Life as a corper
EPISODE 76
continues*
IMO STATE, NIGERIA,
TUESDAY 21st August 2012
I drove into a government owned community secondary school within Orsu local government area. The school was my place of primary assignment. I drove in with fear and a fast pounding heart.
I really had prayed to be posted in a local government council headquarters, but some forces beyond my powers thought otherwise, so i really had no choice than to obey. I needed nobody to remind me that the day of reckoning has finally arrived, a time to test the knowledge and skills i acquired in the university. “GOD help me” I prayed.
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“i never knew they were sending another corper to me” the principal, a chubby old man murmured, after asking some inquisitive annoying questions. I shrugged and said nothing, praying for him to reject me.
The stress of the past few days were really telling on me. I had s-x with tessy on saturday, kept late night with Adaora that same saturday , headed back to Owerri on sunday, spent the previous day fixing my car, running around from one location to another as i made last minute preparations, coupled with shuttles i ran to and fro Nysc state headquarters as i desperately tried to do some funny deeds.
d–n i really was so stressed up, down and a bit high with temper as i sat in the principal’s office listening to his boring talk that tuesday afternoon, which ranged from history, to politics then to school policies. I really couldn’t wait for him to finish.
“so will you like to stay in our corper’s lodge?” he asked as he signed the acceptance form,
“it depends sir, but i will prefer to stay alone” i replied with every bit of politeness i could muster, yet my comment annoyed him. He frowned and looked at me coldly,
“offcourse i will pay for it, if you won’t mind” i shrugged and muttered. He breathed deeply and relaxed a bit.
“my son i really do not approve of my corpers staying alone, but since it’s your choice, i have a place you will like, two other corpers are equally living there” he said to me before sending for a teacher who came minutes later.
“Jude here is a new corper they just sent us, he will be assisting the Agric and biology teachers” he introduced. I politely got up and shook hands with him.
“take him to sir pee’s house, so that he can arrange for his own accomodation there, since he dosen’t need ours” he muttered to the teacher who instantly nodded.
Minutes later we headed to Sir pee’s house in my car. My mind really was occupied with numerous thoughts. I truly wasn’t happy that i was accepted in that damned school.
After some negotiations between sir pee’s wife, the teacher and i, we settled for ten thousand naira for ten months, which i instantly paid. A fair price considering how lovely the room was, even though it wasn’t a selfcontained room.
I stuffed my loads on a section of the room, headed back to the school, dropped the teacher before driving straight to Nysc L.G.A office for the final file-work.
I finished {almost everything} very late in the evening and headed straight to my new lodge with hunger, tension, and fatigue, taking a great toll on me.
I got to my lodge around 6:45pm, entered my room, and instantly gasped as i realised that the room needed to be washed, and set up. I had no water, nor knew anywhere, or even had the strength for any strenious work.
“how do i solve this problem and who will help me?” was the question i kept asking myself as i unhappily left the room and lazily sat on a pavement very dejected, weak and hungry.
I really grew up to be a very lazy boy. How do i go about all these, Soon it will be night-fall??…
EPISODE 77
My stomach growled, yelled, kicked and bit without pity. I ran into my room opened my bag and reached for a bottle of coke and a packet of cabin biscuit.
I was soon back on the pavement eating my dinner like a street tout as i counted the weeks i would live in my new environment.
“are you the new corper who just came in?” i heard a feminine voice ask. I instantly looked towards the direction the voice came from and saw two girls looking at me. It was already dark so i really couldn’t see their faces very well.
“yea” i replied quietly,
“welcome” they chorused polietly,
“we are your neighbours and also corpers” they introduced,
“do you need any help?” one of them asked,
“no, yes” i answered nervously, “please can you help me with a broom?” i begged,
“alright follow us to our room and collect the broom” they offered. I instantly left my meal, followed them to their room where i collected the broom.
“hope you don’t need anything else?” they asked,
“no thanks alot” i replied and returned to my meal.
I got back 5% of my strength after the nice dinner i had, brought out my generator, arranged it and wired my room with the little crude experience i had. I equally pegged a wire and a bulb in my kind neighbours room. A gesture which totally, surprised and delighted them.
The two rooms were soon lighted up, giving me the electricity i so much needed to at least properly sweep my room and arrange where to sleep before the next day{ when i would wash it}.
It really was a big tiresome work, but i managed to do it crudely, without outside help. The two girls however later came into my room around 8:45pm and surprisingly kept me company.
“you were posted in the secondary school right?” one of them asked,
“yep, i will be teaching biology and agric” i replied,
“wow i teach physics there, while my friend here works in the primary school close-by” one of them explained.
They really were simple but attractive girls. One was fair and the other dark. I really admired their friendly nature, and i knew my stay really wasn’t going to be boring like i earlier feared.
