A LETTER TO MY WIFE by Siloko Oyintari Ben

 

A LETTER TO MY WIFE

                by Siloko Oyintari Ben

(SOB BOOKs production)

 

The rains had started on a beautiful Saturday morning with dark clouds. I peeped through my window, hoping to have a good view from my apartment on the three-story building along Liverpool crescent in St Abz mini estate. Growing up with dreams was the best part of my life.

The day I moved into my apartment, Flat 5, block A, I fell in love not just with my flat but flat 6, which housed a banker, Nene.

Nene was light-skinned, beautiful, and a figure eight, about 5.9ft tall. She was just a perfect figure of the picture for a woman of my dreams.

The moment I slid my curtains and looked towards the gate of our mini estate, my eyes caught Nene running in from the entrance towards block A, directly opposite the gate.

The buildings were painted in white colours as white colours had always been a beauty to behold. Immediately I sighted Nene, the good Samaritan in me ignited as I left the window for my door, hoping to render any service Nene wanted.

I heard her footsteps approaching as she was climbing the third floor. I had already summarised a way to initiate communication with her.

Nene was already soaked from the rain as the water was drizzling from her gown, and Nene was shivering.

"Oh, sorry, Nene," I began to say those crammed words, and the response returned as anticipated.

"Thank you, Tee," Nene responded, as she called me a different name for the first time. I remembered telling Nene my name was Tenny, and since then, she has been calling me Tenny. However, today, I got a different name. I was joyful because it was a dream becoming a reality.

"Fine geh," why did you return under the rain? What happened to your car? I inquired.

I summoned the courage to call Nene' fine geh' because she had already called me a different name, so it became a situation of preparation meeting opportunity.

"My car developed a fault by Romeo Spot," replied Nene.

(Romeo Spot is a jazz bar by the junction leading to our estate.)

"Don't worry. 

(Tony is my mechanic, a dark fellow skilled in fixing Toyota cars.) After the rains, I'll call Tony to look at it."

"Can I assist you with anything," I asked Nene.

"Not really. If I need your assistance, I'll ring you." Nene responded as she unlocked her flat and entered, leaving me behind.

"Now them never leave me......., they have left me...."

I said to myself as I looked at the gate and developed cold feet, which indicated the mission failed because I had so much fantasy in my head as I had always admired Nene.

I returned to my flat and sat on my blue three-seater couch in my sitting room. This time, I turned on the music player and connected it to the Bluetooth on my phone as I began to play a selected fantastic mix from my phone.

Sunny Neji was playing, and the title was "Still The One...."

Ten minutes later, my phone rang. It was Happiness calling as I looked at my phone.

"Wetin Happiness deh call me for na? shey she say she no want me, why she deh worry me?" I muttered to myself as I allowed the phone to ring without answering.

Happiness is a colleague of mine in the Nations Development Organisation. She serves in the Protocol department, while I do in the Documentation department.

She called again, and I ignored her call for the second time as I continued my music.

The thunders were rumbling, and the rain still poured heavily as my phone beeped. It was a text message, and I opened it to see the sender and the content.

It was Happiness.

'Are you home, Tenny? I want to stop by and say hello in the next hour. Kindly respond.'

I responded immediately, 'Sorry, Happiness, I can't take calls right now, and I'm not home. I went to visit my uncle in Bolton Avenue.'

(Bolton Avenue is about 1hr drive from my house. )

'OK, noted. Some other time then,' came the response from Happiness.

Thoughts of Nene were just all over my mind.

Ten minutes after the conversation with Happiness, a call came into my phone. This time, it was Nene calling.

Watch out for the next episode.