Everyone knows it doesn't take a lot for a day that could have been splendid to be completely ruined. That might have been great for Ebiye, if it had been only a day. A phone call started it all.
"So you don't know it's very bad for me to be watching Tinsels alone, on my own when you're in the house." Solakpe was saying as she settled in the chair beside him. Till she spoke, he hadn't noted her presence. There was an ice cream cup in her hand.
"It must be because you're around or something," She laughed, "I can't keep up. My mind is not with the show. Are you okay Sweet?"
"What? I am, definitely. Why?" He replied. She pushed the plastic spoon into his mouth.
"You look like a truck crashed into your head." They were out on the balcony, with the green plants he cherished, which appeared lifeless to him now, wilting. The ice cream tasted sour in his mouth, made him sick. Their neighbour's kids were screaming at each other. And Ebiye lashed himself inwardly for failing to have his features rearranged quickly enough. Now he had to convince his wife that all was well.
She left him and he stayed back with the book he couldn't look at again. He gave himself ten minutes, made it twenty and then he went up to her. He made up an excuse, something about a friend in need. He apologized. They had agreed to spend the day together, just the two of them. Today was supposed to be the start of his first real leave from work. He told her he'll be back home on time to take her out like he promised the night before.
"Just know you'll be finding somewhere else to sleep tonight if you fail me". She answered. He chuckled and kissed her, while patting her tummy. Then he glided out.
Not thirty yet and having a job in this country that would make most people's mouth slick with water; and married, he'll say happily to the love of his life, who is heavy with child. Yes, Ebiye was living a life that was not bad at all. Until the call, that is.
In about half an hour's time later, Ebiye was at the hospital's waiting room. These institutions humbled him, made him feel small and melancholy. And then it was raining, the way it does in Port Harcourt City. Rain is good, but that is dependent on a few factors, state of mind and location for instance. This is few rungs above waste, Thought he.
"Ufuoma". He called when he saw her, the word coming out as if his tongue was sticking to the roof of his mouth. He almost would not have recognized her, not that she had changed at all. But her eyes were drawn in and puffy, the face, marshy. She held on tight and long when they hugged.
"Ufuoma... How is... Where is she?" He felt her shuddering in his arms like a water hose absently spraying it's contents about.
"They said she's going to be fine. I pray nothing happens to her, I mean... Ebiye thank you for showing up like you did. Oh my God!" He dragged her to a chair, and looking intently into her eyes, asked the question: 'So?'
"Alright, you know I told you she needed blood. The hospital was out. But thankfully," She went on, "we had a supply some minutes ago".
"And she is alright? Where is she? Can... Can I see her?"
"Yes". She replied quietly.
By now you're probable wondering what the fuss is all about. Alright, let me hand you the gist. Years ago, five years ago or thereabout, these two had a fling. There is nothing to that of course, except that they were both in relationships of a romantic nature with different people. Ufuoma was this trendy, pretty young woman. Exquisite, some would say of her, with long slender legs and her hair cut short. She'd had a stint as a model, been in all those astonishing foreign cities: Vienna, London, Paris, Abu Dhabi. And she was Ebiye's friend, companions who spent a lot of time together; talking, playing, working; being with each other's friends. A fine time, Ebiye would say, reminiscing about those days. And it was around that time he met Solakpe. Solakpe of the volcanic laugh and the personality of a pulsing stream, engaging and brilliant. She had an abbreviated torso and curves that are full, a figure that is firm like one of those ornamented classical greek jugs. Ebiye plied her steadily for months, but when she started wearing that T-shirt that was so proudly his, so everyone would know she too was his, he was surprised. Because she was a prize. He knew that and believe me, he used to pinch his ears, to be sure it was real, for a time.
There must have been something about Ufuoma and Ebiye's friendship because Solakpe once cornered her beau, asking:
"Are you and Ufuoma sleeping with each other?"
"Excuse me?"
"When dogs bark and howl, there is something there, but not every time. Tell me the truth Ebiye. Do you guys have something?
