Tales Of A Nigerian Man; Green Card Chase #5

Why was I surprised? Just few seconds ago I was in tears and pain of the realization that she had left me, and yet, looking at her standing there, I found it hard to believe. Sum it to say I knew deep in my heart that she had every reason to leave me; I gave them to her, I made her sick, unhappy and...i did to her everything a husband should never do to his wife.

I slowly got to my feet, my eyes on her sober face.

“you want to leave me? You want to abandon the kids and i? for what? After all my sufferings and pains in a foreign country all to give our kids the life I never lived, to give you all that you desire and deserve as a woman, you plan to walk away from me. If you did not have it in mind to leave, this prank would never have come into your mind.”

Those are the words I could have said to her on a normal day, the Ben that I was would never have let this pass for a surprise as it obviously was, he would have read drawn conclusions and made mountains out of the mound. But then, I knew better, my two-hour dream on the plane displayed to me what was likely to become of me and my family. Truly, I had the intention of staying a little bit longer in the States, but something inside kept asking me home.

“Don’t ever leave me, Euphie.” I pulled her to a very long warm embrace. I felt wetness on the side of my neck where she placed her head; she couldn’t hold back the tears from flowing. It was not until we broke the embrace that I noticed she had a little rectangular shaped package wrapped in fancy foil in her hand. The kids wouldn’t stop laughing so that got me very inquisitive. What have she got there? Must be something really funny, for the kids to be laughing that much. I looked over my shoulder at them, Abdu was still there, behind the kids, and the young with my luggage, I had totally forgotten about him and I was in no hurry to settle him; he has got eyes, I was having a wonderful family reunion so he ought to know what to do...wait and watch while it lasted.

Euphemia held the package towards me. “What do we have in there? A surprise?” I asked.

“Daddy open and see” my teenage kids chorused.

The hallway was very busy, but nobody seemed to care what anybody did and we didn’t mind the stares...like we shut out the rest of the world.

“I hope you like it.”

“Mummy said you love it and always snacked on it.” Charles chipped and Mary gave him a push on the head for been a loudmouth.

“Charles!!” Euphemia called with a faked frown. The scar on Charles’s forehead was still visible. I did inflict the injury that left that on his face but not with a spanner or rod or any weapon of any sort; I had shoved him aside while I was having a heated argument with my wife when he was just three years old and he had come for daddy to carry him, he tripped and hit his little head on the edge of the stool.

“oh! Now I know.” I said with a genuine smile, happiness threatening to burst me open, my eyes on her misty eyes. She still remembered, after eleven years; she had always brought that for me at work for the four years that we have been together in Nigeria and it became my lunch delight. I chuckled. I opened it quickly and started to eat with the little plastic spoon inside. The kids couldn’t help laughing at their daddy.

Ten minutes later, we were on the busy Ikeja road to Ikoyi. I scooped the last spoon into my mouth and...

“Daddy, mummy wasn’t wrong after all, not even a grain did you give out. This daddy sef.” Ear deafening laughter accompanied that little voice.

Grains of boiled corn and slices of coconut sprinkled with sugar, that was my favorite and I never shared before, I couldn’t help laughing. I wound the glass down and threw the plastic plate out of the window.

“Daddy, keep lagos clean, because I know you don’t do this in America.” I tell you, my kids are natural clowns.

“I do, son, but the difference is, there is nothing anybody can do about it but in the States, you get tracked and fined and that is if you do not go to jail. I said with a laugh and looked over at my wife; that disapproving frown on her face and the folded arms on her bosom...i turned to the kids...

“Well, it is wrong to throw stuff out the window just because you think no one is watching and nobody will do anything about it...” I went on and on with my sanitary lecture, the smile on Euphie’s face kept widening.

A trailer had fallen on the road and traffic was pulled to stand still, so after much consideration, we decided to head to the airport hotel, we checked into a regular two-room suite. It was pure fun with the family on treat. There was no comparing my family in here with my America family. There was no “No dad” from my kids, even when my instructions were not in their favor, and Euphemia was always calm to listen to me and that made me think back on the countless times I have had to sleep out of my house in the states because my wife said so. They say you will not appreciate what you have until you almost lose it; if you don’t lose it.

Finally, came the dreaded moment; few minutes past one in the morning when the kids had finally gone to bed, it was time to have ‘the talk’ with my wife. I walked into the bedroom and turned off the white light leaving the purple light bulb on and straight to the bed I went. She turned on the lamp by the bed...grrr. I had wanted to avoid looking into her eyes and she looking into mine for it will spell out my betrayal to me. I sat there on a stool, I couldn’t join her on the bed, and I didn’t feel I deserve to get any close to her.

We talked for hours till past five in the morning, she cried all through the conversation of how I had done my will without listening to her or putting the family into consideration. She disclosed to me how she had lived off support from friends and the countless times she had had to go to bed hungry...tears came to my eyes when she said...

“...do you want me to tell you of the numerous times your kids had gone to bed on empty stomachs after much tears of hunger with nothing to eat still? We were alright Ben, we were doing fine. All you hoped to achieve out there you could have achieved here with the support of your wife, your family and friends. I do not deserve to share you, your love with another woman...”

I fell on my knees, my head on her laps; I held her waist and spoke with shaky voice. I begged her not to speak further, I pleaded for her not to read to me my offenses.

The next day, we didn’t say much to each other, the kids noticed something was amiss and they were smart to stay calm all through the ride. We drove into the compound, unpacked and walked towards the main building. The kids went ahead of us, they got to the door and knocked; i read no meaning into the knocking, probably they have a housemaid now. We stood outside, waiting. The door pulled open shortly and he came out dressed in a night robe, big smile on his face.

“look who we have here!” he called out with excitement.

The kids went closer to him. “Good morning Uncle Mitch.”