Intro:
Continuing our story of a young man, Ekene, and his love life. Now for a recap of Episode I: Ekene and Ifeoma are seen to be having a whirlwind romance at the beginning of the story. As is the manner with these things, she eventually gets herself settled in his home. But there is a problem, actually two problems and very serious ones at that. One, Ekene is married although his wife lives elsewhere. And so is Ifeoma although her husband is based someplace else. Two, Ekene lives in his parents’ home and his dad is not cool with the arrangement at all. So what to do is the question. Ekene visits his wife and divulges the situation to her. She throws him out and warns, “Never cone back here till you get rid of her.”
–
Voila! Episode II awaits!
–
TWO HOMES TO NONE (II)
–
If Ekene felt harassed and mistreated by Adanna, his wife, he was dealt much worse by Ifeoma (his mistress) when he got home. Afraid that his parents would be awakened and embarrassed by the fracas, he hurriedly left and spent the night in a hotel. He stayed away the next day and went home the following morning. When he arrived, Ifeoma picked up the fight from where they’d stopped two days before. Ekene could not believe it but his anger overcame his incredulity.
–
“What right do you have to question my movements? You are not my wife!”
–
“It’s the right you gave me when you asked me to move in with you!”
–
“I never asked you to move in, I mean, you and I know it wasn’t my idea.”
–
“So I just happened to be at your door. Who packed my stuff, who paid the truck driver, who …?”
–
“I’m not picking issues with you on that anymore. Now, let’s assume for the sake of argument that I asked you here, now I’m unasking you or better still, I’m asking you to leave. Carry your baggage, carry your children and leave!”
–
“My dear, you don’t know who you’re dealing with. It will take more than words to uproot me from here. If you feel uncomfortable staying with me, you can go and cool off with your Mrs. And if you’re not careful, neither you nor her will enter this place ever again.”
–
“In the first place, you have no root here. In the second place, you’ll be making a fatal mistake if you think you can threaten me or my wife.”
–
“If she spent her time performing her wifely duties rather than pursuing money, you won’t have pestered me to the point where we are ….”
–
“It’s a waste of time talking with you. Since you want action, I’ll give you action. I give you one week and if you’re not out of here by then ….”
–
“You’ll do what? You can’t even come up with an original line.”
–
With a sneer that marred her otherwise beautiful countenance, she left Ekene and marched into the bedroom. She was angry that after all her ‘hard work’ faking an email with the false news of her husband’s death, Ekene was giving her a tough time. She had thought he was such a puppy and would play along in her game of using him to replace her husband, whom she recently discovered had a family abroad and was being pressured by his foreign wife to cut ties with her.
–
Ekene went back to the hotel and paid a deposit on the room he’d been using for another week. He caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror as he got back inside. He was looking haggard. He had not slept a wink in two nights. He had not shaved or had a proper meal. He couldn’t imagine how these two horrible things chose to happen to him at the same time: he unwittingly let a snake into his life, into his home. And then to make matters worse, his ever-forbearing wife turned against him.
–
He was losing his mind trying to pore over how stupid he had been, how he didn’t see all this coming. He hated hotels, no matter how luxurious. In all his time of wildness, he always ensured he got back to sleep in his own bed, no matter how late it was. And his apartment at home was, in his view, an unparalleled blend of comfort and beauty. Yet here he was in this room with its soulless elegance because of his own idiocy.
–
And the truth was, Ifeoma was right. He was merely bluffing when he gave her the ultimatum. He had no plan, no fall-back, no strategy. He prayed she wouldn’t follow up on her threats. He prayed that God should protect him and his family ’cause how else could she do so except through black magic. He didn’t want any of that stuff anywhere near his family knowing it could complicate people’s lives no end.
–
What was that? He was actually praying in his heart. But did he really think that God will listen to him, he asked himself. He had lived his life selfishly. He had taken and taken without giving anything back: his wife’s commitment and loyalty, his parents doting care and extravagant financial support, God’s benevolence and patience for did he not keep him safe in his recklessness and help his wife raise their five kids? All his giving, if he could call it that, had been to nurture his illicit relationships.
–
He knew where he should start: with God. He poured out his heart to Him, told Him he was tired of being a spoilt brat, told Him he wanted to grow up as his wife said, told Him to cleanse and fix him to be a new person, a different person, the person He wanted him to be. This must have gone on for an hour or more, Ekene couldn’t tell. He must have dozed off at some point because he woke up in the evening feeling rested and hungry.
–
He decided to freshen up before going for a meal in the restaurant. As he shaved, it occurred to him that he hadn’t even addressed the problem that brought him to the hotel in the first place: Ifeoma’s incursion into his life and her refusal to leave. But somehow he was not worried. He felt he owed her some thanks for messing up his life to the point that he remembered God. Having a relationship with God, he felt, was the first and most important step he needed to take. And he was certain that as he built on that, the scattered pieces of his life will begin to fall into their proper places and the alien stuff will gradually depart.

He remembered an old song they used to sing back in secondary school when he briefly joined the Scripture Union, “One Day at a Time”, by Cristy Lane. Why did I ever leave, he asked himself. But it was no use lamenting over the wasted years, he had a journey ahead of him and he would make it with God, one day at a time.
–
“One day at a time sweet Jesus
That’s all I’m asking from you.
Just give me the strength
To do everyday what I have to do.
Yesterday’s gone sweet Jesus
And tomorrow may never be mine.
Lord help me today, show me the way
One day at a time.”
–
As he sang the refrain over and over, he knew that by God’s grace, he would turn his life around and begin to give back to God, to his parents, his wife and kids and the rest of society one day at a time.
-The end-
Ⓒ Edith Ugochi Ohaja 2016
+++++++
Subscribe to edithohaja.com for more inspirational, educational and entertaining articles, poems, quotes and graphics.
–
You can also connect with me via my Facebook page (facebook.com/auntyedith), LinkedIn, Twitter, Google Plus and Instagram. Jesus is Lord!