CHAPTER FIFTEEN Swiftly our service year began to run out. It dawned on me that there was a lot to be done. There was a thick cloud of unawareness over unhealthy and unfriendly practices in our villages and cities, both in the North and in the South that needed to be dispelled. The campaign Aisha and I had carried out was quite insignificant compared to the large number of people yet to be reached. We always sat together to conceive ideas and implement them. I realised that my life needed Aisha. My vision and aspiration needed her help, expertise and personality. She had become the miracle and the magic touch that my life needed. She was virtually the help and inspiration behind our accomplishment so far. I realized that it was not the northerners that were the culprits, it was their ignorance that was responsible
CHAPTER SIXTEEN...A year laterAt the end of our service year, Aisha and I needed to travel to our respective regions to continue what we had started; we had grown our organisation to a certain stage. So we elected successors to continue from where we stopped. Though we plan on setting up a branch in our state of origin.We had other plans; each of us was to convince our parents about our relationship. "Well, my father may not really mind, but my mother could prove a bit difficult for I am her only daughter," Aisha told me during one of our discussions. True, she was an only girl among six boys, as her parents had seven children. Aisha's father, though now a Christian, was a prominent leader among his people, and he was well-respected. Aisha had exchanged letters with her siblings as well as their father over a period of time, telli
CHAPTER SEVENTEENI had not spoken a word to Aisha since we left my compound. I drove on, looking for a nearby hotel to drive into. Aisha kept starring at me because she hadn't seen me in such a mood before. My phone rang."Hello brother, where are you.?" It was Adaobi."Adaobi does it really matter" I replied curtly." Don't be selfish, bro!" My sister quipped. "I want to see my sister-in-law." Her voice softened and I heaved an audible sigh.I thought about a hotel and a name flashed to my mind."We are heading towards the Blue sky Hotel.""Okay, my regards to Aisha. Please send my apologies to her on behalf of Mum, and take care.""Alright sis."The called ended. I could see the Blue Sky hotel a stone's throw away. I drove into their parking lot. We unloaded and headed to the reception. The sleek, fair receptionist greeted us cheerfully and we
CHAPTER ONE A cold sweat broke out of my forehead as I gazed at the letter in my hands. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry, though the prominent thought in my mind was my mother's reaction when I got home; of a truth, the letter bore bittersweet news for me, though I could be certain that for my mother, it would be too bitter a pill for her to swallow. My mother would never support the instruction which the letter bore; she would fight it with every fibre of her being, of that, I was so sure. I was rather despondent, and found that I became oblivious to the happenings around me. Earlier on, I had watched as fellow corpers around me either jubilated or wailed out in des
CHAPTER TWO Some of the few things I could remember about my father in those days as a little kid was how my elder brother, Chimezie, Adaobi, my younger sister and I used to rush out of the house to welcome him home each day when he returned from work.At the honk of his car, we would dash out of the house like starved dogs reaching out for a fatty bone. How we used to discern his car honk from that of others remains a mystery to me till now. All our neighbours had cars of different models and make, but we never mistook their car honks for our father's. We always rushed out with outstretched arms from the three storey building where we lived to the frontage, suspending whatever we were doing. Nothing mattered more than welcoming father: It was more important to us than our meals. Mummy would try to make us sit back and finish our meal but she was always un
.CHAPTER THREE My ordeal with Miss Ego was another childhood experience I would not easily forget. It was during my primary school days when Mum used to package chocolate biscuits for us in our lunch boxes even after the usual 'Jollof' rice with fried ripe plantain and fish. My class teacher, Miss Ego, would not let me enjoy my chocolate biscuits. She was the one that kept custody of our lunch boxes. Once Mum drove us to school, she would come and take us into the class and keep our lunch boxes till the time we would need them. She would eat up my chocolate biscuits and cleverly buy lesser quality biscuits from the street to replace it. This she did severally, but I did not complain until the day I was careless with my lunch box while eating, and my lunch box slipped out of my hands and my lunch poured o
CHAPTER FOUR My childhood experiences were mostly blissful. Dad and Mum were around to give us the best they could afford. My father treated us as every loving father would. Every Sunday after church service at the St. Pirans Anglican Church Enugu, We would stand beside our father and watch him greet and hug his friends. Most of them were Doctors and Professors in their various fields of endeavour. I admired the way each of them comported and carried themselves with prestige and grace. Their hearty laughter and confidence really made it look like the world was really a bed of roses; devoid of problems. St. Pirans Anglican Church was known throughout the city for the calibre of men and women who worshipped there. Most of the highly-placed inhabitants of the coal city worshipped there. The Academia, the Army Generals, the Busines
CHAPTER FIVE I had just entered my second year in Medical Laboratory Science when Chimezie graduated from Banking and Finance with a second class upper grade from the University of Nigeria, Enugu. They whole family celebrated it. My mother threw a mini party. Adaobi and I came home to celebrate his graduation with our friends. We popped up champagne; we ate, drank and danced. We were all happy for him. He later went for his National Service in Edo State. He worked in a local government in the accounts department where he gave in his best. He initiated the computerized system of accounting to the local government. This was made for easy computing and accounting. Little wonder he earned the award of the best corps member that served in the local government council that year. When he finished his service, he sent out his curr