ENLARGED!!!

                                      

THE PRESENT

As I alighted from my Range Rover Evoque and thanked my driver, a message buzzed my S4 to life. It was a message from my sister and her husband thanking me for the round trip to the Bahamas which was my widow’s mite towards their twentieth wedding anniversary. The message was quite effusive and bubbling with a zillion “God bless you’s”. I smiled as I walked into the glassy headquarters of Divine Meadows, my real estate outfit.

As I opened the door to the anteroom, my eldest brother who was waiting for me in the reception rushed at me and gave me the kind of hug that could have crushed a panda. “How are you?”, he inquired with uncharacteristic gusto.

“I am fine, thank you sir”, I replied.

“Tola, your niece, is getting married and we would appreciate it if you would be the Chairman of the occasion”, he said thrusting an invitation card into my hand.

“Boda mi, that will not be a problem, it would actually be an honour”.

Without further ado, he declined the drink I offered and left.

After I had settled down, my personal assistant gave me a letter from the Association of Residents and Landowners of Eden City Estate over which I presided. The letter was a formal invitation to our annual end of the year party.

I exhaled, sat down and crossed my feet on my executive, expansive, table, and allowed my eyes rove round the multitude of plaques decorating my walls. Each one was a testament to one honorable contribution of mine or another to the city.

It was going to be a busy end of the year, but I was not complaining because it had not always been like this…..

THE PAST: 47 YRS AGO

The lusty screeches of the baby rent the night like a heated machete. Normally, such cries would have gotten the man hunched over the seat in the clinic’s waiting room elated but tonight, it did not even elicit the faintest smile. His wife had been in there for more than twenty four hours and he could only imagine the worst after all the hours of grueling labour. At a point,he had stopped caring if the baby died or lived so long as his wife lived. He was so besotted with his wife that fiery red soldier ants of recrimination ate up his mind at the thought of her pains, until he thought he was going mad. He should have stopped at nine kids but he wanted more hands for his growing cocoa farm and now he had endangered his beloved’s life. The tears streamed down his face, a village stream gathering momentum from the heavy rains of his sorrow and he did not even attempt to wipe the snot that trickled down his snuff battered nostrils.

Outside, lightening shrieked and roared, rain poured furiously from heavenly buckets. The skies threw tantrums and wept as they empathized with the agony of the traumatized woman.

She had lost a lot of blood which led to the necrosis of her pituitary gland and was eventually discharged against medical advice. The lady was a stickler for tradition and told the doctor she would rather die than not be around for the christening of her son which was a dumb thing to do in the Doctor’s opinion but he was resigned to the fact that a lot of Nigerians treated traditions as god.

 She went home a shadow of her usual ebullient and stubborn self. Extremely weak, she had to be assisted to her seat at the naming ceremony of the newly arrived son which took place on the customary eight day. When it was time for the list of names to be passed around, there was none and when the elders asked for the name of the baby. She said with a ring of finality, in a voice that brooked no argument; “His name is Ibanuje (sorrow)”.

The announcement silenced the talking drums, hushed the noise of the festivities and discordant susurration spread through the crowd like a quiet wind through a field of grass.

The eldest man rose and asked the mother “Titilayo, kilode? Why would you give your son such a bad name?”

“Baba, his labour caused me so much pain, she replied, misty eyed and shaking her head with the agony of the memories. The child wanted to kill me and I will not change his name even if the river goddess appears right now and tells me to”. Sadly, the husband was one who could never stand up to his wife, so the name remained.

The woman died a few months later due to an infection that attacked her weak immune system. Hence, the little one’s journey began on a bitter note because his mother’s death was attributed to him by all and sundry. To make matters worse he was not the most handsome neonate in the world.

The bad name followed the hapless boy like an evil miasma. He was also very sickly and one day, when it seemed like he was going to give up the ghost, his father took him to an old herbalist who disfigured his face with the most horrific scarification marks.

