The big compound of the renowned Owolabi at Lekki phase 1 was silent as it was known to be at noon when the whole member of the house would be out to their various work places, the sun hid as the cloud formed up in the sky. Drown in loneliness, Agbeke with her hair disheveled sat bracing her right chin with her hand; she kept her eye fixed on the plasma television hanged on the wall in her room, her morose face and red eyes telling the tales of her woes. Emaciated physically, emotionally and psychologically, she looked forty even though she was just a nineteen year old girl. She was lost in her world.
‘I didn’t bargain for this, where are his promises? Where is the love? Where is the hope to further my pursuit?’ she muttered thinking of her life with Joseph, Chief Owolabi’s heir.
It had all started at Iludun village where she met Corper Joseph while helping her mother in selling pepper at the market. A fair young man having dimpled cheeks, he was about six feet tall with an oblong fully-haired head; his lips were full, crowned with a little moustache married to his glowing beard. He had visited her stall to buy fresh tomatoes and pepper where she’d replied him all through his biddings in fluent English language, astonished by her brilliancy he engaged her in a discussion about her dreams
‘You’re such a brilliant girl! What is your aspiration?’ he’d asked.
‘My dream is to become a medical doctor’
‘Why?’
‘I have witness many people die of sickness in this village and I want to save people’s life’ she replied.
‘Wonderful! You’re going places’ he had replied and that marked the beginning of their friendship. As time went by, they fell in love and embarked on a thrilling adventure, a voyage which attracted a fellow being to their board. When Pa Matthew, Agbeke’s father heard it, he called for an instant marriage with a huge demand of bride price to the disapproval of Mama Agbeke, his wife. When the Owolabi’s declined, he reiterated unashamedly;
‘Go! Cheating is the pride of the rich’
But for the family name on the line, the Owolabi’s wanted to back off accrue to the extortive demand of the bride’s family; even Agbeke herself was abashed at her father’s opportunistic demand borne of greed. Agbeke however had a miscarriage, failed her post utme and was tagged a gold digger by the Owolabi’s, even Joseph who had always been by her side deserted her. Her wall had crumbled, her hope had been dashed and her destiny punctured.
‘What’s the worth of living?’ she lamented sobbing
With tearful eyes she took out a wrapped substance from her wrapper and poured it in the drink she later took with shaky hands. Her stomach rumbled and turned, tearing her apart to lie helpless and lifeless. Jack, the bulldog barked and the sky shed tears for the loss.
© Oladoyin Micheal 2019
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