CHAPTER TWOThe next morning I was up by six, said a very short prayer, did some press-ups and hurried to the kitchen to tidy up the aftermath of yesterday’s cooking and dinner before Her Majesty strayed in there. Apart from her dressing, there was one other thing that pissed everyone off in the family – her promiscuous lifestyle, which her parents saw as uncontrollable. This was despite the wealth the latter possessed, which she easily had access to, and the comfortable life she lived.She had barely wiped off the toothpaste suds around her mouth when she came and greeted me in the sitting room.“Good morning,” she greeted slowly.“Good morning how was your night?”“It was wonderful, the power outage notwithstanding,” she shrugged with a deep sigh as if she wanted to tell me something bad or nasty, while avoiding my stern countenance at the same time.“I’ll be travelling for some days, maybe till Saturday,” she continued.“Travelling to where?” I demanded folding my arms and eyeing

Words could not possibly describe the way I felt, while thinking about my mother that Friday morning. It had been two days since the ‘revelation’ about Marine Brothers Society, as thoughts about my sister’s arrival crept into my mind. I removed the second button from the hole on my blue long sleeved shirt, while waiting for a taxi at the tail end of Sani Abacha Road. Four or five minutes later, a taxi cab stopped with three other passengers, and opened its front passenger door for me to get in. My wristwatch showed ten-thirty in the morning as the taxi cab sped to my destination – Agip Junction. The moment I came down from the taxi cab, I walked a few metres to where some bus conductors were shouting ‘Rumuokoro’, ‘Rumuokoro,’ and stepped into the passenger seat of a blue Mitsubushi L300 fifteen seater bus.I sat beside a fair lady who suddenly reminded me of my sick mother’s complexion. The bus kept stopping to pick and drop passengers until it finally reached my destination – Federal

“Tonye, Tonye, I’m at Omagwa airport, please just wait…I’m on my way.” Boma’s voice was a mixture of fear and confusion, while I didn’t bother to respond, when she called again an hour later. Immediately she ended the call, I put down the phone and continued staring blankly at the television screen.That particular day was a Saturday, followed by Sunday…by Monday the countdown to the initiation would begin…just a matter of time.Less than an hour after I spoke with Boma, there was a knock on the front door, and I could guess who it was.“Calm down, just calm down…everything’s okay…stop crying…sit down.” It took me more than twenty minutes to pacify her, before she stopped crying and sat down with a wet handkerchief.“Mum is dead and gone Boma…she won’t be buried, nor would any party, wake-keeping or church service be done for her. I had her cremated.” I’d barely finished my last sentence, when she shouted me down like someone in frenzy.“She’s been what…do you know what you’ve done?”

It was seven-thirty in the evening the moment Timothy stepped out of his limousine and dialled my number on his mobile phone. He had just returned from a nearby restaurant where he had gone to have an early dinner, before rounding up the work piled up in his office.There was no response from my phone, until he dialled the third time. A ‘sweet’ female voice he knew so well answered the phone and informed him that his friend was almost at the final stage of ‘perfecting’ his life.The line went dead shortly afterwards, leaving Timothy feeling amused at the possibility of a mobile phone to pick up signals in a place such as the silvery orb. He gave a deep sigh as he entered the main lobby and headed for the elevator.“He’d soon get what he wants ... very soon”.As soon as the elevator shut gently and ferried Timothy upward, Deaconess Esther Amadi was rounding up the Faith Clinic for the week in Abraham’s Villa, a parish in the Redeemed Christian Church of God. If my late mother were to b

I walked confidently with every stride, before stopping at the end of the car park. Students were nowhere in sight, as some of the non-academic staff could be seen walking to their posts and offices to resume duty for the last working day of the week.Almost ten minutes later, a blue SUV slowly rolled into the last space in the car park. On closer observation, I realised it was a Ford product, big, stylish with tinted glasses and definitely expensive.I couldn’t say this was part of the initiation ceremony, since the initiation had been concluded with congratulations from the goddess of perfection herself. I looked at the ring on my right hand as I brought the katana closer to my left side. Some moments later, I realised it was rather unnecessary as a lady came down from the driver’s seat in the SUV, came round and faced me after removing her sunglasses.“Good morning your…your utmost perfection…”“Good morning Mr Tamunoonye. A wonderful day it is… or would I say, a perfect morning?”