[center][/center]Waiting To Go Home
By Akpan James Unyime
©2016
Published by
The Oracle Centre for Leadership & Development

No part of this work shall be reproduced, whether in part or in whole, without a written permission from the author or publisher.

Hello guys/ gals, am kind of excited to make this post.
The story you are about to read is purely my work but inspired by the socio-political trend of my country. it is not aimed at iinsulting or demeaning any individual or group.

I was initially hesitant to tell my story but after reading the works of great nairaland writers llike Auddry Timms and Mizqoute, i am motivated to write.

I may not measure up to these great writers but i hope you will enjoy my strory, nontheless.



[center][/center]Waiting To Go Home
By Akpan James Unyime
©2016
Published by
The Oracle Centre for Leadership & Development

No part of this work shall be reproduced, whether in part or in whole, without a written permission from the author or publisher.

Hello guys/ gals, am kind of excited to make this post.
The story you are about to read is purely my work but inspired by the socio-political trend of my country. it is not aimed at iinsulting or demeaning any individual or group.

I was initially hesitant to tell my story but after reading the works of great nairaland writers llike Auddry Timms and Mizqoute, i am motivated to write.

I may not measure up to these great writers but i hope you will enjoy my strory, nontheless.



[center][/center]Waiting To Go Home
By Akpan James Unyime
©2016
Published by
The Oracle Centre for Leadership & Development

No part of this work shall be reproduced, whether in part or in whole, without a written permission from the author or publisher.

Hello guys/ gals, am kind of excited to make this post.
The story you are about to read is purely my work but inspired by the socio-political trend of my country. it is not aimed at iinsulting or demeaning any individual or group.

I was initially hesitant to tell my story but after reading the works of great nairaland writers llike Auddry Timms and Mizqoute, i am motivated to write.

I may not measure up to these great writers but i hope you will enjoy my strory, nontheless.



PROLOGUE
What a place! Its only source of light radiated from a throne. There seems to be aa great flush of light from there to every part of the city. This sort of gives th city a lighted look, oterwise, the place woud had been in darkness.

The light was like unto a stone, most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal. The streets of the city were pure gold as it were transparent glass.

Every building was well decorated both internally and externally, as if the best decorator was hired to do the job. I saw a beautiful building with a well kept lawn and decorated garden. It had my name on it and my heart leapt for joy.

A river ran across the city and its contents were used to water its trees, gardens and lawns.

I didn't find any court house there. It probably means nobody would be charged. There was no pollice station either, because nobody gets arrested here. As i looked aaround the place, i discovered the doors of the building had no key-holes on them. The gates of the city, which, by the way, were made of pure gold, had no locks. one thing came to my mind - there were no thieves here. There was also no need for a hospital because nobody gets hurt or sick in this city.

There was no night for the throne gave its light at all times. Everyone with smiling, loving faces, knew what to do and did them with great joy.

Although i saw a great number of people within the city and a great deal more passing through the open gates into the city, i noticed that most of the buildings were still uninhabited and i wondered why more people have not discovered this city.

My God! There were enough mansions for everyone. The entire atmosphere of this place looked inviting, comfortable and homely. I smiled to no one in particular and said to myself, "Oh boy! This must be home".

[left][/left]With patched eye lids
That have seen years of
Hostilities & hardship;
Coupled with a heart that has
Been repeatedly
Broken and remended;
And lips that have forgotten
What it is like to smile:
I look forward to
Going home:
Where i can smile
And be smiled at:
Where if i fall,
A hand will be there
To pick me up:
Where i can die happy
Knowing i am home.
- Akpan J. U.

CHAPTER ONE
The place i once knew had a handful of trees. I remember birds used to chirp on them. The air, though fresh, used to have taste of mild smoke of burning firewood usually mixed with the aroma that comes from the nearby cooking pot.

There was also the usual bustling of activities around the vicinity; like children playing in the heat, woman pounding food in thier morter, the roaring of a car engine every now and then, the popular tunes from a stereo as well as the clanging or rotating sound that comes from the tools of a skilled workman.

This was the place i knew as home. However, this was not what i met on arrival. The trees looked bare and the one or two birds found on tthem made no sound worth noticing. There was something about the air. Not that i knew what it was. But i remember, the thought of it did give me the creeps.

There was no child playing outside. No sound of women pounding their food in the mortar. No roaring of a car engine - except for that of the taxi that came to drop us. The usual workman's noise that had so much become a part of this environment was also missing.

As i sat on one of our luggages, i took another glance at my environment - just in time to see Eddie pay the driver our fare. As if to re-assure myself where we were wasn't where i thought we were. The young man was walking up to me as our taxi disappeared in the dust with a certain sound that suggests it was not happy to had been here in the first place and was more than glad to leave. Almost by reflex, i felt i should had left with it.

