Posted by Ugo! Ugo!! Ugo eh!! “u don warm d soup wey dey 4 pot?” dat question brought me back to reality from dreamland.“chei mama i never warm am oh” dats d price i had to pay for being the only child of my parents.
Mama was off to her early morning routinewatering of our vegetable farmland. Farming was not only mama’s own quota to support d family, but it was the trend for barracks women as they assume it as their own “white collar job”.I gradually roll off from bed so as not to feel d pains in my right knee gotten from aferocious tackle courtesy of Cosmos my hausa friend, well, maybe he wasn’t happyi was his opponent in yesterdays match as it is a rear occurance for us as close friends to play against each other, i thought as i dragged my feet to d kitchen to warm d ogbono soup as mama instructed.
Today the cloud is bright, i could feel d cool breeze of the morning on my hairy skin. It rained heavily last night, with watergathered everywhere on d floor, the drainage in d barracks is very poor as the d gutters were blocked and grass infested.UP NEPA! UP NEPA!! The children on their way to school shouted, what came to my mind first was the T.V, “oboy e don tey wey man pekin watch tv oh” i said to my self as i put on the tv, ehn Nigeria 2- algeria 0, a local station was giving highlights of yesterday’s match, i was happy 4 nigeria as it’s been long we won afriendly match.I glanced at d wall clock, it was 9 already, when suddenly i percieved something, it was as if something was burning, maybe our old fridge was burning again, i thought.Aaaaah! D soup dey burnAfter d meal of hot ogbono soup and fufu, i as off to the farm to join mama, helping her fetch water from d well while she did dwatering, i was wondering how she coped with the farm work when i was still in school.Well, she said she hired labourers but i doubt because mama was so hard working that she could handle all the farmwork by herself, so i thought.The evening comes with d thought of “sokoto-the place of smoke”, so i took my bath and i was on my way to sokoto-the place where the neighbourhood boys gather to take a smoke of weed.On my way i met Femi, a friend that was enlisted in d army last year, due to d stress of JAMB, he opted for recruitment in d army. Since he joined d force he has been of useful value to us “bloody civilians” as whenever we get into trouble, he bails us out easily, we also use his house as charlet to have fun with our girlfriends.“femi, how far u dey go sokoto?”“fanta i dey go sokoto oh, e don tay na”(u will get to know how i got d nickname “fanta”) “me sef dey go there”, i said.We shook hands and walk slowly to the bush path called sokoto. We got there at dnick of time when boys haven’t finished their first “jumbo”. Cosmos was already there.We shook hands with everybody while chanting “in sokoto we stand” as was the custom.I finished rapping up my jumbo when Olu started playing tupac “do for love” from his “china phone”, he was far from me as i was in sokoto 5(seat number) and he was in sokoto 1, but i could hear the tupac song as if d speakers were inside of my head, so i whispered d lyrics word for word.Cosmos was telling d house how he asked an army lady out and the lady told him to come see her in her duty post in d barracks.Everybody laughed, but i laughed more, maybe i laughed more because i was on my third jumbo and was on top of the world, maybe.Suddenly my phone rang… “Who b this?” “Chei na papa oh” i said as i recieved d call. He wanted me to come home immediately.I took my last ki*ss of weed with so much excitement, i told Cosmos i was leaving and he pleaded 4 me to wait for him while he rushed his last jumbo.On my way i bought tom-tom and took it inorder to prevent papa from knowing i smoke; (a secret i kept from him for long now)On our way home cosmos informed me ofan interview he was to attend d next day. Me and Cosmos had applied for jobs and attended interviews together, but this timei sense betrayal on his part as he refused informing me earlier to apply for d job in a telecommunication company.I wished him well as i walked through d narrow road to my house. I saw papa’s jalopy toyota car parked outside.“wetin dis man wan tell me sef?” i thought as i greeted mama outside and rushed in to meet my dad.He told me he will take me to a General friend of his the next day to introduce me to him. Sometimes i wondered how he gotso friendly with Generals since he was only a staff sergeant in the army.I went to the kitchen to assist mama with the kitchen chores, “why i no get sister sef” i said to myself as i finished slicing the “ugwu” leaf.It was morning devotion, and i promised God to stop visiting sokoto, a promise i had made more than hundred times. I wasdressed with my green long sleeve and black fitted trousers, ready to go see “the General” .”see fine boy” i said as i looked at the mirror image of myself.We got to my dad’s place of work but the General wasn’t there yet, so my dad calledhim and he said we should come straight to the his house because he wouldn’t be in the office that day as he had a seminar to attend. That was to be the third Generali had visited, and the most memorable.We arrived the General’s house in no time.I instantly noticed that everywhere was interlocked (e remain small dem for interlock outside d compound sef).“so this kin house dey dis barracks?” i said to myself as we walked in.Shun sir, my father saluted d general in attention, d general responded d salute and gestured us to seat down.“staff sergeant Okonkwo, dis is ur son ehn?” he said.Yes sir, My dad introduced me as a fresh graduate still in search of job and that i was his only son.General Adebayo listened keenly, i saw hisname from d name tag in his glamorous army uniform.“Well, staff sergeant u can go to work now leave me and this young man here to gist”, he said“gist wetin?” i pondered as my dad salutedand left.“Well young man u said ur name is?”I almost forgot my name as i could feel cold shivers running gradually down my spine. Peter, i said “peter okonkwo”. I usedpeter as my name on such formal scenerio, albeit my full name is Okonkwo Ugochukwu Peter.“Peter ehn”“yes sir” i said, before i finished saying dati saw dis drop dead delectable girl walkingtowards d living room. She was as beautiful as my Onyinye, but my onyinye was taller.My jaw droped as such ebony queen. I smiled at her revealing my beautiful set of teeth dat made Onyinye fall for me.“Fanta bobo, today na ur day” i said to myself…________________ ________ ________________ ________== WATCH OUT FOR PART 2 ==
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| Article Name | Must Read Story: The Barrack Boy… Part 1. |
| Description |
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| Author Name | Head Admin |
| Published On | 7/06/2016 |
| Post Category |
story
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