MILLIPEDE CHASING - PART 12

MILLIPEDE CHASING

This story is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

PART TWELVE

“I can’t believe you; you are getting married within the next hour to a beautiful woman!” Okafor said as he assisted the groom with his tie. They were in Solomon’s apartment. He was indeed a very lucky man. His bride-to-be was from a wealthy family and she was 7 years his senior. Solomon, at 24 years old, did not feel that he was too young to settle down, since he was a very simple man and he wanted nothing more in life than to belong to a family to compensate for the family he never had. Above all, he loved his fiancée and he was sure to never abandon the children who would be conceived from their love. He promised to be the best husband and dad ever. Though he was like a puppet, anyone who knew Solomon was not surprised by that. Beyond doubt, his wife would always come first.

Solomon’s face shone with pride as he reminisced about when they were small and they sneaked out to that wedding. “I told you one day I will marry a beautiful wife, remember? And you said no woman will look at me, remember that? Well, who is laughing now?” Solomon giggled, not at all afraid of the fact that Okafor might grip his tie and pull it taut to suffocate him for his remark. Okafor did not do that, but simply continued tying the groom’s tie and surprisingly he ignored the silly man.

“Don’t worry, your time shall come soon,” Emenanjo said reassuringly as he walked into the room holding the black box that contained the wedding ring, overhearing the conversation. “Here’s the ring,” he cheerfully said to Solomon. Solomon looked at him with a cheeky frown and replied, “The best man is responsible for safeguarding the ring until I need it to put it on my beautiful wife’s finger.”

Okafor gave Solomon a light tap on his right cheek. “You are boasting too much, shut up! ‘My beautiful wife’, ‘my beautiful queen’ – please oooohh, no need to repeat it over and over. We know your babe is very fine.”

“Ha! Ha! Arh! About these things my mouth will not shut up! I will say it till the end of time. My wife is more beautiful than the sun!” Solomon stubbornly refused to stop. His eyes rolled back in ecstasy at the thought of her and he spread his arms like wings.

“I am going to stop you there! Nothing is more beautiful than the sun,” Emenanjo strongly debated, knowing how argumentative Solomon could be, but about this he was ready to argue with him into perpetuity.

Okafor was jubilant over the unusual involvement of his quiet friend in an argument, surprised because he mostly remained neutral during disputes. “Yes! Nothing on this earth beats the sun’s beauty!” He gave Solomon another slap on his right cheek.

“C’mon, it’s my wedding day. Anything I say is true, leave this argument for another day, alright?” Solomon beseeched, not wanting anything to ruin the thought of the beauty he was going to see when he lifted his bride’s veil in front of the priest. Besides, he knew from Emenanjo’s facial expression that he was never going to win this argument anyway.

*****

“I have for you a diamond ring. The ring has no beginning and no end, which symbolises that the love between us will never cease. I place it on your finger as a visible sign of the vows which have made us husband and wife.” Solomon said his vows, placed the ring on his bride’s finger and before he continued he gave his best man, Okafor, a naughty wink. He turned around and said to his bride, “My love, you are more beautiful than the sun,” and kissed her. Okafor and Emenanjo exchanged glances and nodded their heads in agreement of this silliness, but it made them smile.

The reception was held in a big hall. All the decorations were marvellous. With colourful balloons, flowers and ribbons, the tables and chairs were transformed into the most beautiful look they had ever been dressed in. The seated guests were very cheerful and happy and they were all busy eating from the assortment delicacies on the delicious banquet. Of course the dishes included the famous Isi Ewu pepper soup and Emenanjo and Okafor did an excellent job at leaving their plates sparkling clean. Man, these dishes were delicious! You could not blame them for finishing every single morsel dished up.

“We are going to start making our way home,” Okafor told Solomon, while holding a glass of champagne.

“Congratulations again, old friend, you’ve done well!” Emenanjo cheered, still drinking a bottle of Maltina drink. They were all standing on the stage, surrounded by people dancing. Solomon was holding his bride, who was dwarfed by his impressive height. The newlyweds thanked both men and wished them a safe journey back home.

*****

Night breezes were one of the priceless things of Nigeria, which everyone adored. Their touches soothed better than the air conditioners that people substituted it for. The glowing lights from the shops open late and cars on the roads beautified the town. Lamp lights from the street food hawkers sitting on the edges of the roads created a romantic scene for this beautiful wedding day. The sublime smell of their food was indescribable. The crackling noise from the roasted corn and sizzling clattering from the fried yam and akara swimming in the deep oil created a culinary heaven of Food Island.

Interestingly, it was noisy but at same time it was discerningly quiet. Everything was just perfect! The exquisite scenery was admired by Emenanjo as he sat on the back of the motorbike driven by his friend, Okafor, breathing in the breeze to a dizzying extent. He and his friend were exhausted from spending the whole day at the wedding and they were yearning for some relaxing sleep.

Okafor thought of his bed, nurturing the thoughts of his comfy pillow. He thought about the cooling breeze putting him to sleep and having a beautiful dream of racing in a posh shiny black car with his friend. But then he actually dreamed it! At once he felt the happiest he had ever been. He was sitting in the car, grasping the gear lever and changing the gear to fifth. The powerful hum the machine made was the most amazing sound he had ever heard in his life. This was what he always wanted and he actually experienced it. Nothing else in the world mattered during those seconds. He overtook Emenanjo with ease, giving him the sneaky smile of a braggart racer as he did so. His friend just shook his head and tried to catchup, but Okafor’s car was much faster. But then it happened! From nowhere an unexplainable frigid gust stirred his hair like an ice-cold breath. The daylight shifted suddenly into darkness and the darkness remained all around him. Gradually his smile faded. In his rear-view mirror he saw Emenanjo’s car far behind his in the bright and comforting sun, yet he was enveloped in complete darkness. Try as he may, he could not drive back to his friend because the entire bridge had collapsed!

Meanwhile, in the real world, Emenanjo was screaming, “Okafor!” but his friend was in a trance, far away in a dreamland, unable to realise that he was about to swerve in under a lorry. Terrified and urged for survival, Emenanjo jumped off the bike just before the devastating impact, but for his friend it was too late. He watched his lifelong friend’s broken body being flung under the truck and he could do nothing but scream. His friend was still dreaming about the fallen bridge which kept him away from Emenanjo. He never woke up. Okafor was dead!