This is a story of one particular Saturday morning in the city of Umuahia, Nigeria. The birds could be heard chirping and singing on the nearby palm trees that stood tall about the road verge. The serene sounds of nature were mixed with the clanging of pots, swishing of broomsticks as they swept, prayers and conversations coming from the neighborhood.
Today seemed no different for Chinyere, the 56 year old dark skinned lady that lived alone in the only purple duplex in the neighborhood. She never needed an alarm to wake up as she had the same morning routine almost everyday, so it was all a habit. Working from home, Chinyere had a lot of time to herself. Her children were all away in Dubai and also took care of her when she needed it.
She opened her eyes while laying in her bed that was covered with a milky white sheet. She looked at the red clock that stood right on top of the brown drawer next to her bed. The time was 6 o'clock. She immediately got up and put her feet into her rabbit fur pair of slippers which still looked good as new, although it had been around for almost five years.
"There's no way I'll let these useless stuff around the house stay another day here," she thought to herself. She decided the night before that she would remove all the things that she didn't need anymore out of the house and contact a recycling agent to take them away. So, without wasting any more time, she quickly got out of bed, rinsed her face at the tap in her bathroom and began to remove all the things she saw as unimportant to the yard, first starting with her room which was upstairs.
When she was done with upstairs, she to picked up her phone and called the recycling agents to come over. She decided that she'll be almost done before they came over.
After the call, she headed downstairs to do some more work over there. She handled the living room and then the kitchen. There was a spare room downstairs that contained a lot of items she needed to throw away. As she turned the door knob and opened the door of the room, she heaved a very deep sigh and shook her head. "This will take forever."
Some minutes later, she heard a knock at the gate of her yard. "Ah, finally ", she said. She left the room and went to the gate. It was a man in an orange shirt and blue jeans with a truck right behind him. The logo on the chest area of his shirt was the same as the logo on the truck.
"Good morning Ma'am"
"Ah yes, good morning, thanks for coming so quickly"
She quickly opened the gate as the man hopped into the truck and drove into the yard. He came out of the truck and an already sweaty Chinyere came up to him.
"You can start by packing up these ones in the yard and then after you're done with that, you can come and help me inside"
"Sure thing Ma'am"
The man seemed a lot like the shy, introverted type. That was what Chinyere needed now- someone that won't talk too much and just get the job done. He was a slim tall man that rocked a buzz cut and a clean shaven chin.
She went back inside as the man continued work. The man finished loading up the items in the yard on his truck quickly and came in to help Chinyere.
"Are you done so quickly?"
The man just chuckled. Chinyere directed him to the work he should do and he got to it right away. As she was searching through the kitchen, she found a dusty old box. It was like a treasure chest in pirate fantasies. Spiders scurried off from the chest as she reached her hand out to grab it.
"I don't remember this being here", she thought.
She opened the box and found a teddy bear in it. Right beside the teddy bear was an old photo. In the photo was a younger Chinyere from thirty seven years back with a young man that seemed about her age in the photo too, both of them smiling. She couldn't believe her eyes. It was as though she had been taken into another realm where she stood outside her body and watched that event from thirty seven years ago as it happened.
It was a cool day in the middle of April in the year 1982, in a town called Oyibo in Port Harcourt, Nigeria. An eighteen year old Chinyere just moved in from her home in Umuahia to an apartment there to study at a closeby university. She was a slim looking girl that kept a braided hairstyle which was very short. She was new to the environment and didn't have any friends. However, she decided that she won't be a loner.
On a light pole outside of her apartment, she saw a poster for a carnival. She read the poster, "Felipe Carnival, 6:00pm on Sunday. Come with your friends." She thought for a while and said out loud, "that's it! I'll go to the carnival and make some friends."
When the day came, she was so excited. The carnival was huge and filled with lots of people from far and near. Festive lanterns were hung on poles and buildings. There was food everywhere accompanied by the sound of cool music and dancing by performers.
Chinyere tried to force herself into every single conversation group, but they all didn't even want to relate with her. She seemed a bit weird in behavior to everyone she came across. After so much trial, she became exhausted and depressed and decided to leave the carnival.
On her way out, faced down, deep in thoughts, she didn't even know when someone was approaching her.
"Hey where are you going? The carnival is the other way"
She looked up to see who was talking- and whether it was her that was being spoken to. Right in front of her was a slim boy that was about her age, dark skinned, a little taller than her and with a confused look on his face awaiting a response.
"Oh, nothing. I guess staying at home will do"
"Really? Then your home must be pretty fun huh?"
*" (chuckles) no. This just doesn't seem right for me.""
"Are you for real right now? This is a bi-annual thing. You need to enjoy it while it lasts."
" (sighs) I gotta get going home now alright? I'm not having much fun."
"Alright. What if you started having fun right now? Will you stay?"
"What do you mean?"
"Follow me."
The boy grabbed her hand and took her for a tour round the carnival. They both ate so much food, met people, danced around and had so much fun. It was a whole new experience for Chinyere. She became so happy. Chinyere asked the boy,
"Seems like you're used to this kinda things, huh?"
""Uh, yeah. I've lived here since I was born. My parents are from here too. I also go to school here."*
"Oh cool, I go to school here too."
*" (laughs) what a coincidence!""
"Yeah, I guess so. Maybe I can see you around sometime."
" Sure thing. Wow, we gotta play this last game before you go (points at a stall for a game where a target must be hit with a ball ten successive times to win a gift). They say these gifts are relics from the past."
He took her by the hand to the stall and paid some money to play. Chinyere asked him;
"How sure are you that you'll win?"
"I always win. I've been doing this since I was a kid."
After paying about two more times, the boy won a teddy bear and looked at it for some time.
"Here, I want you to have it."
"Huh? but YOU won it."
"Yeah, but I have a bunch of these at home already. Here, take it (gives her the teddy bear).
" (takes it and smiles) well it IS cute. Thank you.
" (calls out a nearby photographer) Hey, can you come take us a photo?
The photographer comes over. They both stand side by side. "Alright, smile," the photographer says. They smile and he takes a photo. The boy pays for the photo and hands it over to Chinyere.
"Bye Chinyere, see you around."
Chinyere looks at the photo, smiles and then looks up to see the boy already going.
"Wait! Hold up! I didn't get your name."
The boy looks back at her, smiles and says,
"I'm Frank."
"Ma'am I'm done," the recycling agent called out.
"Huh? Oh, that's good."
Chinyere's mind had returned to the present from when she had first met her now late husband.
"Thanks for your help. Here's your pay (hands the man some money.)"
The man counts the money and smiles and thanks Chinyere. Pointing at the box behind Chinyere, the man said,
"should I take that one too?"
After some silence from her, she says,
*"No, I think I'll keep it." *