I knew Abuja’s corporate life. And,
maybe, Lagos’. But nothing of Benin’s. Abuja young men looked dashing in their
corporate attires. On good days, I did too. And today was a good day. It was a
Tuesday; I hadn’t exhausted my wardrobe for the week. So, in my white shirt and
black suit, I looked reasonably impressive. Red tie. I greeted the men – four
of them – and they kept staring at me. Censure could have been on their minds,
because government could appear in any form. But this was no censure. While the
other men gazed on in confusion, Laide’s Dad spoke up with some… relaxed…
cheer.
“Duke
how are you?”
I was pleased to hear him call my
name. Extremely pleased.
“I’m
very fine, sir. Thank you. And how are you sir?”
“We’re
fine…” he replied.
“Laide
told me you were a little ill over the weekend… How are you now?”
“It
was nothing… serious… We old men fall ill sometimes,” he joked.
“These are my colleagues,” he said
and, turning to the men he said “this is Duke…” And then he faced me and said,
“Duke, what are you to me?” He was smiling mischievously and I felt cornered.
“I
am… I am… your… I’m a friend of the family, sir.”
That was the best I could come up
with. He laughed; and I did too.
The
mood in the room improved. The other men took the cue…
“I
targeted coming at lunch time so I wouldn’t really be… getting in the way of
work…
“I could go and wait somewhere for a
better time…”
One of the men on his way out quipped,
“Every time is lunch time here oo!”
He was the roundest of them all.
They laughed as they exited the
room.
Now that I had my ‘father-in-law’s’
attention, he asked me when I came into town…
“I
understand you don’t live in Benin…”
“I
just came in, sir,” I replied.
“From
Abuja?” he sounded surprised… perhaps not at the speed, but at taking a
full-fledged working day for a gamble trip.
“Yes
sir. I had to skip work… I flew.”
“Okaaay…
I was wondering.
“So… have you seen Laide?”
“I
didn’t come to see her, sir; I came to see you…”
“Me?!”
“Yes sir! To continue to
seek your favorable consideration of me. I know I’m a stranger, but in a matter
of time you’ll get to know me… and probably trust me…”
He thought awhile.
“You
know Laide’s in school… and nothing will happen; nothing will even be considered
until she’s through!”
“I
know sir…”
“But
the… the intensity of your… your… request suggests otherwise,” he protested.
“Sir,
I’m… kind of… asking your permission to date her…”
“To
date her?”
“Kind
of… Sir.”
“Aren’t
you already dating her?”
“I…
I don’t live in Benin, sir.”
“Yes!
But you two know how you have been doing it!”
“Sir…
I… I want to… I want to…” I was staring at the desk now, not the man… “I want
to… start the process of asking your permission to… let her travel for a week.”
“Travel
to where?”
“To
Abuja… and we can take a vacation together…”
I didn’t know where I got the
audacity to voice my request from. But then, I thought, what was the big deal?
The worst I could get was a no.
His eyes grew round.
“Are
you… are you insane?! You’re asking me… to allow my daughter… you’re asking me
to let my daughter loose? Where are you from?! Is that how you operate in your
place?!”
“Sir,
I know it sounds stupid…”
“It
sounds more than stupid… it sounds disrespectful!” he yelled.
“Sir,
I know it sounds stupid, but I have the audacity to ask because I know that I
would never ever hurt Laide in anyway whatsoever. I give you my word… I will
not even touch her… We wouldn’t even lie on the same bed… Not just because you
won’t want it so, but also because I won’t…”
“Then
what do you want her to visit you for?”
“Sir…
oh… so we can be together… share our company; dream together, plan, grow… put
our challenges into perspective… I bring to the fore the unfavorable conditions
here and the ones at my place, we analyze them… determine our chances…
“Because, sir,” I looked squarely at
him, “if you foreclose abruptly this opportunity we’ve found… to spend our
lives together… you might be doing an eternal damage to both our hearts…
“Sir, let us see reasons, if any,
why we can’t be together – especially in our own way; let’s not just be
systematically kept away from each other…”
“Hmm!”
he heaved.
“Yes
sir,” I continued. “It will be like a convention for her and me… to either buoy
our determination, or kill it; whichever, in the end we’ll know… If love, and
commitment, and honor, and trust are not a sufficient foundation upon which we
can build a home… a marriage… we’ll not need anyone to tell us to stay apart.
