Meet Lovely Angela-
She was one of those rare individuals who had malaria without a fever. She had never in her life had a high body temperature. She laid down on the bed writhing in the pain that comes with malaria. The discomfort was unbearable, she wished she could sleep, but her eyes were opened, sadly so. Teardrops rolled down her cheeks.
This was the 50th time and she hoped she would get it right. She picked Africa for this particular reason and Nigeria! Well, she read for the 49th time that Nigerian men were really good lovers and good husbands too. She made a mental note to stay off the bearded men. Especially the ones with the moustache. It had never worked out with those ones.
Ha! What of the tall, dark and handsome, those ones were a disaster. She remembered this one time at her 35th coming when she dated the tall, dark and handsome spec, it lasted only a few hours and she lost all her wealth for eternity. His name was Thomas, she met him at the hospital where she was being treated for cancer. There was a cure at last or so the doctors made her believe. Thomas was her physician and she couldn’t understand why he took a particular likeness to her, she was bald from the cancer treatment and her eyes were sunken. She had lost 15k and weighed 40kg. Her collar bones protruded and her skin was dull.
Thomas looked at her lovingly each day and finally proposed to her on the day she was discharged from the hospital. He was ecstatic.
‘The treatment worked, from the tests conducted, there is no trace of cancer in your body. Within the next few hours, you will be restored to your proper form. Your hair, skin, flesh all of it will come back and you will blossom.” He said hopping from one foot to the other.
She looked up to him and smiled weakly. She was exhausted from the treatment. It was the year 2040 and she would have been glad to just go home after spending 10years at the hospital. As if he could read her thoughts, Thomas went down on one knee and said
“Marry me, my sweet Angela, make me the happiest man on this earth. Let me take you home.”
She was not thinking straight, she nodded.
‘I will take that as a yes, yes! She said yes’ Thomas screamed.
The ward was jubilant and the wedding took place before she had a chance to go home. In less than 48 hours Thomas had taken over her businesses and squandered her wealth. He gambled it away. She had a seizure which ended that circle. The longest she has stayed with a man was the 49th time, they dated for one year and was married for two years. There had no children and this tore the marriage into shreds. He cheated on her with his best friend. The shock of seeing both men naked and fondling each other on her matrimonial bed gave her a seizure. Her heart broke into a million pieces.
This was the 50th time and it was different, it was a race against time and balance. She choose Africa, she wanted a different type of love, perharps a love which wouldn’t break her heart. This was her last chance at finding her eternal soulmate else her generation will be lost forever. Thomas was in England and the 49th was in New York. She tried to identify them with numbers it made it easier than remembering their names. She hoped she would get it right this time.
The heat was unbearable, she choose a boysquarter in Festac Town Lagos as her place of aboard. The flies buzzed around her and she knew it was time to take the mattress inside the house.
She stood up staggering and held unto to the rail to steady herself. She barely dragged the mattress in side when she gave in to splatters of cough. It was intense, she spat out a thick yellow mucus from her mouth. She wiped her mouth with her bare hands and continued the drag.
She heard the siren from the Power Holding Coming and this brought a smile to her contorted face. Her gait changed, all forms of discomfort and pain miraculously disappeared. She rushed inside to turn on the rusted standing fan, the blast of air on her sweat coated face and body was refreshing. She felt alive. She turned on the TV and listened to the news. It was 4pm and she had about one hour to kill before her dreaded trip to the hospital.
She was not looking forward to the test results. She somehow how knew it was malaria. She knew the symptoms and she’s had it for as long as she can remember. But she must go to the hospital, it always happened on her 25th birthday. She meets the man and falls in love then gets a broken heart. But any love she has before her 25th birthday does not destroy her. She had vague recollections of her teenage love. Of her childhood love, those memories seem to have taken place one billion years ago.
“The Federal Republic of Nigeria has finally decided to loan it’s territory with crude oil to the West in exchange for cancellation of its 10.3 trillion dollars debt.’ The news anchor had tears streaming down her cheeks as if she had lost the world. She couldn’t continue reading the news as she broke down in tears. She dabbed her face and sobbed uncontrollably.
In this world, she was known as Lovely, perharps the name would give her some true love to sustain her being. Lovely shook her head in disgust and then remembered all the reasons she picked Nigeria as her 50th location. Her guts told her that she would succeed in Nigeria, her guts was never wrong, Nigerian men could not really break her heart or so she thought. Nigerian men loved women and treated them like women.
