THE COMING OF THE ANOSIKES.
He woke up in the front passenger seat to the loud honk of a fire truck speeding up on the opposite lane with blaring sirens that drastically faded the further away the vehicle travelled. Something was definitely on fire-a building perhaps that needed the attention of the fire department. Whatever it was, he hoped there would be little or no casualty at all.
He hated the idea of leaving his old town, his school, his friends, and his crush, Suzie whom he had his very first conversation only a day before the news arrived. The five to ten minutes talk they had made him realise she wasn’t as strict as he thought and just maybe if he played his cards right, he would stand a chance. But now that chance was blown obviously, given the recent development. Suzie was the least of his problems anyway. Things had been rough these past couple of years, starting with his parents parting ways, to his mum’s brother, uncle Nkem being touched by the cold hands of death in a car accident.
His mum proved her strength throughout that trying time and never was she seen overthinking or stressing over what she couldn’t handle. If it was beyond her control, she’d say let his will be done and leave it to God. Her faith was something of a great marvel to her kids and though they never said anything, she knew they admired, respected, and idolised her for that. During the period of uncle Nkem’s burial arrangements, her ex-husband, Tony despite being separated, never left her side and the kids thought they would come back together but that didn’t happen. Yes, they knew she was doing fine, at least to the best of her ability but they missed their dad and that was a void she couldn’t fill.
This new job she got at Joyville was the reason they had to move; how else would she pay the bills now that she’d been laid off from her former job? because the last thing Mitchell would do was ask Tony for money notwithstanding that she knew he wouldn’t hesitate a second especially since he was still trying to win her back. Joyville medical was a hospital she was certain she’d love working with as their reputation preceded them.
Her kids weren’t happy with the movement but they would adjust. So, she hoped, to say the least. She understood how this sudden change could affect them academically, particularly Nonye who was already in her senior secondary school three and would soon sit for the West African Senior Secondary Examination. Seventeen-year-old Dozie was about to enter senior secondary school two so his case was a bit mild.
As she took a left turn down a forest road, Mitchell looked through the rear-view mirror to check on Nonye and as usual, she was focused on her phone with blocked ears despite her mum’s warning against having earpods on all the time. She stirred the Toyota Camry along a curve and a signpost came into view just before the tar on the right side of the road. It had Welcome to Joyville boldly written on it in all caps. Dozie drew in a deep breath the moment they drove into the town. He had to admit though, Joyville was beautiful with colourful buildings properly aligned on both sides of the fine and smooth road. He noticed most of the houses were similar in shape and height almost the same except for the slight variations in paint colour.
The freshness of the exterior, the sense of spatial organisation and structure, well-tendered parks with monuments and neatly leveled grasslands complimented with a variety of sweet fragranced flowers left him in awe. The first building that caught his attention and made him sit upright was the town’s church. It was quite exceptional and large. The giant cross at the top of the entrance was simply magnificent. The fountain at the centre of the compound, the trees and shrubs that aligned the dwarf fence, and the garden at the back of the building all formed an aesthetically appealing landscape that left him smitten.
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The streets were clean, and each house had a big waste bin outside its gates. Every fence was dwarf and picket so the adorned compounds were visible. The environment was very cool and welcoming just as his mum had earlier said. Mitchell noticed the fascination in Dozie’s eyes and asked with a hidden smile if he was okay. He looked at her, grinned, and nodded affirmatively.
“See? I told you,” she said, taking a slow turn into a driveway. “Look alive. We’re here.”
The engine died and they all stepped out of the car one after the other. Mitchell rolled up the sleeves of her ash shirt on a pair of blue jean trousers and walked back to the road to signal the truck driver who was transporting their property and had just entered their street. Dozie cracked his neck and stretched for a while before the truck pulled over by their pavement, flashing its trafficator light before coming to a halt.
It was one thing to unpack, settling in was an entirely different thing. Cleaning was never his strong suit but today, he’d spent almost the entire day doing that with Nonye constantly getting on his nerves as always. They were the opposite of one another character-wise, never on the same page, always arguing about something and neither would ever back down so the other would win.
Dozie was the cool-headed one while Nonye was the hot-head. One would appreciate the irony of that because, in the history of sibling drama, the reverse was often the case. Nonye was so rude and arrogant for a firstborn, quick to anger, and always ready for a fight. Her belligerence pushed people away all the time, it was needless to say that was why she didn’t have any friends. With all of that bad attitude, Dozie knew she cared. Everything was just an act and he understood that.
Mitchell had paid off the truck driver after the offloading was a success, now that they’d packed most of the property inside, only a few things were left outside and since her kids were too busy arguing about whose fault it was that a flower vase fell off a table and broke, she decided to go bring in the boxes that her strength could carry. As soon as she stepped outside, her phone rang and when she checked it, it was Tony calling. Mitchell hesitated before answering;
“Your timing is impeccable,” she said.
