Mosadoluwa was a very fat girl
with broad shoulders and huge
stature. She was very popular in
her neighborhood due to the fact
that her mother sells beans cake
(Akara) at the junction.
Throughout her secondary school
days, she was always teased
mercilessly.
“Dolu, you look like amoeba, the
shapeless organism”,Bola her
class mate would say,
“Dolu, the giant”, another girl
will say
“Dolu, the woman Ghadaffi”, her
neighbor’s daughter would call
her and runaway.
Even her siblings secretly called
her “Goliath”. As a result, she
was always miserable although
she kept her studies and reading
novels her favorite hobby. Days
went, month passed and years
rolled by, Dolu gained admission
into the Ekiti State University.
Due to the new life and
atmosphere: the stress of going
from campus to hostel, the hassle
of the lecture room, food
management, operation 1:0:1, as
was the practice of most
students, Dolu begin to lose
weight,she was beginning to look
slim and fit. The school went on
holiday and Dolu traveled home
for the long break. She alighted
from the bus at the regular bus
stop and the woman selling
recharge card was the first to see
her.
“Hehehe, who am I seeing?”
“Good afternoon ma”,
“Dolu, what happened, why do
you look so slim? Is it because of
school stress or what?”
“I guess so ma”,
She was asked the same series of
question but almost everyone
who knew her before. She
wondered, these same people
were the ones that complained
and teased her mercilessly when
she was fat but now she was slim
and they were still complaining
and asking questions.
Victor has graduated from the
University of Calabar with a
second class degree in
Economics. After the NYSC
service, he decided to use the
money he had saved from his
NYSC allowances to take up a
professional exam in order to
have a professional certificate
which would give him an an
edge when applying for jobs. He
didn’t tell most of his friends
about this because most of them
were living the affluent Lagos
lifestyle and knowing they would
want to cajole him into joining
them in the fun ride, he decided
to live low key and almost did
not communicate with anyone.
He was squatting with his
mother and since it was a family
house, his cousins and extended
families were always around and
they were always questioning
him.
“Victor, when are you renting
your own apartment?”, Segun,his
mother immediate brother’s son
asked him
“Why do you ask?”,
“This is because most of your
friends I know had already
acquired a car. Just last week, I
was surfing through the social
media, facebook, and I saw your
friend, I.K, posted a picture of
him in his new car and it was so
cool”,
Really?” Asked Victor
This was all he said before he
excused himself from his brother
because he didn’t want to reveal
any of his plans to anyone
because he knew they would
castigate him.
After two years, Victor finished
with the professional exam, ICAN
and he became a certified
chartered accountant. He got a
link for a job at Maestro Oil and
Gas Company as an accountant
and after series of interviews, he
was given his appointment letter.
His salary was buoyant and he
was given a free accommodation
and a free car along side with
allowances. All of a sudden,his
life changed and he moved out of
the family house where he was
squatting. His family members
and friends began to wag their
tongues since he didn’t let the
cat out of the bag about his
plans.
“Where did Victor get money to
rent an apartment and get such a
cool ride all of a sudden?”, Simi
said
“I don’t know, who knows,
maybe he did money rituals”,
Segun whispered to her sister.
“Ha, why would you assume
such?”,
“He was always keeping to
himself, never revealing much of
himself. People like that can kill
without anyone knowing about
it”,
“Hmmm…I wouldn’t rule that out
but won’t his mother know about
it?”,
“Na them sabi,abeg”, Segun
ended the conversation
Feranmi was a 39 years old
Yoruba lady. She joined the
banking industry 4 years ago
back. She was a lady with
elegance and poise possessing
every quality a man would want
in a woman yet it seemed the
eyes of every man in
Portharcourt was blind towards
her. Every cute and well –
groomed man she came across
since she joined the banking
industry and the outside world
never gave her a second glance.
Every morning she would look at
her self at the mirror to see if
age was telling on her but she
could not see such traces and
most of her female friends would
tell her how pretty she was.
Feranmi has an oval face with an
aquiline nose and full lips to fit;
she was dark in complexion and
petite in stature. She was almost
hitting 40! 40! The big age of 40!
Without a meaningful
relationship that would lead to
walking down the aisle. Her
family didn’t help matters as
they were always hitting on her
whenever they could, be it a
social gathering or function.
Sometimes ago she heard her
cousins whispering about her at
her mother’s 70th birthday,
“Look at her, all she knows is
party! Party!! Party!!!”, Dara, her
third cousin said to her sister,
Ayo
“I heard she’s hitting 40 next
year o”,
“She don old o! Chai, thank God
for make ups. So as she get
money reach, her money no fit
buy her a man”,
“My sister,money is not
everything,maybe she’s always
proud and arrogant, that might
be the reason why she has no
stable relationship”,
“Hmmm…. Na wa ooo….wonders
will never end,at almost 40, no
man, then definitely no child,
when will she marry not to talk
of conception? Menopause don
near o!”,
“Maybe you should go and ask
her”,
“Ha ha”,
They didn’t know that Feranmi
was behind closed doors,
listening to every of their
conversation. She asked God the
same question again.
“My God, when will you give me
the bone of my bone and the
flesh of my flesh?, when?”, she
questioned with tears in her
eyes.
After some weeks, her Honda CR-
V jeep developed some faults so
she resorted to take it to the new
mechanic a colleague of hers
referred her to. On getting to the
mechanic workshop, Obi the
mechanic, a tall, lanky man in
his early forties, attended to her
politely and directed her to sit
under the shade in his workshop
while he tended to her vehicle.
When she saw Obi the mechanic,
she felt something, the kind of
feelings she had not felt in a long
while, like the fluttering of
butterfly on her stomach. She
decided to ignore it, after all Obi
was a mechanic and in all
manners was not her class. Obi
finished the car the young
woman came with and he was
amazed how such a young, pretty
woman could be so well to do. He
had the urge to talk to her and
know her better but he knew
better. After his wife, Ada, died
5 years ago, leaving him with two
children, he vowed not to look at
any woman again. But seeing
this woman this morning made
him feel like getting to know her
more which was so unusual.
After Feranmi paid Obi for his
services, they exchanged phone
numbers and that was how their
journey of love started.
***************************************************************************
Their wedding day was
Feranmi’s happiest day because
in Obi she found a friend,
companion, soulmate and
husband. She and his children,
Adaobi and Uche, bonded almost
immediately they met, like they
had missed maternal love.
Feranmi’s family had resisted
their daughter’s choice when
they got to know the status of
whom she wanted. They refused
blatantly, they said Obi was no
match to Feranmi, an Igbo man,
formerly married with kids and a
mechanic! A mechanic!! But
Feranmi stood her ground
against all odds because she
loved Obi and accepted him as he
was.
These stories, though fiction,
have one thing in common, that
is, the world will always say,
they will always have an opinion
as regards your current situation.
The message is clear, stay
exclusive, don’t be everywhere,
don’t involved with just anyone!
Leave a little mystery to your life.
People will always wag their
tongue, do everything and
anything that makes you happy,
not what makes the world happy
because no matter what you say
or do, the world will always talk.
By Animashaun Oluwafolasademi
**********************************
