''The best ingredient to ambition is Zeal!'' ...they say. But
I would rather say that, the best ingredient to ambition is Priority and
Diligence.
Everyday I seat right in front of these graves, wishing I
could undo some things. Unfortunately, there is a limit to what I can do and
undo because I am not God. I feel writing to ‘’Oti Stories’’ would give me some
degree of relief because
I would be able to stop a great deal of readers from stepping into the same shoes that has brought me to the point of sitting before these graves everyday. Well, it all started after I attended a seminar back then in School, 100level to be precise…….
CLICK HERE FOR PREVIOUS STORY ''My Husband, My Boss''
I would be able to stop a great deal of readers from stepping into the same shoes that has brought me to the point of sitting before these graves everyday. Well, it all started after I attended a seminar back then in School, 100level to be precise…….
CLICK HERE FOR PREVIOUS STORY ''My Husband, My Boss''
“Wow! I must step up my game … “ I said to myself with great
determination, after listening to a female speaker who talked so much about
feminism, about women being in control, about attaining goals that would place
you in key positions no matter the cost.
One could say that, that was
me been positively influenced. Hmmm… Maybe I was (sighs).
So, I began to study hard, and harder. I didn’t care about
the cost. Yes. I paid the price; neglecting my looks, had no social life, spent
more on educational materials, barely ate etc. Thank God, I graduated
successfully with a first class.
2 years later, even after I got a job, after job hunting for
about 10 months the words of that lady at the seminar were still very fresh to
me. In fact, back then in school, I made her words my screensaver, and wrote
them on places I could easily see them
until, it built up a passion in me which later turned into an obsession. Then,
I felt if I could graduate with a first class, only then would I succeed. But
it was a great shock to me that on most of my job interviews, candidates who
graduated with lower grades were always preferred to me. Do you want to know why? You’ll find out later
as you read. Back to the Story!
Still trying to get my feet on the ground, I met this cool
guy named Kyle, and we got married 18
months after we met. Life was pretty smooth. I had a decent job, happily married to a comfortable guy who happens to
be a visionaire
One Saturday afternoon, as I was doing my shopping at the
mall, I met someone…..
AMAKA: Excuse me lady… you look familiar! Aren’t you…..
ME: A…..M….A…K…..A…… right?
LADIES: WOWWWW! (exchanges pleasantries..)
AMAKA: News Flash! Look, I have found our brainee. I hope
you made good use of your first class. Gosh, I have to leave now…..
ME: (Drop in smile)
AMAKA: (dips hand in bag) …. Here’s my card. Call me
anytime, please…. (runs off)
ME: (Puts card in bag and returns to shopping), (thinking)…
wow, look that is the Amaka I used to
look down on in school…. She’s feeling
important… I wonder what she does now… well she’s looking good though… Well,
looks are deceptive……(continues shopping)
KYLE: Welcome babe… how was shopping? You forgot your card
on the dinning table…. I hope you didn’t run out of cash…. Did you even notice
that……….. wait… are you crying??? What’s the matter again? Did I just say
something wrong? (puts down his laptop and draws closer to his wife)
ME: (fakes smile in tears and hands a piece of well designed
paper to her husband, gets up and walks out of the room)
KYLE: (looking very confused) What is the meaning of this?
(bash…. The slam of the bedroom door as his wife steps out the kitchen.
> EXCERPTS FROM KYLE'S DIARY.....
That day was the beginning of it all. Days passed by, then
months and my wife would barely speak to me nor the kids (Henry and Harriet; 15
and 13 years old respectively)
She kept crying and minding her own business. I kept asking
my wife what the problem was, but she would never say anything meaningful.
After about 6 months, something strange happened. I was at
work when my phone rang…wow, it was my wife calling…
KYLE: he…l...l…..o
WIFE: Yea… Good afternoon. Please I need a favour from
you. Do you still have that stuff I gave
you? Please text me directions to where you kept it.
(Hangs up)
I knew exactly what
she meant. And when she handed that piece of paper to me I decided to keep it
because I was confused but something in me felt her recent attitude was linked
with it.
At last!, she was ready to talk for the first time about her
recent attitude that evening.
WIFE: You see this paper? It belongs to ...............
CLICK HERE FOR PART 2