Why are you all dressed up?” Oma looked at
him and only asked him, “how was your night?” Eric who was confused said,
“Please don’t do this to me”, Oma who was controlling herself in other not to
burst spoke out and said, “What am I doing? Oh! Eric, you abandoned me here all
through last night and you were with your friend, or would I say ex whom you
did nit dim fit to introduce to me.” Eric heard these words, stood up and said,
“Baby, am sorry I didn’t introduce her to you because I do not know how you
would react to it nor how she would react too. Am sorry, I don’t want you both
to create a scene please”. Oma only picked up her bag and gave him a hug and
left.
As I turned, I felt someone beside
me. “Oh, it was only a dream” Ann was sleeping like a little baby and I
couldn’t have woken her and so I got hold of my phone and checked the time,
only for me to find out that it was 04:32 am. The sleep had disappeared and so
I faced the ceiling and my thoughts went back to my dream.
That city
had a lot in it which were negative to myself; I had to leave as soon as
possible and I was glad the meeting would last for only 2 hours at its maximum.
I had to leave immediately after the meeting but it was a pity I had to cut
Ann’s weekend vacation, but I had no choice because I couldn’t go through any
more traumas.
At 01:30 pm, the meeting had ended
and I was glad I was leaving. I got to the reception hall and picked Ann who
had waited there for me all through the meeting. I stopped a taxi which was to
take us back home. Ann turned to me and said, “So my vacation has been cut
shot”, I smiled and said to her, am sorry dear. We would take another holiday
but that would be in another city, ok?” she smiled and gave me a positive nod.
My thoughts went to my marriage with Chris and I said, “I pray my husband would
be different so that I would seize to go through these terrible experiences”. I
smiled to myself and it was then that I noticed that Ann had been staring at
me. The cab stopped and we entered and we waved goodbye to Port-Harcourt.