“my name is Val, Imo state University” i soon introduced,
“i’m jenny,” the fair girl introduced, “sonia” the dark one murmured, “we are LASU graduates” she added, while i smiled and nodded.
“tribe?” i heard myself ask,
“yoruba nau” they chorused and looked at each other as if i asked a silly question.
9:30pm after they left for their room, i quietly went outside, switched off my generator and laid on my bed for a good night sleep.
I soon had another set of night visitors, who came in rudely without knocking, swamped on my body, sang and bit as they welcomed me. I slapped my cheeks, hit my legs and almost punctured my right eye as i tried to send them away, yet they ran only to regroup, return and fight back.
“d–n mosquitoes” i cursed as i ran out from my room, and switched on my generator once again.
They instantly retreated, as soon as i did that and patiently waited for a new opportunity to launch another vicious attack on me.
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EPISODE 78
I woke up very late the following morning, smiled when i saw two missed calls from chinwe and instantly called her back without second thoughts. I really missed everything about her but i had no choice than to keep away from her happiness.
“hmmm oga how far, so you wouldn’t have called supposing i didn’t make the first move” she accused with her soft voice.
“it isn’t like that dear, you won’t understand” i replied,
“hehehehe abi??, so where are you?” she asked,
“in Orsu L.G.A serving my country” i answered,
“hmmm nawaoo well-done?” she congratulated happily,
“are you in owerri?” i asked,
“yep anything?” she replied,
“yea i just packed into my new room yesterday, and i need help, setting it up” i explained,
“lazy boy mtcheeew, anyway i can help you, but the problem is how to get there, i don’t know the place” she muttered, while my eyes instantly lit up.
“thanks alot dear, i’ll drive right away to your lodge” i answered happily,
“i’ll wait for you at Imsu junction, don’t bother coming to my hostel, just notify me when you are almost there” she replied,
“alright thanks dear” i murmured and hung up.
I5 minutes later
I borrowed my landlady’s wheel-barrow fetched and filled my big drum with water, freshened up and headed to owerri with a fast pounding heart.
It really had been a while i last saw Chinwe so i was as nervous as ever as if i was going on my first date. I kept breathing deeply as i drove.
9am
I picked her up with a nervous smile on my face. She still was very attractive like she used to be, and i really couldn’t help but feel a bit guilty as i remembered all we did together. We didn’t say much to each other until i stopped at a small fast food joint{food is ready restaurant} at works layout.
She instantly looked inquisitively at me. I smiled apologetically and shrugged,
“please i’m very hungry, i didn’t eat anything decent yesterday” i explained.
“okay” she murmured and opened the passenger’s door. Together we walked into the ‘food joint’ where i ordered a plate of rice, beans and plantain while i forced her to take a bottle of malt because she declined eating any food.
“so how about your guy, are you guys still together?” i asked stupidly. She scoffed and stared at me.
“offcourse, what do you expect huh, infact he’s just waiting for me to graduate this November so that he can start making the necessary marriage preparations” she explained happily. I swallowed hard and instantly changed the topic.
We finally arrived at my new lodge by 1:15pm {we spent a little time buying some other things and kitchen utensils i needed}. She quickly got to work as soon as we got to my room, swept, washed, arranged, and cooked. In no time, my room and make-shift kitchen was up and running. I really was so grateful that i held her waist and stared into her eyes gratefully.
“thanks alot for everything dear, you are one in a million” i happily murmured. She smiled and looked away,
“i really don’t know how my life will be, without you by my side” i added a bit sadly. She breathed deeply, stared into my eyes for a while and looked down.
“Val you caused it all” she murmured with a very quiet tone.
“is she still in love with me, is there still hope in winning back her love?”, i asked myself,
but is it really necessary??
hmmmm,
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EPISODE 79
“yea you are right, i caused it all” i murmured with a sad tone. She instantly looked up into my eyes with care and concern, held my hands and drew a little bit closer.
“arn’t you happy with Adaora??” she asked searchingly. I breathed deeply and smiled,
“offcourse dear i’m very happy with her, she’s going to be the mother of my kids very soon” i replied. She heaved a sigh of relief and smiled.
“we both have found happiness, so you see, we were never destined to be together, whatever is written for us by Almighty God, can never be changed no matter what we do” she said happily,
“do you now read the holy Koran?” i asked jokingly, {because of her choice of words}. She blushed and looked away.
“i’m just happy for you, see how your dreams are almost getting fulfilled” she added.
“Oh chinwe, always setting her personal feelings aside for my happiness” i murmured to myself.
I later dropped her at a ‘bus stop’ {junction} where she took a bus back to Owerri. I returned to my lodge, relaxed in my new room happily and thought over my new life.
I really would have loved travelling to Enugu, in order to spend some days with my family, but i still had some pending transactions to do in the bank on thursday. Moreover i was forced to accept Tessy’s invitation {of spending the weekend with her}, a promise i really didn’t know how to keep, considering my schedules and the risk involved.
