Episode 2

Episode 2

Tim's Stories' THE LONGEST WAIT

CHAPTER 2

She was gone now and I was back home, ready to begin taking care of the kids. It wasn’t an easy job taking care of two female children, especially ones who were so attached to you. Chidinma, my youngest daughter didn’t miss her mum so much. As for Chioma, it wasn’t easy for her. It took a very long time before she could start managing to cope. She had been too used to her mum, especially when I was still a militant fighting with my gang members in the creeks of the Niger Delta.

Cooking was a problem to us. I found it difficult to cook because I wasn’t used to and had not been trained to do that. Remember, I was the last child of the house, and I was a male. A female might have been taught how to cook. The children were having a hard time with me because I mostly bought them snacks. They wanted real food but who would cook it for them. I cursed aloud for allowing Chisom to go.

Obiageli, my friend Chima’s wife realized that we were going through some difficulties in terms of domestic management. So, every now and then, she brought us food. Those days she brought us food were some of the happiest days of our new lives because we felt like Chisom was around again. However, of course, it was not every day that she brought us food and we had to manage all by ourselves.

My mom came to live with us for a short while. During that period, our lives became almost normal again. There was constant food in the house and there was also a mother figure in the house. The children loved their grandmom immensely and I prayed she could stay with us permanently. But you know how old African grandmoms behave. All of them are the same. She kept complaining that her farm was suffering, and she needed to be close to her late husband’s grave. I wondered what benefits that gave her.

At long last, she decided that she would be going back to her husband, my father’s compound. When I brought up the issue about the children and how happy they had been since she came, she proposed taking them with her so that they could live with her. Chioma would have loved the idea but not Chidinma. The latter always wanted to be by me. Though it was a good thing to be attached to one’s father, I feared what would become of her if I should leave suddenly someday. I had no plans to leave suddenly. But as you all know; life is very unpredictable. Who would have thought that my wife, Chisom, would leave suddenly?

After my mum was gone, things became bad again. Once again, I resorted to getting snacks for my children and sometimes, we bought cooked food. One day, I went out to get food for them. What I actually wanted to get was noodles, basically Indomie. When I got to town, I met a group of friends drinking at an off-license bar. Amongst them was Chima. They asked me to join them, and I did. I was there for three whole hours and completely forgot that my girls were at home and hungry. When I finally went back home, I had roast fish for them to eat first as an appetizer while I prepared the noodles. I bought the fish to bribe them because I had stayed too long. But my younger daughter, Chidinma who had a mouth like her mum would not be bought over so easily and made her mind clear to me.

“Daddy, you stayed for too long.” She complained.

“Are you enjoying your fish, my dear.” I tried to ignore her question.

“Daddy, you stayed.” She would not allow herself to be swayed.

“Ok, my dear. I concede. I did stay and I am so sorry about that.”

“But you knew we were hungry, Chioma and I.” She persisted.

“I am sorry na. Alright, I won’t do that again. Are we good now?”

“Yes, dad. I love you.”

“Love you too, my baby.”

That settled it. Chidinma was a tough little girl. Many times, I had, in a private corner of my mind, wished she was a boy. But she wasn’t. I had been hoping that Chisom and I would have one last try to see if it would be a boy before we stopped having children. However, she left before the plan could be fructified.

It’s been about two months now and I had been waiting to hear from Chisom, my wife to no avail. I was getting worried. I wondered whether she had reached America or not. I couldn’t understand what was happening. I feared something bad might have happened to her. However, I kept that thought in my mind and didn’t reveal it for fear of that it might come true if I voiced it out. I was that superstitious. But that didn’t change the fact that the thought kept festering my mind. Finally, I decided that I would try and meet the pastor. I wanted him to ask his agent if my wife was safe.

The motivation and incentive to go meet the pastor was heightened that very evening because Chima came to see me and the news he brought wasn’t a very good one.

“My brother, I am confused. I don’t know what is happening. I don’t know why she hasn’t contacted us yet.”

“I heard something oh, but I don’t know how to say it.”

“What? What did you hear?” I was getting scared.

“I heard that that Benin line is Europe by road.” Chima revealed.

“What? Europe by road? How does that work?”

“It means the travelers go from country to country on foot until they get to the closest country to Europe, which is either Libya or Morocco. Then, they take a boat which is most often a dinghy, sometimes an inflatable boat and venture across the Mediterranean Sea. Some actually make it but most of them die.”

“Jesus Christ! Oh my God!! I hope that is not the route my wife has taken.” I felt like peeing in my pants. My temperature was seriously rising, my head was spinning, my vision were getting dark and blurry.

