Tales Of A Nigeria Man; Green Card Chase #6

“Mitch?” I called in surprise, my heart in my mouth like I could taste it. ‘Get a grip on you, Ben’ I cautioned myself to stop from overreacting. With what seemed like a victorious smile on his face, he ushered the kids in and turns to me. The most painful part was the way the children held onto him like he was there...i just didn’t want to think of it in that way, but...no, Mitch was in my house, in a pajamas; whatever was I supposed to think? That he had come visiting and had to sleep the night? How many nights? My anger got the better hold of me; I made to lunge at the bastard...

“You son...”

“Hello brother, I cannot believe my eyes...” he stepped forward and wrapped his arms around me. That single actions neutered my intention. My hands just wouldn’t move to reciprocate the gesture, I was taken unawares.

“...how have you been? You look great man. What have you been eating?...”  he asked, breaking free from the embrace. “...are you okay man?” he asked with concern when I said nothing in reply to his remarks and questions.

I looked at Euphemia, she looked rather amused; like what the hell was funny?!

“What is the problem dear?...” she asked. “...you don’t look alright.”

“Should i...?” I asked, turning my full attention to her.

“What is going on here?”

“Shut up Mitch!” I ordered. “...i am talking to my wife.” I didn’t bother to look at him, the treacherous animal. For how long have he been sleeping with my wife? How could she have managed all these years without a man’s touch? Infidel! To imagine that I use to think high of her, she just made me sick in the stomach.

“Why? Why? It didn’t have to be Mitch, is this your own way of paying me back?”

The look on her face disappeared, replaced by a surprised and irritated look.

“What are you so testy over?...” she tried to get a hold of my hand; I slapped it off mildly.

“Oh come on Ben, what is wrong in this?...”

I got the saliva ready in my mouth, it will only make me feel better to spit on her filthy self, for that is what she has become, have always been.

“...what is wrong with having your old friend come to receive you in your own house, with his wife, after several years apart?...”

“His wife?” that was not the only word I heard in the whole sentence, why did I choose to echo that?

She read the look of doubt on my face, which slowly twisted into embarrassment. She continued...

“Yes, his wife, Anna...they came in yesterday and had to stay the night when we couldn’t make it back home because of traffic.”

I slowly turned around like a fool that I was and asked the most foolish question of my life.

“You are really married?”

He stared at me like I was some pathetic thing.

“Of course I am...oh!...” he exclaimed on realizing something. “ You thought I am with Euphemia now? Come on man! You didn’t change one bit, I thought you do be a different person with passage of time...well, you would be our Ben anymore if you lost your pathetic personality...” he said with a hint of humor. “Come here man, welcome home.”

He pulled me into a tight embrace, and this time, I held on like that was my own way of asking forgiveness.

We went into the house and I did get to meet Mitch’s wife, she was plump and beautiful. How did i let my conclusive and judgmental mindset embarrass me massively out there? Mitch had been married for six years now and already has four kids.

“Were you intending to make up for the lost years?” I had teased him. He had sent the kids off to their maternal granny’s; they are a handful, so he said.”

There was something going on that was been kept from my knowledge, something amiss, I just couldn’t place my hands on any reasonable clue. There was no electronic gadget in the house anymore, save for the old television in the sitting room. Cain chairs? Something is wrong. I didn’t notice the alarming changes initially out of oversight. I was so happy to know there was no wife-converting Mitch in my life anymore and nothing else mattered at that moment.

That evening, after Mitch and Anna had taken their leave, I had a long talk with my wife, I needed to know what went wrong, why the change. She broke down again, but this time, I let her finish; I needed to know all that I should know. According to her, she was so broke and there was nothing to eat for months plus the kids had to stop school for almost two years.

“And why did you let me in on this, Euphemia!” I had asked.

“What difference would it make, Ben? I couldn’t reach you, you alone had access to us here and you stopped giving a care how we were a long time before things got pretty bad. Did you not tell me to manage life in any way I can? Did you not remind me that there are single mothers out there and widows who shoulder the responsibilities of their family without a man in the house?...for years we didn’t hear from you, until six months ago.”

What made me feel so inhuman and heartless was that during the period they were going through hard times, I was living large with my family overseas. And now am back, if only she knew my reason for coming back, all that I lost to my wife after our divorce, my financial status and assets.

“So you sold everything just to raise money?”

“Yes, I did. Everything I could.”

There was something about the way she said “everything” that triggered curiosity.

“What exactly is ‘everything’?”

She held my gaze for some seconds without uttering a word. I couldn’t take the silence anymore.

“What is ‘everything’, Euphie!”

She looked away for a second and fixed her eyes on mine.

“When there was nothing else to sell that would give me enough to survive with the kids, I sold my jewelries...”

“Mhmm..”

“My expensive clothes, shoes and handbags...”

“Mhmm” I urged her on.

“I was able to sell off one car and couldn’t sell the other because Abdu volunteered to help sustain his family and mine by using for a taxi...it would have been the best move had it not been its constant development of mechanical faults, stayed more days in the mechanic’s workshop than it stayed on the road...”

“so?” I was getting impatient, needed her to hit the nail on the head.

“I...sold the house.”

Long silence...

“Which house?” I asked stupidly.

“This house...” She said calmly. “I was paid in full, that was how the kids and I were able to get back on our feet. I begged to stay at the boys’ quarter with the kids while I searched for a cheap accommodation...”

“What the hell!!...lord Christ!..” I screamed. “You sold my house? You sold the house?...and how come you are still in here?” I asked. She sold the house, was to make do with the boys quarter, and then what are we still doing inside the house?

“I received a call from the buyer’s lawyer asking me to stay in the house as long as I want as he was not ready to move in anytime soon...so I did. And it’s been two years now.”

Shocked and surprised, I asked...

“Who is the buyer?”

After a long silence, she said...

“Mitch.”..



Chidera Reginald