RE-WRITTEN 1

                                           

The Author of “Life” was so pleased with himself. By his reckoning he had written another international bestseller to add to tons of initial ones. He got such accolades for his creations that he was dubbed the King of the bestselling list. However, the way he figured it, “Life” was going to be the best of the lot by a long shot. He absolutely loved the plot and believed it would be a hit that would be translated into every language in the world. He gave the pages of “Life” another once over and saw that it was very good. 

Kemi was beside herself with joy. It was the graduation day for her masters program and she had taken loads of picture on her camera phone to immortalize the moment. She had said cheese enough times to drive any hungry rat mad and was basking in the joy of the moment. There was enough to eat and drink and everyone around her was euphoric.

To make matters better, she had gotten a place in one of the multinational oil companies where she planned to build up a nest egg to enable her travel to America. There, she was going to pursue her PhD while lecturing and researching. She was also engaged, to be married as soon as possible to a guy who was totally besotted with her. Kemi’s future was full of glittering silver linings devoid of clouds.

The hatred Diabo Culebra had for The Author of “Life” was rabid. Diabo was also a gifted writer who wanted to become the best in the world by any means. He felt this could only be achieved by knocking the number one off the bestselling lists. Diabo is twisted in his thoughts and this reflected hugely in his books which are full of terror, gore and blood. If your leaning is towards unrelenting robberies, indiscriminate killings, swathes of destruction, then he is your man. His stories are horrific thrillers that usually end in tragedy and death. This was one of the reasons he could not stomach the Author of “Life” whose stories always had fairy tale endings. Diabo usually referred to him as “The Soppy One” with disgust. His dislike could not be hidden especially since “Life’s” writer had become so wealthy from his works that real estate, sport clubs, mines, zoos, publishing houses, film studios, fashion houses in the tune of billions of dollars belonged to him. Even Forbes has not been able to come close to estimating his net worth. Diabo coveted these things with every fibre of his greedy being. 

Since his pride could not make him stomach coming second to anyone, he decided to strike like the snake he is. Having found a disgruntled staff working for his enemy, he enticed her with 30,000 dollars to betray her master after she told him about the potential of her boss’ new story. The Judas got the story of “Life” on a flash, corrupted and crashed the system of her employer thereby ensuring no copies were left. Subsequently, the story was given to the evil instigator who was so jubilant because he knew how much pain this was going to cause the other writer. The Author of “Life” was so attached to his works that this action wounded his heart deeply.  

Diabo, when he saw the story knew it was a winner and proceeded to change the plot to his own taste which when published was going to put him on top. It was also going to make him some good money but most importantly enrage the original creator.

Though Kemi’s life was rolling on smoothly, she was a bit confused when it came to the issue of marriage. The only feather missing from the cap of her life was a wedding band and now she was in a hurry to get one wrapped around her finger.

She had been going out with Gabriel (she calls him her angel), her classmate in the university and both of them just finished their masters, however he was yet to get a job. On the other hand, there was Teddy, a guy she met at an eatery who had been asking her out forever.

Teddy was a handsome, rich guy about town; the brother was so fine he was nicknamed “The god”! Kemi knew she would never have to struggle financially with a guy like him. She had always dreamt of a grand wedding filled with fun and fireworks. With Gabby, she knew she might not attain that in the next six years and she was tired of waiting. Her attraction for Teddy was more sexual and conniving than anything but she assumed love would grow with the years. For crying out loud, love was overrated! Kemi also intensely disliked Teddy’s habits of smoking and drinking heavily but her philosophy was that people change, so with time, he would do away with them. “The god” was a far cry from Gabby who always listened to her and even when he said no, he did so without really hurting her feelings. Teddy was a different kettle of fish altogether. Once, he was so enraged that he violently slapped her after she got him miffed. Afterwards, he was all sugar and spice, so much that she let it go. Her line of thought was that we are all imperfect beings. However, deep within the sea of her soul, nagging feelings nibbled at her like a school of tiny fish but she managed to pay them no mind.

Kemi went ahead to call it quits with Gabby.