“It is possible. Otherwise, why has she not been able to contact you? Why did they have to go to Benin when there is a US Embassy in Nigeria and numerous airports around?”

“Jesus! Jesus!! Jesus!!! I am dead. The pastor has killed me. My wife, Chisom. What am I going to do? She’s the only thing I have. What would I do without her?” I was pacing up and down. My hands on my head and I was sweating profusely.

“Calm down, Buchi. Please, calm down and let us reason.” Chima tried to intervene.

“What is there to reason about, Chima? My wife is gone, gone, gone.”

“Calm down, my friend. We have to look for means to have information. It might not be as bad as we think.”

The next day, I went to the church compound where Chisom used to worship. I wanted to see the pastor of her church. He was the one who had brought the whole thing. I needed explanations on where my wife had gone. I wanted him to contact his foolish agent and let him tell me where he had taken Chisom, my wife.

When I got to the church compound, I was told it was a day for counseling and that the pastor was busy attending to people. I asked the assistant if I was not a “people”.

“Go inside and tell your pastor that I want to see him immediately. Tell him it’s urgent. In fact, tell him it is an emergency. A very serious one” I was very furious.

“I am sorry, Sir. But you can’t see the pastor now. As you can see, there is a queue. You have to wait for your turn.”

“Young man, if you know what is good for you, better tell him I want to see him immediately or I will force my way in.”

At that same moment, I saw a woman exciting the pastor’s office. That was my opportunity and I seized it. I rushed into the office before the next person in the queue. The pastor was shocked to see me and almost jumped out of his skin.

“Where is my wife, pastor. Where is my wife?”

“Calm down Mr. Buchi.”

“Pastor, I am not calming any down. What have you guys done to my wife? Where is that your foolish agent?”

“Mr. Buchi, I haven’t been able to contact him. I don’t know what is wrong.”

“You don’t know what is wrong? That is what you are saying that you don’t know what is wrong.”

“Mr Buchi….”

“Listen, pastor.” I interrupted. “I want to know what has happened to my wife or where she has gone to. I am giving you two days. If you don’t get back to me within that time, I will get the police involved. What am I even talking about? Why should I involve the police? I will get you myself. Two days, pastor, two days.”

The pastor was dumbfounded. He tried to open his mouth but shut it again because no words came out. He knew he had just talked himself into a hole in the ground. He had to do something fast before my wrath descends on him. As I walked out of his office, I turned back and asked him a question.

“Pastor, do you know who I was before I came back to this town? I am sure you have heard about me.”

“Yes, Mr. Buchi. I heard you were a militant.”

“Good, pastor. That is very good. At least, you know with whose wife you have been joking. Two days, pastor.

I left the church compound in anger. The worshippers who had come for counseling were shocked at what had just happened. They couldn’t really understand what was happening. All they knew was that someone had walked into the pastor’s office and bullied him into submission. If only they knew the kind of trouble their pastor would be in if he doesn’t produce my wife or some valuable information about her.

When I got back home, I sat on my favourite sofa and thought hard about the whole issue. I was downcast as a thousand different thoughts ran through my mind. What if Chisom has drowned in the Mediterranean? God forbid. What if she has been trafficked into prostitution. That particular thought made me sweat. No! Not my Chisom. Papa God, please show me the way. Guide me on how to go about this? What am I going to do?

There were tears in my eyes when Chioma and Chidinma walked in and I quickly wiped my ears. I didn’t want them to see me crying. They might suspect something had gone wrong and start being depressed. I tried as much as possible to arrange my composure, but I was too late, smart Chidinma had already noticed that all was not well and I had been crying. That child knew me too much.

“Dad!”

“Yes, baby.”

“Are you crying?”

“No, my dear.”

“But you look like you are crying.”

“Maybe my eyes look this way because I am tired. Don’t worry, my dear. It is well. All I need to have is some rest.”

“Okay, dad. Better go rest, then.

The next day, my mood wasn’t still bright. In fact, it was worse. After I had dropped my children at school, I came back home, sat in the living room and continued brooding and sulking. It was remaining just one more day for the pastor’s deadline to expire. After that, I would take the matter to the competent forces of law and order. I was still sitting there in the living room, thinking about a lot of things when my phone rang. I checked and it was Chima, my friend.

“Chima.”

“Where are you, Buchi.”

“Home.”

“Please turn on the TV.”

“What is going on, Chima. You sound urgent.”

“Please, just turn the TV on and go to CNN. Do it now.”

My TV was almost always tuned to CNN. As soon as I turned on the TV, I fell back on the sofa in shock.

TO BE CONTINUED…