He was intensely disliked both at home and abroad. His siblings taunted him with names like scar face and usually deprived him of any meat during meals. In school, he was severely bullied and the mean boys called him "the runt “since he was small and sickly looking.

Life preyed on him. He was always at the bottom of the class and on the farm; he was useless because he did not have the brawn needed for such muscle tasking duties.  After a while, his father stopped paying his school fees so he took to the streets for daily survival. He hawked iced water, fish; became a conductor a couple of times until it seemed his life was going round and round in a dismal circle.

One day, he heard about a new company that came into town, a Jewish multinational real estate firm known as Yeshua Global Resources Plc.

Someone helped him apply as a driver in the company, a job he gave his best to. He moved up the ladder of life a notch but things were still pretty difficult. His siblings never invited him to their family meetings and he did not know most of his nephews and nieces. They still regarded him as the pariah, the brother who had a covenant with bad luck.

One morning, he woke up in his Ajegunle, Lagos Nigeria apartment and looked around with distaste at the surroundings. The stench of the place was unbearable because the gutter ran through the middle of the compound was clogged with the faeces thrown in by his neighbours as there was no proper drainage in that area.

He had had enough. That morning he ran to the office of the Chairman who had come visiting. Ibanuje had driven him a couple of times and knew he was very accessible, approachable and multilingual.  Although the office was jokingly called the throne room because of its size and beauty, all and sundry could see him without any fuss.  However, most of the workers rarely did because of the imposing presence of the Chairman.

That morning he took matters into his own hands, knocked, went in and prostrated on the floor in genuflection. The Chairman asked him what the problem was.

"Sir, the driver said, I need help. My life was messed up from day one on this earth. My Mother gave me an evil name and that name has been a hex that has tainted and muddied the stream of my destiny. My request is in four folds.

"Oga, e fun mi ni ibukun to ma jomi loju, bless me indeed, so that people around me will see the definite signs of the blessings! Give me large tracts of land to manage. Please enlarge my boundaries beyond my present limitations so that I can be confident in myself. Oga, empower me".

A few days back, the Chairman had given him a book called the "Timeless pages" where he read a story about an old seer who outran the chariot of a king when he was enabled by a supernatural hand. The story was amazing especially when he tried to imagine himself outrunning the MD's brand new Mercedes Benz. The story was what influenced his next plea because he figured for him to gain the speed that had eluded him his whole life; a propelling force was desperately needed.

"Sir, please let your hand be with me. Give me your backing; put the weight of your organization behind me. I see a lot of people who start climbing upward in this business, only to have their lives cut short by hired assassins. In some other instances, some are cut down by the sickle of sicknesses. Take evil away from me so that it would not cause me grief. I need your protection desperately".

"Since you have asked, you will receive. The thing is, a lot of people do not ask but since you have, I will make your joy full and honour your request", concluded the Chairman.

                                      

The supplicant was sent for comprehensive training in real estate issues and made a marketer to sell a few plots of land. While he was on his rounds one day, he met someone who wanted to buy hectares of land. Coincidentally, he knew someone else who had wanted to sell lots of land in the area specified by the buyer. The seller trusted Ibanuje enough to do business because he had the backing of his former Boss. He connected the businessmen and made some tidy sum from the commission he received.

He used the money to buy some real estate in an unpopular bushy area for a paltry sum and in a few years, the place became hot because a lot of affluent people wanted to own houses there. That area erupted into the exclusive residential estate known as Eden City. The man known as sorrow therefore exploded into unimagined wealth and euphoric joy!

The Chairman also gave him some body guards to keep off Omo Onile (real estate thugs) and opened a family card in one of the best hospitals in town coupled with global health insurance.

Without saying, his life took a fresh direction from there onwards. His family who had ostracized him came looking for him. The forbidden stone became the cornerstone. Everything changed for the better.

