Loss of Dignity

Emeka was a youngster in his teens, he was
tall, dark in
completion and always on low cut. He had a
baby face look that
made girls go gaga. Despite his age, Emeka was still in
secondary school. Though intelligent, he had to
repeat class
several times when his parent moved from
one resident to the
other.
His father Mr. Chukwuemeka Johnson was a police officer
who always seemed to be transferred to
other states for official
duties, the last time he was transferred he
had to relocate from
Enugu to Lagos. Although his father had brought the idea that his
wife and children remain in Enugu whilst he
travel alone. He
thought of Renting a two-bedroom
apartment where he would be
living and then travel back to Enugu at the end of every week.
His wife Mrs. Chidebere Yetunde Chukwuemeka
did not buy the
idea as she thought of the possibility of her
husband having a
ghastly car accident once in 52 weeks of the year which may lead
to his death and she didn’t want to become a
widow.
She was
probably not trying to be a pessimist but
according to her words
“when people seek for good deeds they should also think of the
bad that comes along with it, because nothing
good comes
without a price.” She also thought of being
alone 5days in a week
without seeing her lovely husband, and even though she knew
their moving together was going to affect her
children’s
education, it was worth doing.
Mr. Chukwuemeka who is a listening man had
no other option than to agree with his wife. When Emeka
came back from school
that friday afternoon, his mother broke the
news to him, on
hearing it, he was startled, he could not
decipher why his father had to be transferred for the third time in
five years, he was sure
going to miss alot of people.
The first on his mind was Chinedu; Chinedu was
his best-friend
and next-door-neighbour, he was 15years of age but never acted
like a teenager. Chinedu is that kind of guy who
will see you in
the morning without greeting even though
you’re older than him,
it’s not as though he had any grudges against you, i guess he
just had the ego thing working for him. Emeka
was two years
older than Chinedu in age but Chinedu was two
years older than
Emeka in class.
Emeka was in ss1 while Chinedu was in ss3 but
despite Chinedu’s Stubbornes he had always
showed Emeka his
deserved respect when he dim fit.
By this time Emeka was already day-dreaming
as he suddenly switch from Chinedu to Amaka. Amaka was a
girl of moderate
height, also in the same class with Emeka, she
was 16years of
age with nice curves and dark sleek skin.
Emeka had alot of female classmates who were pestering over
him because of his
looks and intelligence but he boycotted them
all just because of
Amaka. He had a strong crush for her but
never had the confidence to let her know how he feels about
her. Although both
of them were close friends, they usually read
novels together, gist
together and once played roles of man and
wife in a drama playlet when their school went on extra
curricular activities
which was organised by the state ministry of
Education.
Several times he had had the spurred to ask
her to be his girlfriend but to no avail. Sometimes he
thought a spell was
casted on him because ugly girls always had a
way to
manoeuvre their ways into his life even though
he didn’t show them face but when he saw a pretty girl who
he really loved so
much he could not approach her with
relationship intentions
because he didn’t have the boldness to do so.
But who exactly will curse him when he had not offended
anybody, he thought.
Just then the Audible voice of his mother
disrupted his
imagination.
“chidi! chidi! chidi!” she shouted above her tiny voice.
“Mm.. Mm.. Ma!.. Yes Ma!” he stuttered.
“What are you thinking about?, i’have been
calling your name for
over a minute but you refuse to reply” she
retorted. “Nothing mama, i’m sorry but i have to go to
my room now” he
blurted.
“Alright!, you may leave, do call me your sister
on your way
inside” she commanded. “okay, ma” he said and dashed into his room in
the speed of
light.
Chidi is actually Emeka’s first name but his
classmate are fond
of addressing him as Emeka after he was dubbed Sergeant Emeka
after his father.
Immediately Emeka got to his room, he sat on
his bed weeping
and started to soliloquies. He said to himself.
“Amaka, you’re the love of my life, although i might be leaving
you but my heart will forever remain for you, i
see you as a good
girl and i want to spend the rest of my life
with you, i promise to
remain celibate, and for not being able to propose my love for
you, i will remain a VIRGIN all because of you.
This i promise…