He was shocked. "Sola, I can't believe you. Really? You're listening to the things people say now? For Christ's sake, the girl is engaged. Oh, how can you?" He was so angered over her lack of trust in him and they both parted in annoyance that day. Subsequently, he convinced her that her fears were lost on ground. "I'll give her space Sweet, don't worry".
"No. You needn't. I believe you. But those her big breasts, Ebiye! And the way she flaunts herself".
"Aww! Sola I am suspecting you. Maybe you're the one falling for her." And they laughed. But he had lied.
These things were never meant to happen of course, a mistake. A mistake that should be ground to powder and offered to the wind. This mistake repeated itself a few more times. Ebiye who really wasn't much then by way of looks or by what counts, that is, success, found himself pinned to the temptation that was Ufuoma. When she told him her visitor had failed to make an appearance that month, that she hoped the baby would bear eyes like his, he balked. That could not be. He was in a good relationship. He had found the girl he wanted to spend his whole life with, and that was not Ufuoma.
"Look, I don't need you to be responsible. I just want to be a mother", She told him.
"How would your fiancé take that?"
"Do I care? Actually, dear. Francis is only my friend."
Now that's how a man gets done in, buried alive. But on a certain day, Ufuoma looking into Ebiye's glum face, shook him with a laugh and said:
"It's not true. I was just pulling your legs. Look at you! And you see this?" She continued, jabbing a beringed finger at his nose, "This is more than a piece of fashion. I was just playing with your head. Next time you wouldn't touch what belongs to another man when you have yours, and without protection."
The weight was released. He was free. But when she went her way that day, he thought he perceived a certain sagging of the shoulders in her walk that he had never seen before.
A year passed. Ebiye and Ufuoma were by now separated by leagues, space. He knew she was alive and doing well in Abuja and Lagos and Dubai, as people who knew her variously reported. They had both lost contact with each other and for some reason, kept things that way. Ebiye would say she'd been superior and annoying in a manner that was rather unbearable for him. Three more years or thereabouts, a priest was standing over him and his faithful lover and their rings. Solakpe it was that held him together all the while he had been unemployed and broke, making him partner in her ventures till he got the job with the energy resources company. Ebiye was happy in his marriage. But it is important perhaps to point out that sometimes he thought about Ufuoma, a girl he once knew. What was she up? Had she found the joys of motherhood?
It was this Ufuoma's voice on the phone earlier. She only asked him to read the message she had sent him through Whatsapp. She has a daughter who happens to be in a critical state at a medical centre in Diobu, not far from his home. He has to come in because a blood donor is needed and Ebiye's blood would serve. A child is owned primarily by two people. Ebiye was the other stakeholder and this is the new and shocking revelation. "I'm sorry she wrote, I'll explain all later. But hurry".
The child looked so helpless lying on the hospital bed, unconscious. A vehicle had hit the four year old in her school's car park. The doctor assured them she would come through in less than seven hours. She did. And she woke up whole. The practitioners had done their job well.
As you'd expect, the formerly unaware father kept visiting his daughter in the hospital with the usual presents, till she was discharged. Vwede was a lively child, you get that even when she's on a bed.
Ufuoma said something about the the girl wishing 'Uncle would come to the house', and he started going to Ufuoma's GRA flat to spend time with the girl. But then, he couldn't help the resentment he felt for the child's mother. Clearly, Ufuoma need not have called him that Saturday morning. And how is it that she is now in the same city with him? Now the balance of his life had been touched. How long could he go on pretending to his wife?
We may have been ignoring Solakpe some. Here's a woman with wells of optimism bursting in her, bearing breezy light about her, and able to magnets crowds. But Solakpe loathes lies. Five, maybe six times (not that he'd been keeping count) since they met, Ebiye has witnessed his wife turn cold on a close friend over some bit of dishonesty he'd say was rather harmless. She was one of those people who keep a white cloak of morality tight about them and put ordinary persons in a state of discomfiture. This thing between Ebiye and Ufuoma would certainly be the betrayal of Solakpe's lifetime. It must not come to light, not yet at the least when she is somewhat touchy as only women with a baby inside them can be.
