• Unfulfilled Promises By Audrey Timms

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    Author’s email; dianaokhah@yahoo.com audreytimms83@gmail.com
    Note; This story can be purchased @ Okada books
    http://www.okadabooks.com/book/about/8746

    PROLOGUE
    With slightly shaky hands, the old woman pulled up the toilet seat, lifted up her yellow and brown stripped maxi dress and black underwear and sat down on the toilet seat. She sighed with contentment at the first few drops of urine. The sound of urea splashing on water filled the place. When she was done, she got up, righted her clothes and told the toilet to flush. She walked slowly to the washbasin and told the tap to come on. She washed her hands slowly, told it to stop and took a towel from the hangar to dry her hands. She stared at her reflection in the mirror above the washbasin.
    A smile slowly turned the corners of her lips. She was aging beautifully. She didn’t look bad for a woman of seventy. Of course she had wrinkles but they didn’t mar her beauty. She still had the pointed nose that made her features striking. She scratched her grey hair that was tied in a knot at her nape.
    She tossed the towel on the hangar and took dainty steps back to her room. She got to her rocking chair by the window, removed the romance novel she’d been reading before the call of nature, sat on it and told it to rock. She continued from where she stopped until she heard voices. She paused in her reading. She could distinctly hear the laughter of her son’s last child.
    The old woman told the chair to stop, got up and walked to the window. She pulled aside the velvet drapes, looked in the direction of the laughter and saw her grandchild laughing joyfully with a guy at the front steps.
    The old woman’s wrinkled brows furrowed in a frown when she noticed the guy was twirling her youngest grandchild’s long corn rolls in his hand and the ninny was loving every minute of it. The guy who was obviously her schoolmate from the sky blue shirt, dark blue blazers and black trousers he had on and backpack, moved to the second step which she was on and placed his hands on her shoulders. He gazed lovingly into her eyes before giving her a peck. The silly girl smiled shyly and gazed at her sandals while gripping hard her black pencil skirt. She however raised her head to tell him goodbye and watched him till the gate man opened the small gate and he left. She touched a finger to her cheek and smiled before commanding the black wooden front door to open.
    The old woman went back to her chair and waited for the naughty girl. O no! History wasn’t going to take place again. Sure enough, the beautiful fair skinned girl flounced into the room after a quick knock and a command.
    “Grandma! Good afternoon.” She removed her backpack and dropped it beside the bed before going to give her grandmother a peck on her left cheek. She sat down on the bed and began to remove her black sandals and dark blue socks.
    “How was school today?”
    The teenager fell back of the bed with raised hands and a naughty smile on her face.
    “Sensational.” She finally said after a moment of silence.
    “I see.” Her grandmother replied shortly.
    Tonia sat up and scratched her nose . “Where’s grandpa?”
    “He went with your dad to the office.”
    She shrugged and picked up her socks and sandals.
    “I’m starving. See you later, grandma.” She picked up her backpack on her way to the door.
    Her grandmother waited for her to get to the door before calling her name gently. She turned around slowly.
    “When you’re through with taking your bath, eating lunch and doing your homework, please come back here. We need to talk.”
    Tonia nodded slowly. The door opened and closed at the sound of her voice. She dragged her bag slowly behind her to her room at the end of the corridor. Her grandmother’s words had been gently but firmly spoken. She wondered what she wanted to talk about. She and grandpa had come there just two days ago after going on a world tour for a year. The young girl prayed it wasn’t one of those words of wisdom parable thingy. She wasn’t in the mood for such. She however rushed through taking her bath, eating and doing her assignments.
    She knocked gently on the door and walked in. Her grandmother was still in the same position she’d left her though she was reading a novel. Her grandmother was a sucker for romance novels like her. They usually exchanged novels and reviewed them together. Maybe she wanted to discuss this particular one with her.
    “I’m through, grandma.” She announced and sat on the bed.
    The old woman told the chair to stop, she put her novel aside and got up.
    “That was fast.” She teased as she sat down beside her granddaughter. Tonia’s face lit up in with a smile. “I’m eager to hear what you have to say.”
    Her grandmother smiled. “Is that so?”
    Tonia smiled again and nodded.
    The old woman’s expression became serious. “Who was that young man I saw you with this afternoon?”
    Tonia’s jaw literary dropped. She gulped and unconsciously moved farther from her grandmother who smiled.
    “He…he’s a classmate.” She blurted out.
    “A pecking classmate?” She asked, tongue-in-cheek.
    Tonia visibly reddened like an overripe tomato. Her gaze was fixed at the white and blue flowery tiles.
    The old woman picked up her novel again. “This is just fiction. It helps you escape the truth of this world and engage in a world of fantasy. Life usually doesn’t play out the way these romance novels put them.”