“I’m so sorry I’ve been so-“
“- busy. I know,” she interjected.
“Mitchell, c’mon.” He heaved a heavy sigh.
“I didn’t say anything, Tony.”
Truth was, she didn’t have to, he could sense the negative energy oozing out of her calmness. He should have called earlier, that was her annoyance.
“How are the kids?” he asked.
She looked back into the house and saw them through the window chasing each other around the table.
“Well,…”
“Lemme guess. They’re fighting and chasing each around the house,”
It never got old, the way he understood them and could predict almost precisely what they were doing even when absent. She thought it was incredible how he always managed to do that so accurately.
“Some things never change,”she replied with a smile.
“I miss you, Mitchell. I miss us.”
“Tony -“
“- I know,”he cut her off. “Just needed to say it.” He bid her farewell and ended the call.
She sighed deeply, her heart was still trying to heal. He hurt her deeply when he began seeing Osaro of a woman and in as much as she still loved and missed him, she needed time to think and he needed to prove himself, again.
Mitchell tucked her phone back into the right pocket of her Jeans and bent over to lift a box that seemed to nearly break her back.
“Need a hand with that?” someone asked.
She left the back breaker and grinned at the young man standing in front of her,”Yes, please.”
He was tall, dark-skinned, and broad, not so good-looking but charming, maybe in his late twenties. He had a white singlet on which exposed the print of his chest, a pair of shorts with casual thongs on his feet. His simple appearance revealed that he must be living close by. His smile as he pressed forward towards her reminded her of Tony’s whenever he wanted to flirt, hence she knew what this guy was up to.
Of course, he was attracted, Mitchell was the epitome of gorgeousness. She was in her late forties but looked twenty years younger, it’s no wonder people often found it difficult to believe she was a mother of two teenagers.
He stacked all the other remaining boxes on the one she wanted to carry and effortlessly lifted them at once, probably to show off his muscles.
“So,… you’re the newest resident of Joyville, ehh?”he asked, walking her to the porch.
She shrugged her shoulders unwittingly, and said, “It would seem so.” She opened the door and he laid the boxes down at a corner she directed him to.
“Thank you so much anytime.”
He flashed another flirtatious smile at her and before she would show him out, he introduced himself, “I’m Oghenevwogagan.”
I’m sorry- what? she asked, clueless on how to pronounce his name without biting her tongue.
He was already used to that particular reaction from people who didn’t understand the Urhobo native dialect so he chuckled and added, “call me Gaga,…for shorts.”
She aimlessly pointed a finger in the air and clicked her tongue,”Gaga it is then.” It took her a moment, plus the curious look he beamed to realise he was waiting for her name. “Ohh, sorry.” She gently slapped her forehead,”I’m Mitchell.”
“Nice to meet you, Mitchell.”
She wondered where those kids were now that she needed saving from this young man, seriously now would be a good time for Nonye to show up with her arrogance.
She walked him to the door and thanked him again before he left. Mitchell shut the door, leaned her back against it, and exhaled slowly.
Gaga ran into the teenagers just outside the porch, as they were coming out from the backyard.
“You must be Mitchell’s siblings,” he said with respect to the striking resemblance, “I’m Gaga.”
Their brows rose at his first statement but then again it was a common misconception people had about them. Dozie introduced himself but Nonye rudely burst a bubble gum she’d been chewing for the past two hours and walked away when he asked her name. Gaga ignored the attitude and smiled at Dozie before leaving.
Gaga, “Dozie called out and he turned. “For the record, Mitchell’s not our sister. She’s our mum.” He followed Nonye back into the house leaving Gaga to gape in awe.
A TRIP DOWN MEMORY LANE
A furry white puppy of the Bolognese and Bichon breed of dogs playfully scurried into the room barking with its tiny adorable voice that wouldn’t scare anything or anyone. The collar around its neck revealed its name to be Snow.
Snow hopped onto the bed where she lay, hugging her comfy pillow, too lazy to wake up. In her subconscious, she knew her five AM alarm was barking and jumping on her bed but she still refused to wake. Snow slipped under her duvet and crawled up to her face as she lay sideways.
It came so close that she could practically feel its breath on her skin. Its cold and always wet black nose rested on hers making her mouth move around uncomfortably. The chills of its tongue licking her face forced her to open her eyes and there it was, staring right into her eyes with that tongue hanging out of its mouth and its heavy breath pounding audibly.
“Go away, Snow,” she groaned with a sleepy voice and rolled over to the other side of the bed but the relentless pet hopped to where she was now facing. “Argh! I said go away.”
Snow barked once and it sounded as if it exclaimed, “No!”
She sighed and laid on her back to face the ceiling then it climbed up her stomach and rested there, looking at her.
“You’re not going to stop, are you?”
It barked once again and she concluded it replied No.
“All right, fine.” She got out of bed. “You win,… again.”
