MY JOURNEY IN LIFE.
EPISODE 11
Hmmmm, we got to the bathroom oo, and what happened there is better left unsaid. The summary of the whole matter is that I was bathed by those two witches who used ha-rd brushes to scru-b my b©dy as though I was infected with the deadliest skin disease they didn’t want me to transfer to Mr. Chang. I felt so bad because I couldn’t even give one of them a sl@p. They were just so good at dodging them. All I could do was frown and get angry with everyone, especially Cynthia for allowing me to go throu-gh that. Must I meet Mr. Chang?
After 30 minutes I was out of there looking as shy as a bush man who just encountered humans for the first time. Cynthia c@m£ to my room to take me to Mr. Chang. I couldn’t look her in the eye due to what just happened, and she made fun of it. ‘It must have felt pretty cool being bathed by ladies’ Cynthia said. I didn’t say anything in response. ‘Hey, are you angry with me? You know it wasn’t intentional. It’s just a norm here. Come on, snap out of that mood. We nee-d to go see Chang. How I wish I can have that done to me by some cute Chinese guys’. ‘You can if you want’ I retorted. ‘They are a couple of them who’ll be more than willing to help you out’. ‘I prefer you to them’ she said carelessly. ‘I’ll be back in a little bit. Get dressed.’ She said and left the room. A short while later she c@m£ back and we left to see Chang.
Chang welcomed me like I was a distant relation who just got back after so many years away and I wondered why. I wasn’t even introduced to him anymore. It seemed like he alre-ady knew all there was to know about me. Even Cynthia was surprised at that. Chang dismissed Cynthia and those who were with him, leaving just both of us. ‘How are you doing young man’ Change asked. ‘I’m doing great’ I replied. ‘Enjoying the p@rty?’ he asked again. ‘Pretty much’, I replied. ‘You have an edifice here. I almost mistook it for a h0tel’. Chang laughed and we kept exchanging plea-santries for some minutes before he started letting me in on his success story. It was almost like mine, but not exactly. He fell in love with a girl from the same background as his, back then. The girl took advantage of the free education scheme that popped up then and performed excellently. She was later awarded a scholarsh!pdue to her excellent performance. Chang said he was struggling to keep his family going as he was the bre-adwinner of the family. He hoped that things will turn around soon enough so that he could pursue his dreams of owning a martial arts academy as he was a master of martial arts. But things changed when the girl he fell in love with c@m£ back and told him she was pregnant. He was happy about the news, but the girl wasn’t. She suggested an ab-ortion but Chang objected. Problems began and they later agreed to give birth to the child and let Chang have her while she went ahead to marry a Chinese billionaire who promised her heaven and earth. According to Chang, the man she ended up marrying took excellent care of her to a point where he, Chang began to wonder if he would have taken that much care of her.
Lin was the product of their union, and Chang had not remarried after then because he lost fate in women and resorted to what Nigerians refer to as flexing. The truth remained that he didn’t want his daughter to have any of such experiences, so he called on me to help him out. How was I supposed to help him? I thought to myself. The man didn’t even know me. What even made him think I could help him? So many questions popped in my head and I got really confused. Chang said to me; ‘I’ve known you before now’. I asked how, and he told me Cynthia is a really good friend to Lin. He said they had been discussing about me on phone and Cynthia mentioned that I was a respectable man. ‘She told Lin you weren’t like a lot of the other guys she had come across’ Chang said. She also said you’re not forward and can ba-rely express yourself before women. She said you’re not a flir-t, and all that. She even said that judging from your actions around her, she dared to believe you’re a vir-gin’. Chai!! Cynthia don finish me! After saying all these things he laughed. I was alre-ady feeling embarras-sed because of those things he said Cynthia told Lin. I couldn’t wait to leave that place to see Cynthia and unleash hell upon her. I controlled myself and pretended like I wasn’t bothered by any of those details. But then I asked him why he laughed, and he said;
‘I heard your name is Jesusboy’
‘That’s correct Mr. Chang. Does it sound funny?’
‘Not exactly. Just the boy p@rt of the name. It goes a long way to confirm all Cynthia told Lin about you. Never mind, I’m okay with that. I love boys. I just wish every man would add boy to their names if that would make them be of good behavior’.
