The Wife ESCAPED!

Timmy had spent quite a few days in Donatus’ house and so far, it had been work, work, work and more work. He had lost some weight already, but he was just beginning to resign himself to the strange life he now found himself.

He was not eating as much as he used to, moping as much as he used to and visiting friends as much as he used to. Under Oga Dona’s territory, there was no room for frivolous activities. Except on weekends, if he wasn’t at the shop selling, he would be at warehouse loading or at the house balancing the books with the other boys in the evenings.

Speaking of the other boys, they were surprised that he was learning fast, but they still did not consider him fully weaned enough to be in their clique.

On this particular afternoon, he was sat beside them watching as they played Whot on a bench. They had not invited him and he wondered why. So far, he had been working hard to blend in, but he still had not been accepted.

“Yo, why’d you guys leave me out?”, he suddenly asked in his usual direct manner. They looked at one another with a puzzled expression on their faces.

“Americana, wetin you dey talk?”, Henry asked him.

“I mean… I wanna play, you know.”

“You sabi play?”

“Sure! Why not? I’m sabee… a lot.”

“Oya shuffle shuffle, make we play real game.”

“Come Americana,” Chidi sneered. “Your mate no dey here o. We go beat you anyhow.”

“Americana, you wan put money?”, Henry asked, with sudden inspiration.

“Sure! I got 50 bucks here,” he said providing a $50 bill from his wallet.

“Chidi, na dollars be that o,” Chukwuka said, his eyes sparkling.

“Abegi, na fake. Dollars for where. Who dash this one Ghana money not to talk of dollars.”

“Come on, it’s real. Here, check it out,” Timmy smiled, handing it over to them.

“I tell you say na dollars be this, you dey argue.”

“Make we give Oga, him go know whether na real or na fake,” Chidi suggested.

“Eh? No try am o,” Henry whispered. “If this money reach Oga hand, e don go be that o.”

“So whatcha say, guys?”

“Wetin you talk? Wachaseh?”, Chukwuka demanded.

“‘What you say’ nai him talk,” Henry clarified. “Abi no be so, Americana?”

“Yeah, man. You got that right.”

“Come, look here,” Chidi called. “If you wan play this game, you have to speak the kind English that we sabi, you hear?”

“Fine. I’m gonna try to speak like a Nageerian.”

“Naijirian.”

“Okay man. Naijeeriyan.”

“Abeg leave this guy before him go bite him tongue,” Henry hissed, already shuffling the cards and doling them out.

“Hmmm!”, Chidi coughed, struggling hard not to smile after looking at the cards he’d been dealt.

“Wetin happen?”, Henry asked, glaring at him.

“Nothing o. It is well.”

“Even inside the well,” Chukwuka countered.

“Na you go dey inside well,” Chidi shot back.

“Na your father you dey talk about,” Chukwuka returned.

“You dey krace?”, Chidi shouted, standing up and towering over his colleague. “Who give you the right to insult my father like that?”

“No be you start am?”, Henry asked, hissing. “Abeg sidown, let us play this game.”

“I no play any nonsense game with idiots,” Chidi retorted. He glared at every one of them in turn and finally threw the cards away in no specific direction before turning his back on the entire scene. But little did he know that one of the cards had actually hit Henry on the face.

“You dey mad?!”, Henry roared, charging after him. Before Chidi could turn around to see what was going on, he received the heavy blast of a backhanded slap from behind. Quickly recovering himself, he launched his own counter-attack in the form of a punch to Henry’s nose which sent that fellow reeling backwards and falling on the bench that was being used for their game.

The other boys, Timmy and Chukwuka had by now gotten to their feet and were trying their best to keep the combatants from each other to prevent further trouble. While Timmy calmed Chidi, Chukwuka was busy trying to assuage a furious Henry.

“Guy, leave am. E don do. Just forgive am.”

But it was like a Cruijff turn – sharp and unexpected. Just when the mediators were thinking that everything was in control was when it happened.