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“so dear when will you like me to visit and check out your new place?” Adaora asked when we spoke over the phone on thursday night,
“my dear i really don’t know for now, perhaps by october or november when the rains are over, because the mosquitoes over here are way too much in number, very defiant and big, they even wear masks to prevent insecticides from harming them,” i explained while she laughed her heart out.
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My two corper neighbours were equally very friendly, good and decent. They knew when to draw the line in any friendly gestures they made, so i just saw them as friendly but reserved girls. Jenny however was a little bit closer to me, perhaps because we were posted in the same school, while the other girl kept her distance and only came into my room when accompanied by her roomate.
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6:55am Saturday
“dear i already have arranged your flight to Abuja, i will text you a friend’s name and phone number, she works at Imo Airport, she will assist you, just be there before 10am please” Tessy dropped the bombshell when she woke me from sleep with her phone-call that fateful saturday morning.
I was stunned, angry, confused and unhappy.
Truly i thought she had forgotten about the invitation, because she never mentioned it when she called on thursday night, neither did she mention it on friday. There is nothing I hate more than being treated like a kid or ordered around, a situation which contributed to the problems i had with my first girlfriend Christy {season1}.
“so you expect me to run into the bathroom, freshen up, grab my bag and start running towards Imo Airport huh?” i asked angrily. It really was the first time i raised my voice on her. She just kept quiet for a while, as if she couldn’t believe what she just heard.
“there is still time nau, isn’t it 7AM by your watch? You still have at least three hours to get there” she murmured, while I cursed under my breathe.
EPISODE 80
“i don’t think i can make it, i have a whole lot of things to do this weekend” i replied quietly,
“no don’t do this to me Val, please it isn’t fair” she begged, while i kept quiet and said nothing.
“remember your promise, i already have paid for the flight, don’t worry about your schedules i will compensate you handsomely, please say something nau” she added pleadingly.
“its not really about the money, you know i travelled to the east because of my nysc stuff, i’m yet to settle down can’t you understand?” i tried to explain,
“you are just doing shakara for me, it’s okay no wahala, i thought you are different but i have seen you arn’t” she murmured sadly,
“okay, okay, i don hear, i’ll try my best, send me your friend’s number” i finally agreed without my heart.
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6PM ABUJA NIGERIA
Tessy picked me up at the airport and chatted happily as she drove towards her house,
“you really don’t know how happy, contented and fulfilled i’m right now, you just made my day, i’m so so happy” she poured out happily. She really was very happy with all her heart, but i just couldn’t say the same for myself.
I displeased myself by coming to Abuja that fateful saturday, the stress and the time i equally wasted at Owerri airport also got me more annoyed and bitter.
“so where are we heading to?” i asked,
“to my house offcourse” she replied,
“no i don’t think it’s a good idea” i murmured instantly, she slowed down her car and stared at me inquisitively,
“why do you say so?” she asked,
“i won’t be comfortable spending the night at your house, what will your kids think, children are very sensitive if you don’t know” i explained. She kept quiet for a while and thought over my words.
“okay you win” she flashed a bright smile at me, winked and drove on into town. She expertly took some turns minutes later, drove into Borno street {Area 10} and stopped at Pridemark hotel.
“you sure know your way around town” i teased. She sighed and frowned jokingly,
“you are now insulting me abi?”
“noooo i was only complimenting your navigation skills” i winked and laughed.
We walked into the hotel, laughing and teasing each other like teenagers. She effortlessly paid for a room where i showered, changed and got some of my strength back.
“hope someone is looking after your kids” i asked with concern as we went downstairs to eat,
“yea my cousin and the other girl you saw sometime ago are with them, i already called home when you were bathing they are alright, though i might rush home and see them before i sleep over here” she explained while i shrugged and nodded.
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“is everything alright?” i asked as we ate moments later, when i noticed her mood wasn’t lively as it earlier was.
“i really didn’t like the way you shouted at me when i called you this morning” she complained quietly,
“i’m sorry” i apologized, “the truth is that i snapped because your request took me by surprise” i explained,
“how? i thought we already agreed on it before you travelled?” she asked searchingly,
“don’t bother dear, let’s forget about it” i breathed deeply and replied.
“are you having second thoughts about me?” she suddenly asked with fear in her eyes. I gave her a reassuring smile and shrugged.
“not in any way dear” i lied,
“but i hope you won’t feel bad when i eventually get a girlfriend?” i innocently asked.
She instantly gasped, her face coloured, there was anger, pain, uncertainty and fire in her eyes as she stared at me.
“do you have a girlfriend?” she asked with a deep breathe,
“no not yet” i replied and looked down,
“not yet!” she exclaimed calmly, “dear what do you need a girlfriend for when you have me huh?” she asked stupidly.
Her question as stupid as it was, jolted and embedded great fear into me.
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