'Son', i wanted to know, 'when are we going home?'
Eddie looked at me in utter amazement. With outstretched arms, he declared proudly, 'Dad, this is home!'
'Oh my God', i thought, 'my fears were true afterall. This' home?'

I looked around me again and i saw my house - not looking so bad afterall, especially considering the years we had been away.

I noticed our neighbours peeping through their windows and doors. Some of them were familiar. But they looked ever so scared and hostile.

The air didn't taste of the aroma from the cooking pot. There was nothing pleasant about it.

To say the least, there was nothing homely about this place. Infact, i hated the very thought of it as home.

'This' no home', i uttered in disgust. 'I want to go home!'

########

The story continues during the week in bits as i get the opportunity. However, most of my updates will be during weekends.

Hope u are having an interesting read, though? Feel free to drop ur comments.

Do have a fulfilling week ahead.

#kisses
#hugs

'There is no need looking so disturbed Ralph dear. I think what the professor is saying is that there is a need for everyone to support the government for it to succeed, right prof?'

'Eeh, yes. Absolutely, yes. That's it,' I said, supporting Mrs Egwim in coaxing her husband to allay his fears of oour nascent democracy.

' I am not saying we shouldn't support the government. peolpe. But not all of us should be in government if this nation must move forward.

'We need people, sane people, like you - Professor, to be outside the government to help fuel the engine that drives their wheel of progress'. Dr Egwim said with remarkckable passion.

'There is really nothing wrong in being in government', I said in reply. 'Infact, this country needs experts like you and me for it to move to the next level of development.'

Dr. Egwim looked at me, shaking his head sadly. I could see pity in his eyes. Was it for me, the Republic or the government of the day? I couldn't tell. And, seriously, i didn't care as at the time.

It had been a night of wining and dining organised by the Computer Professionals Registration council in my honour.

It had been exactly 21 days since my arrival from self imposed exile. The professional body had deemed it fit to honour me by throwing a party to welcome me back to the country.

The movers and shakers of the educational, business as well as political world had been present to grace the occasion.

Even the Vice President of the Republic had not only been in attendance, but had gone on to wait after making his speech, for the chit-chat session, during cocktail, where he had exchanged pleasantries with most of the invited guests present.

He had approached me afterwards, with a handshake, saying i was most welcome back home. He continued that he hope for the opportunity where my wealth of knowledge and experience in the computer and iinternet world can be put to use in not only "developing our country but in maintaing our nascent democracy as well."

I cringed at the mention of the word "home".

I had not felt at home since my arrival back to my country of origin.

I had bluntly rejected previous invitations of one group or the other that has to do with public gathering. I felt their way of reasoning was different from mine.

I was not valued when i was here. I was even denied a doctorate degree thirty five years ago when my thesis was not accepted by a committee of internal and external examiners of the university.

All effort to seek redress in the court of law proved abortive as i was denied justice.

Had my work been accepted and my doctorate degree consequently awarded, at 27, i would had been the youngest Phd holder in the republic.

Some disgruntled elements at the university obviously saw my star and decided that it be quenched before it got the chance to shine.

In my own estimation, denying me a Phd was a plot to stop me from outshining these elements.

I had continued as a lecturer in the said university with my Masters degree(I got the job in the first place because i was given automatic employment having graduated from my first degree with a first class).

I continued to research on several area of interests. I published more papers than all the lecturers in the university put together. The number of my published works almost halfed the published work of all the other lecturers in the country.

I attended local and international seminars and conferences.

It was impossible for me not to shine under the circumstance.

I became a visiting lecturer to two American universities. a British university and the prestigious Melbourne Institute of Technology, Victoria in Australia.

I made money. I made name as a prolific lecturer, even with my Masters.

I wanted more than that. I wanted to make aname for myself outside the ivory towers.

I wanted to be a name to be reckoned with when it comes to my chosen area of expertise.

It was during my trips to MIT, Australia, that i had my Phd and qas fiinally awarded a doctorate degree in Mathematics and Computer Simulations nineyears after i was first denied the degree.

I became a force to be reckoned with in my country. By now i was already the president of the Academic Staff Union of universities (ASUU).

I used my office to fight against injustice and better working/ living condition of lecturers in the Republic.

I was rugged. I was dogged. Governments of the day had no choice than to bow to the union and by inferenrce, to me.

Until the regime of a very powerful and ruthless dictator. He didn't play by the rules. He had no rule. He was the master of himself. He was almost regarded as a god. A viscious god.

He dealt with people of my kind without mercy. Many of them disappeared mysteriously. I knew the same fate awaits me if i didn't check out.

I left with the pretence of going for one of my overseas lectures, since my movement was closely monitored after i refused to sign the document supposedly from our union that our nationwide strike had been called off even when not one of our demands had been met.