I couldn’t take it anymore being seen as an innocent naïve boy, so I spoke out.
‘You see, Mr. Chang, Cynthia doesn’t know me that much. All she told your daughter are just what she thinks I am. I’m not saying I’m a bad person, but I’m not exactly all she said I was. Especially the p@rt she said I can’t express myself before women. Those are just speculations not facts. So plea-se make no judgments based on her insinuations.’ If you think of me as the best of councilor due to those things you heard, you might be mistaken. Nevertheless I’ll help you in the best way I can’
‘Definitely you will’ he replied confidently.
‘What do you want me to do for you, Mr. Chang?’
‘With much ha-rd work I have acquired a lot of wealth which I will have to leave behind for my daughter when I’m gone. I don’t trust these guys that keep hanging around her. They’re all gold diggers. I don’t want my daughter to end up with any of them. Boy, I want you to marry my daughter. That way I’ll die knowing my daughter and wealth are in safe hands’
‘What?’ I replied almost screaming.
‘Come on boy, quit the drama. You might be a nice guy, but you nee-d money and a good girl for a wife. All these I offer you today and it will be my plea-sure if you take them’
I was short of words, and my entire mind was greatly troubled. I didn’t know what to say to him. I kept rolling my eyes round and round until Chang’s priest c@m£ in and told him it was time to make prayers to Buddha. He told me he was going to converse with me again soon. I said okay and thanked him, and he left. Obviously, I had a lot to meditate on.
I went out and joined the p@rty. The two girls I was with before Cynthia c@m£ to take me away rushed to me the very moment they saw me back at the p@rty scene. But I dismissed them because I wasn’t in the right frame of mind to engage them in the conversation they required. I sat at a dark corner viewing all that was going on. Cynthia was dancing with virtually everyone who was on the dance floor. She really loved dancing, as much as she knew how to. All the while I sat there an-alyzing Lin over and over again to see if she matched my kind of girl. Even if I agreed to marry Lin, I would be as-sas-sinated before long. There were lineup of guys plotting their way to that girl’s fortune, and I would just come in from Africa and shut them out? No nah, they definitely wouldn’t take it lightly with me. But that was sure not to happen, or was it?
It got pretty late and I started feeling sleepy. Cynthia obviously wasn’t going to retire anytime soon, so I didn’t bother saying a word to her before I went to my room to sleep. My soul had almost transported itself to another realm when Cynthia called it back as she bur-st into my room with an orange transparent night go-wn which was designed to reveal whatever hid beneath it. She shut the door behind her, leaned on it and stood there staring at me with a dangerous grin. And then she started moving towards me in the same way and manner the Indian ladies do when trying to impress their husbands on their wedding night. It was clear to me that all was not well because she wasn’t an Indian girl, and that definitely wasn’t a wedding night, let alone being ours. Unlike me, I was unable to figure out what to do to avert the situation before it got out of hand. I just l@yon my be-d watching Cynthia perform to no music. Her moves were so captivating that I lost the power and will to do anything more than l@ystill and take what was coming. She drew nearer and nearer stylishly until she got to the edge of the be-d I l@yon, knelt on it, and then GBAM!
MY JOURNEY IN LIFE.
EPISODE 12
Like I said, she drew nearer and nearer stylishly until she got to the edge of the be-d I l@yon, knelt on it and then like a tree that had been cut down from the root, she fell on the be-d and bec@m£ motionless. I thought it was p@rt of the process of whatever she was doing, so I said or did nothing until my heartbeat which had increa-sed as though I just finished a 100 meter race reduced. Then I called on her and got no response. I tapped her, still no response. It was when I turned her face towards mine to find out what happened that I perceived the smell of alcohol, and then I knew she had been acting un-der the influence of alcohol. Or was she? Time will tell.
I woke up early enough the next morning to discover that Cynthia wasn’t there. She had woken up and left the room while I was still slee-ping.
