An Early Morning Tea

Chimda left for the office, already? He didn’t see her when he got back the previous  night: he got back really late, and the only thing on his mind was his pillow, definitely not the kids or Chimda. He forced his eyes open, and the first few lines that confronted him made him jump up like someone that met with his sudden death. He looked at the paper in his hand again, and read it out:

“Ray, am gone. Don’t look for me, because you won’t find me.”

He wanted to make sure that he was not dreaming. He felt pressed and pissed at the same time, depressed and oppressed. His heart felt heavy, and his head ached; it was as though his world ran around in circles. How could she do such a thing to him? How could Chimda be this callous? She knew how demanding his work was, and she just abandoned them to where? His thoughts were knocked over by a loud scream, and a shout from somewhere:

“Mummy! Where are you?”

Gosh! Kene and his brothers were already awake. Raymond left the thought of his wife in their room, and ran towards the boys’ room.

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When he got to their room, the first thing that hit him was a foul smell. Ouch! He looked at the boys, one after the other: Kene was two, Nnamdi was one, and Kosi was barely seven months. Chimda was heartless, his mother warned him against taking a wife from Oji’s family, but too much love enveloped his eyes; her family was known to be headstrong. They had met on campus, and married immediately after graduation from the university.

Kosi must be the one that desecrated his nose with disturbing smell of his baby poop. Chai! He looked at the time, it was almost eight: Chimda was his alarm clock. He was going to be late for work. He moved close to the boys, and they watched his steps, closely; they knew quite well that dad never came to wake or bath them in the morning. Raymond knew that he looked out of place.

He was not good at these things, he had adamantly refused a nanny when they had their third, and his mother was far away in London with her dear sister. Who could he call? Precious must be waiting for him at the office. Chai! Nwanyi a! This woman teamed up with his village people to ruin his carrier for life. Before he knew what was happening, it was as though a noisy choir was set free, and the children started crying, wailing and yelling for their mummy. Food! He tried to pick them one at a time, but his phone started to ring. He looked at it, Precious! Choi!

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“Sir, you have kept the Okonkwos waiting for over thirty minutes, and they don’t look happy about it.”

He knew he was in trouble. The Okonkwos were his first client when he started his private practice as a counselor. He started with their parents, and later, inherited all their children. He didn’t know what to tell Precious, because his end was noisy. He just shouted:

“I am on my way.”

At the end of the call, he took a good look at his phone, his three helpless sons, the crumpled note, and at his dejected self.

At the Office

The doors of the reception area of True Life Counseling, threw open with a kick from Raymond’s shoe. He bundled the three boys, and dropped them on reception desk. Before she could ask any question, he had already ran to his office, opened the door, and shut it behind him.

Having a Second Thought….

Raymond allowed the couple to take their time; both deserved it, because he had kept them waiting. They had already filed for divorce, but it was obvious that their mind was not yet made up. Raymond’s eyes fell on their two interlocked hands, he could not miss the strong feeling of  luxury and affluence which resonated around them –they both had it all: money, game, wealth, but….

He dragged his eyes away from them, and his mind went back to his burning household. The couple before him had the whole world under their feet, but they wanted nothing but their family to work. It made Raymond ashamed of himself, and he asked himself some questions about Chimda and him: if they really wanted theirs to work, too? It was a very difficult question to answer. It was a question that thousands of separated and divorced couples he counseled didn’t want to answer, couldn’t answer or just feigned ignorant towards.

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He wanted the couple to communicate in silence, because there was power in silence, maybe there was still hope, yet. The woman whose  eyes had been fixed on Raymond’s pair of footwear said, while looking into her husband’s eyes:

“Jide, all I ever wanted….all I ever asked was for you to love me more. I do everything a wife ought to do, but you come in so late, and the next thing is sleep.”

It was as though Raymond was no longer in the room. He knew he watched his family play out before his eyes. The man looked remorseful, he said:

“Ada, you know how demanding my work could be? Please, forgive me. I don’t know how we got this bad or this far.”

Raymond wanted to excuse himself, but on a second thought, he sat back. How did theirs start, too? They grew apart right from the moment he started off his private practice : he had so much clients, and with the clients, came the money. He knew that he pushed Chimda to the background. She had been by his side when he had to go to work in one pair of bad looking shoes, over washed shirt, and one pair of trouser. Raymond felt bad. His attention was called back by the couple. They both stood, hand in hand, and wore a wide smile. The man spoke:

“Doctor, I think this was the best session, ever. Thanks.”

When they headed out, Raymond knew a doctor’s appointment waited for him, somewhere : he had his family to save.

Written byUdemezue, Oluoma

Udemezue, Oluoma loves to read and write, you can catch her on udemezueoluoma@yahoo.com, udemezue, Oluoma Judith –Facebook,  oluomaudemezue on Instagram, and @Udemezueoluoma on Twitter.