The dictator had asked us (all menbers of the national executives) to sign the document calling off the strike and throwing our weight behind him in his 1 million man youth march. It was to endorse him as a civilian head of state without an election.

For our trouble, my exco members were given 5 million U.S. dollars each. As the president, i was offered 15 million U.S. dollars.

Had that been the only offer, it would had been easy to say NO.

However, there was another offer. A more enticing offer.

My colleagues were given 5 million U.S. dollars each, while 15 million U.S. dollars was offered to me to cacall off ththe nationwide university lecturers' strike and to lend our weight behind the planned bid of the military dictator to trnsform himself to a "civilian dictator".

He came to us prepared. He came with hands full of cash. It was warm and enticing.

He also came with a hand holding a gun. It was cold and far more enticing than the first offer.It wasn't something any of us could resist.

The other members of the executive accepted the offer of 5 million U.S. dollars. They told the dictator's representatives so.

I licked my lips. It was dry. Very dry.

But i was undetered. i told them i wanted time to think about it. I was asked how much time i needed. I told them i needed a month. I was given a week.

Fortunately, i had a sheduled flight for Australia the next day for my lectures at MIT, Victoria - Australia.

Immediately i got to my house in Victoria, i got a call from the Republic High Commission in Australia that the Commissioner of the Republic to Australia wanted to see me.

I was puzzled. Was i under any form of investigation? Wasn't i given a week to think about their offer? I was sure to be back before the end of the week.

As i dropped the phone receiver, my door beel rang. I go to it to find the High Commissioner starring at me in the face.

His eyes looked watery. He was completely uneasy. He asked to come in. i stood aside to allow him and another aide of his through.

I was taken aback when he actually asked if i needed to have something to drink.

This was my house for God's sake. I should be the one asking if he wanted anything to drink and not the other way round.

I told him so. He looked away and said he was still on duty and so was not permitted to drink.

I shrugged in response as i didn't want to press the matter.

He then asked me to take a seat (they were already comfortably seated even though i never offered them seats).

I obliged.

"You know, i shouldn't be the one to tell you this..." he began.

"We have the utmost respect for you and what you have been advocating for back home..."

My head was spinning.

"I regret to tell you that your wife died in and autocrash a few hours ago.

"Please accept..."

I went blank. I practically lost touch with reality and the world around me.

I had freezed out.

How dare he?

He promised that i was given a week to make up my mind.

Couldn't he had given me the benefit of doubt and waited?

It was a good thing that my son, Eddie, was already in Australia. We were there for each other. Well, it wasn't as if we had that much of a choice, anyway.

What was also painful was the fact that neither Eddie nor i was able to attend my wife's funeral for fear of possible harm from the dictator cum god.

Actually, i had wanted to attend, damnining the consequences. But the Australian High commission in the Republic warned against the idea. The didn't actually say the dictator killed my wife.

The best they came close to saying it, was that it wasn't safe to visvisit my country of birth, yet.

The dictator, however, didn't exceed that same year. He had died in June.

I have it on good authority that he had died on the laps of a certain woman named Delilah.

I was honestly shocked when i heard of his death.

I didn't think the man could die.

I couldn't bring myself to believe that he was capable of dying.

How could he?

He was supposed to be a god!

His successor didn't spend up to six months in office before handing over to a civilian administration.

I followed the events in my country until that ccivilian administration went through two terms in office and handed over to the next.

So, you can see, it baffles me when people like the vice president of the present administration still call oour democracy "nascent".

Maybe it's because, when compared to the democracy of other countries, ours is "nascent".

Eddie had been the first to return to the Republic, three years ago.

He seems not to be doing bad as the system analyst of one of the oil companies in tthe country.

He had taken after his father and gone on to obtain a Masters degree in Computer Science Applications from the MIT.

Indeed, i am extremely proud of him even though he had not gone the way of the academies in becoming a lecturer.

It was Dr. Egwim's question that brought me back to the present.

"What do you intend to do now you are back?"

I felt uneasy. I had not really given it a thought. Not that i was still in active service. i had announced my retirement as a lecturer in Australia.

However, in the Republic, i knew i would get engaged in something even if i didn't want to involve myself in any.

"Well... let's just see whay the tide brings our way", i responded to Dr. Egwim.

He smiled and said i can operate as a consultant.

"There are many banks and oil companies in this country which can gain ffrom your ingenuity in Computer Simulations and Mathematics."

I looked at him with a straight face but was already disgusted at our over-relliance on the oil industry.

Nobody seems to bother how computer simulations can help in the solid mineral sector, the environment or even the media as well as security.

The party was over and i was on my way home. The chauffeur assigned to me by the institute drove smoothly through the busy but flowing traffic until he pulled over just in front of my gate.

