Returned

January 2051

One

January 2051

Jennifer stood gawping at the apparition at her doorway. She was sure it was not a dream. But everything here seemed like a dream. Truly, the man standing at her threshold was every inch the Tile she had fallen in love with some thirty-something years ago. But the problem... he was exactly the Tile she had fallen in love with. He did not age a minute more. Save for the long bushy beard he wore, he looked exactly thirty-seven. And wait a minute! Was that not the same pair of suit she had purchased for him from Ivy’s boutique many years ago? They were still very new. How odd they seemed now. Who even wore those these days? Momentarily, the thought of Ivy rose somewhere in her gut, a pang of nostalgia gripping her momentarily. Ivy had died in a plane crash enroute from Dubai many years earlier. Or so it was reported in the news.

Now, what she felt was more than just nostalgia. It was dilemma, nostalgia and impossibility all rolled up in one emotion. It was impossible to believe what she was seeing, but the courageous part of her told her to stay put, that there must be some kind of explanation to this weird reality. Under normal circumstances, this as an event to have called for wild celebration; she would have jumped with joy and hugged her long lost friend who had just returned from… Hades perhaps. But looking at herself presently, she saw that all that was no use now, she was old and spent and all looking drab. No matter the cosmetic enhancements she had done to improve her looks, she still felt old in her being. Now she wore a long colourful, flowing gown and her graying hair was lumped and unkempt in a fine way. Clearly, she had just woken up and had not made up for the day. A sleek-rimmed spectacle balanced delicately to her still finely-cut face. She kept looking at the trio in front of her without saying a word.

“Excuse me Ms. Jennifer, is everything there alright?” an electronic voice strode and stood behind her.

It was Tile’s turn to be gobsmacked. “Jennifer with a robot too? Holy heavy Jesus.”

The reality of robots in Nigeria had already registered since his arrival two days before. But he did not imagine they had become a household utility person until now. And here was Jennifer, with hers, getting all familiar like they were of same species.

So much had changed in the past thirty years of his absence. Skyscrapers in his local town looked oddly impressive. Not a bad change though, if only he had changed with it. But here he was, looking thirty years younger, and his supposed bride, to whom he had fought desperately to return, was now neighborhood of being his grandmother.

It was James Charlatan who broke the silence. He obviously needed some rest. But it seemed Tile and his long lost friend were only concerned about looking at each other askance. Each of them were just staring, more going on in their minds. Regrets. Joy. And regrets again.

“I need to seat my ass down on some couch or something, and some earthly coffee too, methinks,” Charlatan said in his wheezy Aussie accent.

“Oh no…forgive my manners,” Jennifer said, waking up from her trance. “Let’s have you some tea. Please Tile, get some hot water ready,” she said to her robot as she led the way into the giant edifice.

Charlatan turned and looked at Tile, as if to say, hey buddy, you've got you a robot namesake here. Then he turned and followed Jennifer indoors as if it was he who was the relation. Rita too followed, glad that she had gotten to some safe haven where people would cease looking at her as if she rubbed some s**t in her hair.

Tile was the last to go in. He turned and surveyed the large compound and marveled at what a fortune Jennifer must have made in his absence. Had she gotten into drug business or dealing in human parts? It was true she had been very industrious, but this was way beyond expectation. For a woman to come by such wealth in Nigeria meant she must have done something unscrupulously illegitimate. Or perhaps she was now a concubine of some opulent politician... perhaps, the status quo had really shaken up.

The house was an old mansion. It was perched delicately atop a hill at the extreme ends of what Tile recognized as the Government Residential Area. Most of the houses here were now old and out of fashion, save for this massive architectural dominance on which Tile now stood. Before Tile’s unnatural travels, he had often felt intimidated to even come into this place. It was reserved for senior Government Appointees back then, and rich business people.

Even this house was no longer of the present fashion from what he had seen so far, but the designer had given it features that made it relevant even in the next fifty years forward. The house must have been built in the early 2000s, but it had grandeur of 15th Century Elizabethan castles or even Venetian flavor than dazzled in the very middle of the 21st century.

The security guard who had ushered Tile in with his companions stood gawping at Tile in the distance. He was wondering where this guy had fallen from, with his mad-man beard and age-long suit piece that still looked new. Clearly, the design must have been of thirty or forty years ago. When Tile had knocked at the gate, the security man had refused to open up, but Tile had insisted that if it was Jennifer who was taking residence in the building, then he should inform her that Tile Atu was at the gate. The security man had then directed Tile to a mirror-like gadget plastered to the wall by the gate. A new form of camera perhaps. The guard had asked Tile to look into the mirror. It was only a few moments later that the gate slid open.

