The Tears of Ngozi

Chapter Two : Sour and Sweet

    The Darkforce quarters expressway , 130km

           On the road to the realm  of the dark force quarters, the cloud was sober. The winds blew excessively. You could tell that the sky was not in a good mood. The road was so empty with only vehicles plying the Expressway, strange noises roared from the sky.

     Suddenly  the truck stopped .  The  strange man started the engine , but it refused to start.

 He came down from the truck and went to check Mama Ngozi and his guard at the back of the truck, but couldn't find any of them. Getting confused he searched round the truck. As he was about to turn back , heavy lightning from above the sky struck him .

   Burning him to flames.  Aaaaah ....... Aaaarh!! , was the horrifying sound coming from the strange man .  He continued screaming till he finally burnt to ashes.

         Mama Ngozi was  scared ,  as she saw what was happening but couldn't understand. She saw him when he came to the back of the truck to check for her and the guard who disappeared to thin air before he could tie her down. She didn't understand why the guard disappeared or why the strange man ( Agent of evil) , didn't notice her inside the truck or see her .

     She was right in front of him when he came to check her and  his  guard . She was scared that if he didn’t find his guard  who vanished into thin air, he might kill her .

   But he didn't even notice her presence , or see  her . And then, he  started acting insane searching under the truck for her, even when she was inside the truck . He couldn’t see her, like he became blind before lightning struck him.

 ( Mama Ngozi never knew that the almighty God of heaven and earth, which she prayed to, was fighting for her.)

            Mama Ngozi, came down from the truck in pain,groaning as she tried to look for help. Last she could remember was that she didn't eat since morning.  And it was after she woke up from her long sleeping hours in their apartment. Due to the kicking of the baby that made her so exhausted and hungry ,  her husband brought her food. Before the Darkforce attacked them in their home, killing her husband.

        Tears rolled down her eyes. If only her husband was with her on this lonely road she was , she would have been fine and feel safer.   But her Lovely husband was nowhere to be found .

"Ha! Death! Death!!  You are wicked!, Why did you take my husband from me ?

 She sat on the expressway leading to the dark force quarters, crying and pouring sand on her hair.       All of a sudden, she heard her husband's voice.

 " Nne! I am with you,  clean yourself up.”

She was scared, looking around to know if somebody was close to her.

    But then her baby kicked and she was comforted. At least my husband is with me.     my baby will be a symbol of my husband  she thought to herself.

The sky became bright again, with the sun shining . The road was still empty, with only vehicles plying the road.

    As Mama Ngozi was still thinking, a car pulled up seeing her there alone the car stopped .

 A man came down from the expensive car . It was a black Toyota Camry . With sleek designs and four strong tyres .

“ Are  you okay madam?  The Young Man walked towards her . She looked at him with a teary eye and  tried feigning a smile meaning she is fine. 

The man came down from his car and helped her up. She looked at him and saw a gentle face with red lips and a nice personality. He was tall, slender with bright eyes 

"I am Okafor by name,what's yours ? He asked . She was still admiring him and didn't notice he was asking her a question.

Ma! Are you okay? He asked again. Her senses snapped back to place and she said   Nne …Nne ! Nnenna is my name sir.  Okafor smiled and said to her “ nice name . “

“why are you on the road , did your truck spoil? He looked at Nnenna again, 

No...no sir !

I was kidn*pped she said.  In shock he quickly opened the car door for her and she entered into his car .

      Okafor  was a noble man , a modest man who was so humble . He is a business man , dealing in transportation . So after conveying passengers ,on his way back home he saw her lying on the expressway heavily pregnant. Out of pity he decided to know what was wrong with her and help her, if he could.

          While on their way to his house, they continued the conversation.

" my husband was killed few hours ago by the Darkforce “ Nnenna said .

"what dark force? he asked confused .

                 Nnenna could not explain to Okafor that she and her husband possess a special gift which was given to them by the almighty God . The God of peace and light.

She just smiled and said , " you wouldn't understand, I am hungry.” She blurted out.

      Without hesitation, He immediately drove towards the next turn. The direction of a fast food restaurant close to the express road . Mama Ngozi was surprised , he didn't even query her or asked if she had money to pay . He just took the next turn to a close by restaurant.

      Maybe he's an angel sent to me from heaven, she thought to herself.

"What would you like to eat?

She looked at him , puzzled at his next reply .  With a smile she replied , “ I haven't eaten since morning and I'm heavily pregnant to deliver in 2 months time. “

  Then she started becoming emotional, she continued again.

" my husband prepared food for me to eat, before I was kidn*pped and they killed him." She burst into tears.

      Okafor had to park his car and then started consoling and comforting her.  Wiping her tears with his palm and making her know that she's in safe hands. He told her to wait in the car , let him go get her food.

*** Still on the road to Okafors house , Okafor stopped to get her food.

      She told him she was craving for swallow and egusi soup, An African dish prepared in Nigeria.

 So he went into the  restaurant , which was called African dishes & chops . And then he bought the egusi and swallow for her.

   Few minutes later, he came with the neatly packaged food and handed it over to her to eat.

She recieved it like a hungry lion waiting to devour  it’s prey.

