Molehill

admin Jun 19, 2019 3315 0

To say she was beautiful would be an insult
She was not only by far the most beautiful
goddess on campus, she was also by far the most
richest!
Her Father had stockpiled gold and silver for
several years so that his three children could
live as deities in the world of men!
That was her reality
A life of privilege!
She lived the life with joy
Embracing all that life had graciously offered to her
Her life was extremely sheltered
Her family lived in an estate reserved exclusively
for the rich
Her school was tailor-made for her kind
Her friends share the same feather with her
She was all cocooned in purple and gold
She became a chartered accountant at 20
She proceeded to Harvard Business School
She was a typical trust fund baby
Her father had secured her life and the
lives of all her siblings
If they didn't work for a day in their lives
and live off the profits off their trust funds
Their children and grandchildren will never
have to work a day in their lives
Apart from the wealth
She enjoyed good health
Unlike many of her friends and classmates who
function on one drug or the other
She had never been sick in her life
Not even the flu!
She had everything!
But she wanted one thing desperately
A baby!
She didn't know where the thought came from
She just wanted to have a baby!
But her parents had drummed deep into her the
dangers of getting married!
Gold diggers abound everywhere!
She travelled to MONACO to see her Father
She spoke to her Father about it
Her Father had nothing against it
But he wanted her to do something more urgent
Return to her country and do the compulsory
National Youth Service Scheme!
He had set it all up
All she had to do was report to the NYSC
office in Abuja and see his contact person
She really didn't think it was necessary
But her Father does not take NO! for an
answer especially not from his children!
He had been really rich for a long time and
as a result, everyone around him did whatever
he says, even when he was wrong!
She also swallowed her misgivings and fell in line
One month later, she found herself in Iyana-Ipaja
She had been posted to Lagos State for the Exercise
She was no alien to Nigeria
Her Father made sure they all gather at his
mansion for the end of the year party
he throws for all his friends and employees
every December!
But she really never had a firm grip on the
country because she had been abroad most
of her adult life
She had left the country immediately after her
secondary education
Since then she had spent about two weeks
in the country every year!
The NYSC Camp was a total disaster
She was sick the first day she stepped inside
the camp
She didn't tell her father
She was in and out of the clinic for ten days
Eventually, she just stayed home until the
orientation period was over
She was posted to the Federal Inland Revenue
Services
It was there that she found what was lost
in her life
A guy who saw her!
Most guys don't!
They see her name or her carriage and back off
But this guy saw her
He walked up to her one morning and said
"Hi, what's your name?
She told him
He shook her hands and said "I thought of you
all night, not willingly, it was rare of me to do
so! Very rare but when I saw you yesterday
I asked a colleague of mine if you would be
open to having lunch and he said he doesn't
know anything about you!
So I decided I needed to talk to you and forgot
all about it!
But in the middle of the night!
I found myself unable to sleep and thinking about
being with you! I am sorry, I know I am rambling
but that's the effect you have on me!
Can I buy you lunch!
I promise it will be worth your while!
She couldn't say anything!
He was so transparent and so real
She just stared at him!
She wasn't prepared for it and she found herself
completely tongue-tied
He stood there looking at her with puppy eyes
She nodded, she had to!
He was profuse in his gratitude
Before she knew it he was at her office
He took her to a restaurant on Isaac John street
When they got there he brought out a deck of card
He shuffled it and said
Whoever picks the highest number gets to tell
the other one about himself or herself first
She picked the number 9 of clubs
He picked something lesser
And she talked!
She didn't even know she had so much to say
She talked about herself, her family, her siblings
NYSC, everything! She went on and on like a parrot
And he listened with interest
Not judging, not opinionating, just listening
The next day she learnt all about him
She was from the East and He was from Calabar
His parents are good Christians
She was from a very irreligious background
Her father was a knight in a church in their village
He contributed money to several charities
She had not been to church in several years
But a priest usually comes to his Father's
end of the year party to bless the people!
