Must Read: Paradox Of Abel - Season 1 - Episode 20

Episode 7 years ago

Must Read: Paradox Of Abel - Season 1 - Episode 20

He was now expecting Mr. Johnson to dip his hand into the bag he carried around his shoulder, come out with a hatchet and make a swing at his right arm, pop the joint off the socket and use the bloody ligament as a cane. All these possibilities did not elicit a smile from Daniel’s face. But he found the man smiling sweetly at him; Daniel was not seeing the smile but the coldness in Mr. Johnson’s eyes.
Remi’s father cast his eyes off Daniel’s scared face and looked at the girl. “What’s your name?”


The girl gave a thought about answering the man or not, she decided there wasn’t any harm in divulging her name to the stranger, she said, “Esther.”
Mr. Johnson smiled warmly, “What a coincidence! That was the name of my first crush in grammar school.”
The girl, Esther, didn’t know how to give reply to this kind of statement, she kept quiet.
“I’ve always had a secret crush on her since the moment she enrolled in my school, but I never told her about how I felt because I didn’t have the courage. I never did see her again. I still regret not talking to her though. Did you have a high school crush, Esther?”
The girl, now feeling uncomfortable with the direction the conversation was taking, merely nodded yes.
“What’s his name? I’m sure it isn’t Tunde.”
Daniel was appalled at what the man was saying. The conversation sounded to him like Mr. Johnson was making a pass at the girl. He was angry. Has the man gotten no shame? The girl couldn’t be older than his daughter. Daniel felt like tearing the man’s hand off and flogging him with it.
“Tunde?” the girl looked confused, “Who is Tunde?”
“That’s my name.” Mr. Johnson replied.




The girl smiled for the first time, white teeth glistened in the crescent her timid smile made, that smile alone sent a s£nsat!on through Daniel’s body. The smile could turn a stone to bread and could charm a bird out of the sky and into a cage.
“No, his name isn’t Tunde.” She replied, making emphasis with the shake of her head. “His name was Daniel.” She spoke with an invented accent and looked as if laughter was forever bobbling up at the back of her throat.
Daniel blushed hotly. He knew that the Daniel the girl was saying was not him, but he blushed all the same. He cast his eyes downward to hide his nervous countenance.
“Did you tell him?” Johnson asked.
“Tell him what?”
‘How you felt about him.”
She smiled again, ‘yes, I did.” She cast her face down in shyness.
Johnson smiled with her, “And what did he say?”
Esther was still looking down when she replied, “He turned me down.”
“Aw! Daniel must have been very silly to turn down a pretty girl like you.”
Famous felt like the man was indirectly referring to him but he could not see any sense in that.



Mr. Johnson became suddenly serious, as if he had just remembered what had brought him to the doorstep. “Is your father in?” he asked her.
“Yes, he doesn’t go out much these days. Besides, it’s Christmas Eve.”
Acknowledging the fact, Johnson nodded, “The house must be filled with guests, right?”
“Not really. Aside my parents and me, we’ve \got only five people; all of them family.”
“You’re Mr. Malik’s last child, am I right?”
“You’re quite right, sir.”
“Is my daughter here?”
The girl cast that suspicious look at Johnson and Daniel again. ‘Your daughter?” she said to Johnson, “Who are you?”
“I’m your sister’s ex-husband. Is she around, your mother?”
“You mean Sister Ruth?”
“Do you have any other sister?”
“No, yes, Sister Ruth is here.”
“Is her daughter here too?”
“If you are talking about Vera, yes, she is here.”
Johnson smiled at Daniel who carried a puzzled expression on his face. Tunde understood the questioning look and said:
“That’s the name her mother christened her: Vera, what a name? I’ll never call my daughter that. What was Ruth thinking about to name her Vera?” he smiled again at Daniel. “I’m not going to tear off your arm after all.” He turned to Esther, “Would you kindly invite us in, Miss Malik?” he spoke pleasantly.
“Are you vampires?” she demanded, smiling.



