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Episode 21

‘So, it’s this small pikin you’re sleeping with?’, the woman who was obviously Mr. John’s wife asked, ‘no, I told you, I help am complete money for house, so I say we go dey livw together before you see that text message wey landlord send’, Mr. John explained, ‘so if I no see landlord message, I for no know sey you don rent house, you wan con send me and my children go village and your girlfriend go con dey here, shame on you John’, she insulted him. All the neighbours came out from their rooms with inquisitive gazes due to her awful yell that sounded like a battle cry. David came out and signaled me to tell him, what was wrong, I mouthed the words silently, ‘I don’t understand, I don’t know’. I was very confused, she was misunderstanding the whole thing, I decided to be a good girl and explain matters to her, I thought she’d be reasonable but she pushed me aside telling Mr. John, ‘better tell am to pack her load commot for here or else, I go kill am ooo’, she warned. I paused to rethink her statement, ‘pack my load?, leave?, is she crazy, house I paid for, where would I go to?, it was my house too, I had the right to ask them to leave. ‘Young girl like you, we should be the same age and you’re my father’s girlfriend, I no blame you na, you dey feel sey you fine, see her nose sef’, Mr. John’s daughter mocked as she entered the house. There was commotion, I wasn’t given an opportunity to say anything, they both kept yelling at Mr. John and I .

The neighbours tried to butt in when they knocked on the jammed door.

‘What’s happening here?’, the landlord asked, ‘phew’, I heaved a sigh of relief, finally, someone would bear witness that I paid too. ‘Errrrm, nothing sir’, Mr. John said, ‘what do you mean by nothing?’, I asked Mr. John. I ennuciated Mr. John’s wife’s statements to the landlord and asked him to tell her that I paid part for the house. ‘Sorry, Mr. John didn’t tell me anything like that, besides, you didn’t say anything either that night and this room was rented under his name, young lady pack your things and leave this place, go to your parents house, don’t ruin someone’s marriage’, he said.

I was speechless, I was so sure everyone in the compound heard that, despite the fact that we were all inside. The landlord stared at me, shook his head and left, he was my only hope and he dissappointed me. That Mr. John, he didn’t say anything, he was so scared of his wife. There was no proof or evidence that I also paid for the rent of the room, tears flowed freely down my eyes, there was no way I could take down Mr. John’s wife and daughter, they were both skinny but judging by the tone of their voices, I knew I would be beaten mercilessly , they were like monsters and judging from what I saw, Mr. John was fearful, how could a fearful man like Mr. John, live with those two?.

Before I could gain balance and try to make a decision, Mr. John’s wife unstrapped the wrapper that held her baby and handed the baby over to her daughter. She grabbed my hands, ‘there’s nothing in this kind of life you are living and there’s no need for you to lie, how can a girl of your age have that kind of money pay for half of this room, if you’ve stolen money from your parents, go home and return the money’, she supposedly advised, ‘no ma, I didn’t steal and I don’t have parents, I mean, my mum is not here’, I said in tears. ‘Then, go back to wherever your mum is’, she harshly said and pushed me outside shutting the door at my face. I ignored the poignant penetrative scornful stares of some neighbours, including David’s constant tap on my shoulder to get my attention, I was actually surprised that he was still around, he said, he left for work by 7:00am and I was so sure, it was past 7:00am. I just knocked as hard as I could on the door, minutes later, Mr. John’s wife opened the door, threw my wrapper on my face, ‘if you need your bag, e dey your back’, she said and shut the door again. The tears increased, that was pure injustice, no one even listened to my side of the story, with the stares from the neighbours earlier, they all believed I was a liar except David anyway. All I could think of was how stupid I was, it was not just Dayo now, but Mr. John had taken the position of second in the list of people in my life that had deceived me.

‘Uwanah, Uwanah, answer me, will you just stand here?, come’, David said holding my right hand, ‘Go where, if I leave, which house am I going to?, I have to stay here’, I said, yelling and sobbing, ‘Uwa, that’s why we are friends, you can stay with me’, he said. This was help from another guy, I struggled within myself to accept his proposal, if I didn’t, I would sleep on the streets, which was my worst nightmare but again, he was a guy, I couldn’t just believe that he didn’t have ulterior motives. I thought about it and agreed for my own safety from the streets, it’s not like I had any choice . He welcomed me into his room, it was furnished, it had a T.V, standing fan, beautiful curtain, rug, a mattress and a single row chair, he asked me to feel comfortable and that we’d talk better when he returned from work. I couldn’t ask him to wait for me because our plans the previous night was to go together to his place of work to see if I could fill in the position of a maid at his place of work but he was in a hurry, I didn’t want to delay him more than I already did. ‘There’s money in that jacket on the hanger, buy something to eat when you get hungry’, he said, pointing to a black jacket and didn’t wait for my reply before he dashed out. I opened the jacket’s zip because, I was curious, I found a lot of cash in it, ‘How could he just show me where he keeps all his money?’, I asked myself but, I didn’t take any money, I just zipped the jacket close, it’s not like I was not hungry, I wasn’t in the right mood to eat.
I was in a more comfortable room with a comfy chair and all that, but it was not my room but David’s. I was going to live with a guy, what I ultimately didn’t want.

