Episode 12
"I need to leave now, I must catch the first flight to Ghana" she thought to herself as she immediately swung into action picking up a small suitcase and stuffing it with a few clothes. She made sure to take all her important documents, passport, bank cards and everything she felt she would need because she was leaving, never to return to Nigeria again, at least not for a very long time.
Meanwhile, back in London, Ama had resumed school, she commuted about an hour and a half to get to school daily, worse still, the weather was getting colder, the leaves were starting to fall from the trees and the daylight didn't last for as long as it used to in the summer. By early evening, it was always dark. The kids had also started attending school, they were both in the reception class. The only issue with the school timetable was that by early afternoon, the kids were done with school and would need an adult to stay with them, this meant that Ama and Deji would have to pay extra for childcare or one of them would have to sacrifice having a proper day job to stay with the kids.
Deji still didn't have a job, he had tried so hard to get a job in his current field but was met with numerous rejections, most times rejections would come almost immediately after he submitted his resume, other times, he would be called for an interview and would be rejected after the first one. He couldn't understand what was wrong. He was beginning to get frustrated and tired. Sometimes, he wished he could return home. Unfortunately, there was nothing to return to, he had quit his job, sold all property and would have to start from the very bottom like he was currently doing in London.
Worse still, they had almost exhausted all the savings they came with and bills were piling.
On one of the days that he returned from an unsuccessful interview, he happened to meet one of his neighbours who was also Nigerian in the elevator, she was just returning from work and stepped into the elevator with him. "You look very Nigerian, something tells me that you are" she said to him as the elevator went up, "yes I am, how did you know?" Deji asked, looking surprised, "I don't know, we Naija people are just always able to identify ourselves anywhere we go" she laughed, "well you might be right though because I could have easily guessed you were Nigerian as well" Deji laughed, "Jordanna" she said with a smile, stretching her hand out to him, "hmm! Nice but unusual name for a Nigerian" Deji replied, looking curiously at her as he shook her hand, "what does it mean?"he asked, "everyone says that" she laughed, "well, it's a hebrew name which means to flow down or descend.
Basically, my parents named me that because they felt God's blessings descended on them, the day I was born. Though I kind of think my mum just liked the sound of the name" she said with a chuckle, "it does sound nice" Deji replied as the elevator doors opened when they reached the top floor, "you didn't tell me your name" she said as they stepped out, "oh,forgive my manners," he replied, slapping his palm on his forehead "I'm Deji" he said, "Nice to meet you" she smiled, "do you live here or are you just visiting?" "My apartment is just down the hallway" Deji replied pointing towards his apartment, "Oh wow! How come I've never bumped into you, I live just 3 doors beside you" Jordanna replied, "does anyone ever bump into anyone in this part of the world where everyone minds their business?" Deji asked, rolling his eyes, "well you have a point" Jordanna laughed, "I guess I'll see you around then" she smiled waving as they approached her apartment, "sure, it was a pleasure speaking with you" Deji replied waving goodbye.
Ama on the other hand had been lucky to get a part-time job at the popular Mcdonald's fast food restaurant, where she worked on some weekday evenings and weekends, taking and fulfilling customer orders. She hated the job because it involved standing the whole shift and sometimes cleaning toilets. She had been warned in the past that standing for prolonged periods could put her at risk of having varicose veins.
Varicose veins are enlarged, twisted and sometimes bulging veins that are close to the surface of the skin, they usually occur in the veins in the legs due to increase in pressure in the veins from standing and walking. They are usually painless but can also be painful. Standing or sitting for prolonged periods can increase risk for varicose veins. Women, elderly and obese people are at a higher risk of developing varicose veins. Varicose veins are usually not harmful but could lead to complications like skin ulcers, blood clots and bleeding. To prevent having varicose veins, change your sitting or standing posture regularly, avoid wearing high heels and exercise regularly.
On different occasions, Ama would encounter rude customers or co-workers who had no joy and would transfer their aggression to her but she had no choice than to continue working. Her supervisor, who was at least 10 years younger judging from her looks, would always boss her around and schedule her for the worst shifts possible, but she had no choice than to endure the ill-treatment because they needed money badly and she did not want to risk reporting her supervisor, so she wouldn't find a way to set her up for something that she didn't do and get her fired. She had seen this happen to one of her other co-workers just shortly after she joined.