to be continued

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LAST EPISODE

The next day was saturday, Emeka woke up
with a saw in his
heart, he was sick, love sick. His eyes were
bugged and reddish
like he had contracted the apollo virus. It
seemed he had been crying all Night. He went into the bathroom to
wash his face only
then did he realised how sick he looked after
seeing his reflection
on a mirror hanged on the wall. He took out his
toothbrush from a rubber-like container and pasted close-up on
it. He washed
his mouth and then headed straight to his
parents room for the
usual morning greetings, it was a tradition in
their house.
On getting there, he greeted his parents in igbo
dialet and they
responded. His mother noticed his unusual looks
and
immediately knew something was wrong.
“chidi, are you okay?” she asked. “i’m fine ma.” he lied.
“..but you don’t look fine” Mr. Chukwuemeka
added.
Before Emeka could reply his father, his
mother cuts in.
“come closer lemme examine you” she commanded.
Emeka moved closer to her, when he got to
her stance, he
squatted, she used her hands to open one of
his eyes and then
used her wrist to touch the surface of his skin close to the neck
region, her plan was to observe the degree of
heat on his body.
Emeka’s eyes were already getting back to
normal but his body
was a living hell. “chineke!” she exclaimed.
N:B: Chineke means “GOD in igbo language”
Mr Chukwuemeka was shooked as he quickly
inquired what was
wrong. Very unlikely from a police officer.
“chidi is not feeling fine” i think he has fever, it’s not serious
though, i’ll go to mama Nkiruka’s pharmacy to
buy him fever
pills, she added.
Emeka stood up and started to walk away, his
father cut him short by asking where he was going.
“i’m off to do my morning chores” he said.
“No! No! No! No! Don’t worry about that, i’ll
take care of them”
his mother said shouting.
Both his parents loved Emeka so much, moreso his kid sister. It
took them several years after they had
conceived Chidi before
they could born little Chiwe. Chiwe was 2years
old and she had
just started Nursery school.
They loved both Chidi(Emeka) and
Chiwe and they would trade them for nothing.
Emeka obeyed his parents and walked back to
his room, few
minutes later his mother brought him a pack
of rice filled with assorted meat which she bought from a
roadside buka as she
had not yet cook that early morning, also with
her was the fever
medicine she bought from Mama Nkiruka’s
Chemist just opposite their house.
She sat there with Emeka watching him as he
ate, he could not
finish the whole content of the food, his
mother tried to persuade
him to finish the last pieces of meat but her plea fell into deaf
ears. She had no other option than to give him
the medicine.
Emeka dropped the tablet into his mouth and
gulped a huge
chunk of water to swallow it down. He made to sleep and few
hours later he sighted Amaka from a close
range.
Emeka woke up from sleep looking strong and
agile, Every
symptom of illness had suddenly disappeared. He looked at the
wallclock located at one extreme of his room
and it reads
1:25pm. He breath a sigh of relief and walked
majestically to see
his mother. “oh! you’re awake” she asked an obvious
question.
“yes mama, and i feel much better now.”
she confirmed it herself and saw him fit again.
“your food is in the kitchen” she informed him.
“alright mama, but i’ll be going to the field when i’m done eating.
“no problem, just made sure you come home
on time, remember
you need to pack your things together because
we’ll be leaving
first thing tomorrow morning. “okay.” he agreed.
Atleast he still had few
hours to gallivant
about the city of enugu.
He sprinted out of the house with full force to
see his next door
neighbour Chinedu devouring a plate of Eba.
N:B: Eba is a food made from garri.
Chinedu was not only stubborn but also a
glutton, he could eat
anything practically eatable, his excuse for
loving food so much
was that “life is a jungle, you need to eat to keep up with the
pace of struggle.
“ffo! I hail ooO” Emeka praised him.
N:B: FFO means “for food only” (it is used to
refer to people who
eats alot) “chiboy, how far naw?” he asked in pidgin
english.
“you dey mad? na me you dey call boy, abi you
nor know say i
reach to born you” emeka said jokingly.
“i’diot, how your life naw, i bin think say you don die ooo”
chinedu said trying to change the topic.
“you no well! why you say so?” emeka inquired.
“as i no gree see you since morning wetin you
say make i think”
he lamented. “Nna forget that thing jor, i bin dey sick this
morning” emeka
blurted.
“really! wetin hapun?” he said suprised.
Emeka began to narrate the whole issue at
stake, he told Chinedu about his father’s immediate transfer and
relocation. For the first
time he wished his father wasen’t working for
the government.
Emeka had managed to build a world but it’s
as though they were crumbling before his eyes.
Chinedu literally wept
even though
tears didn’t fell from his eyes. The last time he
cried was the day
he was born. Emeka was the only friend he
had because everyone seemed to distance away from him because of
his disrespectful
attitude. He was not a bad guy like most
people claimed, his
self-esteem was always his setback. People
only needed an iota of understand to know his real personality.
Emeka and Chinedu had been through the good,
bad and ugly.
They had had several misunderstandings but
instead of bringing
them apart, it only drew them closer. Emeka suggested they go to Catholic football
field before they
start weeping like new born babies. The field
was at the outskirt
of the city, people called it Catholic football
field because of a Catholic church situated there.
Chinedu had already lost appetite to continue
eating, he went to
his “ghana must go” bag and brought out his
football wears and
off they went, after treking for roughly fourteen minutes, they
finally got to the field.
The place was filled to the brim, both Chinede
and Emeka
seemed to be oblivious that a street football
competition was holding there that afternoon. They knew they
had to do
something unless they were not going to play
in the match
because neither of them are from the two
streets participating.
Chinedu being the stubborn guy head the lead to
the spot where
people were gathered to choose players while
Emeka walked
behind him. He did his trick as usual and they
were both featured in the match. Emeka and Chinedu were playing
for the same side,
the match had gone into the extra time of the
second half, both
teams were playing a 3-3 tie as Chinedu had
helped his team scored two of the goals. It was remaining two
minutes for the
match to come to a halt, then the ball
magically found its way to
Chinedu’s foot, him being a very skillful player
dribbled four players including the last defender, Emeka was
some inches
ahead of him, it remained one goal for Chinedu
to score a hat-
trick and his teams will become the winner of
the one thousand naira bet which they didn’t contribute in,
instead he passed the
ball to Emeka, he wanted Emeka to score the
last goal which he
envisage as a souvenir to remember him,
suddenly the unexpected happened.
Emeka sighted Amaka from a close range, she
had just come out
from the catholic church close to the field
where she went for
choir practice. Emeka was so excited to see her as he kicked the
ball anti-clockwise and ran towards her a fast
as his legs could
carry him.