HER JOURNEY
By Christabel Nwoko
Episode 5
The kind woman smiled, it was so obvious that the woman was impressed with Agnes’s sincerity.
“I like you alre-ady, you just proved that you are not a free loader, you have principles, you are sincere and you have intergrity…. but… you don’t have to pay back, it’s not a loan, don’t bother paying back, all you nee-d to do is to pay it forward, anytime you see some one in nee-d and you know with in you that you can help, plea-se do” The woman replied and Agnes nodded in acceptance.
” I know your daughter will be fine, I have to be on my way, but let me introduce myself first, my name is Madam Amanda Eseke, I c@m£ to visit my daughter inlaw who just put to be-d yesterday, she gave birth to two babies, yes twins, she had been trying to conceive since 5 years of their marriage but God finally did it, you see, we serve a miracle working God” Madam Amanda narratted.
“Congratulations, ma” Agnes entered in smiles.
“Thank you…..what’s your name my dear?” The woman added
“Agnes” she entered calmly.
“Thank you Agnes, Nice to meet you dear, here is my card, below is my office address, I’m always at the office Mondays to Fridays, 9am to 3pm, feel free to visit me anytime you want, I will like to see you again” the woman said and she hvgged Agnes before she finally left.
Many years later, Madam Amanda had bec@m£ Agnes god mother, she introduced her to important people and with time Agnes joined politics, she had gone back to school few years ago and she bec@m£ a graduate of political science.
Her daughters Benita, Paulina and Chloe were graduates too, Benita was a renowned lawyer while Paulina was a surgeon, her hospital was one of the best hospitals in the country, even other hospitals contract her services for special or emergency surgeries. Chloe was a Pilot. Due to her job, she was well expo-sed and connected. They were all successful in thier career field and they were like female kings in thier respective careers but they were not interested in marriage or in love as their mother had unconsciously made them to believe that strong women don’t nee-d men and that men were wicked.
Agnes had a project to supervise in Ibadan, she had over 1000 teenage girls on her scholarsh!pscheme & for years she had been giving out free education only to female children. Just as she promised Madam Amanda, she kept helping people in nee-d especially women and little female children. Most times people wondered why Agnes was not extending her hands of love to the male folks but she had her reasons.
Agnes had become a very popular politician in the country because of her generosity towards the female children in the country.
One day, Roland almost had an heart attack when he saw Agnes on national television. He couldn’t believe his eyes when he saw his ex wife on television.
Roland had aged and he had long retired from the Navy. Although he had three sons from his second marriage but those sons were useless and they were responsible for his ruins. His second wife also troubles him, all she cared about was Roland’s wealth and since he noticed that his second wife and sons were out to ruin him, he began to be discreet and careful around them. Ever since he retired, his life had lacked peace.
For months, his second wife had been pressurizing him to transfer every property he owned to their first son but Roland refused because he knew it was very risky to do so.
His first son was expelled from the University because of his bad behavior, and ever since he stick to the life of crime. Multi-ple times he had been arrested for kidnapping, r@p£, thvggery, and even stealing
He couldn’t even trust his second or third son, yes the second son was a graduate but he is a drug add!çt and a g@y.
His third son also rounded up with his youth service but he lacked direction. He was also a chronic wom-anizer, ever since he graduated from the University, he had refused to take up a job. He is always clubbing and chasing different ladies.
It’s a great joy to know that Agnes’s life was better than when HER JOURNEY started. Agnes had indeed fulfilled her vow as her three daughters had become successful and they had surpas-sed what she had imagined.
HER JOURNEY
By Christabel Nwoko
Episode 6
Ever since Roland saw Agnes on National television, he bec@m£ extremely restless, he decided to contact Collins, his best friend, who was now residing In Lagos.
“Collins my friend, guess who I saw on TV yesterday” Roland threw in. ”
“Agnes right? I saw her too, she is the Lagos State APC Chairperson, I heard she will be contesting alongside Otunba Ambode, for governorsh!pposition, in the next coming election, if they win that means your ex wife will become the deputy governor of Lagos State” Collins responded and Roland suddenly bec@m£ speechless.