Over time, Ama started resenting Deji because he didn't have a job. They had run out of savings and she was left with the burden of paying their bills and going to school. In fairness to Deji, he had been trying his best to get a job but things weren't just working out for him and to make up for his inability to financially cater to his family, he had been really helpful with taking care of the kids when Ama was away, sometimes, by the time she was home, he would have already made dinner for the kids and put them to bed.
On this particular day, Ama had just returned home from a frustrating day at work. She had attended classes earlier that morning, had gone to work afterwards and came home exhausted. Deji had not been feeling too well that day, he was coming down with a fever, he managed to pick the kids from school and make them some noodles before putting them to bed. He didn't make any dinner for himself or Ama that night because he was too weak, he just took some cereal and went to bed.
Ama was furious to find that there was no dinner waiting for her when she returned home. Even though she worked in a fast food restaurant, employees were not allowed to take food out of the restaurant or eat it, so she had returned home hungry as she had not eaten since lunchtime.
She walked into their room, only to see Deji snoring away on the bed. Irritated, she walked into the bathroom, filled a bowl with cold water and poured it on his head to wake him up, "what the hell?" Deji screamed, waking up from his sleep looking startled, "what did you do that for?" He asked when he realised what had happened.
"It's just a reminder to you that the cousin of sleep is death. How have you been home doing nothing the whole day and I return to an empty dinner table?" She hissed, "Is that the reason for this humiliation?" Deji asked, inspecting the wet clothes on his body, "what can be more humiliating than being jobless and broke?" Ama retorted, "I'm not having this conversation" Deji replied walking away to the bathroom, "no you will have it" Ama said dragging him back, "I'm not in the mood" Deji replied, yanking his hand away from her, "As long as you are under my roof, you will listen when I talk" Ama said blocking his way, "so it has now come to this?" Deji asked, "yes" Ama replied, "And if you're not ready to live by my rules, you can feel free to use the door" she added, "Wait! What?" Deji asked looking like he had just seen a purple kangaroo, "It's either you have the discussion about your jobless situation or you get out of this house, I cannot continue to pay bills for a man who sits at home jobless all day and still cannot make a simple meal for dinner" Ama replied.
"For the last time Ama,please move out of my way, I need to use the bathroom " Deji said, ignoring her derogatory statements. "You will be entitled to use the bathroom when you start paying the bills" Ama hissed, standing firmly, blocking the doorway.
"Ok then, you leave me with no choice" replied Deji who was now enraged, he held her firmly by the hand and flung her onto the bed and entered the bathroom closing the door behind him.
"You hit me? Deji you hit me?" Ama shouted beginning to cry, "I promise you will pay for this she said, storming out of the room.
Few minutes later, Deji came out of the bathroom with a towel around his waist. He had taken off his wet clothes and had just finished having a warm shower. He heard the bell ring when he was having a shower and also heard Ama talking but couldn't make out the other voices. As he stepped out, he noticed that they were male voices and decided to peek to see who she was talking to only to see her talking to two policemen who were standing in their sitting room. "The kids are asleep, so they can't be here because of noise" he thought to himself, "or did the neighbours hear us arguing and call the police" he thought, as he quickly put on his clothes and stepped out.
"What's going on?" He asked looking concerned as he approached the policemen, "we received a distress call from your wife" one of the policemen replied, "it turns out that you have been physically abusing her and you repeated same just a few minutes before her call" the policeman explained further as Deji stared in disbelief , "I did no such thing" Deji said, finally finding his voice, "then how do you explain the torn clothes and bite marks on her body?" The second policeman asked, pointing at Ama who was standing looking pitiful, her shirt had been truly torn and there were visible bite marks on both hands.
"I'm sorry, I had to call them" she said crying , "I don't want to be another murder victim of domestic violence" she said, "but I didn't do this" Deji said looking confused, "there's no need to lie" Ama replied, raising her voice, "this is not the first time, I've told them everything, I won't let you hit me again" she shouted, "it's ok ma'am" we're taking him away, the other police officer reassured her as he placed a confused Deji in handcuffs.