Donigspain - S01 E84

Story 2 years ago

Donigspain - S01 E84

Read Story: SEASON 1 EPISODE 84

He had the accident at

Portharcourt where he had gone

on a business trip. He was

carried to a private hospital

where he stayed for two weeks

and had two surgeries. Later he

was transferred to a hospital in

Aba and from there to Owerri

where he went through the knife

thrice. All these surgeries where

accompanied with mind

shattering bills that run into

millions of naira and not inclusive

of the normal hospital “bed” bill.

Friends and relatives deserted us.

My mum was left to carry the

burden of both the surgery and

my admission process. I even

suggested dropping out until the

family recovers financially but the

“woman of faith” urged me on.

For two years, my dad was

incapacitated but I thank God he

is back to life now (hail, hearty

and shinning like nothing

happened). I believe you now

understand why I must be

prudent in my spending

especially as it concerned

relationships. I always

compensated the little monies I

gave out with planned fasts and

marathon trekking (skipping

meals and trekking home from

school) until I’m sure that the

money has been fully

compensated for. That was the

situation then.

.

Life continued as usual with the

ladies taking turn to visit me.

Nasa made sure to come travel

down whenever she felt the itch

underneath. Blessing (the ugly

girl) was the normal side chick

that I only called on when the

desirables were not available.

Commy kept in touch on the

phone. We spoke almost every

night on the “Mtn Xtra Cool” free

midnight calls that lasted from

12:30am to 4:30am. She had

graduated from being in love to

obsession. A little quarrel

between us is enough to make

her go on serious hunger strike

that I will have to be called by the

elder sister to plead with her to

eat. It was that bad! The time for

me to go on the compulsory six

months students industrial work

experience scheme (I.T) was fast

approaching. It was to start by

June. Uche came back from

school in the evening of a certain

day. He had gone to visit one of

our friends (Jude) who lived

closer to school. He was beaming

with smiles when he walked in. I

thought maybe he had his

stomach filled at Jude’s house.

.

“Guy, dis wan you dey shine

teeth for me e be like say Jude do

Christmas for you today,” I

inquired. Jude is from Mbaise

and naturally endowed with

wisdom. He’s so crafty that we

had to collectively enthrone him

as the “Brain Box” of the

department. While you’re talking

or dealing with Jude on level one,

his brain is already processing

activities to execute at level six.

I’ve never seen such a tricky and

cunning individual to this day.

“Nna, forget Jude matter. You no

go believe say upon all the time

wey I kill for there this guy no

gree carry food comot for me.

The guy man gat to stay hungry

until now wey I comot there just

to make sure I no eat. But that

one no be wetin dey totori me.

Ol’ boy e get one chikala wey I

see for Jude area. The babe make

sense sha but na bush meat. Na

me and am just dey talk since. I

even press the bobbi small,

chai…” Uche happily narrated

while I kept processing the

information in an attempt to

place a face on this mystery girl.

It’s usual for students to have

one funny tag on the locals of the

host community. In the case of

ESUT, we call the girls “bush

meat”.

.

“Guy, abeg you fit describe this

girl wey you dey talk so? Where

she dey live and how she look

like,” I requested.

“The girl na average height,

round face, she no too get bobbi

sha but she fine… I dey see her

sometimes for inside school wey

she dey sell…”

“…mpataka,” I completed the

statement before Uche could.

Mpataka is an Igbo term for

Tapioca. I knew the girl in

question. She normally sells

tapioca with coconut in front of

our faculty sometimes.

“Exactly!” Uche screamed still

flashing his teeth with joy.

“Guy, forget am… I know that

girl. Just forget am. Shey you no

enter am abi?” I asked looking

very serious.

“Nooo, I no enter am. Na only

bobbi I press small. Wetin

happen why you wan make I

leave am?” He replied. The smile

had vanished from his face.

“Guy, I don hear many things

about that girl. Dem talk say she

dey flirt with students. Okay,

reason am, how you wan date

girl wey dey sell for inside school.

This same school wey you and I

know say boys eyes dey red.

Many for don enter am siiiiince,”

I made sure I stressed the last

word. All these were mere

assumptions but I made it look

like they were facts. I may have

seen the girl in one or two

occasions discussing with male

students but it might actually

have been strictly business. Or

they may be asking her out

which she also might have

declined but the thought of a

beautiful young girl in the midst

of hungry lions is enough to get

me into hasty conclusions.

.

Uche saw the seriousness with

which I asserted my claims and

had no choice but to believe me.

He was conspicuously unhappy

with the development but

nevertheless thanked me for

saving him from impeding

danger. I, on my own, had done

what I did to protect him. I never

had a hidden intention. Not even

the tiniest. He made a decision to

call off whatever plans he had for

the girl. He never wanted to take

her serious anyways. He just

wanted to ‘draw her oil’ like my

brother Money Soldier would say.

Over the following days I made

sure I teased him with the word

‘mpataka’ whenever we joked.

Sometimes, I would whisper into

his ears “mpataka is waiting for

you in front of the faculty” which

would see him go into hiding in

one of the classrooms. I made

him restless. While walking

within the school premises I

would tell him I just saw

‘mapataka’ and it looked like she

was looking for him. I teased him

a lot. This continued until one

day – a day the story changed. I

had gone to Jude’s house to get

a copy of a handout from him

and when I was ushered into his

room my eyes fell on ‘mpataka’

innocently seated on the rug

watching a Nollywood movie.