VILLAGE UNCLES 3
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| Village Uncles |
On the fourth day, Tonia’s husband got set for work and left as usual. While on the train, he slept off until the train drove past the point he normally alights. As a matter of fact, he slept all through until the train got to its final station. It was the train driver who woke Tonia’s husband upon reaching his final destination. The man couldn’t believe he slept all through the journey.
Hurriedly, he boarded another train back to his place of work. Thank goodness he didn’t sleep off again. On getting to work, he explained what happened and those white guys understood with him. He worked with so much anxiety that day and could hardly focus. I mean, the young man is not the kind who takes unplanned naps. How come he slept off on a moving train until it got to its final destination??? The answer is simple; VILLAGE UNCLES!!!
Tonia couldn’t believe the story herself when her husband told her. They got together that night and held a mild prayer session after filling their new “Oyibo” pastor in on the matter. If it were those days when they were still in Nigeria, their Nigerian pastor would have known exactly how to tackle those black demons. But the “Oyibo” pastor only said a few “soul-lifting” words to them and told them to fear not.
The next morning was full of drama, as Tonia forced her husband to gulp several cups of coffee before leaving for work to make sure he doesn’t as much as blink his eyes until he got to his drop point. Having woken him up at about 4:00am, they prayed a little again and he freshened up. From that time till 6:00am, the man drank over a liter of coffee. Tonia was really out to arrest the situation; little did she know she was worsening it.
The man got on the train again and was obviously forcing his eyes to remain open. Other commuters observed his rather weird facial disposition and validated the saying that “blacks are monkeys.” Fast forward to the end of the journey, the train driver still had to wake Tonia’s husband up again. The man didn’t even know when sleep got a hold of him. Realizing that he had slept off again, he broke down in tears and groaned like a pained cow.
That wasn’t all. The over one liter of coffee he drank contributed to his misery. The man had peed in his pants during the short journey like he was a child. He didn’t know whether to return home first and freshen up before heading to his place of work to again to narrate his predicament. That would be the proper thing to do; only that it would take more time and further delay his arrival at work. So he headed to work in that state, hoping it’ll help convince his white bosses to pardon him again.
Things were absolutely different this time. Tonia’s husband arrived to meet his work termination letter at the gate. He wasn’t even allowed into the premises anymore. He begged the men at the gate to hear him out, but that only made them abhor him the more. His work termination letter stated that he had seven days to evacuate the company apartment and turn in everything in his possession that belonged to the company.
That included everything except his clothes, shoes, and other personal belongings. If he had known, he would have remained in Nigeria. But he filed for a transfer to London just to run away from village uncles. In the end, he ended up provoking the wrath of the same village uncles. He had to leave London back to Nigeria with Tonia and their little son. The little money he had saved wasn’t enough to afford him the lifestyle he had before relocating to London.
Since there was now a baby to cater for, there was no need spending money unnecessarily on renting an apartment and the likes. Besides, it was a very shameful thing for them to return to Nigeria with nothing to show after seemingly succeeding in life and even relocating abroad. He and Tonia resorted to going back to his family house in the village to settle until he was able to get back on his feet.
If he couldn’t stay on his feet while away from village uncles, is it now that he’ll be "wining and dining" with them that he’ll rise from a fallen state??? The duo got to the village on a low key and moved into the man’s family house where his old parents lived with the illegitimate children dumped there by Tonia’s husband’s siblings. According to their forecast, they would only stay there for a couple of months. But the man's uncles had very special plans for them.
To be continued…
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