THE WRONG TURN
I attended a
Christ’ embassy program that evening and afterwards went to see my friend, J
Morris. The shirt I intended wearing, the next day, to church service, has to
go with cuff-links and I had left mine in Jigawa (or so, I thought) - he’s got
to let me use his. But when I got to his house, the dude I met told me that he
was out.
“And where on
earth did that guy went to?”
“Well, he went
to see some girl”
“Which street
did he follow, you have any idea?”
“The one leading
to the college of agriculture”
“Whoa, that
sounds like he isn’t coming back anytime soon”, I conceded
“Apparently”,
the guy agreed, and I left
While walking
back to my neighborhood, I decided to use another route other than the one I
came through- that became my undoing. I bumped into Cecilia. I almost screamed,
but managed to hold myself back. I didn’t know what to tell her, and I quickly settled
for a lie
“Sissy, I’m just
coming from your house, and you weren’t in” I lied shamelessly
“Like you’re
saying the truth now”, she chuckled.
She looked quite
happy seeing me after a reasonably long time.
“Yes, I’m”
“Okay, shall we
go back then?”
Damn, I felt
like I just landed in a pot of soup, and wary of exposing my initial lie, I
simply scratched my bald cheeks and complied.
Not that I
actually wanted going to her place, in fact I was avoiding all the ladies known
to me in the neighbourhood.
“When was the
last time you came here?” Sissy asked as she ushered me into the room
“I don’t know,
really”
“Well, I do. It’s
like a year and half, now, “she sounded sure
“Well, I had
been busy, you know” I excused
“You actually
had been jumping around and working like a Quartz clock”
“Every sane
youth is building a future for him”, I said as a matter of fact
“Hmmm, that’s
right”
The next moment
she was already serving dinner. Geez, I felt trapped.
“See, Sissy,
don’t worry about serving me any meal, in fact I’m okay”
“Don’t even
start” she warned “or we are going to have a serious problem”
“Looks like I
can deal with that”
She stopped for
a few moments, looked at me closely and shook her head
“Are you for
real?” she asked
“Sissy, I’m not
going to eat. I’ve eaten already, were I’m coming from”
“And where is
that?”
“Christ’
embassy, and we ate rice there”, I said and realized I had just completed a hat
trick of lies within the shortest time possible. I became angry at myself for
having to lie when I didn’t have to.
“Well, even if
you’re not going to eat “, she suggested “you can at least taste the food,
would you?”
“Come on, I’m
okay I said”
"Or you just don’t like
the food, it’s not the kind you eat, it’s okay”, she sounded hurt.
That was one
thing I was really avoiding. I felt guilty and decided to make up, there and
then.
“Okay, okay,
lets eat” I lessened a bit and she smiled, her countenance suddenly transformed
with the evidence of a broad smile
“Say a prayer
for us, would you?” she politely asked
“You do” I
declined in the same manner
“Okay. I Jesus
name-----------amen” the prayer was over
“What kind of
prayer was that?” I asked frowning
“The kind you do
when you have a reluctant diner” she said and burst into a wild laughter.
“Well, suit
yourself” I said as we began to eat
“Keep behaving
this way, and I shall get back at you someday”
“When?” I mocked
“Even when you
marry, I shall go to your house and deal with you silly” she threatened.
“Well, you will
not even know my address”
“Of course, I
will. And you will be
the one to give it to me yourself”
“Why on earth
will I do that?”
“Are you going
to live in the skies?”
“As a matter of
fact, its here on the earth”
“Then why won’t
you want me to know?”
“May be I would
be running a drug gang then”. She clapped
“That sounds
like progress to me”.
We were in that
mood when her friend suddenly burst into the room, without even the luxury of a
knock, she just bagged in!
“Oh, sorry, my
bad”, the girl apologized
“You silly girl”
she fired at her jokingly
“I thought she
was alone” she excused while looking at me “it was only her voice I heard from
outside”
I nearly asked
her to shut up and said it was inappropriate to burst into peoples’ room in the
manner she did. In the end, the concern that the girl doesn’t get the wrong
impression of my presence in the semi-lit room, overcame my anger.
“Why isn’t he
eating?” she directed the question to Sissy as if I wasn’t even there
“He was eating
o, but stopped when you came in, didn’t you noticed?”
“Don’t mind me
or Sissy either” I said to the girl feeling a little embarrassed
The next few
minutes, after we finished eating, was centered on fashion. The two ladies
delved into issues of fashion, and Sissy being a tailor herself, was more than
interested. And here I was, a poet, knowing neither caring a bit about fashion.
After a while
(haven behaved all along as a gentleman as they talked), Sissy caught me
looking at my watch.
“This your
lie-lie time checking no go work o” she laughed
“I really have
to be going”
“Okay, let me
see you off” she offered standing up to her feet
“Nah, I’m good
alone” I declined the offer of a company
She then sat
down again and made a very funny request
“I can’t stand;
help me up, would you?”
“No, I won’t. If
you won’t stand, lie down there flat” I sounded serious
“Naughty boy”
the friend said and they let up a loud laughter
All along I was
just conscious of what her friend was thinking. I prayed she didn’t think I
was---------------well, even when I was writing this down in the comfort of my
room, I was still hoping nobody gets the wrong idea
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