You are intelligent, popular and good-looking. The girls are all dying to be with you and you can twist them around your fingers,” he concluded.
“Thank you for your analysis but I can tell you that I am not as lucky as you think. At least, not in that sense,” I responded to him.
“You can deny as long as you want but I know I’m telling the truth”, he insisted. At such times, I wouldn’t want the argument to continue and so, I would shrug and change the subject. I eventually graduated with a second class upper and my friends threw a lavish graduation party for me. I had already decided that in order to make the kind of money and fame I desired, I needed to live in Lagos. So after completing my youth service in Owerri, I packed my bags and headed for Lagos. When I arrived in Lagos, I was filled with high hopes. In fact, I had calculated that within two months, I would have got a befitting job and moved on to higher places from there. However, my hopes were soon dashed. Within two weeks, I discovered that the picture that is most often painted about Lagos being a land of opportunities was nothing but a mirage. In Lagos, I discovered a man at his utmost wickedness and insensitivity.
First, my friend whom I was squatting with at Shomolu became hostile to me. He started complaining that he needed privacy and made sure I was uncomfortable whenever he was around. The bus drivers, conductors and people generally, all wanted to take advantage of any opportunity to rip you off. I decided not to be frustrated and put my energy into searching for a job but even that proved futile. It was as if the more I searched for a job, the harder it was for me to get one. I began to lose faith in myself and in my ability to get a job, by the time I had spent seven months without a job, I was ready to take on a driving or security job. I was that desperate and it was during that time that I met Mr. Jim Benson. I had been walking along Marina, moving from one office or the other submitting my credentials. I was tired, hungry and worn out. I also had just about N200 in my pocket, which couldn’t even take me home. I saw Mr. Jim Benson, he was sitting inside a very big jeep and spoke on the phone while his driver drove slowly through the afternoon traffic. Some little voice told me to approach him and ask for money, I had never done that before and knew that Lagosian mistrusted anybody who begged for money because a lot of fake beggars abound in the city. But my heart was strongly moved to meet him, and so I walked towards his jeep and knocked lightly at his window. He turned and looked at me; he must have seen the desperation in my eyes because he wound down the window.
“What can I do for you young man?” he asked me.
“Please sir; pardon my intrusion into your privacy.
I need your help sir;’ I said in impeccable English.
“What can I do for you?” he asked me again.
“I’m not a beggar but I need your assistance with transport fare. I have just N200 and I am going back to Shornolu,” I explained to him. He thought for a while, at the same time casting glances at me. ‘Oh God, please let him not reject my plea,’ I prayed in my heart. Suddenly, he dug his hands into his wallet and gave me a lump sum of N1000 notes.
“Oh, no sir, all I asked for is transport fare,” I said.
“I know, but take this all the same; you look like you need it.”
“Thank you very much sir. God will bless you sir,” I said almost prostrating on the floor, this is the first time a stranger was showing an act of kindness to me in Lagos. He also handed me his card and asked me to call him. That singular meeting with Mr. Jim Benson changed my life. The next time I called him, he invited me to his office, I had impulsively gone there with my CV and after a few discussions, I told him my predicament and gave him my CV, Mr. Jim took one look at my credentials and offered me a job in his company. Because he ran an oil services firm, he employed me in the technical department.
Mr. Jim is a very busy man and so his wife, Mrs. Tamara Johnson, oversees most of his businesses. She was the loveliest woman I had ever seen. I remember the first time I met her; she had come to the office and asked to see me. When the human resources personnel ushered me in, she looked up and our eyes met. I looked away as I instantly became shy, she was too beautiful and I didn’t want to stare embarrassingly at her. “Good afternoon ma,” I greeted her, almost prostrating. She stared at me briefly and then dismissed the HR with a slight nod. Afterwards, she introduced herself formally and asked me several questions about myself, which I answered as well as I could. Mrs. Tamara Johnson instructed me to work closely with her, so I could learn the ropes of the job on time. That was how I began to work closely with my boss’ wife; she was a very mean woman who handled the business professionally and without sentiments. But the way she treated me was different, she would take me to restaurants for lunch and when she goes shopping, she would buy me gifts. I initially thought she was doing it out of compassion or that she treats me that way as her younger brother. However, when Mrs. Johnson began to ask for my opinion about her looks and began to tell me intimate things about her; that was when I realized she had ulterior motives.
“Johnson, what do you do when you are less busy?” she asked me one evening while we were sitting inside her office.
“I either watch television at home or I hang out with some friends,” I replied as cautiously as I could.
“Friends, male or female?” she asked mischievously. “I am dying to know more about you,” she said flirtatiously.
“Madam, I hang out with my male friends,” she waved off my explanation with her hands.
“Johnson, are you saying you don’t have a girlfriend?” she probed, I opened my mouth to speak, but didn’t know what to say; so I closed it. I waited and then Mrs. Johnson made her offer.
“Johnson, I like you. In fact, I can’t think of anything else but you. You are in my head all the time:’ she said and moved closer to me to caress my hands. I couldn’t say a word, how could I reject her without offending her.
“I want us to be lovers and I promise you, I will promote you to the MD of this company as well as make sure you enjoy a lot of freebies from me:’ she offered.
…To Be Continued