   You wouldn't blame her , after all she is pregnant.  7 months gone already and this time she ate like no man’s business. Happily satisfied with the already empty bowl of food, which was initially full, and was now in her stomach, going through the digestion process ,she leaned her back towards the front seat of the car .

     Resting and using a toothpick to pick off any remnant clustered in her tooth,  She  then began thinking.  She remembered how her husband took her out for shopping, to shop  for baby clothes .

      Since it was a girl, they bought pink clothes and also some white clothes  which they thought will be good for the baby. She remembered the night her husband held her in his arms . Playing with her fingers and singing beautiful songs to her ,because she loved his voice .

  That was one of the things that made her fall in love with her  husband who is now late .

                                                                                                   Nnenna! Nnenna!! Okafor called her , but she was still deep in thought .

 " I love you"  she remembered when her husband said those words to her that night after singing beautiful songs to her.

   Still in thoughts,  She then remembered asking him ,

“ What are we going to name our daughter? .  They could sense that it was a girl because they were no ordinary family,but a supernatural one .   

   Her late husband could sense evil and good, while she could control nature with the movement of her hands by stretching it out like she was collecting something .

 " Well, I think we should name her blessing!  Because she is a blessing to this family. Mama Ngozi smiled as she said to her husband .

  "Okay! Why don't we call her NGOZI",  the Ibo name for blessing,  Her husband replied back to her.

 They both agreed and just as she was smiling still in her thoughts, Okafor tapped her shoulder. “Madam ! Why are you smiling? He asked her, she looked at him and said I  was just remembering My husband before he died.  “ So sorry , he’s late.” Okafor replied.

Nnenna kept the empty food pack in a nylon bag, to dispose it in a trash when they arrive at Okafors house.

 Georgia Estate,200km

 They finally arrived at a beautiful  home, painted white . It was a beautiful four bedroom flat, with beautiful decorations on the wall. Some designs looked like Chinese drawing on the wall, while other designs  looked like African paintings and artifact. The house was situated in an estate . The clouds were bright and blue , with houses stationed few blocks after another. The atmosphere looked friendly.

     Okafor was loved by his neighbor , because of his humble nature and good looking figure. So immediately he drove into the estate, he was greeted by neighbors who were confused on the kind of lady that was with him. Nnenna wasn’t looking her best at that time. With her partially torn clothes and dusty hair.

    They thought she was a mad woman, and was surprised that Okafor could pick up a mad woman on the road . An inquisitive neighbor called Mike , went to ask him . As he was helping Nnenna from his car due to her pregnant nature .

   “ Oga! Why you carry mad woman enter our Estate ? Mike asked using pidgin language.

A language that Nigerians use to communicate with each other sometimes.

      Okafor looked at him with a stern look as if he was about to scold a small child. She is not mad!, Okafor retorted back to mike.  “ Mind your business !! , He shouted back to mike again.

Mike was a very trouble some neighbor, who didn’t like to mind his business . He wanted to know every information in the estate. He almost got beaten by an angry neighbor one day when he wanted to know what was going on in the angry neighbors house and why he was quarelling with his wife.

     Mike was of Average height and had a very round body, with a round face having bushy beards.

He was good looking  but his love for Amebo! ( Meaning gossip), knew no bound.

   Okafor ignored the stare of the neighbors in the estate and walked into his house , holding Nnenna.   Nnenna couldn’t face the public who were looking at her wondering why a gentleman such as Okafor could bring in someone like her.  She bowed her head in shame not wanting the neighbors to behold her face. She thought to herself , what if they think I’m homeless .

    After all one of them already called me mad, she kept on thinking as Okafor held her moving towards the entrance of  his own flat.

 Okafor led her to his sitting room and made sure she sat comfortably. He then went to run a warm bath for Nnenna. After he was done, he headed for the kitchen to make her some warm tea with few slices of bread.

    He was also hungry too , so he prepared noodles for himself . Adding spices liked diced fresh tomatoes, fresh pepper and carrots into his already steaming water. He stirred the water waiting for the ingredients to mix very well  in the non- sticky pot on fire.

     He hurried back to the living room and told Nnenna that her water for bath was ready. He then led her to the bathroom . Nnenna climbed into the bathtub, feeling happy and relieved that she was safe once again.

    The warm water ran through her petite figure, which was already huge because of the baby in her womb. She thought  to herself, “ what if he tells me to leave after I clean up ?

 Several thoughts ran through her mind, while she took her bath.

After she was done , she came out to see a beautiful garment placed for her to change into. The garment was purple in colour with V- neck shaped opening for her to wear from the head.

  It was a long garment , that had two pocket holes at each side.

 Nnenna was surprised at the stunning beauty of the garment.  She never saw something as beautiful as that before. Although in Chukwunonya kingdom , these type of garment were worn by their ancestors and masters .

    She finally took the garment and wore, coming into the living room , the living room became filled with the fragrance from the bathing soap she used. Just as she was about sitting down on the sofa,

Okafor came with the prepared hot cup of tea , slices of bread and peanut butter in a saucepan.

  He placed it on a little stool by her side and then he told her to eat, so she could gain her strength back.