14 Mar 2008 |
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I saw her before I was told about her and one striking thing about her is her beauty; the fair skin had the effect of always making you turn your head to confirm what your eyes just saw. She had the same effect on me that Sunday morning and I couldn’t miss the smile. Probably, she was used to that reaction from people like us that make good use of our eyes. Being in a hurry, I threw a fast ‘Hi’ and went on to catch up with an interview appointment I had fixed the previous day. It was later that night when I came back from work that my brother informed me that someone had moved into the Boys Quarters (BQ) in the compound. “I saw the beauty this morning,” I remembered, “Men that girl sweet well well,” I went on. At least I knew a belle when I see one; I cover entertainment and have been to several beauty pageants that at times, I wonder the kind of mirror some of the girls that parade themselves with a hope of becoming whatever beauty queen have that deceives them into picking up the forms to embarrass themselves publicly. Chinwe (as I learnt was her name) was something else; she had the right figure, a skin that will make you want to ask what cosmetics she uses so that you can offer some advices to some colleagues you know and her smile was that asset she had that could open any door. She will remind you of Princes Diana only that she was Nigerian and was not chased by Paparazzis. Some few days later, I found out she was a Youth Corps member and her uniform fitted so well on her fully shaped body that you start to wonder if it was tailor made for her and she was in the habit of being the first to greet you with a voice that sounds like rivers of spring water; this is no exaggeration; she was the type that would make you start giving a thought to marriage and starting a family. It did not take long after she started her oppression in the compound. To say that she did not threaten us (my brother and I) would be an understatement; she made us start feeling impotent as men. Chinwe started equipping her small apartment with the latest model electronic; Plasma TV, Split Unit Air-conditioners, Hi-tech hi-fi systems and so on and anytime she was bring these items in, she had this mischievous smile on her face that always made me uneasy. I also discovered that she was always dropped by men in big cars; Im mean the latest model of Camry, BMWs, SUV, Benz and so on. “This girl hook no dey catch small fish,” my brother said one day while we were discussing this new beautiful tormentor and I did not disagree with him like was the norm when we discuss politics and issues concerning Nigeria (he does not know the knowledge I get from being an NVS addict). One evening, I met her in front of the gate and we got talking just after a heavy jeep dropped her off. I noticed the shopping bag she had; it contained well packaged and rich edible items that sent signals to my stomach and made me start eyeing the woman that was roasting Bole around the corner. “What do you do?” I asked after we had exchanges pleasantries. She laughed softly and replied in a very cute but serious voice, “I do so many things.” My journalistic antennae became alert and I went on to probe her but she refrained with a smile that held me captive and made me forget going further. “You journalist, you want to know too much,” she said. I allowed her go not because I wasn’t enjoying the conversation, I was afraid the last plantain Mama had would get finished before this daughter of Eve that does many things does me in. We continued to meet by chance and one day, I saw my colleague we all call ‘Man of God’ talking to her. I knew Pastor so much; he was always broke. “Man Of God, that road wey you wan take no go put you for high jump,” I advised him. “See Kanu, I will marry this girl. It is not by what you see but by the spirit,’ he replied and he started working towards it. Man of God became so persistent that I became envious and wished that he would leave her alone. But one funny thing about the whole affair was that she would give this guy all the attention and kept smiling all the time they would be talking. Inside me, I was abusing Man of God for going for her. One evening, I flew back from an assignment in
“Wetin happen?” I asked curiously. A lady we all call CNN because of her gossip tendencies, was the first to reply. “Chinwe dey sick.” If I needed the full gist, CNN was the person to listen to. “Where is she?” I asked “Wetin you wan do?” She asked with her eyes opening wider as she looked at me. “I wan see am tell am sorry now,” I replied innocently. “Make you dey your house o, nobody know wetin dey do am. She just dey cough dey go now as they carry am go hospital,” CNN reported. I thanked her for the info and went in. My brother later filled me in that truly nobody knew what the ailment was. It was still CNN that had a clue, “Na Tuberculoses, she don carry AIDS,” she announced. “Haba Madam, I said in objection but she countered that. “Na from
I saw Chinwe some few weeks later and she was looking lean but still beautiful. I had wanted to talk to her but was busy at that moment. I waved to her and she replied with her smile beaming. Some few days later, I also heard from CNN that she was rushed to the hospital and when I enquired from the sister to find out where she was admitted, she told me not to bother. There was a way she told me this that bothered me; it was as if she was hiding something. I left her and minded my business. Three days later, I received a call from my brother which was shocking, devastating and chilling. “Chinwe is dead!" We went for the wake keeping service some few days later and were met with a silence from the family that was startling. It seemed as if they were hiding something from the concerned people that came for the service. Many of her friends complained on how the family handled the service as being improper. As we went home that rainy night, I went retrospect to the four months that I had known Chinwe and what reverberates in my memory is her answer, “I do many things.” I still wonder what many things she did; I remembered the big cars and the men, most of them elderly that frequently brought her home; I remembered her smile and her in uniform serving her country and shed tears for her. I also said a prayer for the repose of her soul. The family have taken the remains to the East for burial and CNN
is now afraid of seeing her ghost while Man of God took ill on hearing
that his future wife is no more. Her apartment is still there but those
big cars have disappeared. I still remember her face and the smiles and feel very sad that a, beautiful and promising young girl like Chinwe would die mysteriously.
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