Twirl

Chapter 9

Aunty Bamike’s wedding took place on the first Saturday in December at her church, a small unpopular Pentecostal church that held their services in a multi-purpose hall in Festac. The hall was not decorated, in exception of the backdrop behind the pulpit.

The choir sang a hymn as the bridal train walked in, Aunty Bamike and Big daddy who was acting as father trailing behind them. Aunty Bamike’s right arm was looped in his left, the skirt of her white ball gown swept the floor as they proceeded slowly and Tomini got a glimpse of her made up face underneath the white veil.

After the procession, the choir led the congregation in worship. Tomini was surprised at the choristers’ dressing, the women wore dress pants with Ankara wrap tops and their hairs were not covered. When it was time for the solemnization Tomini walked to the front carefully in her heels, holding the hem of her floor-length lace dress. She videoed the exchange of vows, the couple had written their vows.

The service was brief, lasting for only an hour and a few minutes. Tomini rode in big mummy’s car to the reception venue with her cousin, Gbola and three women she didn’t know. One of the women said she was her mother’s ‘sister’, that she had backed her when she was a child and that she hoped to back Tomini’s child, too when she got married in the future. Tomini wanted to laugh. She tried to hold it back but the laughter broke free. 

The couple’s entrance was the highlight of the reception for Tomini. She made sure to video it while dancing to the music playing. After the couple’s entrance, Gbola took pictures of her at the table they sat at, and some by the balloon backdrop that had ‘Bamide2017’ on it.

When her table was served, she took a picture of her plate of Jollof rice, fried rice, chicken and coleslaw and sent it to Lolade. Lolade was going to rain insults on her but she didn’t care. She wanted her to know what she was missing.

***

The next day, the whole family including the newly-weds had a thanksgiving at Grandma Ajayi’s church in Satellite Town. After the service, they all headed to Grandma’s house where they feasted on her famous amala, gbegiri, ewedu and assorted meat stew. Before they left Grandma Ajayi’s place Uncle Demide, Aunty Bamike’s husband gave Tomini a token of five thousand naira. She thanked him heartily and resolved to deposit it in her bank account the next day since she wouldn’t be going to school. They were through with their mock exams and did not have any classes to attend for the rest of the term. However, there were on-going exams for other classes.

In the evening, on her way back from the supermarket where she had gone to buy spaghetti, she saw Michael walking down the road that led to their close. He was in a red T-shirt and jean knickers, carrying a keg she assumed contained fuel. She was on the other side of the road so she crossed. She walked behind him for a while before calling his name. He turned and on seeing her, a smile graced his face.

“Tomi,” he drawled. “How far?”

She laughed. She didn’t know why though. There was nothing funny.

“What’s funny?” he asked, as if reading her mind.

“Nothing,” she replied, chuckling.

They began walking side by side.

“How are you?” she asked him.

He shrugged his shoulders. “I’m okay.”

She nodded, twirling the tip of a braid with her right hand. When they were nearing a suya stand, Michael spoke.

“Do you want suya? I didn’t plan to buy before though.”

Tomini laughed. “No, I’m good,” she declined.

“Okay,” he said and they walked past the stand.

“So you’re not buying?”

“You said you didn’t want now.”

“Yeah, but I thought you wanted to buy for yourself.”

He shrugged. “Not really. I just thought you might want.”

“Are you going to school tomorrow?” he later asked.

“For what? Abeg we’ve finished our exams, what’s the point?”

“I might go,” he said. “I want to read in the library. I concentrate better when I’m outside of the house.”

“Serious student,” Tomini teased.

He laughed and shook his head. Many of their classmates had not started studying for the WASSCE exams even though it was barely three months away. She was grateful she had home tutors for her core subjects. It made studying consistently easier.

“What do you want to study in uni?” she asked.

“Ah,” he chuckled. “Literature. Literature-in-English.”

“You want to be a literature teacher or what?” Tomini laughed. He frowned at her and she laughed the more.

A moment passed and he joined in her laughter. “I want to be a writer, majorly. But I’ll also like to pursue a masters degree, PhD and teach at a university hopefully…alongside writing of course.”

“That’s nice. I never really knew what I wanted but I recently developed interest in nutrition and dietetics.”

“Cool. I don’t think many people go for that course.”

“Yeah, but I’m not going for it anyways. My dad wants me to study Engineering. Chemical engineering, that’s what I’ll be studying.”

“Wow.”

“Yeah,” she smiled sadly.

“You should read my works sometime, Tomi,” he changed the subject.

“What work?”

“I write stories. Actually I’ve written two novels. I’m not working on anything currently. I’ve decided to focus solely on my exams for now.”

Tomini was surprised, two novels? She never expected that from him, not that she thought little of him but it was so great an accomplishment for someone his age.

“What? Wow. That’s so cool.” He smiled, flashing his pearly white set of teeth.

“I’ll love to read them sometime. Wow, I’m really surprised.”

“You think so little of me?” he feigned hurt. She knew he was only kidding.

She let out a short laugh. “No, I’m just surprised, not that I think it’s above you or anything.”