Episode 9…
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I was pretty sure this was Elysium… the brightness was so unnatural… I wasn’t flying but I felt so light, almost like there was no gravity. The only pockmark to this peace was the indecipherable mumblings from the outside. It felt like there was a lot of discordance there and I felt trapped in this world, the best I could do was hear their babbling…
Before I got here, I had angrily stormed out of the house in the morning. The chief was a popular man and I needn’t look up his office address on Google… but I wasn’t going to harass the chief… This is Lagos, life is cheap here and the chief had more than enough resources to truncate mine.
I brought out the business card I had in my pocket and studied it for the umpteenth time. It looked harmless and anyone who thought otherwise could fall for it. The heading read “Chuks & co. Importers and exporters of the best in fabrics”. I have known Chuks since my early days at the oil company. Chuks was one of the marine welders under my unit and when we were all shoved into the unemployment madhouse, he had to find something to keep up with his gaudy lifestyle, given that employment was becoming as scarce as rain in the Saharan desert.
We got reunited at the funeral of the father of one of my neighbors a while ago. I had gone there with the hope of drowning myself in the pool of free beer; the main reason I had dissuaded Nike from coming. I didn’t need a chaperon and Nike was a champion at that occupation.
Unfortunately, it happened that shame and pain was poised to spoil my fun. I felt harmattan cold when a familiar face who happened to be the centre of attraction was being a spendthrift and throwing money in the air like the sky was his safe. I took a closer look and I found out the man in a flowing agbada, oozing wealth, looking gleam and shining brighter than the led bulbs, was none other than a man that used to call me “Oga” … a man whose monthly salary needed my signature and depended on my good remarks. I wanted to call him but pride held tight my lips… suddenly he was coming my way… he had seen me.
He dropped me off at home, most part of the ride he spent either bragging about this or glorying in that, but all through the trip his gloating was evident, almost tangible. I had asked him how he came about so much wealth and he was pretty honest about his occupation. Not only did he agree that he was on the wrong side of the law but he was mega drug baron. He argued that he was just a beneficiary of the nation’s porous borders and dysfunctional security network. I shrugged at the idea, not only was it wrong it was also dangerous. If I had decided to consider crime and Nike hears of it she would never believe me; all the more reason why I carefully left out the Chuks part while I was narrating the story from the funeral.
Although this happened five weeks ago, today when I left that house I decided I had to do all it takes to make Nike happy again. At least then we would have only the child issue to bother about, but even if a child comes now, how do we feed him or her?
Chief had slapped my face so hard… I would do anything to get back at him. I could do anything. Anything just to win back the dwindling confidence my wife has in my patriarchal prowess. I had made up my mind to be a drug peddler, damning all the consequence. What could be worse than my present state? I thought.
The officer or the charade he had set up to fool anyone who appeared too inquisitive was now in sight. I stood on the one side of the road hoping to make it to the other side. I put my left hand on my chest as if trying to lend support to my heavy heart. I hadn’t made my crossing journey to the middle when its screeching drew my attention to it. The car was careening from the right side of the road. My adrenaline acted fast, lifting my feet off the ground and running for asylum… But the adrenaline I had didn’t act fast enough. Before I had taken a few steps, the vehicle had hit me with the force of a tornado.
I found myself in mid-air … and I felt life take a pause…
I saw the horror look on the faces of passers-by.
I saw Chuks’ business card in still in the air.
I saw his office a few blocks away… and then my entire life began to replay in my head…
I thought about Mama mi, I had neither given her the money she requested for to carry out her medical checkup, neither have I given her a grandchild.
I thought about Philip my younger brother, still on my neck for funds to set up his fish farm, Sade my nineteen-year-old sister in school still has to pay school fees this year…
I thought about Baba mi, it had been ten years since he left us…
I thought about my pretty wife, Nike… she meant the world to me…
And then I hit the floor at once, with a thud I was too busy dying, to hear.
I watched the car zoom off… I tried to protest but no part of my body responded… and then I noticed that I had stopped seeing. My vision had become too blurry… in fact I had stopped living… only breathing… I was only breathing.
I was pretty sure this was Elysium… the brightness was so unnatural… I wasn’t flying but I felt so light, almost like there was no gravity… the only pockmark to this peace was the indecipherable mumblings from the outside. It felt like there was a lot of discordance…and I felt trapped in this world, the best I could do was hear their babbling…
