In her early thirties, Eloho is still one hell of a lady with a demeanor that could make the skins of the strongest and hardhearted men crawl. Too down to earth, she dresses herself with rules and codes of conduct that most young ladies would frown at. She is the girl that a man never wants to mess with, let alone another female. Give her any talk about being secured financially on the voyage of a married man who had wraps to spend, and Eloho would tame you with talks of self-respect, independency and never allowing another to have an advantage over your life.
Eloho knew who a loose girl was and she called them weak; girls without self-control whose bodies and lustful desires ruled their lives. She promised herself ever since she became sensible enough to understand the relationship between her many uncles and her mother that she would never be in that club. But then, her mother’s life never rubbed off on her so there was never a chance that Eloho would have inherited the itch her mother had between her legs, not because she needed the money the men gave her, but because her bed must never be found empty. If anything, Eloho’s mother brought her up under rules and strict conditions, and not surprising, the rules rule her life.
It was only from a distance that Eloho saw the men and when she asked later, her mother would tell her ‘uncle’.
Although her mother is her best friend, they never exhibit any closeness for an onlooker to see, and while Eloho went to the best boarding schools money could afford, her mother never once visited her in the six years she spent in secondary school.
“I am protecting your future,” her mother gave the ultimate excuse. “We don’t want someone taking advantage of your soon to be very good future and spoiling it with a scandal about the life I lead. When it is about you, it should be all about you.”
She was made to understand that mummy led a bad way of life. “Never follow in my footsteps,” Eloho’s mother always told her. She claimed she had to be that way because it was the only way she could punish herself for what happened with her husband, the father Eloho never knew.
Victim of circumstance is what Eloho became. To say her world came crashing would be like comparing a fallen grain of sand to the collapse of the World Trade Centre. When her world crashed, it became lost. She searched for her world without success. Her existence seemed to have been wiped out of the calendar of life.
Everywhere she went, seemed the wrong place to be at. Everyone she asked looked on her with the eyes that asked what she had to sell. Mummy never warned her about this. All she had been prepared for was to be studious and come out the best so that her qualifications could speak for her. But it was a different world outside of the classrooms.
She couldn’t seem to survive. One had to use what was available to achieve the unavailable. She read it in all their actions. Never! Eloho crossed her heart. They could close all the doors as long as they wanted, but she believed her years of hard work at school will someday open the way and she would be there; high with the stars.
*****
In the heat of the race to staying alive, Eloho met this handsome guy who was totally different from the rest of them guys. She saw what her mind has already created of what her dream man must be. Actually, she and her mother used to talk about the kind of man she must be on the lookout for.
“You see my dear,” her mother told her once. “Women like the one you will soon become have big dreams to own the world; achieve everything, but listen dear, it is all for nothing, if you don’t have your own man. Love, it is important, but most important, you have to choose the kind of man that is worthy of your love. Some women today will tell you a man is not important. I respect their choices, but my girl it is a hard and lonely life without your man.”
So when she met him, it was impossible not to lose her heart in the pool of her imagination. She was human after all. Variety spices up life. Love is a secret of staying young. All she wanted was someone to love her for whom she was. She gave her best, but her best wasn’t meant to bring forth anything good. All she got was someone who had to return to his wife at the end of the day.
“You are married?” her eyes traveled to his left hand. No ring there. She had invited him to her place; paid for and furnished with her mother’s money. They had been seeing each other for three weeks and she finally decided it was time to go all the way with him.
“I thought I said so.”
He used her was all she could think. But she didn’t lose out completely as he settled her with a consolation. A job. But she felt cheap and wouldn’t take it initially.
Her tears flowed. She saw the end of her world. She wanted to visit her mother and be consoled but she didn’t want to share the disgrace. Gradually she began to get over the pain and gave her situation a thorough examination. In the end she saw it wasn’t exactly all good for her to drown her life for no just cause. People are supposed to bounce back.
*****
Determined not to be gunned down by the experience, Eloho got on her feet and worked, locking up the compartments of her heart. Then she felt safe. She gave her all to her job, determined to make use of the opportunity.
On official assignment, Eloho met Mr. Married Man. Another one. Nothing happened, honestly. All they ever talked about was business, business and business.
This is how it all changed. She was picking up her bag to leave his office and he said in a whisper that she was very beautiful. Eloho allowed only a second pause, then she smiled her best and said thank you. She refused to think anything of it. She refused to admit that she had been waiting for that compliment from him, for a long time. She knew they were really friendly to each other. He’s one person she could comfortably work with, without having the jitters. She knew also that he was handsome. Really caring. Most importantly, she knew he was married. And she was honest with herself that she regretted that part of it. Oh, how she regretted that part of it. All around her, the men that fitted her dream were married. So she trained herself away from thinking about him because he was untouchable; another woman’s property. She prayed that he would never look at her as anything more than friends because should that happen, she wouldn’t be able to hold on to her control and once that happened, what will happen to her banking job?