The house I paid for was overtaken by the people I referred to as ruthless terrorists and there was nothing I could do or say, I wasn’t just sure that, living with David, was the right thing to do.

David returned later in the evening smiling immensely making his dark skinned face glow. ‘How are you?’, he asked, ‘I’m fine and you’, I replied looking sad, ‘Uwa, if you’re thinking that, I would ever try to do anything or chase you out of this house, I won’t, forget about what happened this morning try and be happy’, he said with a frenzied look, I wanted to lash out on him and ask him why I would be happy after everything but it wasn’t his fault and he was being nice, ‘okay’, I said, turning away from his direction. ‘Errrrm, Uwa, did you eat?’, he asked, ‘yes’, I lied to avoid questions of concern.

‘Okay, Uwa, this morning was terrible, my boss almost sacked me, despite pleas from her husband, daughter and other workers, I was only able to free myself from her wrath when I told her, I had found a maid, willing to resume tomorrow. I don’t want to impose anything on you or sound selfish, but I can’t afford to lose my job, your resumption at her house tomorrow is the only thing that can keep my job’, he explained.

I looked at him in awe, how could he say he was imposing anything on me?, he had just secured me a job and he was feeling guilty about it. ‘David, thank you very much, I’m grateful, thank you, I will be able to pay the rent with you while staying here at least, thank you so much, what time are we leaving tomorrow?’, I asked. ‘Uwanah, wait, wait, wait, are you sure you can handle that woman, she is the true definition of the word, wicked, like she is wicked’, he explained, ‘I don’t care, as long as I won’t have to stay at home’, I replied giggling . ‘Okay’, he said, ‘and I don’t need you to pay the rent, I’ve been paying it for two years, you’re a friend and I just want to help you’, he informed, ‘help me?, no be, ‘I just wan help you’, Mr. John talk that night, shebi, I don see the help?’, I said in my thoughts and replied, ‘hmmm, okay, thank you’. I just hoped he was not up to mischief. The rest of the night was straight forward, we didn’t talk much except it was needed, he allowed me to sleep on the mattress while he sprayed several blankets on the floor, he just said, he’d wake me up as early as 6:00am to prepare for work and he slept off.

Leaving the compound the next day was annoying, I could hear Mr. John’s wife loud abuse, ‘instead of you to go to your parents house after trying to snatch my husband, you now want to ruin this small boy life’, she yelled, causing some neighbours to eavesdrop. I was matured enough to know that arguing with her or trying to explain myself was pointless, I ignored her and walked out of the compound with David.

We boarded a bus in which we spent almost an hour in, the conductor was lousy, some passengers were troublesome and the driver was reckless, it seemed like he was drunk. After all the bus drama, we got down and walked into a very quiet street, there were many beautiful gigantic houses, I had no idea that we’d be stopping at the most beautiful house there, it was a huge one storey building, from the outside view, I observed that, the tiles served as the wall’s decor, the roof’s colour was orange, the fence was painted Yellow with security bulbs lined with gauze sitting on it. I opened my mouth in awe when we entered the compound after knocking countlessly before the gate-man opened the gate, the floor was concrete, there were several cars, there was not a single dirt in the compound, there were two security guards at the entrance of the door, I didn’t know why, but I was scared. I was allowed to enter after Dayo explained to them that I had an appointment with the madam.
He apologized for not coming into the house with me, he explained that if madam didn’t call for a person, the person had no right to enter the house. ‘I’m going to my duty post’, he said, I just nodded my head, ‘it will be fine’, he assured me and I just nodded my head again. I entered the house like a child who had lost her way, the AC’s chill was stronger than the one in Yemisi’s mother’s car, I moved in a little more, there was a staircase in the living room that linked to other rooms, there were chandeliers in the living room, there was a bar across the other end of the living room, ‘so, I will tidy up this house alone?’,I asked myself. I was still observing, when I heard an awful cry from the staircase, ‘You didn’t come to work and you didn’t inform me, that’s why I sacked you, get out of here before I break your head’, said a woman whose looks were frightening with her excessive makeup, the red lip gloss made her lips look bigger and disgusting, the extra eye lashes glued to her eye lids made her very tiny eyes pronounced, the brown powder was too much, she could be mistaken for a clown, I felt like
running away, how would I work with that woman?’
.


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