It was a quiet night, one of such beautiful ones when the stars have a winking party. You could hear the philandering winds whisper sweet nothings to every flora in sight. Birds achingly cooed out to their lovers from secret places. It was on such a night that she stabbed her fiancé deeply in the heart with the dagger of treachery.

“Ke-mine (his affectionate moniker for her), why?  You cannot do this to me, o le se mi bayi”. Gabby cried, his face a mask of pain. His visage was akin to that of a little boy who was abandoned in a thick dark forest after trustingly following his mum there at night.  He looked lost.

“Gabby, ko ni work se. It will not work. It is over!” She replied. Having come prepared, she had steeled her heart and formed an implacable dam around it which kept at bay the flood of love pouring from Gabby’s wrenched heart.

As she turned to move away, Gabby grabbed her hand and clung to it.  “Ke-mine, do not throw it all away. Let’s give it another shot. It will work if we give it our all. Please, joor”. He implored beseechingly.

“Gabby, let it go, I am Teddy’s now!”  She said looking into those honey coloured pupils she had recently loved so much.

“Eh! Te-what”? With a wave of disgust washing over his face he dropped her hand like it had suddenly become a viper. He walked away from her with slow motion like movements. His face was a spectrum of utter confusion, disbelief, incomprehension and revulsion until at last he turned and ran like he were demon-possessed.

His final look hurt and shook her but she had made her decision albeit a painful one. She knew mentioning Teddy was going to be the final straw since Gabby could not abide him and always felt he was beneath her.

T he light of the moon formed a halo around the park bench on which she sat and its reflection off the white dress she wore made her seem like a disconsolate ghost as she sobbed her heart out.

By the time she stood up, the memories of the past had been buried in the park and it was a resolute version of herself that strode out.

Unfortunately, things did not go as planned with Teddy. His attitude changed when he realized he was now the head honcho of her heart. They had become live-in-lovers and started sleeping together because he said he wanted to ensure she was fertile before they tied the knot. This was at the insistence of his mum. After six months of not taking in, he took her to see some specialists where they ran a battery of tests on her. She felt like a guinea pig and could not believe what was happening to her.  Firstly, she was amazed that such a cosmopolitan man like her boyfriend could be so traditional and backward. Secondly, she was the one that used to mock her friends that they could stoop so low with all their education and enlightenment and allow some guy make a monkey out of them. By now, she had sacrificed so much that she did not have the mental fortitude to fight. So she gave in, anything so long they could get it out of the way and get married.

Irony of it all was that it was three years now and they still had not gotten married.  Funny thing was that Gabby by this time had walked down the aisle. After their break up he fell in love with a lady who was willing to start out with him at his level. He had gotten a job, his own apartment and was moving up the rungs of his career even though he was still not earning enough to have Teddy’s financial muscle. She saw from the pictures on Facebook that it was a modest affair but not the kind of glorious image she had in mind for herself.

One Friday evening after battling hellish traffic at Ozumba Mbadiwe, Victoria Island, Lagos to get to her home in Victoria Garden City, Lekki, she was beat. On getting home, the main thing on her mind was to soak herself in a steaming hot bath, eat some semolina with Egusi soup, quaff some Fumman pineapple juice, watch a movie and sleep till late morning on Saturday.  All her plans turned out to be the best plans of mice and men….Teddy insisted on her accompanying him to a night club. When she refused, he freaked out and to allow peace reign, she dragged her tired body after him.

On their way back, he was drunk as usual and when she offered to drive, the kind of expletives he unleashed on her would have made a sailor blush.  Cowered, she gave in as usual. On the way, they ran into a broken down truck that had no hazard lights on and to save himself, Teddy swerved the car so that her side of the car took the whole brunt.

When she came to, the first person she heard was Teddy talking to a doctor.

“Doctor, are you sure there is nothing we can do to save the leg? Without a limb, she is useless to me! I can never go out with a cripple, talk more of marrying one.”…

Shattered, she screamed his name which only came out in a hoarse whisper and as they both turned to look at her, she plunged back into the inky river of unconsciousness that welcomed her with comforting arms…

TO BE CONTINUED….
  
© 2013 Ekpo Ezechinyere

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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