“Haven’t you re-ad her biogra-phy on wikipedia, do you even follow her on social media?, Agnes’s daughters, I mean your daughters, are doing well, Benita your carbon copy is a renowned lawyer, Paulina your second daughter is a doctor, a surgeon at that, Your last daughter is a Pilot. Those girls are really doing well for themselves, unlike those useless sons of yours, I have told you to relocate to London or the US, those sons of yours will kill you if you don’t, their mother, Martha is even the worst, I don’t even un-derstand why you married someone like her and let a good woman like Agnes to go, I always told you not to allow your family to interfere in your marriage but you didn’t listen to me, where are all those your brothers that advised you to take another wife because Agnes didn’t bear male children, all your brothers are married to one wife, they didn’t chase their wives away like they chased yours, your elder brother’s wife gave birth to a deaf and dumb twins, he didn’t chase his wife away, your younger brother has been married for 10 years now and his wife gave birth to two girls, he still didn’t chase his wife away but you allowed them to mislead you, all Children are EQUALLY valuable irrespective of their gender, and how valuable they turn out is highly dependent on the environment and kind of parenting they received while growing up. With a right up bringing, any child will make his or her parents proud and the family name will be retained forever” Collins continued. Roland was so quiet and ashamed, he kept mute and listen attentively, one could re-ad the regrets in his silence.
He wiped two tears from his eyes and then finally responded.
“Collins, my friend, I know I have made the greatest mistake of my life, when I allowed my brothers to mess up my life, it’s when I retired that I know what I had done to myself, my brothers are terrible, I have realized that the reason they advised me to take another wife was because they thought Agnes was in charge of my wealth, they thought Agnes was enjoying the money that was meant for them, It was never my intention to chase away my Agnes and my daughters, neither it was my plan to abandon them, it was all my brothers ideas and I was a big fool because I didn’t st©p them, they made me believe that Male children are more valuable, they even accused Agnes of slee-ping around but now I have come to realize that my brothers lied against my Agnes and I was a fool, because at first I believed them, if not for you, I won’t have known that they told my wife that I was dead and chased her away, Collins my friend, I can’t believe that my brothers, my own brothers could be decietful, they didnt only fake my death they also turned around to accuse my wife of adûlt€ry, when I returned, they told me that they caught Agnes with another man on our matrimonial be-d and the next day she packed her belongings and left with my daughters, they were quic-k to s£nd a marriage proposal to my second wife martha and I made the greatest mistake of my life, when I went along with everything they told them to do like a fool, without a proper investigation, I thought my brothers had my interest at heart, I thought they were actually telling me the truth, I remembered when I returned, alot of people I know, ran away immediately they sighted me, I had thought my Navy uniform made them uncomfortable, it was when I saw you again that I un-derstood everything, I was alre-ady married to Martha and she was pregnant with my first son.. ….. it’s a pity that we didn’t locate Agnes when we c@m£ to Lagos, remember we searched everywhere for her, even the hospital where you said she was admitted had no record of her address, do you remember that we also searched for her at the Oshodi market like you suggested, for seven months we kept trying but we didn’t see her, I don’t know how things got to that level, many years had pas-sed and I doubt Agnes will ever forgive me, All these years I thought Agnes will return to me but she never did, I don’t think she will ever be mine again” Roland added.
“My friend, she alre-ady knew that you have taken another wife, I even told her myself that you took another wife because at the time I thought you and your brothers had tricked her, then I had no idea of what was going on, you refused to let me know what Agnes had done and why you are took another wife…. but I want to as-sure you that I’m not going to rest till you and Agnes reconciles because somehow I feel concerned, I still remember how Agnes fainted when I told her that you were not dead but alive and that you got married to another lady, I feel like I made the biggest mistake when I let the cats out of the bag, I had thought Agnes will return and fight for her marriage with you but instead I complicated the whole issue for both of you. But I’m doing everything possible to get in contact with Agnes, I have s£nt him a direct message on her instagram handle even on her Facebook, I just hope she responds one-day or better still, let me run into her again, so I can explain everything to her” Collins entered.
“My friend, I don’t hold you responsible for any thing, you opened my eyes, if not for you, I will still believe that Agnes cheated on me, and Agnes will still believe that I’m dead” Roland added, the two friends chatted for a while, they talked on alot of things and mostly they talked about Agnes and her daughters, Roland expressed how proud his daughters had made him and he hope to reconcile with them one day and finally the two friends said their goodbyes and hanged up afterwards.
End Of Episode 6
To Be Continued