The Loose Noose

The Loose Noose

A Short Story

By

Kayode Odusanya

The curtains were drawn and all the windows were locked. He sat his athletic 6 ft frame on a small stool in the center of the room, with his eyes up at the ceiling, staring at the inanimate objects that were about to take his life. The hangman’s noose dangled side to side from the ceiling fan.

His plan was to stand on the plastic chair under the noose, put the noose around his neck, and wobble himself till the chair gave way. He had done a little research online and found out it would take him just about five minutes before he suffocates and dies; and the time would even be shorter if his neck snapped in the process. Five minutes of pain is nothing compared to the pain I have had to endure this past couple of weeks, he thought to himself.

Life had been great. He had a good job, good health, and rest of mind, till he decided to try out a certain ponzi scheme his colleague at work had introduced to him. At first he invested twenty thousand Naira into the system, and he got back forty thousand in a month. It felt so easy, so he went ahead and put in the forty thousand Naira back into the scheme, and got back 80 thousand Naira without stress.

Anthony felt it would be worth going at it big time, so he went and put in one million Naira cooperative money that he handled into the system, and bam! The ponzi scheme crashed. It was like a nightmare he never woke up from. When the owners of the monies came for him and he couldn’t produce it, they reported him at his workplace, and he got fired. The police got involved in the case, and apart from the ridicule he faced in the neighborhood, his car was taken away from him, and he had to give up all his savings, which wasn’t even up to a quarter of the money he was owing.

That was three months ago, and he had been let go at the police station with the agreement that he would be paying off part of the money every month till he had finished paying the debt. But he couldn’t find a job, so he sold his jalopy for the first month’s payment, and then went ahead to borrow money from some friends the second month, but he was all tapped out at the moment. He didn’t even have money to feed again, and his house rent was almost due.

He closed his eyes and for some weird reason his mind went back to his first day in college, when the only problem he had was how to approach his crush, Ngozi. He remembered sitting at the back of the class, and getting asked to standup during lecture because he laughed when the grey haired professor spoke about Sango and how he would spit bolts of lightning from his mouth. The professor had asked him why he doubted Sango’s existence but believed a man called Moses parted the red sea into two, and another man called Jonah lived in the belly of a whale for four days without dying.

What the man said had made Anthony think, but not for long, as Ngozi was looking back at him, smiling at him in approval. Life looked so promising for him back then, and he wondered how everything went downhill in just a couple of months.

He wiped the tears that rolled down his eyes, sighed, and got off the stool. It was time. He had finally convinced himself that this was the best move to make right now, and had come to peace with it. He stood beside the plastic chair, and was about to climb it when he heard the click clack sound of high heels approaching his door. It was odd because all his neighbors had all gone to work, and he didn’t think Power Holding officials wore heels.

Anthony quickly swung the noose up so that it rested on one of the blades of the fan, then put the plastic chair aside. He took a deep breath, walked over to the door and opened it. The girl on the other side was about to knock when he did so, and she exclaimed with, “Oops!” The shocked look on her face was quickly replaced with a smile; A smile so angelic that Anthony had a sudden taste for life again. She was a natural light skin beauty. The red lipstick on her luscious lips made her appear so sensual to him. The red dress she had on was tight fitting, and her curvaceous upper body was very pronounced. She looked familiar, but his brain couldn’t give him an answer as to who she was. He saw her lips move, but his mind was too occupied to process what she was saying, till she handed him something in her hand and said, “My Dad asked me to give you this.” She said.

“Your dad?” Anthony enquired.

She had a surprised look on her face, like she had expected him to know who she was, and then she said, “Mr. Johnson; Your landlord.”

“Oh!” His heart skipped a beat when he heard that. He opened the envelope and saw it was an invitation of some sort. Looking at his landlord’s name in full jolted his memory, and he looked up, “You’re Kelechi, right.” He said and she smiled. He remembered her from her Industrial Attachment days at his workplace earlier in the year.

“It’s a dinner he usually holds for friends and family every year end.” She said.

“Okay. I’ll…I’ll be there.” He said, staring at the date on the invitation. He noticed the girl was still hanging around like she had something else she wanted to say, and then she smiled a shy smile and said “Bye.” He thanked her for bringing the card by and watched her walk away.

