A MAN’S DESTINY EPISODE 1B.. ~ Linda Ikeji Gist

“Having two graduates is what I
have always
wanted, I thank God you guys
concluded
everything well.” Davies smiled and
sipped
from the mist-covered glass of
wine in his
right hand.
Pemisire plopped down the cushion
and gave
a long breath. “Dad! It wasn’t an
easy thing,
all the same, a man’s…”
“-destiny” Pemisayo concluded it
for her. She
grinned as she shook her head
wondering the
kind of twin sister she had.
Everyone knew her
with those words- a man’s destiny.
Pemisayo rested her back on the
chocolate-
brown sofa with flared arms.
Resting her back
couldn’t make her legs touch the
the white
terracotta tile in the living room
which ties the
interior to the exterior, practical
and easy-to-
clean type. She had to place her
legs on the
black glassy stool which was
dazzling
lustrous due to it’s reflectivity,
caused by the
eye-dimming illumination from the
wall
sconces whose sources were
concealed.
The living room was a big one with
an orange
curtain round the windows and a
49inch LCD
TV mounted to the wall, located
about a foot
below ceiling. It had two wall
mounted shelves
directly below the TV, two glass
coffee tables
with metal framing and two more
lamps and
leather recliner. As big as the
house was,
there was no derelict part in it.
Pemisayo stared at her twin sister-
Pemisire
and beamed. She was clad in a
black gown
whose fabric was sequenced
elegantly. She
looked smart and beautiful in the
dress. “Your
nickname.” She smiled.
“It’s the reality, if you guys don’t
know.” She
replied and licked her lower lip, she
smiled
and tweaked her nose. “A man’s
destiny will
surely get him what it has in stock,
either
good or bad. I think the prayer
should be –
God should help us change
anything bad in
our destinies to good one.” She
added.
“But in a man’s destiny, there are
some things
that might look somewhat bad but
they just
look that way just to get the man
to his or her
promise land, they are good
qualities.” Davies
chimed in as he dropped the wine
glass on the
stool before him and pressed his
lips together.
“Anyhow, I just know a man’s
destiny can’t be
changed.” Pemisire sprung to her
feet. “I guess
I have to ease myself.” She said as
she dusted
her skirt. As she stood, she was
five feet, seven
inches tall, dressed in a v-neck with
an oval
button which had a design of love
on it. She
wore a white skirt designed with
flowers, the
skirt had blue ruffles at the end
and the
flowers are light pink with yellow
pollen. She
also had a white belt at the middle
which
looked like strip.
Pemisire was elegant and rich in
glamour. If
words could describe perfection,
this would be
it. She was not chunky, neither
slim, ‘average’
could be the best word to use on
her.
“You and this english of yours…
how do you
guess you want to ease yourself?”
Pemisayo
chuckled.
“I’ve been feeling ill at ease for a
while, I think
it’s high time I urinated.” She
smiled and
walked in.
She walked slowly as she pressed
buttons on
her handheld until she flung the
door open
and yawned. It was late already,
she was tired
due to the stress she had that day.
She had to
dance with her friends at the get-
together
party for hours. After she had
eased herself,
she picked up her dairy and wrote
something
inside it.
She sat on her Queen-sized soft-
side bed and
drooped the dairy on it. The room
was a not
too big, it had richly coloured
tapestries on
the wall, fuzzy black accent pillows
with
leopard and tiger rugs and a pink
silk canopy.
The room was painted pink, floor to
ceiling
with two shelves in it. One of the
shelves had
books of various types- novels,
diaries and
some other textbooks while the
other was the
home of DVDs. There were also
one white
acoustic guitar, a nylon guitar and
an electric
one that all inclined against the
shelves.
The room also had a flat panel
television with
two black speakers at the front.
The dresser
held the personal undergarments
and
unmentionable. The room had a
centered
traditional chandelier with a
trasitional close-
to-ceiling fixture that produced the
basic
illumination and created a
welcoming
atmosphere. The air conditioner
and the
window was blacked out.
She sprawled on the bed when the
door to her
room screeched open. She dropped
her phone
and sat up. “Dad.” She called and
smiled
chivalrously.
Davies walked in with an attaché
case which
was a box-style case made of
leather,
scrunched over a hinged frame that
opens into
two compartments. “Daughter,
I’ve come here
because I think you can be
trusted.” He said
and sat beside her.
“Trust?” She repeated as she
squinted her face.
She wasn’t sure of what trust
meant at that
particular time. She knew
Lawrence- his friend
whom he trusted so much, she
wondered if he
had been sold down the river by
his friend, to
make him come to her. Wasn’t she
to be
trusted before? Since her mother
died of
cancer, Davies had no other person
who he
did confine in but Lawrence, was
there any
skirmish?
“Yes.” He smiled and dropped the
attaché
case on the floor. “Mart said he’s
going to die
soon.” He stopped abruptly and
swooshed out
a long breath. “He called me today
and gave
me this.” He pointed his index
finger at the
attaché case on the floor and faced
Pemisire.
“Promise me you will keep this as a
secret,
even from your twin sister.” He
dimmed his
eyes and looked more serious.
“I… do Dad.” She drawled. Her
father’s
reaction was getting suspicious,
what could be
in the case that he kept from his
friend and
even Pemisayo? Though, Pemisire
was an
easy-going type, she did talk but
wasn’t a
largiloquent type like her sister. All
she did do
was to admonish people concerning
life, she
was a serious and Godly lady.