The more they talked, the more she realised
religion is an integral part of him
His parents were a pastors
He was a youth pastor in his church and he played
the keyboard in his Father's church back in
their village
Since he moved to the city, he played the keyboard
in the branch of his Father's church which he
attends!
She didn't know the church has a language until
they got closer
Sometimes he would be talking on and on
and everything he was saying would be like greek
to her
She really liked him
One day she decided she would pay a visit to
his church and see things for herself
She went on a Sunday morning and saw him in action
She found it very entertaining
The sermon was very boring and so was the stares
from those seated around her
She was dressed so differently that she
stuck out like a sore thumb!
After the service, he walked joyfully towards her
But she noticed the "sudden properness" of his
conduct!
He didn't hug her and he acted like a "brother"
She understood!
Later the next day, when they met at work
She told him she had fallen in love with him
But she is scared that she was going to mess things
up due to all the church things
She couldn't dress like his church members
She had asked around and she was told the ladies
in her church are not permitted to wear trousers,
use earrings, perm their hair, use wig,
use make-up and so on!
The church thing will be a problem!
He didn't say anything!
Not one word!
They went to lunch that day and it felt as if
there was this humongous gulf in between them!
When she got home, she thought about it
and decided the church had become so much a
part of him that he would be like a fish
without water, if she pulls him out of it!
She decided to try!
She bought a Bible, some long skirts and blouses
and started attending the church dressed like
them!
The pastor was impressed and she was put in
The baptismal class immediately!
They conducted themselves properly
He introduced her as a colleague from the office
She was dedicated to her spiritual development
In all, she spent 9 months in the church before
returning to Atlanta!
Within the nine months, she had been baptised and
assigned to the evangelism unit as a worker!
He relocated to Richmond one year after she left
They spoke on the phone everyday and she was
instrumental to his employment and visa procurement!
He promised her that as soon as he got to
Richmond, they would have some serious talk
They did!
He told her to brace herself and remember that
he loved her with the whole of his heart
Two weeks later they got married!
It was a small ceremony attended by some
friends!
She was approaching 24 and felt she had waited
long enough to do something meaningful with
her life!
She got pregnant two months after the wedding!
His parents protested
They insisted they wanted nothing to do with
the marriage
They had issues with the fact that she was Igbo
and then they claimed it was not the Igbo thing
it was a church thing
They do not marry from outside the fold in their
church!
Her husband was caught right in the middle
She would have waved him goodbye because she already had
the pregnancy she wanted and would be fine on her own
But she really loved him
They were good for each other
She tried appealing to her in-laws
She travelled to Nigeria with him twice
to find a solution to the problem
Her in-laws refused to grant her audience
To them, she was Delilah or Jezebel
But she knew it had nothing to do with church doctrine
They were bigotted against her because she is Igbo
His mother would often say "We have nothing against people
from your side but Igbo women make very terrible wives!
and then she would cite example after example of
Igbo women who did this and that and ruined the
life of a cousin or a family friend!
They were very closed minded!
One day, his Father asked her why her mother was not
with her Father
She knew the reason
Her mother was a terrible woman
She saw this for herself growing up
But that doesn't mean she will be a terrible wife
What was he driving at?
She told him she would ask her Father
and get back to them!
She had managed the whole affair on her own because her
father was in Bahrain on an extensive business deal
and she didn't want to bother him!
She called him and he told her to meet him
in Monaco with her man
They did!
Her Father liked him and asked them what the
problem was
She told him everything!
Her father laughed and told them to forget about the
whole issue
A week later, his parents called them and were
quite nice and even somewhat patronizing towards her!
The traditional wedding was done three months later
His entire family members were there
The entire leadership of his parent's church were there!
His Father brought people of timber and calibre
to the event!
They returned to Richmond to settle down in peace
One day she asked her Father how he resolved it
His Father smiled and said "The poor only knows one
language, when you speak it, they must serve you,
it is money! Don't ever forget that"