Both men were taken aback at this question. She laughed at the men’s ignorance and said, “Mythically, vampires never enter people’s homes unless invited in, hence my question.”
Mr. Johnson still did not grab the joke. He replied, “I’m sure I’m not a vampire, I don’t know about Daniel beside me here.”
An awkward moment it was. Daniel did not talk for fear of giving the girl the liberty of thinking him as senile as the older man. He was also worried about keeping quiet, thinking his silence could reflect the truth in what Mr. Johnson had presumed.
To prevent the conversation from getting more awkward, the girl invited them in. As they walked into the house, Daniel being a trained observer, naturally noticed that the girl had restless hips.
The interior of the building was almost as massive as the exterior visage. The living room, which the family referred to as the parlour, was as large as a hotel hall. And on the walls were pictures of apparently long dead ancestors from the western, eastern and northern parts of the country; some men dressed in flowing dansiki and on their heads rested turbans, some others wore wrappers under their shirts – with feathered caps adorning their heads, and the rest were donned in agbada and very local caps with the halves withered to the left side. The house, though anciently structured, had been erected by professional builders. Daniel looked around the large room expecting to find pillars in the middle somewhere, but there wasn’t. There was a big television screen at one end of the room, and from the ceiling dangled as much as a dozen ceiling fans. The furniture was well-embroidered. The rug covering the floor was artfully designed. The room in particular was exquisitely neat, with a lot of stories to tell.
Daniel took a seating beside Mr. Johnson as the girl went into an inner room to summon the landlord. Mr. Johnson had implored the girl to call in his daughter first, but she’d refused bluntly, saying that she’d have to call the owner of the house first, if the man welcomed them, then the daughter would be summoned. When she’d departed, Mr. Johnson cursed under his breath and said the girl was as crazy as her father. Daniel did not approve of this statement but he didn’t show it. His hatred for the man grew like a plague.



It was nearly ten minutes before Jamal Malik came to see his guests. He looked pleased at seeing Tunde. He and his guest held each other in a handshake slightly firmer than a dead mackerel.
“Did you hear the news too?” Jamal asked, smiling warmly.
“What news?” Tunde asked, he wasn’t smiling at all.
“About my inviting all my family members to come and spend the Christmas with me. I thought that’s why you are here.”
“I didn’t hear that. And no, that’s not why I’m here. I’m here to take my daughter. I learnt that she came here.”
The man frowned, “Take your daughter? Why would you want to take her?”
“She left home without my consent.”
“Well, she did not run away. She came to see her handsome grandfather, as she put it,” Jamal smiled, “She agreed to spend the Christmas with us. I’d be very much obliged if you did the same. I need all my family members with me, and you’re family, regardless what happened between you and Ruth.” He seemd to notice the presence of Daniel Famous for the first time, as if the youngest man among them had suddenly teleported himself and intruded in their conversation. He summed up Daniel with his eyes and demanded his identity from Tunde.



“He’s the one who told me that Remi is here.” The pronunciation of that name sent an irregular rhytnm to Daniel’s heart.
“Do you know him personally? I mean, how much have you known him?”
“I met him newly. Why did you ask?”
Jamal did not answer the question directly, “That means he’s not family, right? He’s not related to you. Here’s a stranger here.”
Tuned looked askance at his ex-father-in-law, “So?”
“So, he’ll have to leave. I’m only inviting family members to spend the Christmas with me. I don’t need an outsider.”
Tunde took a few seconds before replying, “Listen, Mr. Malik, if you really say you don’t want an outsider, then you don’t want me here. As a matter of fact, I’m an outsider; I’ve broken up with your daughter, and that excludes me from being a member of the family. I’m basically a stranger too, therefore, if you want my guest here to leave, it means you don’t want me to stay. So, I’ll leave and I’m taking my daughter with me, whether you like it or not. The choice is yours: my guest stays, I stay. He leaves, we leave.”
Jamal looked hard at both Tunde and Daniel, trying to decide whether to accept Tunde’s conditions or throw them all out, granddaughter included. He finally decided to agree with his ex-in-law’s terms.
“Okay, he can stay,” he raised a ‘but’ finger, “But only for Christmas. On Boxing Day, he disappears.”




Daniel, because of his desire to be with Remi, fought the urge to tell the landlord to go to hell.
“I thought we’ll be leaving after Christmas too.” Said Tunde.
The old man smiled, “No, you’ll be leaving after New Year, the second day of January precisely.”
Tunde smiled wickedly and shrugged, “Whatever you say,” he said, “Whatever you say. Can I see my daughter now?”
“Oh yes, of course you can see her. She’ll join you shortly. I’ll go now and instruct the servants to prepare your rooms.” He walked out of the room into another door. The house was a maze of doors.
Daniel’s head whirled with glee when Remi appeared; the girl was simply stunning. He barely stopped himself from rushing towards her and having her in a tight embrace, with provocative kisses resuming immediately thereafter. He could not even tell who was prettier between Remi and Esther, even though they didn’t in any way look alike, except in beauty. Esther was fairly-complexioned with smooth skin and nice shapes, Remi was chocolatey with silky skin and a pair of legs that could make a man sell his house, drain his bank account and hock his car. Above all, Daniel’s heart beat for Remi.





