The holidays are fast approaching and Chimamanda is in search of someone befitting to take home to her parents.
Boluwatife craves freedom away from his family's eyes. When an opportunity presents itself, he grabs it, no questions asked.
Their praye...
Train up a child in the way he should go [and in keeping with his individual gift or bent], and when he is old he will not depart from it. - - Proverbs 22:6 (AMPC)
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Boluwatife Adeleye was as stunned as he was sure the lady was. His friend, Olikoye, had parked his car some moments before. And he was standing while waiting for him to alight and lock the doors. He had seen her drive in and park right beside where he stood. She seemed so much in a hurry that she didn't notice him standing there as she opened her door and alighted. And he was just right there to steady her.
What a lovely creature to catch?
He was glad he remembered to quickly release her before a harassment case was made against him. However, that hadn't stopped him from staring, at least not before Koye had obnoxiously cleared his throat.
"She's a fine lady," his friend voiced out from beside him.
"Uhh?"
All he got was a gesture pointing him in the opposite direction from theirs. There stood the said lady pushing a trolley through the beverage aisle. He turned quickly as if he didn't want to be caught staring.
"What is wrong with this one?"
His friend was just annoying. He cleared his throat and straightened to his full height.
But it seemed their chance encounter wasn't going to end because right when they got to the paying till, she also pushed her trolley towards his. They both paused and smiled shyly at each other before she made a 270-degree turn towards another aisle as if she forgot to pick something on her list.
If he didn't know better, he'd have thought she was avoiding him.
Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought to.
Ah, well. Thank you for that balloon-bursting moment, Stand-by.
He could see the mischief written all over his friend's face but he ignored him. He had more pressing things on his mind. Like the family meeting that he was the reason for, which was happening the very next day.
He shuddered as he thought of it. Nothing was more scary than being a last born in a family that didn't quite rate him.
*********
Despite his preparation, Bolu was still not ready for the words being thrown back and forth. It was a Saturday and he was meant to still be sleeping but his family had decided that 11am was the appropriate time for a meeting. He was seated in between his parents on the three-seater blue-black sofa in the living room with his dad on his right and his mum on his left.
The past hour had been spent comparing him to his mates and Boluwatife had had enough of his siblings' tiring nagging. There was nothing he ever did that was enough or okay for them and his parents never had anything contrary to say. At least, they never did to his siblings. The most they did was apologize to him privately while still insinuating that his siblings knew better because they were older and had experiences he didn't have.
It wasn't his fault that they had given birth to him when they had no business bearing children. So, why did they have to leave most of his upbringing to his five elder brothers and sisters combined? He didn't like it one bit and every time he had the opportunity to be out of their hair, he took the it hook, line and sinker.
They hadn't even allowed him to attend a federal university like he wanted. Although he understood that a private school was best due to the unplanned strikes that disorganized federal universities' calendar. But he had just wanted to do the opposite of his family's desire. However, his protests fell on deaf ears and he had gone to an expensive private university which, while allowing finish his education in the normal years required, didn't give him the full freedom he wanted or thought he needed.
Now, he was done with school and done with the mandatory one-year national service but getting a job was proving difficult. He had decided to go into tech at some point in school so he got some remote-paying jobs but that wasn't enough to deter his family from being on his neck. Apparently, he needed an office job, a civil servant job worthy of his degree in public administration, so he could slave away everyday till he retired at 60-something to a pension that wasn't certain. At least, that's how he saw it and he didn't want that. He wasn't scared of them and he had told them as much. Their reaction, of course, was like a C4 explosion.
"So, you want to work without a steady income? Freelance or what did you call it? We, your elder ones, that work 8-4 jobs don't know what we are doing, abi? Is that it?" His eldest brother, Bode, claimed.
The others murmured in agreement.
"That's not what I mean now. I only believe that the world is moving at a different speed and the money I have made from this is very worth it," he countered. "I just feel I don't have to sit behind a desk when I can work from home."
"And now, you know more about the world than we do? Isn't it the money from these jobs that sent to school? Or what is he saying?" His eldest sister, Peju, said as she looked round the room at the rest of the family.
"That's how the children of these days are. They believe they know more than we do."
Bolu sighed. That statement had just come from his immediate elder sister who was far away in Abuja. She was connected to the so-called family meeting that had been called on his matter, via WhatsApp video call. It didn't help him at all that he could see her facial expression. She was the hot pepper of the family, flinging uncaring words at everyone because she didn't care. Sometimes, he wondered how her husband coped.
After another two hours of unnecessary back and forth, Bolu accepted that he couldn't win this fight. His parents only murmured and told his siblings to handle the matter as they had an occasion to attend. A nephew to the husband of one of his mum's former coworkers was getting married and they had been invited. They didn't care, obviously. And his other siblings were not as vocal to take his side even though he knew they wanted to. So, he relented and agreed to get a job but he made them promise to give him till the new year. And that was that.
The time he had asked for was for him to regroup, get some money together so he could move out and maybe live his life like he wanted. He was sure that would be another fight but what could he do? If push came to pull, he was ready to run away and never be heard of for some time.
It is my life. And nobody has a right to tell me how to live it.
I do.
He looked up and sighed. Okay. Except You. Nobody else though.
