30 Days And 30 Nights

30 Days And 30 Nights Episode 1

He couldn’t see smoke anywhere, but the burning incense smell was fresh in the air. He guessed it was coming from the inner room, or maybe the church had been previously purified before they got in. It was early Monday morning, and the whole place had a serene feel to it.

 

Efe was seated on a white plastic chair at the space between the church benches and the pulpit. Beside him was his Aunt, Ejiro, and directly opposite her was the Olusho of the church, who looked more like an Iman with his beard. He had a mix of black and grey unattractive goatee, brown teeth, and his charcoal black complexion made the wrinkles on his face appear very ugly.

 

The old man was saying something in Yoruba. Although Efe understood enough Yoruba to know what the conversation was about, the low and tired voice the man was speaking in made it hard to follow him. Also, Efe’s mind was on the middle aged lady he had seen with her head shaved, throwing up by the wall when he walked into the church premises a few minutes ago. He had looked into her eyes, and it was empty, like her soul had left her body.

 

Never would he have thought he would come to a place like this, but he had only agreed to this because it was a church thing. And also because since his parents died in a car accident seven years ago, his aunt Ejiro had become like a mother to him. She had been on his neck for months; he only agreed to her request yesterday morning, and she quickly fixed an appointment with the Olusho for this morning.

 

‘Efe, you are not getting younger o! Remember that.’ He remembered his aunt always repeating every time they spoke on the phone. Over the years, every time he was about to get a big break with whatever business he was into, something always happened to mess it up. His last birthday was his 29th, and he had thought that by now he would have at least settled down and started family. He had a three thousand capacity poultry house, but he was barely breaking even in the business.

 

He saw the man’s gaze shift to him, and he quickly looked up. “Se o ngbo mi?” The man asked in Yoruba if Efe was listening to what he was saying and chuckled. His aunt nudged him. Efe said, “Yes sir,” sat up, and added, “Be ni sir” Repeating himself in Yoruba. The man went on talking with a smile on his face as his laps made a funny continuous movement of coming together and moving apart, making the lower part of the white Sutana he had on to move like ocean waves.

 

The Olusho told them they won’t be need for him to conduct fasting or consult the spirit realm to check Efe’s destiny, as he could see it shining so bright right now. That statement made Efe focus more on what the man was saying. He went on to say the work was in Efe’s hands, and that there was just one thing he had to do differently. Then he looked at Efe for a few seconds before saying in Yoruba that all Efe had to do was abstain from sex for thirty days.

 

“O gbodo ni asepo pelu obinrin fun Ogbon ojo.” The man repeated the instructions again, focusing on Efe all the while, and making sure to know if Efe understood what he was saying. Efe nodded and smiled. His girlfriend, Margaret had broken up with him last month, and he felt this was going to be a stroll in the park for him.

 

The meeting was over, and his plump aunt got up from her seat and knelt to greet the man. She said she would come and see him later as she stood up tied the loose end of the brown ankara wrapper on her waist. Efe got up, nodded, and thanked the man in Yoruba. He waited as the man, in his slow talking voice said some more things to his aunt. As he stood there, listening to them talk, he thought of how simple the task was, and how he had initially thought it would involve buying candles, and fasting. The standing fan beside him was at the highest, and it felt like it was going to blow his lanky body out of the shirt and slacks he had on, so he moved his chair to the side and took a few steps back. He looked around the church, and his eyes fell on a portrait of black Jesus on top of the door that the Olusho had walked out from earlier.

 

“Ogbeni, magbagbe o! Ogbon Ojo.” The man said as he stood up from his seat, stressing the fact that Efe had to go thirty days and thirty nights without sex. Efe nodded once again with a smile on his face.

 

____

 

It had been seven days since his visit to the Olusho, and he was still on track with the task. He was at his dining table with a pen and a pad, crosschecking the accounts from yesterday at the poultry farm. His new manager had forwarded it to him last night. He had had to fire the last two managers he had at the poultry, but so far so good, this new one was impressive.

 

Even though his poultry business was his main source of income, there were days he couldn’t go there because dozens of poultry farms were springing up daily around the Sheshegun area of Ogun state his farm was located in, making competition stiff, and he had to go out to source for more customers. The egg glut of the previous year had really affected his finances, and he hoped never to experience anything like that again.

 

He was using the calculator on his phone when his phone started ringing. The caller ID showed it was Margaret calling. He automatically wanted to swipe to left, then he remembered what he had to do for thirty days and he the phone down. He watched it till it stopped ringing, and then he picked up the pad in front of me. As he found where he had left off with the accounts, the phone started ringing again.

 

Maybe she has gotten me a client; he thought to himself and picked up the phone again. He looked at the screen, focusing on the way the call waves expanded on the screen. After a few seconds, he picked up and said, “Hello.”

 

“Hey babe, how are you?” She said in her raspy voice.

 

“Fine.” He said and waited.

 

“I’ve missed you.” She said in a low voice.

 

“Why did you call?”

 

“Come on Efe! Why do you have to be so hostile?”

 

“Margaret, you broke up with me, remember?”

 

“I know! I know!” She said and the line went quiet for a while before she added, “I was confused.” When he didn’t say anything back she said, “Are you home? I want to come over.”

 

“Margaret, you can’t come over.” He said quickly.

 

“Please, I really want to see you.” She said and cleared her throat before adding, “I’ll do that thing you like.” Efe removed the phone from his ear, looked at the screen for a few seconds, and then swiped right. With the way the conversation was going, he didn’t trust himself to resist her request if she persisted. The phone started ringing again, and he pressed the bottom by the side of the phone to mute it, and then put the phone on the table.

 

He tried to go back to work, but he couldn’t concentrate any longer. Margaret’s Unclad body kept flashing through his mind; her petite but shapely body; her spotless smooth skin; the way her Unclad brown skin shines in the darkness; her full youthful breasts; her sexy eyes. He looked at the phone screen again and just then, a message came in. He picked up the black Wiko android phone, punched in 1926 to unlock it, clicked on the message, and it read, ‘Why would you cut the line on me? I’m coming over right now.’

 

Efe’s heart started beating fast as he thought of his next line of action. He hit reply on the touch screen phone, typed, ‘I’m not home’ and hit send. He held the phone up, with his eyes on the screen for a few seconds. When he didn’t get a reply back from her, he grabbed his car keys from the table and rushed out of his house.

 

To be continued this evening if we have up to 5 comments.

© Kayode Odusanya

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