He went back into his parlor, threw the invitation on the couch, and got the plastic chair from the corner of the room. As he put it in place once again, all the determination he had to ki*ll himself was gone. He cursed under his breath, and got angry at the girl for ruining his suicidal mood. He hadn’t heard the sound of the gate, so he went to his window to look out and saw her pacing up and down, underneath the coconut tree. “What the hell.” He said in a low voice. Just then, a coconut fell from the tree and landed on her head. She put her right hand on her head, and then slumped to the floor. “poo!” He cursed and ran out the door.

He raced to where she was, crouched, and leaned over her body to see how she was doing. She wasn’t moving. He called out her name continuously, and slapped her cheeks a few times, still no response. He wanted to run in to get water, and then an idea came to him. Although he had seen it done in many movies in the past, he had ever tried it before, but he felt it was worth the shot right now.

He clamped her nostrils together with his right thumb and index finger, leaned in slowly, put his mouth to her mouth, and blew breath into it. He leaned back, and watched her, but nothing happened. He called her name a few more times, and then repeated the mouth to mouth resuscitation again. This time, as he leaned back after the procedure, her body followed his and she gasped for air. Then she took in a couple of deep breaths, opened her eyes, smiled up at him and leaned in to kiss him. He chuckled as he gently pulled her away, “I guess you have a concoction.”

“What?” She said, looking lost. “Ouch! My head hurts.” She added, holding on to her head. He pulled her hands away, and saw a thin line of blood trickling down her temple.

“A coconut fell on your head.” He said and her cry of pain turned to laughter. He laughed a little with her before lifting her off the ground. She put her hands around his neck, and he was about to head towards his apartment, when he remembered what state he had left it in. “Did you come with a car? I need to get you to a hospital.” He said and she nodded.

……….

A little part of her hair was shaved around her temple, and a bandage was on the part now as she sat in bed talking and laughing with her twin cousins, who looked a lot like her. He wanted to leave after the twins had gotten to the hospital, but he felt it would be much better if he waited to see her Dad and explain everything that happened to him.

The twins were seated on either side of her on the bed, and they would whisper something in her ear and laugh while looking at him where he sat on the bed opposite them. He wondered what was going on. After a while, they said their goodbyes and left. The room was quiet for a few minutes before she said, “Okay, I am sure you are wondering why my cousins were staring at you.” He smiled at her but didn’t say anything. “Actually, I had come to your apartment to ask you out on a date.”

“On a date?” He said with a curious look on his face.

“Yes. I wanted you to be my date to my Dad’s dinner party.”

“Okay. That’s cool.”

“I got tongue tied when you opened the door all of a sudden.” She said and smiled. “And then when I was rehearsing my lines again, coconut fell on me.” She added and they both burst out laughing. Just then, the door opened and a short bald headed man in glasses walked in.

“Thank God you are okay.” The man said. He greeted Anthony casually as he walked over to Kelechi’s bed side. They hugged and it was obvious they had a great father daughter bound. “They shaved your hair?” The man said as he checked out his daughter’s injury.

“It’s okay Dad. It’ll grow back.” She said and looked at Anthony. Her father followed her gaze, and squinted.

“I think I should go now.” Anthony said and started getting off the bed. “Take care Kelechi. Goodbye sir.” He added as he made his way slowly out the door.

“I remember you. You are the accountant that works at Austin & Austin firm, right?”

“Yes sir, but not anymore.” Anthony said as he turned around to face them.

“Where are you now?”

“I am job hunting sir.” He said with a smile.

“Hmm! Consider yourself hired.”

“Thank you sir.” Anthony said with a wide smile on his face.

“You saved my daughter’s life,” He said and smiled at Kelechi. “This is the least I can do.”

“Umm! How do I…”

“Come to my Broad Street head office tomorrow with your credentials.” The man said, cutting Anthony off. “I’ll set up an appointment for you by 9am.”

“Thank you sir.” Anthony said once more, smiled at Kelechi, nodded at the man and walked out the room. As he walked down the flight of stairs, with a new sense of life, he couldn’t believe how his life had changed for the better in just a couple of hours. Once there is life, there is hope, he thought to himself.

The End