She heard the rainfall and she suddenly cursed, there was no sign of rain, the clouds were blue and white. All of a sudden, a heavy wind slammed her door. She was upset because it meant she had to put off her visit to the hospital and that was like postponing the evil day. She wanted to have it over and done with. She knew she would meet the assigned man at the hospital or on her way to the hospital or on her way from the hospital. She peeped through her window, she loved the cool gush of wind on her face, she suddenly felt alive for the second time, but her joy was short lived. She sighted her clothes, they were scattered all over the veranda by the rainfall and wind. Some had passed through the drainage and we’re headed for the gutter. She screamed out in frustration, the wind meant nothing to her now that it had wrecked havoc on her clothes. She couldn’t remember why she did not take off the dry clothes from the line before the rain started. Then it suddenly dawned on her, she was ill. She had malaria or so she thought. She shivered and goose pimples appeared all over her skin. The rain stopped as sudden as it had started. And the power supply was cut off.
‘What! NEPA, mehnn you guys are joy killers’ She whimpered. She laid on the couch, staring at the ceiling, there were holes all over and the rain drops splattered, forming little puddles in her tiny boysquarter. The house was not a beauty by all means but it served it’s purpose, it gave her shelter. She had opted to be poor this time, perharps her heart won’t be broken. She was told that Nigerian men love their egos to be massaged and one of such ways was to carter for a woman’s financial needs. She knew she could get out of this situation whenever she wanted to. She was not ready to make a move yet, she decided to endure the hardship. Her 25th birthday was in two months time, by then she won’t have the luxury of experimenting with men to ascertain the right man. She was surely running out of time as she had done a fairly poor job in picking the right kind of man. She dated boys mostly, spoilt rich boys who had no ambition for a serious and committed relationship. What those boys had was lust and pride. They took pride in her beauty. She was not Nigerian in the proper sense of the word. She was a citizen of the world. She had the ability to change her physical form into any nationality she desired. She mixed her form like a woman cooking a pot of soup with different ingredients. She had Indian hair, it was 32 inches long and black, silky and straight, it never tangled.
She had an European nose, long and pointed, finely carved and befitting of a fairy tale princess. She had long straight legs and was 5.9ft. She was shapely, slender yet protruding backside, curved hips and pointed breasts. She never needed a bra to keep her breasts standing. Her nipples were always erect so much so that it seemed that she was always in the mood for sex. Her complexion was a steaming light brown, she shone in the day and glowed in the dark. She was indeed a unique being. Her eyes were captivating, they were bright and intriguing. They always had that innocence about them that made it difficult for one to place a hand on. She had a mole close to her lips otherwise her face was flawless. Her lips were as red as a rose and she needed no lipstick to enhance it further.
She yawned and closed her eyes. She counted to 20 and stood up from the couch. She felt dizzy and she knew it was time. She grabbed her chiffon mixed with cotton dress and wore it over her vest and bump shorts. She smiled at her image. She looked fat with the extra layers of clothing and she liked it that way.
She packed her hair into a pony tail and cut off 10inches. ‘it will grow back.’ she consoled herself. She wore flat sandals and took a matching purse with it.
She refused to take a cab, she wanted to expose herself to all spec of men. She glided down the street, she felt wobbly but she liked her unattractive look. Her dress was long enough to cover her long legs. She smiled at first, then the discomfort started, she felt nausea ted, she couldn’t tell if it was the awful smell from the gutter or the whiff of Akara been fried at the corner of the street. She was allergic to a lot of things and she couldn’t keep track of could cause her allergy. She stopped abruptly and was bent over, she waited for the wave of nausea to subside but it wouldn’t. She took two steps forward close to the edge of the gutter and emptied her stomach. The contents were a yellowish slimy substance. She wiped her mouth with her hands, she felt a lot better. Then she felt the tap on her shoulders and heard the voice.
“Are you alright Miss?”
‘Yes, thank you.’
‘Where are you going, I can give you a ride, the outbreak of this virus is all over the place and I would be surprised if you hadn’t caught it.’
She entered the black 2050 model of the jaguar.
‘Hi, my name is Richard, my friends call me Richie’ He said with a grin.
‘I am lovely’ She said with a straight face. She was irritated by his attitude. This was an example of a man she wouldn’t like to date.
‘ I see from your features that your parents picked a great name. Where are you headed?’
‘To the hospital, Greenfields Hospital, it’s just around the corner, turn left drive straight to the end of the street, then turn right.’
‘ I need not ask, it seems you have the virus, don’t worry it will wear off. I had it too, just one week ago and I am as good as new now.’ he turned to stare at her.
‘ do you live around here? I am visiting my brother he just came back from Germany where he signed an epic agreement on behalf of the government. You know Germany has finally decided to buy ideas from Nigeria. Who have thought it possible. I am an Analyst by profession.’ he said.
‘stop, that’s the hospital. Thanks for the ride.’ Lovely couldn’t bear another minute with him, he blabbed too much she told herself. What do analyst even do? Is it even a profession she asked herself as she alighted from the car with surprising speed for an ill person.
‘wait can I have your number, please’ ‘No, if we meet again, then I shall freely give it to you without you asking.’ she walked down to the reception of the hospital with trepidation of her unknown illness. She only hoped it won’t be as bad as the previous ones in her previous lives