“Aro rugged you, how far?” i said “anchoring” KC
with a frown on my face, “dis one wey ur face dey
like dis, Prof Nwosu don nak u home and away?”
Kc asked. “how u take know? guy him nak me
home and away oh, what of u?” i asked, “guy my
own na only away him nak me oh” Kc answered.
“so we go stay for this town for another one year
be dat?” I said. “naso oh, our mate go serve finish,
we go still dey sch.” Kc added.
Home and away was a slang we used in our
department to refer to double failure. First of all,
“Home” means if a lecturer is handling two
courses(1st and 2nd semester) and you fail the
first semester course, that means; “the Lecturer
don nak u home”. If you fail the second semester
course, that means; “the Lecturer don nak u
away”. But if u fail both courses, that means; “the
Lecturer don nak u home and away”. In my case,
the lecturer “nak” me home and away, Phy411
and Phy412.
“u get where u go dey stay?” i asked Kc. “i no get
oh, i go dey come from Port-harcout, i go dey
come once in a week” He responded. “me i dey
stay with my cousin for Nekede, i go dey come
anytime wey dem get lecture oh, u no say that
Prof wicked, and him dey serious with
attendance” I said. “him suppose consider us wey
be spill over students na” Kc said. “u no know that
man, set before our set wey get spill over dey
come lecture, na God go save us oh” I said as we
walked out of the sch compound.
“guy find me even if na 100 bucks make i take
enter bus go Nekede na” I said. “take, manage am,
na 50 bucks i get” Kc said offering me a worn out
50naira note. “u don try, u be correct man, half
loaf of Agege bread is better than chin-chin” i said
as i collected the money.
If there was one thing i seriously lacked lately,
that thing was Money. Even 50naira was a huge
amout of money to me.
I “anchored” Kc and walked slowly to where i
would board a bus. What i never knew was that a
bad news was waiting to be told at home.
“guy how far, chaw dey house? because the worm
wey dey my belle don chop my intestine finish oh”
i said to Brain Box as i got home. “guy chaw no
dey house oh, we dey wait make u come sef
before we go arrange chaw” Brain Box responded.
(chaw was a slang for food) “because na me be
una Mama na?” i said. “guy no be so oh, Tochiba
no get money and me sef no get money” Brain
Box responded.
Just then, Tochiba walked in and said, “our
landlord come today oh. Him say make we pack
comot for dis house oh, him say him give us from
now to next week Tuesday to pack comot oh”.
My bad!! i forgot to introduce my friends!! Brain
box was a boy from Mbaise. His brain was his
most priceless asset. In Nigeria, the most cunny
set of human beings are from Mbaise in Imo
state. An ibo Musician once sang that, “if u are in a
room where an Mbaise man and a snake is, first
kill the Mbaise man before u kill the snake,
because the Mbaise man is more dangerous than
the snake”. Dangerous was the perfect word to
describe Brain Box, sometimes he even scares
me. His cunny nature fetched him the name Brain
Box. He can even decieve the wisest of men. If i
said he was an award winning dangerous con
artist, i wasn’t far from the truth. Brain box also
had spill over, but not in my sch.
While Tochiba was my cousin, he was trained in
Alluminium roofing and window assembling. His
real name was Tochi, but he preffered to be called
Tochiba.
They were both the roomates i had. I loved them
so much. But what i never knew was that we
would soon be divided.
“how we go do am now?” i said as we sat in the
room the following day. “i don call PKC, him say
make una come stay with am for him house”
Tochiba said. “which one be make una come stay
with am for him place? U no go follow us go?”
Brain box asked Tochiba. “i dey go village go stay
oh, because i hear say some people dey build new
house for village, so alluminiun contract go dey
for me” Tochiba explained. I saw sense in his
decision.
PKC was a nice young pastor in our church. His
real name was Kelechi, KC for short. So PKC was a
short form for Pastor Kelechi. The guy was an
easy going guy. He was the kind of person that
could take a bullet for his friends, but he loved
food so much. The had a “ruminant” stomach. He
could eat a bucket full of Eba and still ask for
more.
“but guy u no try oh, u for tell us since say ur
house rent don dey expire so we for try hustle out
money” I said to Tochiba. “i no wan disturb una
na, abi na una follow me pay the last one wey i
pay? Una dey pursue una sch tins na, una need
money for una sch tins na” he responded.
Four day later, Tochiba had already packed his
properties to the village that morning.
As i and Brainbox walked from Umunkoto; where
we were staying, to Ozommiri; where Pkc was
staying with our bags, i was happy i wasn’t going
there alone, i was happy i was going with my
friend Brain box, not know i would meet alot of
very funny friends in Ozommiri.
We got to Pkc’s house on time to meet a full
house.
I quickly took a glimpse at the room or rather the
hall to notice it was as big as two convention
rooms put together. It had two wardrobes and a
wallpaper of Jesus was hung on the wall, on the
wallpaper was written; “THE LORD IS MY
SHEPHARD, I SHALL NOT WANT” boldly.
Though the room was beautiful, the number of
guys in the room added to its beauty.
I and Brainbox sat on the floor because there was
no space to seat on the bed. “man the food never
done?” one of the guys said with a loud voice, “e
don dey done” a voice responded from the
kitchen. “make e done quick oh, i dey hungry die” i
almost said.
It was time for introduction.
“na me dem dey call Baba Jay, i graduate from
FUTO, na me be the only guy wey collect award
for guiness book of record as the world best
mess, my mess fit break concrete” Baba Jay gave a
short but precise description of himself. “Baba
jay!! Baba jay!! Baba jay!!” the other guys cheered.
I and Brainbox laughed at such a funny
introduction.
“na me be Tega, the finest boy, fine boy no
pimples, i graduate from Nekede Poly, but i never
serve” Tega gave a short but sharp introduction of
himself. He was indeed fine (dat kin Chris brown
type of fine na).
“na me dem dey Call Snoop, i graduate from
IMSU, I still dey wait to go serve” Another guy that
really looked like Snoop Dogg said. Infact, if he
had said Snoop Dogg was his twin brother, i
would have believed.
“i am Pkc, the pastor of this house, i graduated
from IMSU too, but am currently doing God’s
work” Pkc said what i already knew. One thing
about Pkc was that even if he was in a gathering
where people spoke pigin English, he always stuck
to speaking English, and he had his way with
English words if i must confess. “Pkc, a.k.a every
mountain of Eba must be brought down” Baba Jay
added. I and Brainbox laughed uncontrollably
because we knew what that meant; Baba jay was
trying to tell us what we already knew. Pkc just
smiled in response.
“i be Brainbox, the wisest man, i even wise pass
Herbert Einstien sef, na why people dey call me
Brainbox” Brainbox said and i cheered him.
“na me be Flow, i dey Flow like butterfly and sting
like bee” I said. “i get spill over for IMSU” I added.
One thing we all had in common was that we
were all Spill over students that were nursing our
wounds far from our sch premises. But i
wondered why God used Pkc to bring us together.
Maybe God had a plan for us, so i tot.
Now it was food time, and there was one person
that haven’t yet introduced himself; the person
that was cooking in the Kitchen.