Blind-view

CHAPTER FOUR

‘Go ahead, you can do it, come on, you can do it, give me ten,” Uyi, sweating from all parts of his body exercising with his uncle on a mid-sunny Saturday morning. Uyi finally gets up from the floor trying to do sit-ups,

“Now let me show you how it’s done,” Uncle said to Uyi with a smiling face. It still amazes Uyi to see his uncle still this active despite being in his mid-forties. His energy for his age makes Uyi feel that his uncle was running on some hidden dopamine, but to his surprise, his uncle is strict when it comes to his diet, always eating fruits and vegetables, which has also influenced Uyi’s diet since he moved in with him to his house at the in-famous “Ghost town”.

Another thing surprising about his uncle was his decision never to get married. Uyi has been meaning to ask him why he made his decision but he still hasn't found the courage. His Uncle is a lecturer in the department of Geology who has gone on many field exploration exercises for private research and even done consulting for major firms and made a ton of money, handsome. Still, with bald hair which gave him some sort of personality, as he was nicknamed in school “The prof”, an amazing cook, as Uyi can testify from his cooking. He has a lot of female admirers who will jump if he orders them to do it but he still chooses to remain single.

“Why are you single,” Uyi blurted out this question without even thinking about it. Uyi's uncle gave him a surprised look but with a smile that made Uyi's heart race a little less,

“I was waiting for you to ask this question all these weeks now,” Uyi became surprised that his uncle was actually waiting for him to ask this same question that had kept his heart racing and his mouth shut for weeks,

“Something I want you to understand, my boy, we all have the right to make our choice. While I was a boy, I thought about my career, the kind of healthy lifestyle I wanted, the countries I wanted to visit, but there was something I never did think about that was marriage or having kids.”

Uyi was confused by his uncle's statement, becoming more lost from the answer compared to when he hadn’t asked the question,

“Do you mean you never cared about having kids?”

“Yes, I never thought about it” Uyi’s Uncle replied while stretching out before they went out for their regular Saturday workout by jogging to the beginning of the street and back home. Uyi, still not satisfied with the answer, had to probe him for more answers so that he could finally get an answer to the question he had been carrying in his mind,

“Doesn’t it bother you that your friends have kids but you don’t?” Uncle looked at him again with a smiling face,

“Everyone chooses what they want. My advice to you is to do what makes you happy. I do not care about what the next man does with his life. It is his choice and this is my choice, and guess what boy, I’m happy living in it.”

As Uyi’s uncle sprinted out of the compound, Uyi knew that was the signal to follow suit. While running, Uyi knew his mum would scold him forever if he ever thought about being single for the rest of his life. Uyi’s mum has already told him that he expects seven kids from him so that he can have a large family since she failed in giving him that. While growing up, Uyi did feel lonely sometimes, but as time went on, he was able to make good friends both in school and at home.

While doing their round of workout, Uyi, sweating and trying to keep up with his uncle's pace, remembered he had another question to ask his uncle that had been bothering him for a long time, even more serious than his refusal to get married and have a kid.

“Uncle, what about religion? Mum said," You are an atheist, you do not believe in God. Why?”

This question stopped his uncle on his track while Uyi was breathing heavily from his mouth. Uyi’s uncle looked at him, still holding a smile as usual,

“Did you write up a list of questions specifically for me?” Uyi gave his uncle a cunning smile but was waiting for the answer, concerning his uncle’s faith, and he believed that there must be something wrong with someone not sharing a belief living in this part of the world, or maybe he was part of a cult so they believed.

“First, as a geologist, I’m a scientist, and we believe strictly in evidence. I have to see to believe it.”

This reply was strange to Uyi, as he grew up in a Christian home, he wouldn’t dare stay home on a Sunday because he knew that was not an option for him while his mum was there. His mum would curse him if he ever considered being an atheist. That is not even an option. This would be a far greater sin than not getting married. Uyi is still feeling unsatisfied with his uncle's statement,

“You grew up in a Christian home with my dad. My grandparents are Christian too, then how did that not influence you to become a Christian?” Uyi probed his uncle for more answers because if there was something he enjoyed he liked clarification,

“Your curiosity will make you a good attorney. Well, growing up I went to church and did all the Christian rituals because as kids you do not have almost anything, but after I traveled for my college, I had some freedom from my grandparents and that is when I chose to become an atheist.”

This answer further stretched Uyi’s belief system that an African can become a true atheist when he leaves the shore of Africa because we do have a strong belief system and before he could finish cementing this idea in his mind, his uncle spoke again,

“There is something else that changed my belief. Something happened to me while I was a teenager like you. I remember going on my knees to cry to God to help me. Yes, I cried my eyes out because I believed in angels and healing, but all I got was silence, utter silence from God,” Uyi saw his uncle's face, which was almost always filled with a smile, and, turned sad, which made him feel pity for him as he believed whatever happened must have been very pensive to make him turn his faith from God. Uyi was curious to find out what exactly happened but his uncle continued to speak,

“If there was a God, he wouldn’t have been silent to me, he would have helped a helpless boy”

Uyi became even more curious to find out the incident that would make his ever adoring uncle feel helpless as he held him in very high esteem. In his mind, this must have been a very serious incident that could turn a man totally away from God, but before he could alter anything, his uncle's face was filled with a smile again,

“Race me back home. If you win, I will give you a hundred dollars.”

The sound of a hundred-dollar note took all the inquisition Uyi had in him and he sped off like a lightning bolt.

“I won, I won, yes, I won,” Uyi celebrated his victory while his uncle handed him a hundred-dollar note. In his mind, he had made the equivalent conversion rate of dollars to naira and he knew his bank account would definitely go up significantly. As his uncle sat on the stairs to the entrance of the house drinking a bottle of water which he always carries whenever they go for a workout, Uyi regained his inquisitive nature and believed he could probe his uncle for more answers,

“Uncle, I know I’m not supposed to ask, but do you want to talk about the incident that turned you away from God?” His uncle shared a smile and looked directly into Uyi’s eyes, which he always does by staring down at someone. Uyi broke eye contact as his uncle stared and he got a reply to his question,

“Do you want to talk about why you have refused to forgive or speak to your dad on the phone after all these years,” this reply hit Uyi emotionally, as this is a question and a conversation he doesn’t enjoy having with anyone except with his mother, whom he listens to about this conversation as a way to comfort her,

“Uncle, please I do not want to talk about him.”

“You can’t run away from him forever, his genes run in your blood”

Uyi’s eyes had become red and filled with emotions, he'd become unsettled as he hated this conversation because he carried a lot of anger towards, his dad. In his mind, he felt that his uncle only brought up this conversation about his dad to elude his question.

“Your father wasn’t a saint, neither was he the devil”, his uncle still looking directly at him but becoming more unsettled and sweating even more,

“You weren’t there, you weren’t there to see what I saw as a little boy” Uyi, speaking with a shaky and sad voice,

“What did you see? Go ahead, tell me what you saw” Uyi’s uncle asked, moving his head up and down in motion, holding Uyi’s hand,

“The eyes can be deceiving. Be careful what you see with your eyes”

Before he could continue the conversation, Uyi withdrew his hand and ran off with so much sadness, anger, and rage, that his uncle stood up and called his name several times. But he just kept running. Before he could run after him, Uyi stopped a commercial motorcycle and got on it and they sped off.