MY PASSION FOR WOMEN EPISODE 3 I can still picture the sadness on her face, when I told her I had been posted to Kaduna State. “Why? So you want to go to Kaduna?” she questioned me sounding like I deliberately wanted to be far and away from her. Later, she gently collapsed into my arms with tears running freely down her no-makeup face. “I love you baby,” the same words that always worked magic with her didn’t work nothing that day. We both felt hopeless that day, leaving a part me to cussing out my maternal uncle who had promised to influence my posting to our state. Every second to the day of my departure became precious, we tried to make the best use of the remaining days drawing out specific patterns and arrangement of our communication and making solemn commitments to support our love life, no matter the temptation. The day finally came, Mama drove me to the park along with Sade early in the morning. Sade was silent as Mama meandered through the undulating terrain and traffic snarls that perfectly described the city of Akure. Mama was incessantly checking Sade out through the rear mirror and I knew it was just a few seconds before she enquires what was wrong with her. “What’s wrong with you dear?” she quizzed. “I’m okay ma” she retorted. I immediately jumped in to save Sade from further questioning from mum, a guidance and counselling expert who sees the need to counsel everybody she meets, “Mum, she’s okay. She is just feeling a little woozy” I said. When we got to the park, Mama led a short prayer with me and Sade. It was a family ritual I found awkward sometimes but inescapable. We chorused a loud amen to the last lap of the prayer. I paid for my ticket at the (Akure- Kaduna) counter, where a Yoruba man with the thick Oyo accent and corresponding tribal marks, teased me about taking my beautiful wife along with me, pointing to Sade. Sade didn’t utter a word, her face was devoid of any known emotion. “Baby, what’s wrong?” I murmured gently into her left ear and she faked a smile, I hugged her and whispered “I love you” and she responded “I love you too.” In the few minutes of our public display of affection (PDA) we weren’t conscious of our environment. Sade was shy with all the faces fixated on us but she enjoyed it. The NYSC camp wasn’t like I expected, the reality on ground wasn’t far from being a total disaster. The camp was situated on an isolated area of state. The soldiers on ground that night were mean, they threatened to deal with anybody that failed to follow their instructions. It was a rude awakening, and it felt like I was been conscripted to the Armed force. While waiting for my turn on the long registration queue I heard a scuffle going on behind me, it was between a pretty light-skinned young lady and one of the Soldiers called Musa. “Don’t talk to me like that, do you know who my father is?” Musa was furious and promised to deal with her. His colleagues tried to calm him, the scenario degenerated to an eyesore and the opportunists among those of us on the queue made the most of it, by pushing and shoving people in an attempt to take a better spot on the queue. It took a long time before normalcy was finally restored. The camp commandant, Major Ike (an Ibo man who to a reasonable extent could be the only formally educated soldier on the camp ground) had been alerted of the disturbance. He quickly rushed down to the scene and the young lady eventually let us all know that she was Nkechi Obiora—the daughter of Senator Ken Obiora which understandably drew a short bust of laughter. We all knew who Senator Obiora was, he was one of the perennial inactive member of the upper Legislative chamber of the federation. He was a legendary figure who never hid his volatile character even from the Pressmen—who would have forgotten how he slapped a female Senator during a budgetary debate. The Camp Commandant admonished her gently and told her to come see him at his office the next day. Musa also made up with her. I was able to complete the registration and I went to bed tired but not bored. The first night at the hostel was terrible, the hall tagged “Aso rock” was a misnomer, it was nothing to write home about. Cockroaches flew around while rodents marauded the environment freely like it was some kind of animal republic. My allergy to this environment was worsened by my obnoxious hall mates— the characters in my room were lousy; from the ones screaming out loud for absolutely no reason, to those blasting music from their China phones and lastly the old man who I had the misfortune of sharing same bunk with. The old man found it convenient to call his wife and put the call on the speaker phone, with his children all screaming “Daddy!” I just kept consoling myself that I’ll survive. I couldn’t call Sade or my folks that night, the battery of my phone was drained even before I arrived here. I spent the better part of the night on my spring bunk thinking about Sade, what she probably will be doing by that time, picturing the look on her face and how troubled her mind would be for not been able to reach me on the phone. “Wake UP! Wake UP!” A deep voice sounded at the door of our room. I woke up and saw this huge shadow banging on our door, I recognised him as one of the military men from yesterday, everyone began jumping out of their beds. “Move to the parade ground!” he said. I struggled to get out of bed and I began to make my way to the door in a zombie-like manner when he shouted “If you’re walking, you’re wrong!” It suddenly hit me that I may not survive this place after all. Later that day, we were again summoned to the parade ground around 3:00PM under the scorching sun, before then I had called Sade after I charged my phone at a charging kiosk with the sum of 50 Naira. She told me how worried she was when my number wasn’t going through and how she prayed to God to send His Angels to keep watch over me. We talked for a long time, as she kept reminding me about how much she was missing me and how she hopes the 21 days in camp would be over as quickly as possible. “Don’t look at other girls, SEUN” she warned me sternly before ending the call. After a short and hard period on the parade ground, a series of events unfolded. One of the girls in my platoon fainted, I rushed towards the lady to administer first aid, even though I graduated as a Medical Physiotherapist, I still like to think of myself as a doctor of some sort. The camp’s Red cross team arrived immediately and I followed them to the clinic. At the clinic, She was finally stabilised, I recognised her as Nkechi from the registration queue. I explained what happened to her and she told me of how she never wanted to come to camp and how her father insisted. We became close friends after that day and hung out frequently especially at night at Madam Perot joint at the Maami market. I wasn’t bothered about hanging out with her because even in my strangest thought I still wouldn’t have envisaged any connection beyond the natural attraction of friendship. We were distance apart in everything; family background, ethnic background and so on. Although I wasn’t the average tribal sentimentalist but I’ve never thought of marrying outside my tribe, probably out of fear the of the unknown. Honestly, the major reason while I stayed close to her was to gain access to better employment after National service and probably ride on the aristocratic horse of her family. Sade called during one of my late nights with Nkechi and the look on her face changed when I excused myself to take the call. “Your girlfriend?” she asked with some dose of sarcasm when I got back, “Yeah” I replied. We had being friends for two weeks and we have talked about mostly everything; our upbringing, friends and family, likes and dislikes and some other memorable events from her undergraduate years in Oxford in the UK to her father’s political career. Frankly, most times when she talks I listen, sometimes she reeks of pride and arrogance and it makes the uppermost layer of my skin to itch but I was stuck with her because I probably needed her more than she needed me join us tomorrow for episode 4
Posted on: Wed, 23 Jul 2014 21:13:28 +0000
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