FREEDOM AT LAST

FREEDOM AT LAST (1)

Freedom is a very relative concept. Much as humans want freedom (as free as air or bird kind of thing), therein lies alot of responsibilities. As an adolescent, I practically fought to be free from the clutches of my parents and ‘enjoy’ the good things of life like my peers. I grew up not playing as much football as I wanted. Once I heard the sound of my mother’s milk- coloured Peugeot 504 then, I would race up the stairs three at a time, though I was bow legged; and it was often.

The only opportunity I had to be free was when we were enrolled for evening lessons in some place a long distance away from home. We were given some money for our transport, but we preferred to walk the distance with friends as a group with. Later, we would buy groundnuts or sweets in the spirit of freedom ‘since we don’t enjoy them at home’.

All these tantrums did not prevent me from excelling in my grades. I was among top three each time and was chosen in many occasions as part of the team that will represent my class during debates in school. I passed entrance examination from form 5 and left primary school.  

High school was excellent for me. I have sat back many times and wondered what I would have been if I didn’t attend International Secondary School, Abia State University, Uturu (ISS); a boarding school. I was privileged to meet the pioneer set. While they were in their SS2 I was in JSS1. Was the school father school son relationship fun, yes? I enjoyed every bit of it no doubt. The memories still linger till tomorrow. I have said it, all my kids will attend a boarding school whether they like it or not. My future wife, take note. No kidding.

As a freshman in University I had to live with an uncle of mine, Udochukwu Anthony Korie( Many preferred to call him Tony while I called him dee Udo). I did not have any opportunity to learn him closely till then. I came to understand him as a very disciplined, strict, calm and honest man. He did not have many friends but the few he had, he held them close to his heart. Many times we had disagreements on how things should be done. I would differ and do my wish behind his back; no doubt I failed but would not tell him for fear of him taunting or scolding me. The greater fear though was him telling my father who was co financing my studies alongside my mother.

After 2 years, maturity had set in. I had started learning some good lessons the hard way and I had started being financially independent to some extent. To me then, avoiding him was the best thing for me since we had different philosophies of freedom and of life. But we kept bumping into each other either in family occasions or during festivities. During these times our respect for each other grew. We could discuss many issues or national importance. I would watch him play scrabble with some of his mates and marvel at his expertise in the art of the word game.

Many other things brought us together and I was to live with him again and this time, the cat and dog game was over. He saw me as an ally and I saw him as a caring and understanding friend. Many times we sat down to discuss some of the ladies that paid him visits. While some came and sat down on the alluring couch in the huge parlour all day while I sweated in the kitchen preparing a sumptuous dinner or lunch, some practically expelled me from the kitchen and did the whole cooking. While some preferred trousers all the time, others wore skirts. While some ensured the cleaned the whole house and washed his clothes, others preferred to aloft. While some spent the night others didn’t. In our discussions, we would x-ray the character of these ladies, pointing out their strengths and weaknesses. He knew many good and homely ladies. Apart from one lady who always appeared in jean trousers, never cooked a dish, never washed anything or swept his bedroom, the rest were wife materials. He always told me the extent he had reached in his personal investigation of the girl’s family background any time we had opportunity to talk. He told me one of the ladies would not get married till her senior sister got married. The second one he discovered ‘red flags’ everywhere during his enquiry. The third would like to graduate from school as agreed by her family and so many others like that. There was one thing or the other that was always a hitch.  

My mother, the third in their in their family was always on his neck to get married. In fact on many occasions she would engage her sisters, abroad in a long distance call for over an hour discussing his issue. Bored with this development, the next day (and so many times) I would sneak out of the house and head to Owerri to tell him what I overheard my mother discussing on the phone with his sisters, my aunties and their agreements. Call me a snitch. I accept but I told him because I understood his situation very well. Yes, he was getting old; heading forty, no wife no kid. But he was not earning much as salary and didn’t want to be anybody’s burden tomorrow! It was not his fault in any way. He had done everything that a man of his age should have done in terms of putting in effort. In fact, he was concluding the dissertation of this PhD.

Suddenly, I started hearing things. I had to head to Owerri to see my uncle, he was very ill. I even had to donate blood to him. I was surprised. The last straw that broke the camel’s back was when I came, shared a meal with him and left for Umuahia again only to hear the next morning that dee udo died the evening of the same day I left. In his magnanimity as always he had given me some money to cover my transport though I had enough and didn’t ask for it. But as my uncle I never refused anything he gave me. Though he had looked pale the day I left, it never occurred to me that he would embark on the one-way journey.

During and after his burial, I reminisced and sighed, after all dee udo is free at last. Nobody will bother him with marrying a wife or not having a kid. No responsibilities at all. Dee Udo is free.

It is 6 months since you left us but I still remember all that we shared like yesterday. I know you are in heaven smiling down at us.

Miss U loads, my dee.