MY JOURNEY IN LIFE.
EPISODE 15
Cynthia and I went to a cinema one evening for a movie premiere of one of Hollywood’s best directors who was Cynthia’s acquaintance. Cynthia looked like a diva in the dress she had on. Nearly everyone who had known Cynthia to be a model was there. They all wanted to take a picture with her. Whenever anyone wanted to snap with her, she demanded that I stand by her. Cynthia made every preferential treatment given to her to pas-s throu-gh me. She made it seem as though she wouldn’t do anything without my approval. If anyone wanted to speak with her pri-vately, they would have to ask me. I would then permit her and give her the number of minutes she was to spend with each person. I didn’t do any of those on my own accord. I just pla-yed along with her the moment I realized she wanted it that way. The big moment c@m£ when Cynthia and the other models got together. Cynthia wouldn’t let me go for even one second. Six other astonishingly beautiful models from the different continents of the world c@m£ and joined me and Cynthia on our table. I was very p@rticular about the one among them who had an Italian accent. The way she talked made me want to k!ssher. The way she smiled impressed me a whole lot. And the way she moved her b©dy engaged my imagination and I swore in my heart that I was going meet her pri-vately no matter the cost.
Cynthia was just showing me off like say I be Obama pikin. I was cool with it. I loved the feeling. I cracked a lot of jokes that made the models laugh their hearts out. We began discussing about the movie that was premiered. All the models starred in the movie except Cynthia. I asked why she wasn’t a p@rt of it and she said she wanted to limit her nûd£ appearances on TV because she didn’t want to be seen as an indecent girl. That sounded like trash to the other models because as far as there are concerned, nudity wasn’t anything to be shy of anymore. Cynthia explained that she was an African girl who was hoping to marry an African man. A Nigerian man to be specific. ‘Nigerians don’t see it the same way the Americans do’ she said to the models. ‘An American man may let his wife go nûd£ on TV for the sake of career, but a Nigerian man will definitely not’. The models disagreed with her and there was a little argument on that subject. The stand of American men on public nudity was known, but that of and African man wasn’t. And since I was the only African man pres£nt there, I had to stand in for all African men and give my opinion on that matter. I didn’t contribute on my own oo. One of the models asked me if what Cynthia said about African men was true.
I tried to dodge the question but as soon as the model with the Italian accent urged me to say something, I didn’t del@yfor even one second before I started talking like machine. I wasn’t giving my sincere opinion at all. Whatever the Italian girl said was what I concurred to. Cynthia was surprised at me. She couldn’t believe her ears and I didn’t mind. Whatever would jeopardize my chances with the Italian girl was discarded without a second thought. What made me see the Italian girl in a different light was what I couldn’t figure out. She simply found her way to my heart and I went along with the drive.
We discussed about many things. These models didn’t see me as who I really was but as one of the big sh0ts they hadn’t gotten to know yet. Midway into our discussion the Australian model among them enquired to know me. Cynthia gave me a profile I had not given to myself even in my imagination. She told them all I was and added all I was yet to be. She was right to tell them I’m a singer, actor, writer and poet. Instead of ending there she told them I was working hand in hand with all those people she introduced me to. What she said of me made those girls believe that I could pl@ya role or two to get them to greater heights in their career. And that made it easy for me to access the Italian girl without stress. There was no end to the preferential treatments I got from those girls.
Time c@m£ for the director of the movie that was premiered to be honored for directing such a nice movie. One of the models who starred in the movie was called on to say a thing or two about the movie before the director was called on to be honored. Incidentally, it was the Italian model that was called on. She went out there and started talking about the movie and praising the director of the movie. To my greatest surprise, she said director was too great a man to be called to stage by a lone lady. So she said she was going to call on someone she deemed worthy to come join her usher in the director. ‘Ladies and gentlemen’, she said, help me welcome Jesusboy’. The audience cl@pped as though they knew who was called. I was shaken by that development. I never imagined standing before such dignitaries anytime soon. I thought I had overcome stage fright when I started acting drama in church but then it occurred to me that I still had fright left in me. Honestly I didn’t want to go. If I had the opportunity, I would have ran out so that it would be that I wasn’t around when I was called on. Even Cynthia was flabberg@sted. But then she urged me to go join her. Cynthia would never discourage me to do anything that would add to my prestige. By the time she said a word or two to me, I gathered courage and joined the Italian girl on stage. She handed the microphone to me and I said a few things I normally said whenever I spoke before an audience. But I noticed that those people appreciated almost everything you had to offer.
