Story of a Survivor - Season 1 - Episode 9

5 years ago

Story of a Survivor - Season 1 - Episode 9

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Fifty thousand naira apart
It was on a Saturday that Mr. and Mrs. Chinedu
gave us the sum of fifty thousand naira each. It was like a miracle to us because we have not owned such amount of money before. We were so happy that we temporarily forgot our
situation/ Caroline went out in the evening and bought Suya which we all ate and drank Coke too. We talked into the night and slept late.

That night I dreamt: My late Father came to me, he apologized for leaving us so soon, he told me he did not plan to leave us yet but life is a mystery which I will understand soon. He said there were a lot of things he did not achieve before his death. He told me to take care of my Sisters, he said I should let junior suffer whatever is being meted to him by my uncle, he said it is good for Junior. I asked him if he had seen Caroline, he said no! Caroline is a Woman and would not understand certain things! I asked after my Mother and He told me she was okay and sends her greeting. He charged me to be strong, he said to me: Remember you are a Commando! And he faded into the air.

I had cried out from my sleep calling on him not to go as I had a lot of questions to ask him.

It was this morning that I cried my heart out over the death of my Father, I cried till I became tired, my sisters woke up and were consoling me. I know they would be wondering if I was okay,
crying as if daddy just died. I did not tell anybody my dream till now that I am writing this story.

I did not want what happened to Joseph in the
Bible to happen to me. I felt it might make my
elder ones feel bad and jealous. I brooded all
through that day and I did not go to Church. I
was at home cleaning up the house and I
washed everything that needed washing. I also cooked Jollof Rice for the house before my sisters returned from church.

I took a pen and a jotter and wrote down how I intend to utilize my fifty thousand naira. Daddy had reminded me that I was a commando! My thoughts wondered back to my days at Command Secondary school Abakaliki, we called ourselves
Commandoes, I had spent only two year there
but I came out with indelible experience. Student life at Command was all about competition amongst us. From the wakeup call at 5:30AM to Lights out bell at 10:30PM it was all about trying to be the best.

You strive to be among the first
to file out in the morning to sweep the
compound, you try to tidy up your room by
cleaning the Louvers, sweeping the floor and
cleaning the toilet. You try to take your bath on
time and dress your bed before leaving the
hostel for the School premises. In all of this you must not be late as lateness was like taboo.

You must not come late to the assembly ground, classes, meal time, prep time, sports time and manual labour time, lateness to all of these chores had consequences. There were also several rewarding schemes, the best dressed Bed, the cleanest room, the neatest Student, overall best Student, and best Student per Subject are recognized and rewarded. I had worn several of these awards back then.

We always strived to outwit one another.

So with fifty thousand naira in my Pocket in the
year 1997 I felt like the world was in my Pocket.

I said a special prayer to God for Mr. and Mrs.
Chinedu. After doting all the I’s and crossing all the T’s I fell asleep. My sisters came back from Church and were surprised at the transformation they saw in the house; though I was sleeping I could feel their presence. They did not wake me knowing I would evidently be exhausted.

Monday morning, after a breakfast of Pap and
Akara, Caroline summoned us together to
discuss the way forward. She suggested that we put our money together and setup a petty trading business on basic provisions; we could build a kiosk at the front of our Batcher until we raise something substantial to rent a Shop at the Mammy market.

I was the only one that declined on that idea,
and such opposition coming from me, the
youngest of the four did not go down well with
my Sisters. I reminded them of the Story of the
ten talents Mr. Chinedu told us; I told them that
the Slaves did not join the money given to them together rather each went to invest his own. I told them I had my own plans. I further reminded them that if Mr. Chinedu wanted us to combine the Money, he would have given the whole two hundred thousand naira to Caroline to control.

They called me the Prodigal Child, Silvia even
had to deal me a slap for daring to challenge
Caroline but I took it in good faith. It was finally
declared that I was on my own as regards
feeding, clothing, cosmetics and so on.

Pauline and Silvia gave their Money to Caroline, while I kept mine.