*****
During a business dinner/meeting put together by a top executive of one of their biggest clients, he dropped the bomb. He couldn’t deny the fact that he wanted her; has wanted her always. Eloho had been hurt, working with him was great. Why complicate matters with a nasty relationship that only she will regret? She still couldn’t forget the last one. She played deaf and tried to watch her manners, peradventure, she behaved invitingly. But a part of her was glad; really delighted that her petite statue which she always dressed in the best skirt suits to show off her very good legs and heels, were making him burn for her.
*****
After the meeting they left together with two other employees of their host who had to get off the elevators at different floors. Eloho and Mr. Married Man ended up alone on their way to the ground floor. One thing led to another and Eloho was in his arms there. He kissed her. Though briefly, when the elevator doors slid opened, their lips were still locked.
In the car park, she sent the official driver away and allowed him to drive her home. There are certain things one cannot deny no matter how hard one tried. She kept telling herself. Yes he is married, but what separated him and her dream man? A ring. She nodded. Temptations could be killing, no matter how much you tried to bury them. Then she remembered reading Oscar Wilde in school. She never forgets the line that she cherished the most. The best way to get rid of temptations is to yield to them. It’s just my body, she reasoned. My mind knows I can never be his. My body is weak. Eloho was powerless.
At midnight, he left her to return to his wife. Eloho couldn’t sleep. What had she done? She wished to cry, but the tears wouldn’t come because down in her, she knew she wanted what happened, to happen. How she sat on those feelings of hers!
It wasn’t unknown that Eloho
was as ambitious a young lady as they could be. After that night they had shared together, Eloho was determined to make sure it never happened again. She begged him off with strong words like: he shouldn’t complicate his life. He has a good wife and she didn’t want his marriage to suffer. But deep down, she called herself a liar, because the sight of him alone made her speechless, and when she was alone, she relived every moment of their lovemaking. He was totally awesome and totally too much for just one woman.
*****
Six years later, Eloho became a very respectable lady and famous in the society, especially after her marriage to Mr. Bankole Stevens, president of Stevens Group of Companies – a man everyone thought would never get married because he dated and darted away. But when he encountered Eloho who was determined to make him a client with her bank, it spelt the end of his days as a bachelor. The nineteen years difference in their ages was played up by the media, they had to look for her story and records from schools. When there was nothing else to write, they let them be to enjoy their marriage.
*****
It was two years into her marriage and she was nursing a six months old daughter when the scandal broke. Why don’t they let sleeping dogs lie?
She was the wife of the bank colleague Eloho had a one year relationship with. She heard the news two months earlier that he had passed on to the great beyond, but never knew that his death would bring trouble into her home. They had remained good friends after she insisted they end the relationship, and they had shared secrets. They talked about everything, and he encouraged her to give Bankole Stevens a try whether she succeeded in getting him as a client or not. She lost a friend when he died and attended the funeral. She even had kind words for the widow.
The scandal was a shock to Eloho. The widow granted an interview to a reputable gossip magazine that specialized in digging into people’s secrets.
The widow’s late husband before his death was a board member of his bank. The widow was talking about his dreams. At one point, she was asked to talk about the people that worked with her husband, and the widow talked. The journalist knew his work, and he knew what he was after. Before he requested the interview, words had filtered into his ears, about the friendship between the late man and Eloho Stevens. The words actually came from a former colleague of Eloho at the same bank who had dated Bankole Stevens before Eloho got him. The journalist wanted to be sure as the story smelt a cover one for him. But first, he wanted to make money. Blackmail Eloho.
The journalist commented on the role Eloho played at the funeral. She must be quite a friend indeed. The widow interrupted him. She said Eloho got that far in banking because her late husband was a good mentor. The interview was that simple.
Eventually, the news came out. Someone claimed to have seen the deceased and Eloho kissing in an elevator when the doors had slid open some years back. A former driver for the bank remembered been sent home as the deceased gave Eloho a lift. Anonymous staff of the bank remembered when the deceased and Eloho were quite close and having their lunches together. Then there were the dinner dates.
The widow who never suspected the relationship was forced to check past events when her husband had traveled on business assignments in company of Eloho Stevens. She remembered the birthdays’ presents from Eloho. She had thought nothing of the relationship till the speculations came out.
Eloho who couldn’t comprehend why a dead mad couldn’t be left in peace, was really troubled. People looked at her differently and her position was suspected. ‘Favours received from the bedroom’; one reporter wrote. But it was all lies. Eloho worked her way up. It was her word against theirs. How one mistake of the past could mar her image so terribly was really upsetting. She had to resign and it was bye to the banking world and her relationship with her husband had to be fixed.
*****
Two months later, Eloho had a visitor at her mother’s home, on the outskirts of Lagos where she came to spend time, while she and her husband tried to work their relationship back to what it used to be. It was the famous widow. Eloho just couldn’t understand what she wanted or why the security let her through the gates. She didn’t know what to say and the widow saved the moment by speaking up. Her burst of apology caught Eloho off guard.