    A sigh escaped her grandmother’s lips.
    “Has your father ever told you the story of my life?”
    With widened eyes, the nervous girl shook her head.
    “Then sit back, listen to my story and learn lessons from it. Hopefully we’d be done before they all come back.”

    Episode 1
    “Your sweetheart is coming.” Edward Chianumba announced to his friend, Eric Conrad.
    Eric looked up from his markings on the sand and smiled. Indeed, his sweetheart was coming. His sunshine, his best friend.
    He didn’t quite know when or how but he knew he had fallen irresistibly in love with her. He threw the stick away, sat back on the wooden bench and watched his approaching childhood sweetheart. The sun beating down hard on the earth didn’t even make him squint his eyes. It was as if he was in a trance. Memories flooded his brain.
    He continued watching her intently as she approached them along with her friend, Ezinne Uzoma. She looked good as usual in their unique uniform of burberry pencil skirt, white shirt and black tie. It was completed with white socks and black sandals. He felt his heart beat faster than normal as it usually did whenever she was around him.
    “As I was saying, Kemi is my latest target. Men! If I don’t get that girl, I might die….Eric…Eric…here we go again!” Edward complained when he realized his friend was no longer listening to him but looking steadily at his childhood sweetheart with a stupid smile on his face.
    He wondered at the kind of love between these two and also wondered if he would ever find such love. As he stared at his friend, lost in thought, he was surprised to see Eric suddenly frowning. He followed the direction of his gaze and smiled mischievously. Uche, their classmate had stopped Oleng for a chat.
    Eric tried to control himself because he felt like going over there to warn Uche to stay away from his girl. He shook his head. Oleng wasn’t his girl. He had not made his feelings known to her nor asked her to be his girlfriend. Everyone knew they were the best of friends and have been friends since he was six and she, five and now they were sixteen and fifteen years old respectively. They had come a long way together.
    He couldn’t pinpoint exactly when he had started developing feelings of love towards her. At his study time, when he was supposed to be reading, thoughts of her always infiltrated his mind. He would stare at her photograph over and over again. He couldn’t t tell her of his feelings lest he ruin their friendship. He didn’t know if she felt the same way towards him. Looking at the way she was smiling at Uche made him think his love wasn’t reciprocated. It made him sad.
    Ezinne who had been glaring at Uche with her upper lip curled in disdain left them and walked towards where he and Edward were seated on the bench. Ezinne, Oleng’s closest female friend, a very slim, black beauty with a sharp wit usually didn’t mince words when it came to saying her mind even though she was a very loyal person.
    “Hi Eric, hi Eddy.” she hailed when she got to them.
    “Hi, Zinny.” Eddy hailed also.
    “Hi to you too, Zinny.” Eric greeted as she sat down beside him on the bench to glare at Oleng and Uche still chatting.
    “Eric, you should tell Oleng to stop pretending and start showing her true feelings.” Ezinne said angrily.
    Eric’s face showed surprise. “What do you mean?”
    “She isn’t enjoying that conversation. She’s just too polite to tell him she’s tired of it. She’s like that with every guy who approaches her. Sometimes, she is so nice, I feel like killing her.” Ezinne put her hands together as if she was wringing the neck of a chicken.
    “Come on, Ezinne. Oleng is a very beautiful girl. She should enjoy the advances made towards her.” Eric countered.
    “Not when she’s got you. You’re the guy in her life so others should just get the message.” Zinny put her right leg over her left leg and hissed in anger.
    “Zinny, are you saying this out of jealousy, since they all approach her and none spare you even a glance?” Edward quipped with a smile.
    Ezinne glared at him. “Eddy, if you weren’t my senior in class, I would have bitten you right now for that nonsense you just sprouted.”
    Edward smiled in a charming manner. “You can bite me anytime, Ezi mummy,” he chuckled. “But you know where.”
    “God! You’re incorrigible!” she exclaimed in disgust. The boys laughed.
    Edward was a notable flirt. His tall, dark and handsome features made him a ladies man coupled with his charming personality. Just sixteen, he used his good looks and honey-coated tongue to win girls over and sleep with them. He saw himself as God’s gift to girls.
    Just then, Oleng came to meet them. She stood before Eric.
    “Hi Ricky. Hi Eddy.” she hailed, smiling shyly as she did lately whenever she was close to Eric.
    Eric smiled. She was the only one who called him ‘Ricky’ and he loved it.
    “Hi Oleng.” Eddy hailed also, gazing intently at her beautiful face.
    “Hi sunshine.” Eric smiled. “I can see your admirers are increasing by the day. Tell them they have to pay homage to me first before they attempt speaking to you.”
    Oleng laughed. Eric and Edward were captivated by her musical laugh and beautiful face for the umpteenth time.