“Madam say make you come inside, she wan see you wit im own eye,” the guard had sputtered in his eerie pidgin. He had directed Tile to the main entrance with his strange White companions and returned back to his duty post. The White one looked a little better off, but surely from the past too. But what was that gown he was wearing… like a modern version of Merlin?

Tile followed the others inside. They soon sat to a quiet tea round the polished-oak dining table. Nobody said any more words. Even if they wanted to say any more, where were they to start? But they needed to start somehow; otherwise, they’d just sit here staring at each other like a bunch of disgruntled idols.

“Jennifer…” Tile muttered. “Please meet my friends, James Charlatan and Rita Baxter. They are both from Australia. We met a few gotr ago.” Then he added, looking about and not knowing he had just used an Eridian word, “I can see you finally made it. You have done really great for yourself.”

“I inherited this building from Alex Atir.” Jennifer said, making no effort to be dramatic. She intended to be as explicit as she could, so as to encourage Tile to also come out clear with her. She had suffered too long emotionally to be acting up now. “So in Australia, people don’t grow old?” she asked coolly.

“I’ve not been to Australia, if that’s what you mean. I met them someplace else.” Tile said, gesturing to his companions. “Jennifer, I must say I’m glad to see you again.”

Jennifer could not hold her emotions anymore. She decided it was time to let it out and feel easy with herself. So she cried. She cried bitterly, subbing profusely. Tile’s friends were taken aback, but they clearly understood what was going on, so they sat in place. Even Tile was at loss of which action to take, so he just let her cry to her satisfaction.

“Is anything the matter with you Ms. Jennifer?” the metallic, lonesome, electronic voice asked, turning a corner and approaching towards the dining room from the posh sitting room.

“I am fine my dear, just get along with your work. I will be fine” Jennifer said. The robot strode back with calculated long strides. Jennifer found a clean table napkin and wiped her tears. Then she sat gently as if she had never cried.

“I am so sorry what I must have put you through… I am sorry.” Tile said, looking really sorry. The others just ate on, quietly. Except, Rita was already feeling a tinge of jealousy, but she resolved to compose herself. After all, she was not in the picture just yet.

“You are here now, at least,” Jennifer said, as if wanting to convince herself that all was fine.

“When last did you hear from Ken?” Tile asked.

“That was more than twenty years ago, before he died,” Jennifer said without a hint of emotion. But just then, it seemed as if a button was suddenly pressed from within. She started subbing loudly and then broke into another session of tears. “That is what you put us all through, Tile,” she said amidst her rainy tears. “You left us all to suffer the consequences of your outrageous actions. What in the hell were you thinking, Tile? You… going diabolical?”

Tile just sat there, silent tears streaming from his eyes. But when Jennifer mentioned ‘diabolical,’ he had had enough.

“What did you expect of me; after all I was going through. And to say, my own friend convinced me that it was going to work, that it was the usual way?” But Tile found himself crying out loud now. It was unimaginable that his friend Kennedy, died. When he was done crying, he asked Jennifer, “How did he die?”

“He committed suicide in prison,” Jennifer answered coolly. “Mr. Atir made sure of that. When he was caught in South Africa dealing drugs for Mr. Atir, in your place, Alex made sure he rotted in jail. He never got a chance for a court hearing, so he cut his wrist with a razor blade and bled to death. That was what my contact in South Africa told me anyways. He was buried there.”

“But I thought Alex Atir dealt in technology, how come he got mixed up with drugs?”

“All that was a hoax,” Jennifer offered. She took some time and explained to Tile in detail, all that had transpired after his departure. Tile only shook his head sadly.

“You spoke with him before his death?” he suddenly asked the one question he had wanted to ask since Jennifer had mentioned ‘diabolical.’

“Yes I did. And he left a note confessing everything to me. He even showed me the house of the oldman who had prepared the potions for you. Although he told me the man was dead, I had to go there and see things for myself. I looked for you, Tile. I really did.”

As she said this, she stood up and went to the inner chambers of the mansion. She stayed there for a better of fifteen minutes and soon returned with a white singlet in hand.

“This is all I’ve got left of you, until now” she said.