Read Story: SEASON 1 EPISODE 58
I travelled to Aba two days after
Nasa’s visit. I had learnt my
grandmother came from the
village to stay with us until she
gets better. She had been on and
off sick bed as is expected of
people within her age bracket.
This is even more aggravated
when you consider the hard
farm labour which she had been
subjected to all her life; a
situation common to people in
the rural areas of Nigeria. We had
been pleading with her for a
long time to leave the village for
the city where her children and
grandchildren will take good
care of her but she would always
insist on staying back in the
village. She complained how her
farmlands will grow bushes and
also how her absence will create
a big disadvantage to the
women of the land since she was
their leader and mouthpiece
especially against anti-women
policies of the ruling traditional
council. She was one woman
respected and feared as well. The
only woman allowed to sit
amongst the ‘Nze’ and ‘Ozo’
during sacred meetings.
So when I learnt she had finally
accepted to relocate even though
it was termed a sick leave to her,
I knew the illness must have
gotten to an unbearable degree.
.
She was so happy to see me
when I returned on that sunny
afternoon. She never hid her
obvious fondness towards me.
She had always been proud of
me maybe because I was the first
son of her first daughter or
possibly because of the
circumstance surrounding my
birth; a birth that helped cement
her daughter’s marriage. I
inquired of her health and she
gave me her usual brave
reassuring words. She had
already commenced home
treatment as she refused to be
admitted in the hospital.
The average Nigerian only
accepts to be carried to the
hospital when he/she is
convinced that death is at the
door and the hospital holds the
sole right to his/her escape.
.
After resting for a while I took a
stroll down to Mike’s house. He
had called me whilst I was in
Enugu to inform me of his
proposed visit to Aba. It had
been over a year and six months
since I saw him last. He had left
Aba for Portharcourt immediately
we finished a computer training
programme in 2006 after our
WAEC. We only saw twice in 2007
during the Easter and Christmas
seasons. He had secured
admission to study Computer
Science at Rivers State University
of Science and Technology same
year I did in ESUT.
I met him at home working on
his laptop. It was all joy as we
hugged each other tight in a
brotherly manner. He looked well
enough except for a visibly
clipper forced beard-line which
gave him a young-grandpa look.
Mike is known to always force
himself into the next phase of life
even when his age is miles away
from said phase. To my gladness,
I noticed I was now over 3
centimeters taller than him. Back
then I was always taunted by the
duo of Kachi and Mike for my late
growth. Mike made it a point of
duty to always use me to check
how many millimeters he had
added in height almost every day.
He would always draw
intimidatingly close to me with
his shoulder when we walked. So
you can imagine the overflow of
honey and sugar in my heart that
day when I found out I had
grown past him.
”Guy, I don tall pass you o!” I had
shouted immediately we went
into that embrace.
The visibly intimidated Mike
replied with ”why you no go tall
pass me when you still dey eat
mama thank you?”
”You know the last time wey I
collect money from my parents
dem?” he continued in a bid to
get me to shut up. His trick
would’ve worked if I was the
emotional type.
”Hahaha, I no gree o! Chei, so I
later turn goliath for where you
dey? In this same life?” I taunted
in a heartbreaking laughter.
.
We later settled down and then
talked about life. Gradually our
discussion, as expected, drifted
to girls. He asked how many girls
I had been able to ‘conquer’ to
which I gave him an exaggerated
quotation though still under unit
figures. He laughed.
”Dis wan you dey laugh like sey
you pass mine. Oya how many
girls you don tour?” I asked. I
knew his number would
definitely surpass mine but I had
no idea it would have reached
dozens.
”Spain, I don forget sef unless
you go help me count am,” Mike
replied.
The statistics revealed he just
finished his 28th and presently
working on ‘project 29th’.
Hmmm, I was really scared for
him considering the reckless life
he led in women affairs. Ladies
were the only ‘but’ he had then
since he doesn’t smoke nor take
alcohol.
We stayed till night time before I
went home.
.
I called Ifeoma later in the night
and we scheduled to meet the
next day. She was happy to hear
that I was in Aba. With the
thoughts of our scheduled
meeting I happily slept off.
