The Covert Identity

The bus drove down the streets of Aguda in full speed. The shouts of the commuters brought back his senses. He sighed derogatorily because his thoughts were being disturbed.  ‘Driver, why are you in so much a hurry?’ One of the commuters asked, tapping the driver at the shoulder as he was sitting directly behind the driver.  ‘Haven’t you come across the slogan that says; there is no hurry in life? I beg you in the name of God; I’m not ready to die yet!’ The driver remained adamant and continued his driving. In a bid to remove his attention from the waggling commuters, he pushed his face out from his side of the window and blotted with his fingers on his nose as support.  ‘This driver is everything but civilized. See the way he is even behaving rudely as if he is only carrying animals here instead of human beings,’ another commuter retorted. Instantly, there was uproar from the rest of the commuters as each was trying his or her best to be heard simultaneously. Justice, on the other hand, was sitting quietly at the rear of the bus. He had ensconced himself in that position to give him solitude for his thoughts. However, there is this figure of massive flesh sitting close to him. He looked right beside him, she shouldn’t be more than thirty but excessive fat has made her look like a forty year old. She shifted uncomfortably and that attracted a corresponding reaction from the other two commuters who would not allow their space to be violated. She pleaded with her eyes to them to allow her a little bit of space which proved abortive as well. In her discomfort, she started emitting an offensive smell from her arm-pits. Justice could not bear this anymore and at that instance, he inadvertently grabbed his arm that was making contact with the woman. He felt pity for her and wondered why some people could be so obese.   ‘Woman, don’t push me again with your fat buttocks,’ one of the men next to her retorted.   ‘Look at her so fat, I bet she eats too much. Don’t disturb me here again. If you want this bus all to yourself, next time you want to board a bus, pay for the whole back seat,’ another passenger snarled. At twenty-four, Justice was still indecisive, how does he manage in life? The thoughts of this frightened him the more. At the moment, he seemed distant from the noise going on, on the bus. He was sitting quietly but for the occasional movement of his body showing how restless he was.   ‘I will soon reach home,’ he thought.  ‘There is absolutely nothing to offer father and mother. How do I tell them that I was not paid today and that my fate of being paid depends extensively on my boss’ success in his new contract which he had gone for? There is only but a five hundred naira (N500) left with me. If I pay one hundred and fifty naira (N150) as my bus fare from the Island to my destination which is in Aguda, I’ll be left with only three hundred and fifty naira (N350.00). Which meal can I prepare with this amount and how do we manage till Monday owing to the fact that this is actually a weekend? My situation has really become a sickness which has only grown malignant from its benign state.’ The compact housing the commuters kept on moving on its wheels with reckless abandon. There was a momentary upsurge of noise from the passengers and it died sooner than it came.  ‘Ademola-Oki bus-stop,’ shouted the conductor.  ‘If you dey come down, come down quick quick…. Hey! Aguda Market, Aguda Market.’ He kept on calling on commuters to join the bus to their last destination. This shout awakened Justice from his thoughts as he alighted from the bus. He walked down the street and his tall frame did not fail to attract attention. His hazel eyes were fixed at a specific direction as he walked ignoring all the good comments from admirers. Occasionally, his right hand would brush back his thick curly black hair; this gesture unknown to him had mesmerized many minds of the opposite s*x as they bow to his total handsomeness. His light complexion seemed to be illuminated under the golden light of the evening sun.  Suddenly, he remembered his parents and took one long stride in a bid to hurry and co-incidentally collided with a young man of his age. The goings-on in his life had made him so distant from happenings around him.  ‘JT, what is the matter with you? You seemed so much engrossed in your thoughts that you seemed to have forgotten that you are really on the roads? By the way, you did not respond to my greetings.’ He touched his head as a mark of forgetfulness and unintentionally touching his thick curly hair the second time and then, extended his right hand for a handshake while the left hand tried to balance the bag he hung on his shoulder containing his lap-top.  ‘Forgive me my brother; I was only carried away by thoughts,’ he said.   ‘And you seemed so distant like that?’ His friend asked in surprise. ‘Well, you better watch it; you know…you are on the streets. Just be conscious of yourself and your surroundings.’  ‘I will, my friend.’ He made to leave and stopped abruptly just as he remembered something.  ‘Pardon me; please did you notice if my door was left open?  I mean were my parents at home?’ He asked.  ‘Hmmm …,’ cracking his brain to remember and then snapping his fingers in confirmation.  ‘Yes I think I saw your door opening but I couldn’t notice which of your parents it was that was coming out at the moment.’  ‘Well, thanks a lot,’ he said as he shook his friend’s hands and walked away.  ‘This sucks,’ Justice said aloud. He walked through a narrow path that was surrounded by buildings until he got to the end of the path, he turned right. He stopped abruptly. Right in front of him was a gigantic building that had stood the test of time. Apparently the owners of this house which they now share with other tenants must have abandoned it for some time, in fact; for ages. The house is obviously begging for a renovation. As he walked towards the house again, he noticed that the zinc covering the interior part of their house had been blown open half-way. He shook his head in confusion. He wondered how they could sleep there under this recent development and prayed that it shouldn’t rain that weekend. He peeped through their open window to check whether his parents were in the living room, he found nobody. He made to step back from the window when a broken sharp portion of the window caught the sleeve of his shirt. It practically made a mark on the sleeve and tore it slightly. He rolled up the sleeves to conceal the matter from his mother especially, because she would bother about the broken window hurting her only child. She would invariably demand for a replacement of the window, and as it stands now he could not afford a meal much more changing a broken window. He walked towards the door, turned the knob anti-clockwise to unlock the door but the knob gave way and fell on the floor noisily making a shrill sound. He picked it up immediately and fixed it back. The noise made by the door-knob attracted the attention of his mother who called out immediately from the room.  ‘JT, JT, is that you?  ‘Yes mother, I’m here,’ he replied.  ‘Well, come over to the room I’m right there.’ He pulled a glum face and walked towards the room. His mother was sitting on a sofa and knitting as she hummed a tune as usual. Her beautiful face glowed as she knitted. Occasionally, she would use the hem of her wrapper to clean the sweat that was gradually forming on her face. Her light complexion shone in the dimness of the room as she knitted. Immediately, she started, and went to him and held his face. ‘What happened to my ever cheerful son today?’ She thought. ‘What is the matter my son?’ She asked. Immediately, Justice realizing that he had been making faces, brightened up his face and told his mother that he was actually having a slight headache and as a result, a change in his countenance.  ‘Well, I’ve prepared something for you to eat,’ she said as she made to get his meal for him and then turned abruptly.  ‘And don’t you worry about the money for the meal because I’ve been saving a little from the money you always give for the housekeeping and I had to prepare this meal from there. My son, did you think I wouldn’t notice when you are passing through difficulties? I know everything, I’m your mother, you can’t run away from that fact,’ she said pulling his cheeks as her own way of showing her love for him.  ‘Wow! That was close. If mother had demanded for money from me, I would have been in for it,’ he smiled as he had gotten a positive response for his worries.  ‘JT, your food is served,’ his mother called.  He walked towards the table, sat down and prayed before savouring the food. He smiled at each spoon he put into his mouth and relished the food that had so much great taste. He praised his mother’s cooking prowess. The birds were chirping in the neighbourhood. From one mango tree to another they made their nests. They hopped on top of all the trees from a mango tree to an orange tree and then to the hibiscus flower in front of Justice’s house. They tended to the flower with their constant hopping as Justice would do during his leisure. Apart from designing buildings as an architect, he also had another thing that turns him on, a hobby he wouldn’t dare let go even if he wanted; tending to the flowers. He lazily opened his eyes as the morning ushered in a new dawn. He made to hurry out of bed to prepare for work but immediately realized it was a Saturday. He got out of bed as he put on his footwear and concurrently wore the jacket of his pyjamas. He went straight to the window after saying his prayers as he was attracted by the song being sung by the birds through their constant chirpings. As he opened the window, a ray of thin bright light ushered itself into the room thereby illuminating the room. After the light was a sharp caressing breeze that stroked the hairs on his arms and brushed back his thick curly black hair. He thought; today is indeed going to be bright and his prayer of no rain would be answered. He hurriedly brushed his teeth and had a cold bath. His mother brought in breakfast of cooked noodles with scrambled eggs and a hot Lipton tea. He savoured it as always. He enjoyed taking Lipton and preferred it to other cocoa beverages as it keeps him fit. After breakfast, he took his laptop out and sat at the frontage of the house under one of the mango trees. He was trying to make more sketches of some buildings when suddenly he felt a drop on his hand. He looked up to locate the bird that had excreted on him when he realized that they were actually rain drops. Immediately, the rain drops were followed by thin films of lightening and a roaring thunder. And then, the rains came pouring. He barely managed to carry his belongings into the house even though he was half drenched.  ‘JT, where are you?’ His mother called from the bedroom.  ‘Over here mum,’ he answered trying to hide himself from his mother’s scrutinizing gaze.  ‘Just take a good look at yourself. I’ve always warned you never to sit under that tree whenever you want to work but you wouldn’t heed me. If the birds don’t excrete on your clothes and on your laptop, it would be something else. And now today, just now your whole body is drenched because you called for it.’ She snapped.  ‘Well mum, I don’t see anything wrong in my sitting under the tree. They are just nature, mother.’ He went to embrace his mother but she brushed him aside and sighed as she went out to the frontage to view the magnitude of the rain. She was cut short in her tracks as she noticed some showers of rain pouring into the living room from the portion of the zinc that was blown open by a fiery breeze the last time.  ‘O my God! What do I do now?’       ‘Mum, what is it?’ He rushed in on her immediately he heard her exclaiming. She didn’t respond but only managed to point her fingers up towards the direction of the rain that was pouring.  ‘Oh! My God! Not again,’ Justice exclaimed.  ‘JT, where is your father?’ She asked with a grim face.  ‘He-e-e,’ nodding his head as words proved difficult to come out of his mouth.  ‘What do you mean by he-e-e?’ She asked in a rather confused state. ‘He actually went for a parochial church committee meeting, so he asked me to tell you, because you were not around at that time.’ She hurried into the room and brought as many buckets and bowls as she could collect.  ‘You think we would pull through this?’ She asked as she lifted a bucket that was already filled and he kept another replacement immediately to avoid the house being flooded. It rained heavily for another 30 minutes and started subsiding. Unknown to both mother and son, while they were trying to save their living room, the patch on the zinc in the bedroom which was directly on top of the bed had started letting in the waters. The foam soaked so immensely that when JT came to rest his bones after the exhaustion he could not help but cry on seeing it. He ran out to call his neighbour, the one that had stopped him on the way the other day. Over the years, Prince had been a close friend to JT, in fact; he was known to be his confidant. People know them in that area as ‘David and Jonathan.’ Prince as well, had finished his first degree and was working for a bank at that moment. Both parties could do anything in each other’s house without minding.  ‘Prince, Prince,’ he called as he rushed out of his room. He knocked on Prince’s door.  ‘Yes, who is that?’ His father asked. He was a tall, slim, dark complexioned man. He liked having a clean shave and looking so neatly groomed. He shouldn’t be anything less than 50. He looked so gay and easy going.