THE PRESENT

I got out of my reverie smiling, thinking of the transformation my life had gone through and that if it happened to me, it can happen to anybody. If they can locate and cry out to the Chairman of Yeshua Global Resources, enlargement is quite possible……

And Jabez was more honorable than his brothers: and his mother called his name Jabez, saying, Because I bore him with sorrow.Jabez cried out to the God of Israel, "Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory! Let your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain." And God granted his request."

 © 2013 Ekpo Ezechinyere

ENABLED

                                          

Frustration, a debilitating roaring inferno engulfed my soul as I lingered in Starrling bank for my monthly stipend. I had been waiting for hours for seventy thousand naira while the official lazed away with apparent boredom as she awaited the confirmation from my office. It now absolutely made sense why the bank was a one client one. With the gross ineptitude of its staff, it would be impossible for them to handle more than that number of customers.

 The last time they wasted my time this way, I rushed out of the bank with relief when I finally got my money but failed to count it in my hurry only to discover that the lady at the counter had given me the worst thousand naira notes ever. Seven thousand worth that even the CBN would never collect. The money disintegrated in one’s hand like ancient papyrus. The pain hurt like a gaping wound since deducting that amount of money from my meager salary was quite overwhelming. I just could not swallow it! For all it was worth, I went back to confront the manager of the branch but the banker who did me the great evil denied as glibly as Satan would have lied. In the past my company would not have come close to a leprous financial house like this but since it owed huge loans to its preferred banks, they were exerting pressure and refused to accord it anymore credit. Starrling Bank it was, unfortunately.

Waiting for my pay packet in such a lousy environment activated a chain reaction of gloom within. Everything inside me went black. With my Masters and ICAN certification, I expected that life would have been better than this but I keep getting a bad hand from the fates. Since my parents were not wealthy, most of my salary goes toward the sustenance and school fees of my six siblings (the story of Africa, it is amazing that a couple who could barely feed each other would take up the crusade of populating the world). I live in a BQ and at forty two I badly want to get married. I am tired of being single and not being surrounded by kids but I did not have the wherewithal to achieve my dreams. My fiancée left me for a guy living in the US who promised to send her to nursing school amongst other things. Not that the guy is more intelligent or better looking, he is just richer! Believe me, am not a pessimist by nature but I do not see any light at the end of this tunnel. To face life these days, I am continually on antidepressants.  Recently, when I go to see the psychiatrist for my monthly refill, the nurses look at me funny. I can almost hear them whispering; “Here comes the nut”! Life is a bitch!

Hours later after leaving the bank, I saw Grace, one of the Olu twins as I stepped out of the mall where I get my monthly provisions. Surprisingly, her twin sister Mercy was not tagging along today. She said hello in her usual sunny way and tried to chat me up. Naturally, I mumbled something and shuffled away. Her friendliness always disconcerts me; one would expect someone from a privileged background like hers to be quite uppity. Her father is a great and terrible King, the “Olu” Of “Aiye” Kingdom, a stupendously wealthy Ruler who had lots of gold and silver mines all over the globe. He also had cattle on thousands of acres of land. I am way down the totem pole compared to her and I usually wonder why she gives me attention. Unfortunately my BQ belongs to a distant relative who lived on the same street with them; hence my path crossed hers often.

I saw her running towards me and stopped mid-stride. It hit me that it was the first time i was taking a proper look at her and instantly knew why she was named Grace. The most beautiful doe had nothing on this princess whose fawn like eyes mesmerized me no end.

“Hello” she said, breathlessly.

“Hi” I responded bashfully, still wondering why the lady would not let me be.

“We are neighbours and I do not know your name” she continued.

“Name is Wale” I mumbled.

She was warm, accommodating and real. Her unpretentious nature was mindboggling. Even in my wretchedness, she made me feel so adequate, complete and quite comfortable.

In record time we had become tight chums. We went to the movies together and had a couple of dinners.  Grace was everything that would make a man’s life complete. I came to believe that behind every successful man there must be a woman like Grace. When she was around I was transformed and stopped seeing my inadequacies. Her presence made me feel 10 feet tall, strong and able.

