As the door to her room banged against the wall, Tobi woke up with a startle, initially scared of what the commotion might be; she sat up quickly with her heart beating rapidly. She was surprised to find her best friend and flatmate at the door. Tobi quickly settled back in the bed both in relief and in tiredness, she must have been sleeping for a long while, she thought to herself.
“Don’t tell me I woke you. Do you know what time it is?” Jumoke asked with unbelief in her voice. Tobi looked away from her friend to confirm the time of the day from the wall clock hanging on the wall opposite her bed. Yes, she definitely had been sleeping for a long while.
“I did not even know you were in, I just wanted to come and steal something”, Jumoke continued talking as she advanced into the room. Tobi hissed almost apologetically and annoyingly. She pulled herself up from the bed and left her best friend to ransack the drawers. Only God knows what it was she needed this time.
Her best friend Jumoke Adebanjo has been the bane of her existence and the only salvation she got when all the troubles of life had knocked her down.
They both share a
two room flat in Gbagada, they moved into it about three months back, thanks to her brother Tolu Adebanjo who initially rented the apartment and at the last minute changed his mind but asked Jumoke and Tobi to move into it instead. He was called for a job offer in Canada and the offer was too good to be true, but true it was.
The 2 bedroom flat sits in the compound holding other flats, 4 flats in all; they were introduced round by their caretaker who was not too comfortable with the idea of 2 single ladies staying in the compound since it was a man that paid for the apartment previously.
Tolu was able to convince him that if he had gotten the apartment which of course he did, he might not be staying there as often as expected. He asked him to refund the money if he was not comfortable with them staying the apartment, but of course, money was not refundable and so they were able to move in.
The process of buying furniture and other appliances they could not rob Jummy’s parents’ house of were bought by the jolly friends; they went shopping and shared the money equally, they never complained. Jummy’s father even joked they married the same day so that no one would feel cheated out of the deal, and if there would be any problem about sharing the appliances and furniture, that he would be there to be the judge and would simply donate all to the motherless baby home. Trust a judge nau!
They are close, too close for rumors sometimes. Jumoke is the lively and chatty one while Tobi is the chatty shy type, both complement each other. No one knows if Tobi’s shyness is due to the fact that she lived with her friend’s parents for close to 11 years or she was just shy naturally.
In her shyness, she was quite intelligent back in school too; an A parallel student in class activities and also a born teacher, Jummy also was a very intelligent girl, but Tobi was bolder and more intelligent and because of her boldness in teaching, she took teaching her mates to a new level by writing small notes out of the bogus teachers’ notes for her friends, summarizing and making points into codes so they could understand better.
Both were chosen to represent their school for competitions and that was how they met in the first place and from there became inseparable. Jummy could not stop mentioning this to her father who was impressed with his daughter’s friend. He often sent gifts to her and on PTAs’day when Tobi’s parents could not make it, he would stand in for them both, claiming he’s also Tobi’s father. Soon they started inviting her over for birthdays, parties and church programs; of course, she was not able to attend all, especially due to objections from her mother.
In the year they were to take the WAEC, Tobi’s father was involved in an accident that left him fatally injured, no one knew the situation of things ununtil she was picked up from school before the closing hours by her uncle. Everyone in school knew something was wrong; they were not just sure what it was, Tobi returned the week after to resume school for a ‘while’, before she “would be moved to join another school for the WAEC in Abeokuta”.
The reason her Uncle picked her was for her to pay a final farewell to her father as the only child and as a Muslim, the burial had to be done before evening. She remembered crying the most that day and no one at the funeral could witness the burial and her wails without shedding tears of their own. Her mother had been inconsolable too, but the whole pity was directed towards the daughter.
At that time, all she could think of was her life without her father; he was her friend at home, when her mother always claimed she was being over indulged. He claimed they had no choice, who else was there to compete with her anyway. He was her advisor, he loved her completely and her academic results always made him more proud of her especially because of her tender age; she was just 14 when she was promoted to SS3.
Months after her father’s death, everything fell apart, her mother’s petty Kerosene business could not fetch the required school fees especially since she had to shut down the business for over a month in order to fully mourn her husband as the tradition expected.
Two (2) months to the exams, her mother visited her school and almost cried her eyes out at the school principal’s office begging him to help in transferring her daughter to take exams in a school in Abeokuta, the man said she was asking for a difficult thing especially since the exams were just 2 months away. However, after she was notified that their rent was due for payment the following month and no hope of getting money from anywhere for the renewal and her in-laws asking her to move in with her husband’s brother and all other suggestions that did not settle well with Adijat, she decided to move back to her uncle’s place in Abeokuta where she was sure she would be well taken care of.
The principal, however, had argued it would not be easy and asked her to find somewhere to keep Tobi for the duration of the exam, Tobi was cooperative till she saw her father’s friend, Alhaji come to their house to move some of her things to Abeokuta. She was suspicious of him and asked what was happening; her mother told her she would be staying with him for a while but because of her exams, she might have to stay with a friend of hers till the end of her exams.