“If there are other things we must
have that we don’t already have, then we’ll understand. We’ll know if distance
and tribal or religious differences are strong enough to crush the unification
of two souls occasioned by deep love and affection… and respect…”
“Young
man… young man,” he intervened. “I will not lie that your speech is not
touching, no. As a matter of fact, it is impressive… But don’t forget that I
was once a young man, and I know how love intoxicates… Believe me, it can turn
a stammerer into an orator. I’m not saying… don’t get me wrong…I am not…
downplaying your gentlemanly qualities. As a matter of fact, I extol them. I am
only saying that love is mostly a momentary thing… a phase thing… it soon blows
over, and when it does, the reality it leaves behind is different. Our people
say the drunk should go and sleep, when they wake, then they can attend to the
real business of life with clear eyes. It’s the reason why alcohol is served
only after serious matters have been addressed in a meeting.” He laughed. I
chuckled.
“Time and experience have taught our
people not to bank on love alone when marrying because, in following the lead
of love alone, serious issues are not taken into consideration. And, while the
two people in question love each other, what about their families? Marriage is
not just about the man and the woman, you know… it extends to their families,
their backgrounds, their histories… This is the real world, young man, not your
fantasy ‘Abuja marriage’ world. I’ve heard a lot of stories about that your
Abuja. We’re not like that here. Here we’re very circumspect.” He finished.
“I’ve
heard all you said, sir.” I cleared my throat. His long, conquering speech had
subdued me some.
“The depth of your wisdom is
intriguing. I expected nothing less, anyway. Your daughter herself has the body
of a twenty-two year old girl, but her mind is that of a forty-year old woman. A
real chip off the old block!
“I do agree with you, sir, that love
wanes… that the drunk have nothing meaningful to accomplish other than sleep… I
agree sir. As much as I do not believe that my love for Laide will ever fade, I
do not want to leave anything to chance… or fate. That is why I want to
consummate my love for her sooner than later… to invest this… this… huge…
deposit… of affection I have for her. I do not want to leave it there and have
it fester and grow cold and become indifferent… I don’t want it killed by the
dispositions of our families. That is why I am taking this road… that’s why I
seek to invest it… so that in the future, even if I don’t have any interest on
it, at least I’ll have my capital – whole and entire – and that’s a whole lot.”
He smiled.
“She
did mention that you’re an accountant.”
“I
read accounting, sir.”
“That
makes you an accountant, doesn’t it?”
“Well,
I don’t work as an accountant, sir.”
“What
do you work as?”
“I’m
more into the initiation and development of projects…”
“I
see…” His gesture suggested he needed some explanation.
“Well,
my accounting background is often quite detrimental to project initiation and
development work…”
“Detrimental
you say?”
“Yes
sir.”
“That’s
a negative word, isn’t it?”
“It
is sir. By that I mean… a project developer is supposed to just keep initiating
and developing projects. It is the job of the financial departments to consider
the viability of such projects and decide if the organization should embark on
them… and they suggest the best approaches the organization might use. So, in
my case, in the processes of initiation and development, I worry a lot about
costs; and the implication is that it reduces my speed and drive. It is good to
consider costs when making any plans, but the financial departments have the
full apparatuses to extensively analyze costs against expected short and long
term benefits. So… if I’m there at my desk, getting discouraged at every turn
because of “high costs”, the financial guys wouldn’t have much developed
projects to analyze; and so less work is done. On the other hand, if I could
get myself to ignore the costs, the financial guys could see a lot of sense and
viability in a project I might consider too expensive to embark on… So… that’s that
sir.”
“Interesting!”
“Thank
you sir.”
“Erm…
what do I offer you?”
“Oh,
nothing sir. Your attention is a lot already.”
“Really?”
“Yes
sir; really.”
“Well,
your coming here has really helped your cause, I must admit. We’ll see how
things go.”
“Thank
you sir. Just a week… no harm whatsoever.”
“Oh…
that… Well, we’ll see.”
“Thanks
a lot sir.”
“Are
you going by the house?”
“Oh
no sir. Seeing you was my sole purpose for coming.”
“So…
you’re going back to Abuja?”
“Yes
sir.”
“Right
now?”
“Yes
sir. But if I can’t make it I’ll just pass the night in a hotel somewhere and
leave in the morning. It’s either a flight now, or a hotel and a bus trip in
the morning.”
“We
can shelter you for the night… if that worries you so much…”
“Oh,
don’t bother sir; I’ll be fine.”
“Sure?”
“Yes
sir. Thanks for the offer. I’m really grateful.”
“You’re
welcome.
“You say you don’t want anything?”
“I’m
fine sir. I have to go.”
“Okay
Duke…”
Blur.
Straight to Abuja that same day, and
I showed up at work full of excuses and apologies. If I continued like this my
days were numbered.
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