In the Loving Arms of Servitude

7. The Next Sunday

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Venite!!! Venite!!! Venite!!!... Adoremus!
Venite!!! Venite!!! Venite!!!... Adoremus!
Adoremus... Ador-e-e-e-mus Dominum..." the canorous voices of the St. Bartholomew's choir fill the air, as they sing the Communion Hymn in a quintessentially glorious manner. Uju always enjoys Sunday masses here because of them. They are so much more refined than the choir back at St. John Bosco. Nevertheless, she still really misses Father Francis and his fine accent. He was truly an epitome of priesthood and kindness. After Nne's death, he even offered to take her in and sponsor her education, but her family refused; Obiageli and uncle Obinna, that is. It would definitely have make them look bad in the eyes of the public. And apparently, they had other plans for her.

As Uju kneels to receive Communion, she holds up the flared ends of her sorely faded chiffon dress together; one of many of Kamsi's old dresses that had been dumped in a threadbare ghana-must-go bag at home. Mummy gifted Uju this particular one last week, because it was her size and because she considered the rags Uju brought from the village highly unacceptable for Sunday mass. She simply would not have them! This fairly-worn quaint dress was a much better option. However, Uju made sure to mend the damaged zip behind it before today. She may have come from very humble backgrounds, but there was no way she was going to wear the dress in such a deplorable state. After receiving Communion, she slowly rises up and encircles both her palms around the plastic crucifix of her small white rosary; the one Nne gave her after returning from a Marian crusade in Issele Ukwu.

Uncle Obinna, Obiageli and Ebere have already returned from Communion, and their heads are solemnly bowed down on their pew. Uju dares not desist from this holy exemplar. Mummy would just skin her alive! As she walks down the aisle toward her pew, the edges of her small pristine-white scarf keep swaying from side to side. She doesn't walk too far down though, because Mummy always ensures that the entire family sits on the third pew, not the second or fourth but the third, with Uncle Obinna at the edge, being the 'head' of the family and she firmly rooted beside him, and then Ebere since Kamsi usually sits with the choir. Everyone knows that this is their pew. So in order to avoid altercation, people always avoid sitting there, even when uncle Obinna's family has not yet arrived. One Sunday, Obiageli created quite a scene at the centre aisle, simply because Mrs. Okeke from 'zone 4' stood her ground and bluntly refused to shift from the edge of the third pew. Father Benedict, the Parish Priest had to personally resolve the dispute that day, before beginning the mass. Uju however, does not sit on the third pew like the rest. Instead, she sits on the fourth, directly behind mummy, as instructed. Her job is to hold any extra bag Obiageli brings to church, and hand her whatever she asks for during mass. Obiageli is a fabrics dealer. So most times, she brings several fabrics to sell to her customers at church. Therefore, Uju is also saddled with the responsibility of guarding her goods closely.

After mass, as instructed, Uju walks straight to the car with mummy's bags and stands by the door, while mummy and uncle Obinna first head to the sacristy to greet Father Benedict, before coming out to exchange pleasantries with other parishioners. Uju is holding the car keys. But she does not dare open the door or rest her body on its delicate German paint. She simply stands erect beside it like a chauffeur, waiting for the entire family to arrive. The weather is quite hot. While the spiteful rays of the sun start to make her squint, she catches a glimpse of Emeka staring at her from a distance. He is surrounded by a flock of girls, as usual, being the rich and handsome C.Y.O.N. president. They are all swooning at him and doting on his every word, due to his vivacious personality; so considerate, so caring, so sociable and dignified, so decent. But not a single one of them knows his true character. Emeka knows how to be relatable up to a point where it passes for humility; how to be caring, even when he doesn't give a hoot or simply craves the attention he gets from one's emotional dependence on him; how to act just and democratic, yet be a corrupt and manipulative fiend of a leader. Uju finds it sickening. 'Can they not see through his facade?' she wonders, in annoyance. 'Anyway.. who am I to blame them? I was once a loyal subject to him too, after all.' In a way, she can understand their ignorance. At this point, while staring at them, she almost wants to laugh and applaud his craft. He has successfully exploited human selfishness to his own advantage, by always making people believe that he is acting in their best interests, whether these interests are justified or not. A guy who also makes it a personal duty to make people feel emotionally gratified. Who wouldn't love him? 'Bravo!' Uju echoes within.

At the sight of Emeka's gaze once more, Uju immediately morphs her face into a grimace and snarls at him in disgust. "Who is this cockroach looking at?" she mumbles to herself. Afterwhich, she rolls her eyes away from him, making sure that he notices every ounce of disregard in her demeanor, and how looking at him is a waste of her time. She has gathered that he is obsessed with always getting what he wants and in some ways, feel genuinely sorry for him, realizing how much even with all that money, his vanity will always leave him unfulfilled. In another universe, she may have helped him as a friend, to learn to control his impulses. 'But he is such a snake. Goodness!'

Later on, Emeka's oblivious girlfriend, Kamsi comes to steal her man away from the other poachers. And with her by his arm, he prances away from the crowd, as though playfully trying to tell the other girls, 'Calm down, ladies! There's enough of me to go around. But at the end of the day, I belong to the Queen Bee. We can always have some fun later, when she's not looking.'
"What a dog!" Uju mumbles. It is funny to her how apparently, everyone else but their parents knows that the two are dating. Obiageli strictly forbade Uju from attempting to interact with any male. According to her, the last thing she wants is another unwanted pregnancy in the Amaechi family. She promised to skin Uju alive, should it happen. Yet on countless occasions, her daughter has had sexual relations with Emeka under her very own roof.

Shortly afterwards, Uju is snapped out of deep thought by Joseph, an altar boy who has been quite persistent in his efforts to cultivate a friendship with her. However, she senses that ultimately, he seeks to achieve something more and just isn't here for it. As long as she does not share his romantic interest, she would rather avoid getting involved in any emotionally messy entanglement. Also, with Obiageli a few metres away, this is neither the time nor the place. "Ah ah! Joseph. What is it?" she asks, with an uncomfortable look on her face.

"Uju... Happy Sunday! Uhm... I just wanted to show you this new book we're selling. It was written by one of the visiting priests and..." Joseph yaps on and on.
Afterwards, Uju sighs exhaustedly and responds, "Biko... Joseph, I'm not in the mood for this right now. Mummy is already looking at us. Please, I don't want any trouble. Just go... please." Then Joseph walks away, looking quite dejected, afterwhich Obiageli removes her vicious gaze from Uju and continues her chatter with some C.W.O. women.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

GLOSSARY
Ghana-must-go bag - A special type of large bag, used mostly by Nigerians. It's funny name comes from a history of how illegal Ghanaian immigrants were forced to leave Nigeria in the 80s. This was the type of bag they used to pack their belongings.
C.Y.O.N - Catholic Youths Organization of Nigeria.
C.W.O - Catholic Women Organization (Nigeria)
Issele Ukwu- A town; the headquarters of Aniocha-North Local Government Area in Delta State, Nigeria.