"This is good Ebiye. I'll like Vwede to have a father figure in her life. And she has to start calling you daddy." Ufuoma said on one of those days when Ebiye was leaving Ufuoma's home, Vwede still clinging to his arms. That decided him. By the time he got home, he had a plan, and gave his friend Kufure a call.
Back in the days, if you had a problem of an electrical nature in your apartment, if you've got a device, an appliance or machinary that requires fixing; if you have need of a document and do not know how to go about it; if you need to purchase or sell something, anything; Kufure is the man you need. Everyone called him Fixer and not surprisingly, he still gets things fixed, offering his services to organizations and individuals and getting paid handsomely. Standing beside Ebiye under the blaze of an Ibadan afternoon, the other was thinking how lucky it was that Fixer was a friend or he wouldn't have accomplished so much within so short a frame of time, but even at that...
"Forward thinking is what this is," Fixer was saying." "I'm definitely getting a turbine for my house as soon as possible. The problem with inverters and solar power is battery life." Both of them were looking up at the fans of the machine turning gently twenty-one feet from the storied building in front of which they stood. Ebiye nodded impatiently.
"This thing is really for billionaires. You didn't tell me that".
"You dey forget say na your idea? Oh boy, I agree this is brave, but it's more foolish. If I were you, I'll cross my legs with that company for three more years, five sef. And you've not even been with them two years... But this is brave". Fixer was reciting this for perhaps the sixth time and Ebiye sighed. Solakpe had same doubts, but she having a soft spot in her heart for individual entreprise, and liking Ibadan more than the City of Port Harcourt, gave her blessings.
Fixer had got to Ibadan and done all the purchasing and renting in Ebiye's name. He got a fairly big shop in a busy part of town. He bought freezers, grills, a big diesel powered generator and a wind turbine (Ebiye had recently become taken with renewable energy), equipments to keep things preserved. Solakpe was to move her baked goods business down from the other city and share the shop with him. It was wonderful. Husband and wife would be working together again. And he would finally have time to turn photography into something more than a hobby and start the magazine he'd dreamt of running all his adult life. Everything had been bought and taken care of, a huge down-payment made on a flat that was a comfortable distance from the shop. This was the great idea. He had reckoned It was better to keep Vwede and her mother as far away as possible and he'll visit them as often as possible and take care of them as best as he can. But from a distance. So he had to jump off the train of liss that was his job, and flee West with his oblivious and pregnant wife. But now, he was no longer sure it even made sense. And he'd already run out of funds. He could maybe borrow money from Solakpe to keep things straight for a while or put in a month or two more at the company. The latter was out of the question. Every moment spent in the same town with his wife, Ufuoma and Vwede was like a bad oven that is sure to explode and destroy everything.
He got back home the next day, fatigued from the trip and Solakpe took him at the door in a warm and spicy embrace. He followed her to the kitchen where she was cleaning up.
"I have been thinking," She said. "I didn't want to say this over the phone. Oh this is going to be hard for me... We can't move."
"I don't understand, but you said..."
"Listen Ebiye. I don't want us to move. You know how I was raised single-handedly by my mother and I had a father somewhere, eating and breathing. He still is. But he was never there. I have been thinking. I need you to be more responsible to your daughter, ehm Vwede".
"I don't follow you", He stammered.
"Hey, I don't think Ufuoma is moving too. She has a job here and you know". Said Solakpe, her voice level. "You see, I met her at Genesis with the baby. That was March 2015, the twenty-first. I remember because it was the day before you proposed. I don't know what came over me, I just couldn't help myself. You know how I am. Maybe it was the resemblance. So I asked Ufuoma and she told me. She said... She told me to not be too hard on you." The woman dropped the towel she'd been using on the shelf, walked towards Ebiye who seemed transfixed at the door, and passing said:
"Come Ebiye, get those clothes off and wash up. Food is ready."
Written by Publisher, Tenane Faotu,
June 14, 2018.
