She was sitting right in front of me and when the president of the union urged new entrants to rise on their feet and introduce themselves, she rose up.
“I am Nancy Duru. I am studying Pharmacy. I am a full-blooded daughter of Umuezi and I have come out here today to identify with the union, thank you”, she said, eliciting a resounding applause from the over 50 members of the union present. I had clapped so hard, perhaps out of admiration because all the while I had been observing her closely. Aside her beautiful frame and pretty face, another thing that attracted me to her was her humility. This came to the fore when it was time for refreshment. She dutifully served everyone present with this glint of obedience in her eyes. I just could not help being moved. When we were leaving the venue of the event, I quickly ran up to her to chat with her.
“Nancy, you have a beautiful name”, I started, “but I believe you will also have an Igbo name.
What is it?”
“Urenmadiya …. ” She had said it as if she was not sure of herself before she looked at me and -“we both started laughing. The name means ‘joy of the husband’ in Igbo and it was a summary of what was going on in my mind which was why I just could not help laughing.
“Well, I am Nnamdi. Which part of Umuezi are you from?” I asked her. Umuezi was made up of 10 villages united under one traditional ruler whom we fondly called Eze Ezi.
“I am from Nneato village. What about you?” she asked.
“Alaoma village”, I replied. “Nneato is Chief Duru’s village”.
“Yes, he is my father”, she revealed.
“Really? ” It was then I understood the Duru in her name which she had mentioned earlier during her introduction. “I doubt if you come to Umuezi often. I would have known you”.
“I don’t. Most times, I am with my aunt in Lagos”, she said. “I did not grow up at home”.
When we parted ways that day; we agreed to hook up again sometime later but because of the feeling I had towards her and of course the fear that someone would tell her about a relationship before me, I decided to go and visit her the next day!
I did not want to take chances in this one after what happened between me and Ogechi, another girl I used to be crazy about.
I had delayed, waiting for an appropriate time to convey my feelings to her only to be told eventually that someone else had done so.
“Why did you not tell me on time? I cannot keep two boyfriends”, Oge had said when I finally let my position known to her. This repeat of history was what I was set out to avoid with Nancy. I was quite direct about it when I met her that evening.
“Nancy, you know we promised to see each other sometime later, right?” I said.
“Hmrn”, she grunted, not knowing what I was about to say.
“But I decided to see you again today; I felt I made a mistake yesterday”, I said.
“No, you did not make any mistake”, she seemed worried but she had no clue where I was heading towards.
“No, I did. Do you know I did not tell you to be my girlfriend? That was a big mistake on my part and I have come to correct that,” I said and this sent her laughing hard.
“Nnamdi, you are just funny,” she said and this impressed me because I heard when a woman liked a man, she would usually tell the man he was funny. “So why did it take you this long to realize that?”
“I always knew from the first time I met you. But I have realized that I should not have kept the feeling to myself. It would have become another costly mistake on my part”.
“Okay, I have heard you but you need to give me a little time to think about it”, Nancy said. “And please do not ask me how long because I do not know”.
“Okay, but may I also remind you that in case someone approaches you with the same request, kindly tell him that someone else had said that to you”.
Of course, Nancy never gave me any affirmative answer up till this minute but I noticed that things just fell into place. We had started kissing and she even lost her virginity to me, yet she never formally acknowledged we were anything. Sometimes, she would even cajole me about it.
“Stop holding my hands. After all, I have not given you a yes to the request you made that I should be your friend”.
“Okay, but I know what is mine when I hold it. Nancy, you are mine, no going back”, I would say and we would laugh.
But such denials made our bond stronger. Even while we were busy fantasizing about marriage against the will of her father, she would remind me that she had not yet accepted to being my girlfriend which is why I would always remain fond of Nancy.
But devil enwrapped us with his evil cloud two months ago when she visited my house at Alaoma. Nancy had had another bout of quarrel with her father who threatened that he would send her to the UK to make sure that she was far away from my influence.
I was not there to witness the quarrel but from Nancy’s looks, I could sense that she had had a terrible day. Her eyes were blood shot and sunken and I had never seen her so angry.
“It is okay, my love. I think we need to exercise patience”, I consoled her.
“What is wrong with my father? Can’t he understand that he understands that I am matured now and can take decisions about my life and my happiness. He is busy arranging for me to marry Honourable Ndu’s son who behaves like a tout,” she had said.
“Honourable Ndu who used to be the local government chairman? Politicians, they will always behave like politicians,” I had squeaked, feeling flattered by the political machinations of Chief Duru. It was unfortunate that he wanted to trade the joy of Nancy on the platter of politics.
“I told him off and left the house. I am not even going back to that house today.” Nancy added. “I am going to sleep here, let them all go to hell.”
Our gaze got locked when she mentioned she was going to sleep in our house at Alaoma. The reason was simple: she had never slept in my house in the village before. She could visit but would leave at the end of the day. It was only at school that she would visit and spend the night with me.
I could not have turned down that request. I let her be but something terrible happened which I am still regretting till this minute. It was just a few minutes to l1pm when Nancy started complaining of headache and slight fever. I felt her fore head to notice that her body was burning.
“You had a hectic day. I know you would be okay soon”, I said.
“I am sure it’s the effect of that annoyance. That is why I don’t like being worked up”, she admitted, which was re-assuring to me. However, when the situation intensified at about 11.45pm, I just knew I had to go to a nearby drug store to buy some tablets for her. She had even begged me not to go because it was late but I ignored her and left the room.
I, however, searched for an open drug store for almost 30 minutes before I could see one because in villages like Umuezi, most shops are shut at 9pm.
With the drugs in my hand, I had raced back to the house only to behold Nancy on the bed motionless with her mouth wide open, foam streaming down.
“What is it? Nancy? Nancy?” I was frightened and I held her and tried to open her eyes but they could not stay open. Each attempt at
getting her to open them ended in frustration. I tried to force the drugs down her mouth but Nancy could not even swallow them! I panicked in that confused state, making frantic efforts to help get until 12.34am when she gave up the ghost!
The minutes between then and 1.30am when I finally made up my mind about what to do with Nancy’s corpse would remain the most tortuous in my life. With the situation of things between me and Chief Duru, how would I stand before him to explain that.
Nancy died in my house? It would be a tug of war; which was why I decided to bury her beside our compound unknown to anyone. I
had slipped out of the room and had stealthily gone to the back portion of the compound to dig a shallow grave. But when I was dragging out the corpse, meaning to throw it into the grave, a coarse voice shouted at my back.
“Stay like that!!! If you move you are dead!!!” I turned and saw flash lights everywhere
pointed at me. The members of the town’s vigilante service had swooped in on me. I made moves to discard the corpse and run but there were over 15 of them, looking at me fiercely and shockingly with their weapons pointed at me!
I heaved a sigh of relief and surrendered. Who will save me from the wrath of Chief Duru?
…To Be continued