Mr. Johnson’s daughter in question was likewise astonished at beholding Daniel, “Daniel Oliver Famous!” she was truly surprised, “How come?”
Her amazement inspired Daniel to step forward, with an awkward smile plastered on his face. “And we meet again.” He said.
Just four words. The four words carried much more unspoken sentences. The words gave a further meaning than what Mr. Johnson could understand. And we meet again. The words brought a recollection of Remi’s promise. The girl saw it all on Daniel’s face and even she could not hide the understanding her face exposed. She quickly turned from Daniel to face her father.
“Dad…” she did not finish the statement when a hot slap landed on her face. she gasped, hiccupped and swallowed; she was dazed, her cheek burned with hotness.





Daniel stepped in on impulse and pushed Tunde with force, hitting the older man’s back against the wall. Daniel was so mad at the man that if he were as large and as old as the man he’d have punched him in the face.
“Why did you do that?” he screamed at Tunde, his face glistening with perspiration of irritation.
“She is my daughter, what I do to her is none of your business.”
“Step back, Daniel, step back now!” Remi ordered.





When Daniel looked at her face tears had already flooded it. He felt like breaking Mr. Johnson in two, but he knew he could not; even if he were at liberty to do that, he knew he’d be the one breaking in the attempt.
“I’m sorry, dad.” She said.
Daniel looked incredulously at her and said, “Are you out of your mind? You didn’t do anything wrong, he’s the one who slapped you. Why are you apologizing?”
“I’m apologizing because he’s my father,” she said flatly, her comment carried no emotion. In fact, her words carried a finesse of coldness now, and this worried Daniel.
“I’m sorry too, daughter,” Johnson’s voice was soft too, “I over-reacted, I admit. But you scared me, Remi, you scared me. I thought something bad had happened to you. You shouldn’t have left home like that.”
“It’s okay, I was determined to meet my mother. Everything is all right now.”
Johnson turned to Daniel, glaring at the young man, “Young man, listen to me carefully, if you ever push me like that again, you won’t have any hand to push another person.”
Before Daniel could reply the girl asked, “How did you find me? Do you know each other?”
“It’s a long story.” Daniel answered quickly.


Remi looked at him skeptically, “I wonder why your stories are always long,” then she added cheerfully, “Okay, please follow me so that I can introduce you both to the rest of the household.”
Daniel was not interested in meeting the family members, he was particularly interested in speaking with Remi alone. The rest of the family members could take a hike, except, perhaps, Esther. Knowing that he had no place to give rules around here, he followed Remi and her father.
They walked through a door which connected directly with a long hallway, they walked through the door at the end of the corridor which brought them to a room stacked with volumes of books. Daniel wanted to stop and peek at the titles, but his hosts did not stop.




They walked westward and opened a door out of five others, the door revealed another shorter corridor. They stopped at the third door and entered a large room not quite as large as the parlour but large in its own way. Daniel was sure that he would be lost if he were left alone in the building. After much ponderings and reconsiderations, Daniel doubted it. He’d read somewhere that in ancient Rome a boy who had been lost in a maze found his way out by touching the walls that surrounded him as he walked, making sure that his hand never lost contact with the wall. And in time, the walls led him to the exit. But Daniel sincerely hoped that he wouldn’t be subjected to clinging on the walls of the building.
He now understood that the former room which he had initially occupied with Remi’s father was merely the visitor’s waiting room. This present room was the living room. The sofas were more exotic, the rugs newer. The ceiling was enough to give an atheist a doubt in his beliefs. The air-conditioning machine hummed softly behind the volume of the large television screen on the wall.



In the room were four people who sat silently as they followed the movie being aired on African Magic. Entering the room did not make Daniel feel any ease; although a stranger he was himself, he felt something mysterious and ominous about this silence. But this silence was borne from the fact that the audience were engrossed with the antics of Nkem Owoh, the actions of Jim Iyke, and the emotions of Ramsey Nouah Jr. To Daniel, however, this silence was something else, it was a something he could not quite get ahold of; it was something evil, something of which he desperate did not want to partake in. He wanted to leave immediately, never to look back. He craved the comfort of his home once again. But the thought of being with Remi stuck his feet firmly. Even though he wanted to leave, he knew he could not leave her among the denizen of strange mysterious people. He had forgotten that Remi was also part of the family.