Suddenly breaking free from Chukwuka, Henry grabbed the bench and flung it, aiming squarely for Chidi’s head, but his opponent was alert and ducked just in time. Timmy, who was standing with him and whose back was facing the other two boys, ended up receiving the heavy missile on the back of his head. And he fell down, unconscious.

***This content © Nôv/elDr(a)m/a.Org.

Chukwuka and Chidi sat together in silence watching a very ill-at-ease Henry pace back and forth. It had been several hours since Timmy was taken to the hospital. After the bench hit the wrong target, Chukwuka had wasted no time in running to fetch their boss who had been enjoying his siesta. He had been furious at first, but hearing of the incident, he dove for his car keys immediately.

Half-dressed and with his indoor slippers on, he rushed down to the Boys Quarters, checked Timmy’s vital signs and asked the boys to get him into his car. He jumped into the driver seat and off he went, straight to the hospital. None of the boys had possessed the courage to ask to ride with him and here they were – two huddled together like near-retirement cops on a late night stake-out while the third was alternating between biting his fingers and praying for divine mercy while pacing back and forth as if he was in a pacing competition.

“This one wey you dey waka go back go front like Chief Priest inside shrine, how e wan take help you?”, Chukwuka asked. But Henry ignored him and continued his pacing with even more vigor.

“No be Oga motor be that?”, Chidi suddenly asked, straining his ear to hear the horn better. The other two also stopped in their tracks to listen.

“Na him o,” Chukwuka announced as the horn sounded again. All three took off at the same time, but Henry who was running as if his life depended on it easily overtook them.

Reaching the gate, he unlocked it and opened it to its full width. Never in his life had he been more serious and eager about opening a gate.

Donatus was still some metres away and had been horning at other road users, but all three of his boys stood at the gate anxiously awaiting his arrival.

When he drove into the compound, they were all eager to see the expression on his face. Their ‘Welcome, Sah’ had gone unanswered and they all knew that anything could have happened and could still happen. If anybody was known for punishing a group over the offense of one, it was Oga Dona.

As he parked his car, they all rushed to the driver side. But the other two did not dare try to take Henry’s place at the front.

Donatus took his time in alighting from the car and when he finally did, all three bowed low and greeted, Henry bowing the lowest. They watched as their boss locked his car and tested the door to make sure it was really locked. They all wanted to speak, but some could not find the words while some were waiting for him to turn around. Eventually, he turned to face them.

“Welcome, Sah,” Chukwuka bowed and greeted for the third time in the last seven minutes and then proceeded to scratch his head and shift from one foot to the other. “Em… Oga, how… em.. how is th… the boy?”

The rest stood with bated breath as they awaited the response. Even the speaker was not feeling very safe. The response may not be in words, it may be in the form of a walking stick landing on heads. Henry, on the other hand, was sure that if his boss were to say certain words, he would fall down and die. All their hearts were pounding wildly as they looked to Donatus, expecting every minute to hear the worst news they would ever hear in a long time.

“You are all lucky that he’s alive,” Donatus hissed.

“Hey! Heavenly Father… all praise be to you,” Henry shouted, falling on his knees and raising both hands to the sky.

“And you, this idiot,” Donatus spat, turning to the kneeling apprentice. “You are more than lucky that Timothy begged me not to inform his parents otherwise you would have been on your way to Kirikiri Maximum Prison by now. If he had died, (chuckling bitterly) by now I would have finished making the call to your parents to inform them of where the firing squad would be taking place. Fooool.”

With that, he made his way to his house, closely followed by thanks, well-wishes and prayers from a very grateful Henry who seemed to have suspended his praises to the Heavenly Father for the meantime.

“Mffeeeew,” Chidi hissed and Chukwuka giggled as they watched their colleague on his hands and knees calling on choice heavenly blessings to engulf his boss in all the earthly and heavenly languages he could muster. But Henry did not mind. After exhausting his store of blessings, he resumed giving praises to the heavenly father. As far as he was concerned, nothing was too much to celebrate this moment. He knew just how much trouble he had escaped. After all he had done, he would not be sent away in disgrace, beaten to a coma or sent to prison. In fact, it was nothing short of a miracle. When Timmy returns, he would gladly be at his beck and call forever.