    “Don’t tell me it’s the green eye monster talking in you. Uche is just a friend.” She sat down beside Zinny.
    “And pigs fly,” retorted Ezinne.
    Oleng turned to fix her gaze on her irate friend. “Zinny, you know it’s not like that. He just wants us to be friends. Nothing special.”
    “Akwuko.” Ezinne chipped in Igbo language.
    Oleng hit her playfully. “You know vernacular isn’t allowed in school.”
    Eric shrugged. “Whatever you say. Just
    know I’ll kill anyone who tries to toy with your heart.” he solemnly declared. She turned to look at him intently. Their eyes met and held.
     
    Episode 2
    Oleng was the first to look away shyly. She couldn’t describe her feelings for Eric these days. She was always breathless around him. She couldn’t look into his eyes again like she used to. She just couldn’t understand what was happening to her concerning him. He was no longer just her best friend. She fantasized sometimes about being his wife. Her feelings for him now ran that deep.
    She prayed he would never find out because she would die of embarrassment since it looked as if her feelings weren’t reciprocated because girls were always around him especially Senior Oge. She desperately wanted her feelings to be reciprocated. She was however ready to take her secret to the grave. She took a deep breath and pushed her feelings aside.
    “Where’s Dave?”
    Eric shrugged. “I don’t know.”
    “I think he’s doing runs.” Edward supplied smiling.
    “That’s all you know Eddy.” Ezinne complained.
    Edward shrugged nonchalantly. “But it’s the truth. Where’s he now? He knows we normally come here to wait for you girls at break time before we go to the canteen but he left the class before us without informing us of his whereabouts. By the way, where’s Marvy? Is she missing too?” He grinned. “Maybe they went to do runs together. We better go and search the toilets and hidden spots in this school…I really can’t imagine Dave and Marvy getting down though.” He burst into laughter.
    Ezinne and Oleng got up to hit him playfully while Eric laughed.
    “Marvy went to deliver a message to her aunt in the staff room. She’ll meet us in the canteen.” Oleng informed them.
    “Alright! Alright! Let’s go to the canteen then.” Eddy said after fending off their hands and stood up.
    Eric and got up also. They walked quietly to the large red and white canteen.
    The canteen was jam packed and noisy as usual with students. While the girls went to the table reserved for the Senior Prefect, close to the entrance of the place, the boys ordered for snacks and drinks at the counter. The students on the queue gave way for Eric because he was the Senior Prefect. Eric thanked them in turn. They took the goodies to the table and sat down to eat. It was while they where eating that Marvelous Ogaranya came to meet them with her own snacks. She was Oleng’s second closest friend. Chubby in a cute way and dark in complexion, she was an introvert though not with her friends.
    She sat down beside Zinny at the round wooden table. “Hi everybody.” .
    They greeted her in return except for the naughty Edward who asked, “Where’s Dave?”
    Marvelous shrugged. She removed the wrap from her meat pie. “I don’t know. Was he looking for me?”
    “Don’t mind this silly boy. Just ignore him.” Ezinne told her. She bent her head to look under the table in order to locate the position of Eddy’s legs before stamping one of them hard with hers. He yelped and she laughed.
    They continued eating and talking about this and that. It was a very lively affair. Looking from the outside, one would notice how close they all were especially Eric and Oleng who couldn’t keep their eyes off each other. Towards the end of their meal, Ezinne suddenly said, “O no! Here comes the b---h.”
    Oge Dialu walked majestically to where they were seated. Her big busts jiggled as she moved toward them with arms akimbo. Her fair complexion shone and she took delight in the fact that all eyes fell on her artistically beautiful face even though she was vertically challenged.
    “Hi Eric.” She batted her eyes at him seductively, ignoring everyone else at the table. “May I have a word with you?”
    Eric groaned inwardly. He was sick and tired of her overtures but could do nothing about it. “Sure.” he said and got up, “Please excuse me.” he told the others but glanced at Oleng who lifted a shoulder nonchalantly.
    Oge held his hand and they both went outside the canteen to where she made sure they could see them. She stood close to Eric, touching his shirt buttons. She brushed aside imaginary flecks from his curly hair. She didn’t really have anything to say to him but she wanted to stamp her ownership in front of the whole school. If she could pee all over him, she would have done it. Who wouldn’t love to have Eric for a boyfriend? It was a thing of conquest for any girl to call him her boyfriend. She would do everything within her power to get that title. She moved closer to him and tried to rub her big frontal twins on his chest but he moved back a step. Disappointed, she sighed. She took consolation in the fact that her lacy black bra could be seen by all and sundry through her white shirt. She tried to get his attention to her chest by twirling a finger on her tie but his gaze was fixed above her head. She sighed again.
    To be continued