The few times I made pres£ntations in Nigeria, I had to prepare and prepare as if I was going to win an award for it. Even at that, I ha-rd ly t©uçhed the heart of my listeners. So I had to put extra effort to make sure that my pres£ntation was not a dry one. But in this case, it was different. The moment I stepped on stage and got the microphone I was so nervous. So I re-leased a de-ep breath with the microphone close to my mouth and the sound echoed in the auditorium. Just when I was about starting to feel I had embarras-sed myself, the audience applauded. I was shocked. Was it me or someone else? I looked at their faces and saw them smiling at me as though I had made their day. In order to clear my doubt I re-leased a de-ep breath again and they applauded again. It was really me. At that very moment, my self-esteem tripled up. The fright diminished and I began to speak like who they all believed me to be. I called the director to stage. He gave his speech which he began by thanking me and the Italian girl whom he referred to as my woman. He thought we were d@t!ng, and so he made others think.
His speech was over and we left to our table to join Cynthia and the others. What just happened bec@m£ the t©pic of our discussion. The Italian girl was seen as my woman so we had to stick together to put up a good show. People who saw me on stage drew close to me afterwards to get to know me better. The Italian girl as-sumed Cynthia’s responsibilities immediately. She wouldn’t let me speak for myself. She just kept quoting Cynthia to all who c@m£ to me. All those people saw me as a star in the movie and music industry, and were looking forward to my movies and songs which I promised to make public soon.
I eventually got to spend time alone with the Italian girl. We got talking. Her accent never st©pped impressing me. Cynthia was watching us from a distance with an unusual countenance on her face. She was all alone, sipping her strawberry jui-ce little by little. We discussed for a very long while. Then a white man approached us and called on her. She asked him to give her a minute but the man insisted on seeing her right away. He didn’t look happy, but I could tell I wasn’t the one he was angry with. The girl went to meet him and they walked a little distance away from me and started speaking Italian. Suddenly the started raising their voices at each other. I got angry with the man for raising her voice on the girl and wanted to intervene before I heard the man say out loud in English; I’m not giving you the divorce! Ewoo! Person wife? I couldn’t to spend a single minute waiting for her on realizing she was married. All my feelings for her went dead immediately and I started feeling guilty for having left Cynthia who placed so much value on me to be with someone else’s wife who was asking for a divorce.
I left there unnoticed by the Italian girl and went to join Cynthia. I knew she wasn’t happy, I just didn’t know to what extent she had gotten angry. Secondly, I didn’t know how to access her heart. If it were Ogechi, I would just kneel down and her anger will vanish immediately. Since I didn’t know what to do to calm Cynthia, I just started ma-king jokes she didn’t laugh to. All the while, most people who pas-sed my way often st©pped by to introduce themselves to me and make me an acquaintance since they all thought I was one of the stars. An elderly man then c@m£ to me and shook hands with me, telling me how honored he was to get to know me. Your woman is a beauty; he said referring to the Italian girl. I quic-kly objected and said; she isn’t my woman. I pointed to Cynthia and said; this right here is my woman. Cynthia turned her face slowly towards me in amazement. The man said; but she ain’t the girl who called you out before us. The girl who called me out was repres£nting her because she was feeling a little bit heavy and couldn’t afford to stand for that long’ I said. The man shook his head in agreement and said; she also is a beauty indeed. Cynthia smiled. Yes! I have broken the yoke. But wait a minute, did I break a yoke or did I just put a yoke on me?
MY JOURNEY IN LIFE.