Sometime back, when the widow had been clearing the house, she had stumbled upon her husband’s old diary. Curiosity made her read it and that was where she learnt the truth about her husband’s relationship. Eloho had saved her marriage. There was a time when things had gotten bad in her marriage that she believed they would break up. But surprisingly, her husband had come home one day and told her he was willing to work things out. They had gone on a vacation and their marriage had survived. In that diary, she discovered it had all been Eloho’s encouragement and advice. Eloho had talked him out of divorce. That had been the reason Eloho actually ended her relationship with him; she felt guilty he wanted to leave his family.
Eloho told the widow nothing mattered. The man was dead. Eloho lost a lot because of the scandal. Her only hope was that her marriage made it through the thick forest that has settled on her and Bankole.
THE PASSENGERS
17 year old Wunmi lived in Festac Town before she was rudely uprooted far away from Mile Two, and definitely far away from Festac Town.
Mile Two is the name of a place along Badagry Express Way in Lagos. At Mile Two, there is a motor park where buses that go around the state can be found. Among the buses are those going to CMS, Apapa, Ojuelegba, Mile Twelve etc. as well as buses that go out of the state. The bus of interest with a lot of event that actually appears uneventful is a particular bus that heads for Ikeja-Ogba and each passenger pay N70 for a ride.
In the early 2000s, before this bus fare became N70, it used to be N60. Then it was increased to N80 after one fuel hike. Another fuel hike took the fare to N100. Although the price of a litre pump was adjusted, the fare never came down. After Olusegun Obasanjo left office as Nigeria’s president, a ride from Mile Two in the Ikeja-Ogba bus was N150. The passengers argued and argued but it seemed there was no going back on the issue.
During the period when N70 was the fair, the first bus left Mile Two very early on weekdays at about 6:25am to convey passengers; mostly workers to Ikeja and Ogba where their offices were located.
*****
Wunmi wakes up very early on the mornings of the week to go to school. Her school, located off Agege Motor Road is accessed by one of the routes that lead to Ikeja and Ogba and to get to her school, her father on his way to his Apapa office, drops her off at Mile Two, from where she boards one of the many buses queuing to take passengers to Ikeja and Ogba.
*****
It was a Monday morning, the beginning of another week and Wunmi was the first passenger to get into the Ikeja-Ogba bus. The conductor of the bus, dressed in a worn out heavy jacket and head warmer to fight off the morning chill, was standing outside, hands deep in his pocket, chanting Ikeja-Ogba, Ikeja-Ogba like a priest.
Wunmi could tell that she had taken this particular bus before. She remembered because the conductor has a face that was difficult not to recognize when seen again by anyone who knew anything about Nigerian music artistes. The first time she took that particular bus was the Tuesday of the previous week. Another reason she remembered it was the same bus was because of the interesting events of that particular Tuesday.
*****
On that Tuesday in question, Wunmi had not been the first person in the bus, but the third to the last passenger. She completed the back row seat and the seat before her was raised for another passenger, a young slim and beautiful girl, whom Wunmi was sure couldn’t be more than the age of twenty-three. That girl’s face was one that Wunmi would not forget also. Just like the conductor’s, the girl’s face bore a great resemblance to someone Wunmi had seen on TV recently. The same face had graced the cover of Perfect Magazine two months earlier.
Apart from the girl’s face, the most striking thing about her that wasn’t lost on the oth
er passengers who all turned their heads to acknowledge her entrance was her mode of dressing. Her top, a slightly transparent one that hugged her, showed the lacy black bra that she wore underneath; if you looked closely enough. Her jeans was the blackest black that Wunmi had ever seen jeans to be. Her Ghana weaving fell down over her shoulders, and half way down her back. She was very beautiful. All through the trip Wunmi prayed that the beautiful girl wouldn’t drop till she herself wanted to drop, so that the girl would alight first. Wunmi wanted to see the girl upfront. Although, Wunmi was quite surprised to see the girl she has always dreamt of meeting since the day she saw her on TV, board a public bus. The girl was beautiful enough to own a car of her own, and according to the profile Perfect Magazine did on her, successful enough, but then Wunmi knew never to judge appearances.
Wunmi hadn’t been the only one to be enchanted by the beauty. In the first row of seats, there was a young man dressed in the office way; a collared shirt buttoned to the neck and held with a tie and tucked into a trouser. He kept turning his head to steal glances at the girl.
Behind the young man was an albino woman whose mobile phone wouldn’t stop ringing; disturbing the little silence of the morning that existed in the bus, away from screaming conductors. She would answer her calls then turn towards the third row seat where an albino man sat at the extreme end close to the window, with eyes trailing the activities outside the bus and they would communicate in the Igbo language while the man’s eyes remained fixed outside the bus. Wunmi found them amusing and believed them to be a couple.
The bus then moved after the last passenger – a man probably in his forties took the last seat. Everyone had settled down for the journey that wouldn’t be interrupted until the bus got on the Agege Motor Road when Wunmi – always the first passenger to alight – would be dropped off.