Suffice it to say that I fell in love. I knew she loved me but I could not accept her love because it felt too good to be true to be accepted by someone with her kind of status. She was way out of my league but that did not prevent the lady from showing me that I could have her on a platter of gold if I dared ask.

One day, she invited me to a party in their house and I reluctantly agreed to attend. My jaws dropped at the sight of the house. It was astoundingly beautiful with an interior coated with all the colours of the rainbow. Beautifully dressed servants were tucked in every nook and cranny of the house. The floor was marble and golden. Such flagrant opulence took my breath away! All my life I had never seen such lavish display of wealth.

The living room was divided into three. There was an outer lobby where most of the guests lounged. Beyond this was an inner sitting room where the twins took only a few friends very dear to them. This place was cooler and quieter. I felt quite honoured to be one of the few deemed intimate enough to enter the room.

While sipping my drink I noticed that another passage led off to an inner room where the pure strains of some beautiful orchestra wafted down to where we were.

“What is that music and where is it coming from”, I asked incredulously.

“Oh, that is our Father’s innermost chamber where he receives his most honoured guests”. They answered.

A deep curiosity to see the “Olu” I had heard so much about coupled with the irresistible music made me do what I would not ordinarily have done as a shy person. Courage that I did not know I possessed suddenly banished my fear and misgivings and I walked boldly into the presence of the King. The beauty in the previous rooms seemed like horrific ugliness compared to the glory of this chamber. The whole place was made of glittering glass with reflections that hurt the eyes. The servants were liveried in dazzling white robes. Some served the twenty-four courtiers sitting before His Majesty, a few others were the ones making the music with instruments I had never seen. And the rest were guards flanking the Royal throne. The atmosphere of joy in the place was intense!

The throne was magnificent, studded with all manners of precious stones, sapphires, amethyst, topaz, and so on. When I finally saw Him, I was so impressed that I fell prostrate on the floor! His robe was fiery gold like He was clothed in fire; I understood why one of his titles is Alagbada Ina (He whose robe is made of fire). In total abandonment I bowed before the throne, started worshipping and calling his various titles in my native language for minutes on end. He was a sight to behold, emanating power and gentility like no one I had ever known.

“Wale, come and sit beside me” He offered.

I was surprised he knew my name. He looked at me with amusement in his eyes. “Before you came, I knew you son” He revealed smiling.

I accepted his request and we started fellow-shipping like age old friends. His knowledge was encyclopaedic.  The King had answers for everything. I feasted to my fill on the buffet of pleasures that were offered at His table.

When it was finally time to leave even though I did not feel like, I asked him for Grace’s hand in marriage. The move was so sudden it amazed even me. I did not know I possessed such boldness.

 The King smiled and said, “Most suitors that seek my daughter’s hands are just after the benefits that will accrue to them if they becoming my sons-in-law. You are so different my boy because you have sought my face and my friendship. Wale, you communed with me, formed a relationship and touched my heart. Therefore since you have asked for my Grace, I will grant you your desire. You can have her but beyond her hand, I will help you. Today you have become my son and I will back you with my throne, my kingdom, my name”, He swore. He called Grace and gave me her hand.

“Wale, also note that Mercy is deeply attached to her sister and her companionship would always be felt in your home too when she comes visiting which would be pretty often” He continued.

The Ruler gave me his complimentary card before I left and told me His name will open up doors for me anywhere in the world.

3 YRS LATER

I am married to Grace and we have the loveliest daughter in the world and my wife is pregnant with our second baby. Deus Regnum the flagship company of the “Olu” of “Aiye” now has me as their Chief Financial Officer. My sixth sibling is presently doing her masters in the UK without any stress. Through the favour of my Father-in-law, uncommon things have become common. We have great privileges all over the world. Getting married to Grace has empowered and transformed me. I can easily do what I could never do before. Now life is groovy!

Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.
  
© 2013 Ekpo Ezechinyere