I had not been okey with the idea of building a house and putting up a gigantic fence and gate to secure it.

I had wanted to be in tune with my environment. And i had wanted my environment to be in tune with me.

It had been Eddie's doing, to have all these round my lovely looking house, all in the name of security.

Security my foot!

Dear readers, una don see dis kind thing before?

How person go build house finish come turn am to prison yard sake for say him want secure the same house?

My chauffeur openned the door to allow me step out of the car.

In a flash, as if in a trance, i saw the image of a beautiful young lady smiling at me.

It was gone as soon as it came.

I felt i had seen the face before but i couldn't place where.

I gasped and moved to the gate. It was open before i could touch it. The security man Eddie hired had already openned it.

I had not failed to remind Eddie that the old man he hired as a security man was not capable of protecting himself, let alone, both of us.

Eddie had said he trusted the old man more than the younger security men we have around.

Besides, the old man came highly recommended. I decided not to ask on what grounds he was actually recommended.

This is because i guess he was recomended based on trust and not actually on his ability to protect us.

Hmmmmmmmm...

I openned my front door and walked in slowly. The house was extremely quiet.

I noticed something on the floor and bent to pick it.

It was a G-string.

I dropped it as if it was live coal.

It was then i heard it. At first, it sounded like a faint laugh.

Then i heard the moans. Each growing louder than the first.

I listened. It was coming from Eddie's room.

I heard it stronger, right there in the living room.

The room was partially dark, except for the two dim coloured lights on opposite ends of the wall.

Adjusting my eyes to the environment was easy enough but being able to see through the blurr was a different ball game altogether.

As i made a move towards my room. I thought i saw something move a bit around the dinning area.

It was then i saw it.

Right there in my living room my 33 year old Eddie was dancing konko-below with a girl.

I couldn't help but scream. It was then they sensed my presence.

I was visibly irritated. Eddie was speechless. Even his John Thomas had been reduced to the scale of 1:100 in a twinkling of an eye.

The poor girl stood in confusion looking at me but also scanning the vast room, obviously searching for where on earth she could had dropped her dress.

She wrapped her hands round her bossom. But when she saw her pubic region was very much exposed, she took her hands there, now exposing her obviously succulent and voluminous bossoms.

I vented my anger on her when i noticed she cpuld not be more than 17 years old.

"You idiot! was this how your mother gave birth to you?

"What woman sleeps with a man in the living room of his father's house?

"Don't you have any shame in you?"

The stupid girl's response was:

"No, sir," with the bowing of both knees as she said so.

She was finally able to locate her dress under the centre table. She slid it over her head and bolted for the door.

She didn't even bother to look for her bra and G-string.

When she left, i turned to Eddie who had succeeded in putting on his troussers my now.

"I am very disappointed in you Eddie."

"Dad, you embarrased me before my guest!"

Did you hear that? Sorry, read that?

This world don spoil o!

"I know i was wrong in allowing you see what just happened but you have no right to remind me i still live with my father. what's that supposed to mean? You know i can afford to have my own house.

"You over-grown weed in a ccassava plantation, was that ourtburst supposed to be for me?"

It was true Eddie was bouyant enough to live in his own house. He can at least afford to buy a choice land in the metropolis and put up an adifice just like mine, if not better.

But the young man had no right whatsoever to talk about my embarrasing him.

For god's sake, he was shacking a girl in my living room!

I don't suppose the girl to be his girlfriend, otherwise she would had been introduced to me long before now.

Besides, no responsible girl would accept to shack a guy in his father's living room.

My people, abeg, no be true i talk so?

#################
"My brothers and sisters, you need to trust in the lord.

"It is only God who can truly be of help in time of need.

"Trust him for he can never fail you.

"Stop putting your trust in your father or mother, even that your rich uncle may fail you because they are human beings, too aand they too are susceptible to error.

"In the book of John chapter five verse seven, the impotent man answered the Lord Jesus, 'Sir, i have no man...'

" Is that not ouf excuse today for not trusting in the Lord?

"Who would blame you? In a country where many children cannot attend school because their parents are either poor or dead. Youths finding it difficult to get a job because they have nobody to recommend or help them secure such positions.

"Businessmen losing lucrative contracts because they have no inside man or big gun to help them pull the necessary strings.

"Deserving sports men and women not getting called up to the national team because they have no man tto recommend them.

"A woman would feel better loved and respected if she has a man in her life who is ready to make the commitment and take her to the alter.

"A pastor would feel God is actually giving answer to his prayers if he has rich and influential individuals as members of his congregation.

"A salesman would think he has better chances of meeting his target if he has contact to ththe movers and shakers of the society.

"Getting promoted wouldn't be difficult if a staff has someone to proect his interest in the management.

"Come to think of it, is there anything man can do or achieve in this life without the help of another man?