“Good.” He smiled and continued
as he picked
up the case and placed it on his
laps. “This
attaché case contains Mart’s classic
documents. He said he insisted
that he must
be flown back to Nigeria because he
was sure
to die any moment and wouldn’t
want his
business to collapse. This case
contains
everything that has to do with all
he has all
over the world.” He was silent for a
while
before he opened the attaché case.
“According to him, anyone who has
this case
with him or her is already like him
already, a
multi-billionaire. He has no child,
neither a
wife, not even a person to be
trusted but me.
He told me what he had written in
his will,
that anyone with the classic
documents is
entitled to everything he has on
earth.”
Pemisire’s eyes widened. For
Davies to have
the classic documents, they’ve sure
have
caught a big fish. Who didn’t know
Mart
Foods all over Nigeria? It had
various
branches of the company in sixteen
states in
Nigeria and was a multi-billionaire.
His real
name was Michael Matthew and
coined the
name out of the latter. He had a
food-
processing companies, construction
companies where various raw
materials and
finished products were been
produced like-
Mart noodles, Mart sugar, Mart rice
and even
Mart cement.
“Dad.” She called him softly. She
was awed by
the explanations her father had
made and kept
breathing heavily. She stared at
him without
blinking, it was a vital thing that
her father
just got.
“Now, I’m not sure about my
safety.” He
sniffled. “If anything happens to
me, make
sure you keep this case as a secret
because I
see danger on the way. Please
Pemisire, know
the kind of person you put your
trust in, if
possible don’t trust anyone. I just
got to know
I’ve been confining in someone
who do not
wish me well. From all indications,
Lawrence
may attack me.”
“Dad, stop this joke! He’s your
friend now.”
“I got to know more about him
today. He
overheard everything Mart told me
and when I
left Mart’s place, he kept staring at
this
attaché case with me. He looked
annoyed and
was portend. In case anything
happens, make
away with this case with your twin
sister and
keep your identity unleaked
because every
man on earth, even his lawyer
would want to
have these documents.”
It was eight years already that he
had been
working at the headquarters of
Mart Foods
with his best friend- Lawrence. He
was a man
in his late fifties and a cheerful
type.
Pemisire smiled. “Nothing can
happen.”
“I pray so.” He said and closed the
attaché
case. He handed it over to her and
stood up.
“I have to leave now so that your
sister won’t
suspect anything.”
“But dad, this looks partial. You
should have
called her along.” Pemisire stood
carrying the
case with her two hands.
“It’s not that I’m being paranoid to
your sister,
the fact that she’s garrulous and I
know you’re
reticent.” He replied and walked
out of the
room.
————–
Richard walked into the bar- a
dusky and
dank place filled with best friends,
lovers or
maybe ex-lovers. As he walked in,
he
amalgamated the smell of drinks
and various
sweats that outraged his nostrils as
he
inhaled deeply. As he motioned
further, his
eyes were already adjusting to the
imminent
darkness. He turned his head and
looked
round, he could see seats that had
been filled
up. He walked with his friends to
the empty
barstroll in a corner where there
were bright
spots on the wall, illuminating faces
and
people in there.
He could then see that it wasn’t
totally dark,
it was his first time. “As usual.” Jay
said as
he smiled at the bartender and sat
down.
“As usual?” Richard muttered under
his breath
and took his seat. He placed his
wounded
hand on the table and continued
looking
around the bar, it seemed
someone was
smoking there. He finally found the
lady and
shook his head. “I think
meandering is far
better than all these things.” He
tapped Uche
as he spoke.
“Abeg oh, Richard! Why would you
meander?
Let’s drink and return home, this is
the only
way you can forget things easily.”
“Really? Drinking? All about
forgetting all the
bad things, right?” He smiled
faintly.
“Yes, it will wash down your
worries.” Jay
cooed.
Richard smiled faintly. “Red wine.”
He told
Jay. “And, what’s your usual?” He
asked.
Jay grinned. “You know say you be
small boy,
I take gin and tonic.”
“He’s new in the game..” Uche
chimed in,
smiling.
“Anyhow.” He hissed faintly and
smiled.
As he smiled, he looked down and
started
thinking again. He was muttering in
a way no
one would hear him, wondering if
God really
existed. If he did, why would he
give some
people long life and even
prosperity and on
the other hand, give some people a
short time
to live on earth. It was pestiferous!
Some
people would be filled with mirth,
while other
people lachyrmose.
He was in a flurry state. He was
melancholic.
It was usually a thing of great fear
whenever
he remembered his sister-
Christina as an
anemic patient. He had heard
many people
who did eventually die after all the
struggles
and pains.
He had always asked himself if
Christiana
wouldn’t end hers in the grave. He
had head of
testimonies likewise, he had heard
people who
scraped through and made it, but
they’ve just
been ten out of a thousand! Would
Christiana
be part of those that would scrape
through it?
He didn’t know he had started
crying again
until he was tapped by Uche. He
then raised
his head and wiped his tears. He
had been
served the wine then and his
friends had
started drinking.
“A skunk can’t bite and give off it’s
scent at a
time! Either you drink or be
depressed! For
God’s sake your sister is still alive,
she’s not
dead. You should be happy
concerning that, if
she sees you like this do you
expect her to be
happy? You’ll even make her
sadder because
all she’s going to be thinking of
would be
death! Man, be serious!”
Richard sighed. “I believe all is
well.” He said
and started drinking.
They were the three young guys
that worked
with Maverick Company and had
been friends
since their tertiary education. The
three were
employed into the big company and
decided
to live together.
—————
….a man’s destiny…