SOLOMON'S BRIDGE {Part II/WORK IN PROGRESS}

BOOM! CITY *19*

EDIMA

"Biafran war horrors spilled over into the seventies in ways that continue to affect the ideology of the common Nigerian today. Months after it ended in, it went on for the people of the south. This is because, while the western and northern regions enjoyed relative peace and stability, south-east and south-south where the war had actually been fought, torn and ravaged by battle, were in the iron hands of the military..."

I really like how this guy does the narrative. He's talking to children, but he doesn't make them feel like they are idiots. Byron, a.k.a Oga Big Time, volunteered to help out with the event. I'm finally launching BOOM! City Center. I have an ulterior motive, for doing this. I need a place where people can get together, and I can observe them. Who knows, maybe this way, the Custodian will come to me. Aside from this main objective, that is ever present in my mind, its taken me a while to come up with an event theme. So, I decided on a history tour for the kids, with a walk through picture gallery. Big Eghosa upstairs? He agreed to donate some of his paintings annually, and the best part is, he gave me a fifty percent discount for every dozen I commission, starting with a balsy batch that shows almost every angle of Canaan city.

Eghosa is one of the good guys, you know? In fact, all my tenants, my neighbours in Diamond Apartments, are special people, always very supportive, always actively involved in fruitful, positive participation. They all came! Jessica handled security but undercover, Nurudeen sat on a chair by a corner outside the sick bay, with a name plaque on the table that read "Doctor On Call." Sennoh did a pink and blue fantasy job with cakes and ice cream, and Nkese distributed cute velvet souvenir bags with "thanks and come again," printed on them. They just surprised me! Especially Candy Cool! She promised to give the coverage of this event a slot on her morning show! I'm so wowed, and so humbled to see that Antonia from the upstairs penthouse came as well. She is still in mourning, still in all black clothes, for the blessed memory of Frank Udoh. Her coming, reminds me why I've got to do this. I've got to get to the Custodian, before it's too late. Even now, today, I feel she's here, somewhere...

BOOM! City. It's a lot of work, a lot of research, and I'm still on it. There's a games room for the computer nerds, a movie cinema for the fans, and the backyard turned out real big and nice, landscaped and whipped into shape for a standard amusement park. I imported the spinner wheel from the United States. Byron has offered to service it for me whenever he's offshore. So the guy is some kind of engineer with one of the oil companies in Eket. The first time I saw him was in the early hours, at dawn, he was jogging back from across the street holding a soft sort of brown package in his hands, the type you see in all these crime movies. There is something about him...

The kids are a small army of excited bees. I'm the queen bee behind them. Our tour started ten minutes ago, its 1970: Biafra war has ended, rebuilding has begun, and a new traditional ruler of this great city, is crowned.

I'm moving in line with all the darling munchkins but somehow my mind can't sit still for Byron's intro. Every time I look at him, I see him as I did, that first time, with that brown package. This is a bit unsettling, but anyway, while I'm happy things get to start in BOOM! City, I'm still apprehensive about all the things that can go wrong. I remember when Trombone arrived, with his little son...

"I'm surprised to see you here, Trombone, I heard about your accident, congratulations on your recovery, and, may Mr. Frank's soul rest in peace. Ah, don't tell me you are already back to work? I wonder what I'm going to read, or hear, about my event, tomorrow!"

"Ms. Edima! Thank you for the condolences. It's always a pleasure to see you! But, I should be here to witness first hand, when everything goes wrong, don't you think? I've also got Idara coming in to talk to a few parents. Besides, my boy wants to see your DOOM! City."