Tobi spoke with her friend Jummy with tears the following day, telling her she might move to Abeokuta if her mother’s friend would not take care of her well. Jummy on the other hand said she was sure she would fail the exams if Tobi moved. She got home that afternoon when her father was about leaving the house for the court. He could not leave his princess with a sad face when he saw how saddened the face looked.
After some minutes of petting and demanding to know what the matter was, he was able to get the information from Jummy and asked if she would like Tobi to come and stay with them. Of course, that was why she impressed it on him that she was sad. She felt that would be better, considering they could study together without unnecessary inhibitions.
‘The following day, Jummy’s father went with his daughter to see Tobi and with permission of the principal, he drove with her to her mother’s stall. She was not sure if she could impose on them in such way especially since his wife was not there, how can she be sure they would take her in.
They agreed to meet at the Adebanjo’s house on a Saturday, which she did. That was almost 11 years ago, she never moved in with her mother’s new husband, she only visited.
Back in the present, in their well decorated their flat; having stayed together for over 10 years, choosing the decoration for their apartment was not difficult anymore, they have become a family. Tobi walked to the sitting room, took her place in front of the plasma TV, grabbed the remote control and changed the stations hoping to find something on the TV that would interest her.
Jumoke emerged from Tobi’s room, entered into her own room to do God knows what. She probably found what she was looking for. Tobi finally settled for a music station, she watched with interest and a smile on her face.
The microwave clinked from the kitchen and Jummy ran out to bail out whatever was in it, the lovely smell of Ewa-agoin filled the sitting room as she placed the plate on the small black round table that served as their dining table in the corner of the sitting room.
“Did you buy ewa-agoin this afternoon?”
“No o. sorry, I know you don’t like it, but I bought it this morning before I left to remove my braids”
“No problem, this one smells nice”
Jummy’s ring tone interrupted whatever reply she was about to give, she pulled out her phone from her jeans pocket. With the million dollar smile on her face, it was easy to guess who the caller was her brother or her boyfriend; but Tobi would bank on her…
“Tolu, how far?” Her brother, she guessed right.
If everything is normal, their conversation would not end anytime soon. They have always been close, he is four years her senior but their closeness would make them pass as twins. He has always been her role model. When Tobi joined their family at 15, then her best friend’s brother was 19 and already in the University in his third year. Then they were both in SS3. They got into the university together at 16 and her brother was on his industrial training. In their second year in the university, he was in his final year. In their third, he already graduated and on his way for NYSC. In their final year in the university, he moved to Canada for his Master’s degree while they continued with NYSC.
They had since finished their NYSC about 3 years ago. Tolu returned that same year for a job opportunity and his parent’s wish was for him to get married.
Their upbringing was opposite; Tolu and Jummy had all the money they needed while growing up while Tobi was brought up from a very difficult background. Her mother got married almost 6 months after her father’s death, an action that tore a big hole in their relationship with her step father who stayed in Abeokuta.
Both girls were brought up like twins; they ate together and dressed nicely. Jummy’s mother was like her mother and her father was the father she lost. She was as close to all of them except the son, Tolu. Their relationship was not sour or bad, it was just respectful and distant. The age gap was another contributor to this fact. He treated her with respect and a distant arm whenever he was around, he rarely was.
Tobi stood up from the couch and moved to the dining table to see the beans still very hot. She had never been a fan of ewa-agoin because of the pungent stew but to her surprise, she liked how this one smelled. She took a spoonful of beans and chewed almost like a model in TV advert. Her friend could be heard from her room. Tobi moved to the kitchen to pull out the left over bread to take the beans with. As she chewed away, she prayed her friend’s brother would not ask after her. She had not called him since he travelled 5 weeks back.
Jumoke returned some minutes later to find her plate of beans was almost finished, the plate was sitting pretty well in front of Tobi. As much as Jummy could recall, Tobi had never eaten Ewa-agoin. They stayed together for 8 years before NYSC and had been staying together again since they returned 3 years back. She had always complained of how it smelled. Jummy would tease that Tobi would wake from death just to spit out Ewa-agoin if it was forced down her throat.
“…Seriously?”Jummy asked her friend
Tobi looked up with a smile and continued eating.
“You know I bought that beans this morning for myself and when did you start eating this particular beans? She asked.
“This one smells nice; you have a new customer, I guess.”
“No it is the same woman and I needed that food for my tablets you know”
“What tablet?”
“For my menstrual cramps”
Ok, sorry. Lemme boil noodles for you”
“Do quickly” she said as she sat majestically waiting to be served.
“How come you are early this month?”
“I am not, it is 24th, normal date”
“24th, today is 24th?
The shock on her face and voice made Jummy look up from her phone. She watched her friend walk like a zombie to her room, seconds later, she heard the lock click.
What happened?’ Jummy asked in her absence.
…to be Continued
By Bisola
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