Photo Credit:
Dreams.xtarot.com
"So you don't know it's very bad for me to be watching Tinsels alone, on my own when you're in the house." Solakpe was saying as she settled in the chair beside him. Till she spoke, he hadn't noted her presence. There was an ice cream cup in her hand.
"It must be because you're around or something," She laughed, "I can't keep up. My mind is not with the show. Are you okay Sweet?"
"What? I am, definitely. Why?" He replied. She pushed the plastic spoon into his mouth.
"You look like a truck crashed into your head." They were out on the balcony, with the green plants he cherished, which appeared lifeless to him now, wilting. The ice cream tasted sour in his mouth, made him sick. Their neighbour's kids were screaming at each other. And Ebiye lashed himself inwardly for failing to have his features rearranged quickly enough. Now he had to convince his wife that all was well.
She left him and he stayed back with the book he couldn't look at again. He gave himself ten minutes, made it twenty and then he went up to her. He made up an excuse, something about a friend in need. He apologized. They had agreed to spend the day together, just the two of them. Today was supposed to be the start of his first real leave from work. He told her he'll be back home on time to take her out like he promised the night before.
"Just know you'll be finding somewhere else to sleep tonight if you fail me". She answered. He chuckled and kissed her, while patting her tummy. Then he glided out.
Not thirty yet and having a job in this country that would make most people's mouth slick with water; and married, he'll say happily to the love of his life, who is heavy with child. Yes, Ebiye was living a life that was not bad at all. Until the call, that is.
In about half an hour's time later, Ebiye was at the hospital's waiting room. These institutions humbled him, made him feel small and melancholy. And then it was raining, the way it does in Port Harcourt City. Rain is good, but that is dependent on a few factors, state of mind and location for instance. This is few rungs above waste, Thought he.
"Ufuoma". He called when he saw her, the word coming out as if his tongue was sticking to the roof of his mouth. He almost would not have recognized her, not that she had changed at all. But her eyes were drawn in and puffy, the face, marshy. She held on tight and long when they hugged.
"Ufuoma... How is... Where is she?" He felt her shuddering in his arms like a water hose absently spraying it's contents about.
"They said she's going to be fine. I pray nothing happens to her, I mean... Ebiye thank you for showing up like you did. Oh my God!" He dragged her to a chair, and looking intently into her eyes, asked the question: 'So?'
"Alright, you know I told you she needed blood. The hospital was out. But thankfully," She went on, "we had a supply some minutes ago".
"And she is alright? Where is she? Can... Can I see her?"
"Yes". She replied quietly.
By now you're probable wondering what the fuss is all about. Alright, let me hand you the gist. Years ago, five years ago or thereabout, these two had a fling. There is nothing to that of course, except that they were both in relationships of a romantic nature with different people. Ufuoma was this trendy, pretty young woman. Exquisite, some would say of her, with long slender legs and her hair cut short. She'd had a stint as a model, been in all those astonishing foreign cities: Vienna, London, Paris, Abu Dhabi. And she was Ebiye's friend, companions who spent a lot of time together; talking, playing, working; being with each other's friends. A fine time, Ebiye would say, reminiscing about those days. And it was around that time he met Solakpe. Solakpe of the volcanic laugh and the personality of a pulsing stream, engaging and brilliant. She had an abbreviated torso and curves that are full, a figure that is firm like one of those ornamented classical greek jugs. Ebiye plied her steadily for months, but when she started wearing that T-shirt that was so proudly his, so everyone would know she too was his, he was surprised. Because she was a prize. He knew that and believe me, he used to pinch his ears, to be sure it was real, for a time.
There must have been something about Ufuoma and Ebiye's friendship because Solakpe once cornered her beau, asking:
"Are you and Ufuoma sleeping with each other?"
"Excuse me?"
"When dogs bark and howl, there is something there, but not every time. Tell me the truth Ebiye. Do you guys have something?