She didn’t have an alarm clock but snow somehow always woke her up when it was five in the morning, how a puppy could tell time was a mystery to her. It wasn’t always like that in the beginning. Initially, the reverse was the case, she used to be the one to wake Snow up at that exact time even though sometimes Snow would already have been up when she got to its little house across the corridor. Five o’clock in the morning was her default time to wake up and her body system got used to it over time therefore with or without an alarm clock, she would wake up once it was five or a couple of minutes past.
Things, however, changed after the summer and she became lazy to wake up that early, it was then Snow began to reciprocate the gesture. Honestly, she loved that Snow was dedicated to that cause, however daunting it could be at times.
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Before eight, she was already done with her chores and had finished preparing her usual Sunday special meal. She’d helped her mum ready her nine-year-old cousins, Jack and Jill- the most adorable and equally annoying twins she’d ever seen. Her summer holiday was fun because of them contrary to the deadly boring dark days that befell her after her falling out with Ajoke barely a year ago. The once best friends now worst enemies over a series of tragic events, were the reason both families hated one another.
She was about to go dispose of the trash outside when she paused by the door and stared at a framed picture of her brother on the wall. She still missed him and his passing was still fresh like it happened yesterday. She placed her hand warmly on the portrait and focused her gaze on his laugh. She remembered vividly when that photo was taken. It was on a cool Saturday afternoon when she and her best friend Ajoke went with him to the new Town Hall opening. The picture was taken by her with the same camera that was resting on the table below the portrait.
He was unaware of the shot when she took it; it turned out to be the best in her collection. He was belly laughing about something and was moving away from the conversation that was making him laugh that hard when she’d captured the moment. At the far end of the picture was Ajoke smiling beautifully as she watched Ollie laugh.
Oma and Ajoke had been friends since childhood despite being the opposite of each other in every ramification. The former, from the Igbo tribe was light-skinned and the latter, from the Yoruba tribe, brown skin. Milk and Coffee, people used to call them. Both girls were insanely beautiful in their unique ways, they were everyone’s favourite. The duo was blessed with intelligence.
They represented both the church and school in various competitions and always returned with trophies of either first, second, or third place but mostly first place. Oma was a singer, a master of both soprano and alto. She also played the violin for the school’s orchestra. Ajoke on the other hand was both a singer and a crazy dancer but was more of dancer. She was so good at it that she’d remained undefeated in every dance competition she engaged in, formal or casual. She was unarguably the best in Joyville. Once a floor member of the school’s dance group, Ajoke was now the leader, and just like Dozie’s sister, Nonye, Ajoke was as arrogant as she was lovely.
The reason for their enmity was no secret at all as the entire town had already played judge and jury over the matter. The blow that broke the camel’s back was when Oma’s big brother died in that fire at Ajoke’s father’s factory where he worked as an engineer. Oma’s mum, Adaora believed for a long time that the death of her son Ollie was orchestrated and well-plotted to look like an accident by Mr. Alabi, Ajoke’s father as revenge following the incident that claimed his wife’s life prior to that period.
Months before that, Mrs. Oluwaseyi Alabi had been found dead in a fatal car accident that eye witnesses said somersaulted multiple times before falling off the road. When the police arrived at the scene, the car was in pretty bad shape with its smoking bonnet halfway into a tree truck at the base of the steep slope upon which the road was constructed. During the course of the investigation, inspector Sani unveiled rather shocking and disturbing news which would later result in enmity between both families.
Mr. Chidi Wilson was the man found in the crashed car with her, he was the last person she called before the accident happened and he was the last person to text her asking her to meet him at a particular location which the police later confirmed that they met at before driving off together. During the course of the investigation, the police salvaged what was remaining of the deceased phones. It was a bit of a nutcracker but the IT department at the station finally was able to access the phones, that was how the information about the calls and texts was gotten. Going through both phones, inspector Sani realised that the late Mrs. Oluwaseyi Alabi was having an affair outside her marriage and was going to elope with her lover, leaving her husband and children behind.
The texts to a particular number that had suddenly stopped being responsive showed that she wasn’t happy with her marriage nor was she okay with the way her husband treated her. The number she was texting was that of her lover but it wasn’t the same number that she called the last time neither was it the number that texted her.
The call to Mr. Wilson was questioning because they’d been communicating through the phone prior to that day plus the call history revealed that they spoke for an hour and forty-five minutes this last time. What would two people married to separate partners possibly be discussing over such a long period of time when they didn’t live too far away from one another? Unless of course, they were hiding something. It wouldn’t take an inspector a second to put two and two together and think of the possibility of Mr. Wilson being the lover. The major problem inspector Sani had was how to tell the Alabis about this because Mr. Wilson was Oma’s father and the inspector was aware of the bond between both families. All hell broke loose when he brought both families together for the unveiling.
This was why Adaora did not believe Ollie died in an accidental fire at the factory of the man whose wife died trying to elope with her lover, the boy’s father.
Author: Samuel Francis