EPISODE 16
The movie premiere finally c@m£ to an end. I and Cynthia made sure to say goodbye to a good number of people before leaving. Cynthia drove the car. Midway home she made a turn that didn’t lead to her house. Where’s she going? I asked in my heart. I said nothing to her because I didn’t want anything that would ruin the mood I had succeeded to get her into by pronouncing her my woman. I knew she took it seriously. But I didn’t bother to find a way to make her un-derstand I wasn’t really serious. I was exhausted alre-ady and wanted to rest badly. In addition, I have been proclaimed a celebrity in the pres£nce of dignitaries who have identified with me and expect to watch my films and listen to my music. That bec@m£ a problem to me. So whatever I had said of Cynthia didn’t bother me. All I was thinking about was how to live up to the expectation of those people who saw me as a celebrity.
Cynthia drove us to a lone street with noise and the sound of music coming from just one out of the many buildings on that street. She drove to that building and st©pped.
‘Where is this?’ I asked.
‘It’s a club’ Cynthia replied softly.
I could tell she was in high spirit and wanted to let it out in that club. I don’t do clubs, even in Nigeria but since we had alre-ady gotten there I had no choice. We stepped out of the car and entered inside. There were lots of people and this was about 10pm. There were no chairs there. Only some stools at the bar for a number of people who wanted to have a drink. Even at that, the stools were not sufficient enough as some ended up standing to have their drinks. It didn’t bother them.
The club house was a large on, yet we could ba-rely make it throu-gh from the entrance to the bar. ‘Two glas-ses of vodka’ Cynthia ordered. ‘Alright ma’am’ the bartender responded and left to serve her order.
‘Why two glas-ses? I asked. You know I don’t do alcohol’
‘Don’t give me that! She said. Tonight is special.
‘Do you mind telling me what’s special about the night? Because I don’t seem to have a clue.
‘We’re celebr@aaaating’
‘Really? What are we celebr@ting if I may ask?
‘Friendsh!pI guess.
Oh yeah, friendsh!p. We could have done that back at home, just you and me.
‘Perfect! Cynthia screamed. We’ll definitely continue at home. In fact, I’ll serve the best p@rt of the celebr@tion for last’ she said grinning lvstfully at me’
‘Here’s your order ma’am, the bartender said as he pushed two glas-ses of vodka towards us’
‘Thank you handsome’, Cynthia said.
Cynthia gr@bb£d one glas-s of vodka and emptied it into her mouth and squee-zed her face like one who tasted something bitter. She handed the other glas-s to me and I was about objecting when she flung her left arms around my n£¢k and put the drink in my mouth. I refused to open my mouth and take the drink or say anything because if I tried to say something she would just throw the drink into my mouth. But what she was doing to me bec@m£ like a drama to most people in the club and little by little their attention was on us. When I saw many of them turning to watch us, I opened my mouth and took the drink so that all that more undue attention would be averted.
After I took the drink the people in the club gave us a round of applause. Na wa for Americans oo. Imagine such a thing happening in Nigeria, no one would even notice it, let alone paying attention to it. But there it attra-cted some degree of celebr@tion.
Cynthia refused to let go off me. Instead she ordered for two more glas-ses of vodka and gave one to me in the same manner. She continued like that until we both had five glas-ses while being watched by over 50% of people in that club. What we did bec@m£ like a show that interested everyone and made them want to stick around to see how it ends.
She then dragged me to the dance floor for a dance. I’m not a good dancer. In fact, I’m not a dancer at all. But even if I said that a million times to Cynthia, she wouldn’t hit the dance floor without me. At this point, she wasn’t the Cynthia I had always known, neither was I the Jesusboy Ogechi had always known. I bet Ogechi would get on her knees and start praying for me if she knew the condition I was at that point in time. I followed Cynthia reluctantly to the dance floor telling her I didn’t know how to dance. Cynthia didn’t give a rat a-s about that. She was like a lioness that had la-id hold of best prey ever. She was way beyond logical reasoning and the only language she un-derstood was FUN.
Although I was trying to get her to un-derstand that I didn’t want to hit the dance floor with her, I was enjoying every bit of what she was doing. Five glas-ses of vodka turned things around. I was in another world indeed. I eventually got to love the attention the people in the club were giving us and I began to dance. I wouldn’t know if that thing I did was called dancing but I sure moved to the rhythm of the music. I could hear them hailing and cl@pping from time to time and that spurred me up all the more.