He was shocked. "Sola, I can't believe you. Really? You're listening to the things people say now? For Christ's sake, the girl is engaged. Oh, how can you?" He was so angered over her lack of trust in him and they both parted in annoyance that day. Subsequently, he convinced her that her fears were lost on ground. "I'll give her space Sweet, don't worry".
"No. You needn't. I believe you. But those her big breasts, Ebiye! And the way she flaunts herself".
"Aww! Sola I am suspecting you. Maybe you're the one falling for her." And they laughed. But he had lied.
These things were never meant to happen of course, a mistake. A mistake that should be ground to powder and offered to the wind. This mistake repeated itself a few more times. Ebiye who really wasn't much then by way of looks or by what counts, that is, success, found himself pinned to the temptation that was Ufuoma. When she told him her visitor had failed to make an appearance that month, that she hoped the baby would bear eyes like his, he balked. That could not be. He was in a good relationship. He had found the girl he wanted to spend his whole life with, and that was not Ufuoma.
"Look, I don't need you to be responsible. I just want to be a mother", She told him.
"How would your fiancé take that?"
"Do I care? Actually, dear. Francis is only my friend."
Now that's how a man gets done in, buried alive. But on a certain day, Ufuoma looking into Ebiye's glum face, shook him with a laugh and said:
"It's not true. I was just pulling your legs. Look at you! And you see this?" She continued, jabbing a beringed finger at his nose, "This is more than a piece of fashion. I was just playing with your head. Next time you wouldn't touch what belongs to another man when you have yours, and without protection."
The weight was released. He was free. But when she went her way that day, he thought he perceived a certain sagging of the shoulders in her walk that he had never seen before.
A year passed. Ebiye and Ufuoma were by now separated by leagues, space. He knew she was alive and doing well in Abuja and Lagos and Dubai, as people who knew her variously reported. They had both lost contact with each other and for some reason, kept things that way. Ebiye would say she'd been superior and annoying in a manner that was rather unbearable for him. Three more years or thereabouts, a priest was standing over him and his faithful lover and their rings. Solakpe it was that held him together all the while he had been unemployed and broke, making him partner in her ventures till he got the job with the energy resources company. Ebiye was happy in his marriage. But it is important perhaps to point out that sometimes he thought about Ufuoma, a girl he once knew. What was she up? Had she found the joys of motherhood?
It was this Ufuoma's voice on the phone earlier. She only asked him to read the message she had sent him through Whatsapp. She has a daughter who happens to be in a critical state at a medical centre in Diobu, not far from his home. He has to come in because a blood donor is needed and Ebiye's blood would serve. A child is owned primarily by two people. Ebiye was the other stakeholder and this is the new and shocking revelation. "I'm sorry she wrote, I'll explain all later. But hurry".
The child looked so helpless lying on the hospital bed, unconscious. A vehicle had hit the four year old in her school's car park. The doctor assured them she would come through in less than seven hours. She did. And she woke up whole. The practitioners had done their job well.
As you'd expect, the formerly unaware father kept visiting his daughter in the hospital with the usual presents, till she was discharged. Vwede was a lively child, you get that even when she's on a bed.
Ufuoma said something about the the girl wishing 'Uncle would come to the house', and he started going to Ufuoma's GRA flat to spend time with the girl. But then, he couldn't help the resentment he felt for the child's mother. Clearly, Ufuoma need not have called him that Saturday morning. And how is it that she is now in the same city with him? Now the balance of his life had been touched. How long could he go on pretending to his wife?
We may have been ignoring Solakpe some. Here's a woman with wells of optimism bursting in her, bearing breezy light about her, and able to magnets crowds. But Solakpe loathes lies. Five, maybe six times (not that he'd been keeping count) since they met, Ebiye has witnessed his wife turn cold on a close friend over some bit of dishonesty he'd say was rather harmless. She was one of those people who keep a white cloak of morality tight about them and put ordinary persons in a state of discomfiture. This thing between Ebiye and Ufuoma would certainly be the betrayal of Solakpe's lifetime. It must not come to light, not yet at the least when she is somewhat touchy as only women with a baby inside them can be.