Three days pas-sed and Cynthia and I were re-ady to leave for America but Chang urged us to stay. I knew why, but Cynthia didn’t. It appeared that Cynthia told Lin about me not knowing that Lin went ahead to tell her father, which made him admire and want me as a husband to her daughter. So Chang’s plan was to get rid of Cynthia while I stay back with Lin. Cynthia was really kept in the dark by Lin and her father, and now, they wanted to make me a p@rt of it. Cynthia innocently agreed to spend a few more days in China because she couldn’t say no to a man like Chang. Chang and I had another conversation and I asked what Lin had to say about the arrangement. Chang told me his daughter will always do what he asks her to do because she’s young, vulnerable and unable to make the right choices. I made up a lot of excuses in order to escape but Chang always found ways to bastardize my excuses. When Chang saw that I wasn’t giving in easily, he admired me all the more.
One day he arranged for Lin and Cynthia to be taken sightseeing so that he could have enough time alone with me since Cynthia was almost always sticking to me like glue. Chang then told me he was going to take me somewhere to meet with the men who ran China and other countries of the world. I went with him. He and I entered into his snow white limousine and the driver took off. It took three hours to get to our destination, where we had to pas-s throu-gh eight gates before reaching the main building. The building was nothing like any buildings I had ever seen, even in the movies. At all the gates were men dressed in black suits. And before we could gain entrance into any gate a pas-sword had to be given verbally by Chang. None of the men in black said a word to us. They only stood there to make sure that nothing went wrong. Chang gave eight different pas-swords in Chinese language before we got to the building. Fear had alre-ady consumed me when he gave the third pas-sword, but by then I couldn’t go back, I could only go forward. As we reached the building, some other men, also dressed in black suit opened the door to the car for us and we c@m£ down. No one said a word of greeting to anyb©dy, everyone there concentrated on their duties and minded their own businesses. There were no ladies there. We pas-sed throu-gh three doors before getting to the sitting room of the house, which was as bigger than usual. Everyone there was in uniform and surrounded someone that couldn’t be seen. As soon as Chang and I stepped in, a voice from the midst of them, probable that of the unseen man echoed angrily,
‘You’re late Chang’.
‘I will make sure to pay the required fine’ replied Chang.
The unseen man echoed again, ‘Don’t be deluded by your wealth. It can be taken just as it was given’.
‘Forgive me’ said Chang meekly.
Next thing the unseen man said was ‘FI-FA-FO-FIM! I hear the smell of a little boy. Be he dead or be he alive, I must eat his b©dy with my bre-ad. FI-FA-FO-FIM!’ Chai!!! I don die!!! we-tin bring me come this place ooo??? I started panicking but Chang asked me to keep my calm. I couldn’t. How was I to keep calm after everything I had just seen and heard? I started begging Chang to forgive my errors. I said so many things to Chang and even promised to marry Lin if he let me live. I was convinced that Chang was going to do something bad to me there and then. So anything I could do to get myself out of that situation was done without hesitation. But then, all I could do was plead and make promises. My whispers were regarded as noise because the place was as silent as a grave yard even with the number of people in it. The meeting didn’t continue further because of me, and Chang was blamed for it. When the meeting ended, everyone took off their uniforms and then I discovered that some of those in uniform were ladies. Apparently, there were also ladies there.
Though they took off their uniforms, their faces were masked. Two masks were also brou-ght for Chang and me. They all left the sitting room to unknown destinations in pairs just like in the case of Noah’s ark. While I was still trying to study what was really happening, two ladies walked up to Chang and me, held us by the hand and led us away from each other to different destinations. I wanted to object because I didn’t want Chang out of my sight, and I couldn’t wait to leave that place. There was so much horror there. But change said to me, ‘Don’t worry. Go with her. I’ll see you at the end of plea-sure Street’. After saying that, he left with one of the ladies. I turned to the one that held my hand, tried to recognize her but it was nee-dless. We both had our masks on. So I followed her to quiet and secluded area of the house where everything in sight was made of pure gold. We sat on a couch and started discussing.
‘What is this place’ was the first thing I asked.
‘If I were you I wouldn’t bother’ she replied.
‘I nee-d to know because that man out there said he is going to eat my b©dy with his bre-ad’ I insisted fearfully.
