We also ended up quarreling for one week, for what Betty termed ‘disgracing her in public’. She ended up taking me to the cleaners, talking about the advantages of school, and how people like us will never get anywhere in life without certificates.
“Betty, remember I am the person who trained you in this your school;’ I had said.
“There you go again. You are always boasting you trained me. How much money did you pay? Say it, let me write a cheque and give you! You trained me? Why did you not train yourself if it was easy? You did not go because you are not brilliant, simple. Okay, I know exactly what to do”, Betty said that day. And she knew exactly what to do like she had hinted.
The next day when she was returning from work, I saw her with one big brown envelope. I thought it was part of the files she received from some of her clients but I was wrong.
Betty came to meet me where I was sitting down in the living room and dumped the brown envelope on me.
“Sam, I have bought you JAMB and GCE forms. I want to train you too because you make noise everyday about training me in the university. You are going to complete the forms so that I will train you too. Do you want me to enroll you in extra mural classes? You should say it now”, she was making a mockery of me. At 47, what kind of GCE and JAMB examinations will I do to gain admission into the university?
“I want to prove to you that there are two sides to education-the money and the intelligence. You had the money but not the intelligence. I have the intelligence and now I am getting the money”, she boasted.
“Please Betty, let us not start because I do not have the energy to quarrel”, I told her.
“I am not quarrelling “, she said. “You are the person telling me every day that you trained me in school. I want to pay you back for all those things”.
But what she has been doing is a clear indication that some women have very short memory. I remember how I met Betty. I remember the kind of unspeakable penury and squalor I met her in. But today, she has thrown her memories to the dogs. She has obviously lost sight of where she was coming from.
I still vividly recollect how our paths crossed. Let me just call it divine providence because that is what it is. I had returned to the village for a crucial meeting with the elders over a land matter. I had returned with my new Peugeot 505 SR, a big car then. People like us who were seen to be doing well would always be invited by the elders over such matters because it involved making pledges and donations to pursue such matters.
We are at the Village Square, which was under a huge Iroko tree when another matter came up. One of the elders brought up the issue of a young girl who made the best result in both her GCE and JAMB examinations in the zone but had no funds to proceed further.
“I heard the people at the scholarship board are dragging their feet because the girl does not have money to offer them bribes. That is why we are presenting the matter before our people here because the girl is from this town and it would not be good if we lose this kind of brain. Incidentally, the girl has just gained admission to study Law”, the elder explained.
“Should we entertain this kind of matter? I will suggest that the girl should go and get married. If it was a boy, then we can look into the matter”, another elder instantly cut in and as expected, this raised a lot of furor. There was a clash of interests, as the elders argued over what should be done. It was so heated that I had to intervene in the matter.
“My people, I wish to speak on this matter”, I had said.
“Why can’t we look for assistance for this girl if she is brilliant? Is it because she is a girl? We live in a world where women are given equal opportunity with the men to become whoever they have the potentials to become. I will suggest that we look into the girl’s matter and see what the community can do because at the end of the day, it will be a glorious issue for all of us here.”
“Nobody can make me contribute money for a girl. Anybody who wants to pay can go ahead but please my kinsmen, count me out”, one of the elders said and almost left with his stool, had he not been begged to return.
I was touched by the unfolding scenario. “Excuse me, who is the girl?” I asked.
“Her name is Elizabeth Nwani. She hails from Nkisi clan”, I was told.
“I will like to see her and we can take it up from there”, I told them, “Can we continue with the deliberations over the land matter? I want the matter concluded because I will go back to the city tomorrow morning”.
We continued, and as soon as the deliberations were over I was taken by the elder to Nkisi clan where I met Betty and her people. Like I said initially, I met them in penury. They lived in a thatched house, whose walls were made of red mud. The windows in the house were almost falling off and one could see lizards and other reptiles having a feast on their walls. There was no chair in what they called sitting room. It was just a long bench, built with unpolished wood.
I guess they had not entertained a guest like me before, who would drive in with a brand new Peugeot 505 SR. That made all the difference, I guess.
Right there, I was introduced to the household by the elder and I demanded to see the girl who passed the examinations in flying colors. She came out and to my surprise she did not look like someone who was raised in that kind of environment. She was tall, light-skinned and had no scars all over her body like girls who were raised under such debilitating situations.
“What is your name?” I asked her.
“Betty Nwani”, she replied, and that was when I noticed something about her voice. It was smooth and sounded like those broadcasters on TV.
“What course do you want to study?” I asked her again.
“Law. I have the admission letter already. I have also made my papers because I had eight Als in my GCE”, she replied.
“Eight Als?” I was shocked.
The fact that the girl was brilliant was not in doubt, so I offered to help.
“I will help you people. How much do you need now to go and register? I want to write a cheque for you. Let us start from there,” I told her.
“Let me go and bring the prospectus’, she went into one of the rooms in their hut.
When she returned a paper was in her hands and she made it available to me. The total bill then came to N20,000 but I wrote a cheque of N23,000 and asked her to go to any First Bank on Monday and collect the money.
She was excited. She went down on her knees to pray for me. Her mother was more joyous. I heard her break into a song, after which tears gathered around her eyes. I was touched. I was moved and I had to act because I could afford it then. I was still a bachelor and my business was booming, so it would not be a bad idea to assist.
I handled Betty’s training the first year and that led to frequent visits to my home in the city whenever she needed money. It was during one of the trips that she slept with me. It was a life changing encounter because I discovered that she was a virgin.
That prompted me to decide to marry her. Since she was busy getting the education, I could be busy making the money she would need to go to school. That was how I saw it.
When I mentioned marriage, everyone bought the idea because everyone testified that Betty was a good girl and was well-brought up. The only impediment it seemed was the fact that she hailed from a poor home.
We got married in her third year and things continued on that smooth sail until she finished her studies, attended law school and started making money. And by this time, my business had dipped, forcing her to take up the duty of running the home, which I had gratuitously done in the past. But the fact that Betty is the breadwinner has made my life very miserable. I now fear to get back to my house when it is dark because that avails her chance to cajole me about not going to school.
I have made a resolution that if there is anything like reincarnation, I will come back as a man but will never assist any woman again. So help me God!
…To Be continued