"This is good Ebiye. I'll like Vwede to have a father figure in her life. And she has to start calling you daddy." Ufuoma said on one of those days when Ebiye was leaving Ufuoma's home, Vwede still clinging to his arms. That decided him. By the time he got home, he had a plan, and gave his friend Kufure a call.
Back in the days, if you had a problem of an electrical nature in your apartment, if you've got a device, an appliance or machinary that requires fixing; if you have need of a document and do not know how to go about it; if you need to purchase or sell something, anything; Kufure is the man you need. Everyone called him Fixer and not surprisingly, he still gets things fixed, offering his services to organizations and individuals and getting paid handsomely. Standing beside Ebiye under the blaze of an Ibadan afternoon, the other was thinking how lucky it was that Fixer was a friend or he wouldn't have accomplished so much within so short a frame of time, but even at that...
"Forward thinking is what this is," Fixer was saying." "I'm definitely getting a turbine for my house as soon as possible. The problem with inverters and solar power is battery life." Both of them were looking up at the fans of the machine turning gently twenty-one feet from the storied building in front of which they stood. Ebiye nodded impatiently.
"This thing is really for billionaires. You didn't tell me that".
"You dey forget say na your idea? Oh boy, I agree this is brave, but it's more foolish. If I were you, I'll cross my legs with that company for three more years, five sef. And you've not even been with them two years... But this is brave". Fixer was reciting this for perhaps the sixth time and Ebiye sighed. Solakpe had same doubts, but she having a soft spot in her heart for individual entreprise, and liking Ibadan more than the City of Port Harcourt, gave her blessings.
Fixer had got to Ibadan and done all the purchasing and renting in Ebiye's name. He got a fairly big shop in a busy part of town. He bought freezers, grills, a big diesel powered generator and a wind turbine (Ebiye had recently become taken with renewable energy), equipments to keep things preserved. Solakpe was to move her baked goods business down from the other city and share the shop with him. It was wonderful. Husband and wife would be working together again. And he would finally have time to turn photography into something more than a hobby and start the magazine he'd dreamt of running all his adult life. Everything had been bought and taken care of, a huge down-payment made on a flat that was a comfortable distance from the shop. This was the great idea. He had reckoned It was better to keep Vwede and her mother as far away as possible and he'll visit them as often as possible and take care of them as best as he can. But from a distance. So he had to jump off the train of liss that was his job, and flee West with his oblivious and pregnant wife. But now, he was no longer sure it even made sense. And he'd already run out of funds. He could maybe borrow money from Solakpe to keep things straight for a while or put in a month or two more at the company. The latter was out of the question. Every moment spent in the same town with his wife, Ufuoma and Vwede was like a bad oven that is sure to explode and destroy everything.
He got back home the next day, fatigued from the trip and Solakpe took him at the door in a warm and spicy embrace. He followed her to the kitchen where she was cleaning up.
"I have been thinking," She said. "I didn't want to say this over the phone. Oh this is going to be hard for me... We can't move."
"I don't understand, but you said..."
"Listen Ebiye. I don't want us to move. You know how I was raised single-handedly by my mother and I had a father somewhere, eating and breathing. He still is. But he was never there. I have been thinking. I need you to be more responsible to your daughter, ehm Vwede".
"I don't follow you", He stammered.
"Hey, I don't think Ufuoma is moving too. She has a job here and you know". Said Solakpe, her voice level. "You see, I met her at Genesis with the baby. That was March 2015, the twenty-first. I remember because it was the day before you proposed. I don't know what came over me, I just couldn't help myself. You know how I am. Maybe it was the resemblance. So I asked Ufuoma and she told me. She said... She told me to not be too hard on you." The woman dropped the towel she'd been using on the shelf, walked towards Ebiye who seemed transfixed at the door, and passing said:
"Come Ebiye, get those clothes off and wash up. Food is ready."
Written by Publisher, Tenane Faotu,
June 14, 2018.
Photo Credit:
Dreams.xtarot.com
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