As time went on I couldn’t seem to get a clear picture of anything again, nevertheless, I didn’t give anyone a dull moment because the crowd didn’t st©p applauding, hailing, and laughing. Maybe I did a few Mr. Bin stuff in there. I wouldn’t know. But I know I was drooling at Cynthia while doing what seemed to me like dancing. She wiggled and wiggled that I began to entertain wild thoughts I hadn’t entertained in years. Mehn, this Cynthia is one hell of a girl. You nee-d to meet her.
The light that gave life to my sight shrunk until it was no more. Even the sound of noise and music gradually reduced until everywhere bec@m£ silent like a grave yard. Then I heard Cynthia saying; don’t sleep on me little boy. She was smiling, she was drooling, and she was grinning. I opened my eyes to realize that she was trying to lead me to her car and head back home. My eyes were fixed on herl-ips. The allurement of herl-ips made me return the smile, grin and drool. I could tell she was screaming the words she was saying to me but it sounded to me like she was miming to nothing. I tried to keep myself awake but as soon as Cynthia moved the car and the cool from the factory fitted air conditioner of the car made contact with my sweaty skin, my eyelids hvgged each other again and I lost contact with the real world.
Many things happened after I lost contact with the real world. Things like Cynthia driving me home, two of her maids as-sisting me to my room since my feet couldn’t carry me, taking off my cloths and leading me to the shower to have my bath and rid myself of the smell of alcohol. You’ve got to be kidding me. I thought those things only happen in China. After they put me in the shower and turned it on, I felt like an eagle that just hatched when the water t©uçhed my sweaty skin. The two maids stood there staring at me as I pla-yed un-der the shower like a kid who wasn’t aware of what it meant to be n-ked before people. It was a good thing they didn’t take off all the cloths I had on. They left me with the tommy Hilfiger bo-xer I had own. I bet they thought I was going to dismiss them and continue the rest by myself but they probably had the biggest shock of their lives when they saw me bath with my bo-xer on. That’s why they stayed back to observe me closely. They must have believed I had lost my mind. Not that I was really aware of what I was doing anyway. I had five glas-ses of vodka working wonders in my system.
Next thing I heard was Cynthia’s voice scolding her maids for staying back to watch me have my bath. She took it really personal. She was high, so she wasn’t acting like she normally would. Five glas-ses of vodka was also working wonders in her system. The maids tried to explain to her that they stayed back in case I happened to nee-d anything since I was not in my right frame of mind. ‘How dare you say he’s not in the right frame of mind? Cynthia asked with extreme annoyance. ‘Now let me show you what it means to not be in the right frame of mind’. She drew near to them and gave them two sl@ps, one for each of them. I just sat back in the shower and enjoyed the drama. When I saw that Cynthia was b!owing things out of proportion, I stepped in. I wonder how I managed to know she was b!owing things out of proportion.
‘I told them to stay back’ I said. I really nee-ded someone around so I st©pped them from leaving’. ‘Really?’ Cynthia asked. Come on J, you should have called on me instead. She turned to her maids and said; ‘Now get out of here you two. The maids left in a hurry, then Cynthia stood there watching me do whatever I was doing. I wish I knew what I was doing. But whatever it was, it was really funny because I saw Cynthia laughing over and again at me. Maybe I was pla-ying the clown.
After a while she st©pped laughing and started advancing towards the shower slowly. After three steps she st©pped and took off the fancy roller she used to pack her hair and then fli-pped her hair. Chai! It was such a lovely sight to behold. Again she took another three steps and st©pped, unZi-pped the go-wn she wore from behind, pu-ll-ed it off her both arms and let go of it. The go-wn dropped at once to the floor covering only her feet while the rest of her remained expo-sed. After another three steps, she st©pped again and did something else more fascinating than the former. At that point, I lost my mind completely and would have cursed anyone who dared come between me and that temporary insanity. I sat on the floor of the bathroom watching her as she kept b!owing my mind after every three steps until there was nothing left of my mind to be b!own. You won’t believe this. She got into the shower and stood right in front of me unclad. I don CRAZE! She wanted to take a shower with me.
‘This had to be it’ I thought. ‘I have come to the end of the road. There’s no escape this time’.
I closed my eyes like a soldier who was giving up in a war he was determined to conquer, and then suddenly!
WATCHOUT FOR EPISODE 17