He looked at the people who occupied the room before them; two men and two women. He recognized only one of them, it was Esther. The fair lady was sitting beside a pleasant-looking man who apparently looked younger than Daniel. At the left hand side of the room was an older woman who shared a slight resemblance with Remi. Of the four people watching the movie the woman’s appearance scared Daniel the most. She looked coldest as she watched the TV silently, as though she was angry with the casts in the movie. The couple on TV were as close as Siamese twins, joined together at the tongues. The woman at the centre of Daniel’s attention was equally perched behind a man whom he presumed to be in his early thirties or forties. The elderly man wasn’t in the room. He simply presumed that the man was in another room behind a flight of doors.
Except Esther who stood up as they entered the room, the other three did not appear to acknowledge their arrival. Daniel knew now that he was in a genuine, for-sure, bona fide, dead right, for-a-fact-amen weird family house. Esther came towards them with a charming smile on her face. She held out her hand towards Daniel for a shake, Daniel received it.
“It’s evident that you’ve met Esther.” Remi said.
“She received us at the entrance.” Johnson replied.
Hearing the voice, the woman sitting watching the TV turned sharply to their direction. She glared very wickedly at Mr. Johnson, and behind the angry look was also something like a murderous intent, as if she would strangle Remi’s father if she could. Tunde smiled and winked at her. A wink which conjured another demonic countenance on the face of the furious woman.
“That’s Remi’s mother.” Tunde informed Daniel.
“I thought as much,” replied Daniel, “Nice meeting her.”
“My mother has always had a temper inssue, so I heard.” Remi said sadly, then she brightened up, “Oh, forgive me, Daniel. Esther here appears like my cousin but she is actually my aunt, though we’re age mates. She’s my grandparents’ last child.”
Esther smiled. She was one of those few people who had easy access to smiles. She said, “Whenever we go out together, we tell people that we’re cousins. Sometimes we say we’re twins.”
“That’s my uncle beside my mother. I don’t know anything about him yet.”
“Neither do I,” said Esther, “It’s been a long time since I last saw him. I was still very young when he left home.”
“That good-looking young man sitting alone is his younger brother, his name is Ariel.”
“Ariel?” Daniel said, obviously taken aback.





“That’s his pen-name.” Esther helped out. “He’s a writer, you know? He’s written three great novels. But sadly, they’ve never been published. Publishers are always turning him down.”
“He’s my favourite person. He’s so cool and very friendly. I pray life treats him better he’s such a talented and wonderful man.”
“Why are they not coming to greet us?”
“It’s because of my father,” replied Remi, “They don’t like him.”
“I’m sorry about that.”
“It’s not your fault.”
The two ladies led Daniel to an unoccupied sofa and sat him down. Remi’s father sat beside him. Esther and Remi took another seat closer to the screen. The silence descended again. They watched the movie in silence and Daniel occasionally stole a glance to where Remi sat with her aunt.
Suddenly, Ruth burst out her words in frustration, “I can’t hear what they are saying half the time. All they do is mutter and mutter at each other. And it’s worse with the romantic heroes who defile the act of kissing. Most of them have no idea how to kiss. The actors bruise your lips with a brutal smackeroo while the actresses open their mouths so wide that you feel like a dentist.”
“It’s the way they act now, sister.” Said David, “Naturalistic, like they do in real life.”
“Far lot of use that is if you can’t hear any word or when you nurse a swollen lip from cruel kisses. And it’s no use increasing the sound, it only makes it worse. And they keep dashing into nightclubs where it’s so dark you can’t see anything. Those Tunde Kelani movies are better. Thunderbolt is one of my favourite movies; I wouldn’t mind seeing that Mainframe Production again. You can hear every word. They knew how to speak and act in those days. And why can’t they hold the camera steady in this movie? What’s the matter with the cameraman – drunk?”
“It’s clever direction.”
“Is that what it is? Too clever for me by half. I bet you’ll also call that filming of the moving vehicle’s tyres clever direction. Or the fact that the image of the camera is reflected on the tinted glass of the vehicle, not to talk of the ghost that looks left and right and left again before crossing the road. Has a normal ghost ever been afraid of being knocked down by a vehicle?” That was Ruth; she approved of almost nothing she saw. She could criticize the words and appearances of actors, politicians and pundits without fear of contradiction.
In about half an hour’s time, a knock sounded on the door of the room, and before anyone could utter ‘come in’ a fat middle-aged woman stepped in. Daniel thought at first that she was the mistress of the house, but this woman looked too young to be Remi’s grandmother. He studied her; the woman was fleshy to the point of obesity and she had a mole on the left side of her nose. Daniel thought it looked like melanoma. The woman walked stealthily and humbly into the room, and the apron she donned made Daniel understand that she was only a maid.
“Dinner is served.” The maid said.