Chapter 16: Chapter 16

CHAPTER 13

Teju’s home was situated in one of the many plains in the third largest city of the country- Ibadan, where one could see from the distance the polished white, blue-roofed and gigantic Mapo Hall sitting graciously on the Mapo Hill. One could also see the first skyscraper in the country called the Cocoa House shooting its dim chocolate-coloured body into the blue and sundrenched skyscape.

Ibadan was one of the cities that had numerous plains with awesomely interfaced landscapes of ancientness and modernity. It was one of the few cities that had not totally given up her cultural glory, a walk through an agbo-ile like Beere or Popo would prove that. The city’s agbo-iles boasted of close-knitted red-mud houses that had been hardened by long years of exposure to a tropical climate, wooden doors as tall as a toddler, and wooden windows that could only be opened outwards. The walkways, narrow and sandy, run into each other like rivers. Their unrivalled semblance could get a stranger going in circles, its trickery difficult to master even with the most thorough glance.

At night, agbo-ilesbecome garden of red flowers, with kerosene lamps locally called sakabula, burning red, and emitting little clouds of black smoke. The immaculate Ibadan-accented Yoruba that pronounces Ṣ as C; the rainstorm of heavy curses and descriptive abuses; the creative distortion and repackaging from ‘peculiar mess’ to ‘penkelemees’ or ‘education’ to ‘educason’ would leave any Thomas devoid of doubts of Ibadan’s ancient modernity.

The first time Teju visited the Cocoa House; he had stood by the window on one of the top floors and watched the whole of Ibadan stretched infinitely beneath him. Little houses with rust roofing sheets blanketed the plains, though a few buildings like Femi Johnson and Capital Building stood conspicuously among them. Teju remembered the lines in JP Clark’s poem titled Ibadan which says: ‘.... running splash of rust... scattered among seven hills like broken china in the sun’. Though judging by the sight he had that day, it was really a running splash of rust, he felt they were rather like scrums of creamy brownies in the sun. He could pick them up and throw them into his mouth if he wanted.

Ibadan literally appealed to him; it was very unlike Lagos where he observed his National Youth Service as a fresh graduate. Having spent almost a year in Lagos serving his country, he returned to Ibadan and the sheer difference between the two environs struck him. In Lagos, people lived as if the whole world was being fast-forwarded; everyone was in haste nearly every time, especially during the early hours of the day. But in Ibadan, everyone was calm and unrushed. Everyone thoughtfully took his or her time and went around doing his or her business.

Ibadan was also severely gapped and almost under-populated, dissimilar to Lagos where everyone had his or her face almost shoved in his or her neighbour’s smelly armpit. Even if one had been living in Ibadan for decades, one might not know all of its nooks and crevices. It was a breezy city that had plenty of fresh air. One could take deep breaths there without perceiving the reeking armpits of one’s neighbours. Every smell was distinct. The smell of black rotten gutters was different from the smell of decomposing waste, and the smell of decomposing waste was different from the smell of burning rubbish. Every wind blew with purpose. One could tell the wind whispering to the trees apart from the wind sweeping the littered streets.

The Olas’ house was in one of the small estates in Ibadan that had rich folks, tarred streets and solar-powered streetlights.Most times, the streets were empty and muted except for the occasional chirping of birds standing on the electricity wires that run from pole to pole across the streets.It was not the usual Ibadan neighbourhood where everyone ran into each other without constraint or where there were countless rent apartments of two bedroom flats or face-me-I-face-you rooms.

It was one of those estates where you haveThis house is not for sale. Beware of 419 signs on the fences competing with Beware of dogs signs on the gates, usually punctuated by the image of a dog for the purpose of emphasis or for those who might not understand what a dog was. In all the houses with the dog signs, there were dogs locked up in steel-made cages with heavy and strong padlocks. Sometimes, passing by these houses, one would be set on edge by their deep double-bass barking which ricocheted from within the walls. And sometimes, during evening time, one would sporadically see young men, perhaps in sleeveless tops, khaki shorts or three-quarter trousers and slippers, partially dragging and partially being dragged by a Rottweiler, Corgi, Bulldog or German shepherd across the streets. More often than not, these dogs have severed tails, and rumour has it that they were fed their respective severed tails so that they would be vicious to strangers. Teju always frowned at all these practices which he considered dangerous and largely unnecessary. The chain or the rope leashed around the dog’s neck could slip off from the handler’s grip and it could attack another human being. They were not as tall as grownups on all fours but they were on twos, and only God knows what happens when they set themselves on a person.

Teju’s house was a duplex, painted, adorned with flowers and with a gated and fenced compound like many other houses around. The fence was studded with security light bulbs and crowned with coils of barbwires.Teju got back home from the football field twenty-five minutes past ten in the morning. He could perceive the sweet scent of chicken spiced with curry powder, thyme and ginger even from the door. He could hear his stomach rumbling like a distant dinning of thunder. He placed a gentle knock on the door.

“Who’s there?” Simi exclaimed from within

“Somebody special, I think”

The door flung open, Simi appeared with her smile filled with grace and love, and Teju’s heart dissolved like a snowman in the sun. She was in a woollen print tunic with a low neckline that exposed her cleavage and a tight blue knee-length jeans trouser. She made to hug him but quickly retreated as an afterthought

“What? Are you not going to give your baby a little welcoming hug at least?” Teju inquired with stretched arms

“No, not when you’re soaked with sweat. Come in” Simi replied holding the door opened for him. Teju entered and made to hug Simi unexpectedly but she retreated just about time, laughing

“You better go have a shower, breakfast is almost ready,” Simi said, going to the kitchen. He followed her into the kitchen and reached for a cold bottle of water from the standing LG refrigerator.

“I'm choking to death, what are you cooking?” Teju asked after taking a long gulp from the bottle. Simi was at the washbasin, washing a ginger-encrusted grater, a cabbage-gritted chopping board and a knife. If she heard, she showed no sign of doing so. Teju walked towards the gas cooker with a steaming pot placed on it but was swiftly intercepted by Simi.

“Don’t even think of coming near my food- you’re going to infect the food with germs?” she said and Teju laughed

“Come on baby, I just want to know what you’re cooking, that’s all,” he said

“Well, you have a nose, don’t you? You should figure it out.If you can’t, then let be a surprise. Now, out of my kitchen”, she commanded, pointing at the door as if Teju was unaware as to where it was.

“What is surprising about the food anyway?”

“You should wait to find out,” Simi said and snatched the bottle which was half full from his hands “You drank directly from the bottle, didn’t you?” Simi asked staring distastefully at the bottle

“Yes, I did” Teju shrugged

“I don’t know how long I would live with your dirty habits, this would be the umpteenth time I would dispose of bottles because of your grimy habit” she scolded, pulled a face at him and walked away to the washbasin. She drained the water from the bottle into the washbasin and tossed the empty bottle into the trash bin. Teju was still beaming at her when she faced him and her face creased with a frown.

“What are you still doing in my kitchen; just look at how you’re dripping with sweat. You’re going to poison the food in the pantry, even the rodents would all fall sick” Simi raved and Teju burst into laughter. He laughed so hard that the frown on her face slowly softened and she joined in the laughter.

“Ok baby, I would go upstairs and have a warm shower, I would be right back, and make sure I’m really surprised,” Teju said as he dashed out of the kitchen and ran up the stairs with Simi’s piping laughter trailing him.