‘Oh that?’ she asked. ‘Have no fear of that. It’s just a phrase used to announce the arrival of a new PRADA’
‘PRADA?’ I asked. ‘What does PRADA mean?’
‘Anyone who is a p@rt of this organization is referred to as a PRADA’
‘But I’m not a p@rt of this organization. I c@m£ here with a man named Chang, and he never said anything about any organization to me’
‘It doesn’t matter if he said anything or not. Once you’re here, you’re here. If not that you arrived late, your initiation would have taken place today. But that will now be postponed till next meeting’
‘When is the next meeting’ I asked with fright.
‘In three days’ she replied’
‘What about you miss? You’re a PRADA too?’
‘No. They don’t take women. We’re only here to give them a good time, like I’m supposed to give to you now. We better st©p this talk and proceed to business’ she said with a grin.
‘What?’ I yelled. ‘My life is at stake and here you are talking trash?’
I got really pissed off by her and tried to take off her mask so I that I could see her face very well while yelling but she fought back with some of those tai chi stuff and got me off her. Our little combat caused some noise that called to the attention of two other masked girls who were pas-sing by just at that time and they turned in to find out what was happening. ‘What going on here?’ they asked. I couldn’t say a word; neither could the girl I that was with me. Instead she left in anger. One of the two girls who c@m£ in went after her while the other one stayed back to inquire of me what happened. As was talked, her voice sounded familiar but I couldn’t tell if I knew her or not. Of course I won’t know her because I hadn’t made any acquaintances yet in China and wasn’t going to make any because I was going to leave China the very moment I met Cynthia. So I just concluded that she was a strange girl with a familiar voice. Due to my encounter with the previous girl I didn’t pay any attention to this very girl at all, not until her phone rang and she picked and started talking. ‘What?’ She was speaking Igbo with the caller. Igbo girl in China and in a PRADA territory? She noticed I was shocked at the dialect she spoke. When she dropped the call she asked why I was shocked at her dialect. She went ahead to make fun of Chinese language thinking I was a Chinese guy.
‘Who are you?’ I asked.
‘Listen man, if you don’t like ladies tell me and I’ll just get the hell out of here at ones. St©p ma-king fun of me’ she retorted.
‘No miss, I don’t mean to insult you. I just want to know you’.
‘Is that necessary?’ she asked. ‘We probably won’t see each other again after today, so what’s the point?’
‘Okay, I agree with you’ but can you at least take off your mask?’
‘It’s a taboo here’
‘What do you know about PRADA?’ I asked.
‘Dude! What’s your problem?’ Why are you so inquisitive? Even I, who’s just coming here for the first time haven’t asked these much questions?’
‘This is your first time here?’ I asked.
‘Of course’ she replied. I c@m£ here with a friend of mine. I don’t even know what this place is. She just told me it’s a p@rty, so I’m here to enjoy myself. I suggest you the same and st©p all acting weird’
‘Well this is my first time here too’ a man named Chang brou-ght me here to be initiated into the organization of the PRADAS without my cons£nt’
‘Did you say Chang?’ she asked curiously.
‘Yes Chang’ I replied. ‘Do you know him?’
‘Wait a minute’ she said. Are you…,, are you…, ‘Take off your mask’ she said seriously
‘Why’ I asked. I demanded that first and you waved it away, now you want me to take mine off?’ ‘No way! If you want to see my face, I’ll have to see yours first’
She took off her mask; low and behold she was Cynthia. ‘What in the world are you doing here Cynthia?’ I screamed. ‘Is this what you do?’
‘Hey st©p yelling’ she said. ‘How do you know my name? Who are you? Tell me, who are you!’ I grew weary at discovering that Cynthia, who was supposed to go site seeing ended up in the PRADA territory, not as a member but as a plea-sure tool. I didn’t know whether or not to reveal myself to her but then, she brou-ght me to China, and I nee-ded her to leave. So I slowly took off my mask. She was so shocked on realizing it was me that she almost fainted. But she got a hold of herself and screamed; WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE? Imagine question oo? ‘What am I doing here?’ Wasn’t she supposed to go sightseeing? Now she’s here, asking what I’m doing here. See this girl oo!
WATCHOUT FOR EPISODE 13