Two



2:45 am
oct, 1989.
Gate 2, Heathrow Airport
England, United Kingdom

I patiently waited for my cousin Kenneth at the waiting hall, the busy airport streaming with people heading for departure, connecting flights as well as arrivals. I’d bought a mini cup of coffee from a nearby vending machine just to keep warm, so I sat down and sipped it slowly, basking in all its warmth, still looking around with hopes of spotting Kenneth, since my mum had called him before my departure while at home, telling him about my time of arrival at Heathrow airport. That evening before leaving home, my mum had hugged me so tight. When she released me, I saw beads of tears dropping slowly from her eyes. She’d told me how she will come visit me from time to time.
“Mum…if you’re going to come visit me often, why are you crying? Come on mum…” I said.
“Ah…I’m not crying oo…” She had added. Now wiping her eyes clean from some leftover strands of tears.
My brother Daniel showed a little sign that he was going to miss me but I hugged him and shook him well like we were age mates and assured him I’d write him letter from time to time. I knew he might join me in the UK once he was out of secondary school. I was going to miss my friends too, even though I virtually spent the previous night with them at Spot it bar.
“Smog…so finally…you want to leave us here and run away eh…” Young Allen had said while drawing a long one from his cigarette on our last night hanging out at Spot it bar.
I just gave away a smile and said, “Nah…before you know it, I’ll be back”, looking at Eva who’d been all over me that night telling me to promise her that I will keep in touch once I got to London.
“Dude, I can’t wait to see you coming back, holding one oyibo girl by the side, both of you talking in British accent, init…?oh yeah…?” said Jidecoded as he stood up and demonstrated to show how the accent sounded. We all laughed hysterically.
“No way… my Smog can’t do that. Stop it, Jide! See what you’re advising your friend. In my front again…”. Eva said and tried to hit him whilst Jidecoded made a run for it.
“Yei…! What did I do now…it’s a joke oo. This girl sef….”
This even made the whole crew laugh more. She just sulked all through the night. I tried talking her out of it but she sulked more, I didn’t bother much. I just wanted to soak in the moments before they became a memory.
I was looking at a poster and about to sip from my cup of coffee when someone touched me. I turned and behold a smiling face reaching for a hug. It was Kenneth. I haven’t seen him in ages since the last time I was in London with my family for vacation. We had spent one day at his parents’ home – my auntie’s actually before heading to our hotel room which had been booked ahead of time before our arrival.
“Olu…welcome. How was your flight?” His British accent was so profound, it made everything he’d said sound like he was sipping tea and talking at the same time. Don’t murder me yet, that’s what it sounded like. I couldn’t help but notice he was now very much matured with beards, quite taller than me but really chubby.
“Fine… very smooth actually.” I said, standing up to give him a hug. “Man, you got really big, am sure those McDonalds burgers is paying off well…bro”. I added.
“Burgers erh…? It’s been a month or more I ordered fast food. I’m on a diet man” He said smiling. I thanked God he took the shade well. “Oh, that’s cool, …diet sounds good cuz…” I said. We both laughed whilst picking my luggage to make way for the exit. The weather outside almost got me running inside the airport where the temperature was calmer, despite two cardigans that I wore. Kenneth couldn’t resist himself laughing hysterically.
“It’s just rainy days. Making everywhere cozy cold – it’s still fall kind of…”.
“Dude, this is winter. Which kind fall. God! I’d better be heading back to Lagos than to freeze here”, I said, unzipping one of my box for a jacket. This got Kenneth laughing more.
“Seriously Dude, how does humans survive in the north pole.”
Kenneth chuckled and shrugged. “North pole… right, you are very funny man. You’ll get used to it, trust me”.
The trip to Kenneth’s student apartment was smooth. I stared all through looking out from the window of the airport taxi we boarded, thinking to myself. So, this is going to be my home for the next couple of years or so. Not so much of the nostalgic first-time visit feeling but a sense of purpose somewhat crept in my thought. Here I was farther from home. On the verge to achieving my dreams, no – I mean my father’s dream. This medicine right.
Kenneth lived a luxury life. His well-furnished studio apartment spoke volumes. Neatly arranged living room, a sense of coziness and warmth filled the air.
“Welcome to my humble abode”, Kenneth said.
“Relax, have a shower and unpack. Feel at home.” He added. Pointing towards the bathroom.
For the first few minutes in Kenneth’s apartment, despite trying to scan around his home, I was still recuperating from the cold ride on the London taxi. I just found myself numb of words. He noticed that I was still shivering despite the heater being on.
“Let me increase the heater, that will help” Kenneth said.
“What will help is some whiskey”, I chipped in, and chuckled. “And maybe some ‘roofies’ later on... I heard they’re easy to find around here”.
He gave me that smirk of smile that came with a “I am disgusted” kind of look.
“I don’t drink. I don’t do drugs bro, so I don’t have any”. “Sorry”. He said, as polite as he could be.
I wasn’t sure which one I should be sad about. The him not drinking or the fact that he ended the statement with a sorry.
“You could rush out to a store and get some for me. Whiskey will help me get warm, still freezing here. Boy, I have come a long way o…”.
“I’m sorry Olu, I meant – you can’t drink in my apartment. Sorry”. His profound smile was no doubt filled with sarcasm.
The Sorry again!
“Dude, I’m not asking you to drink with me. I’m just cold, and I need something to warm my body. Ah…”
I was actually very cold. You could see my mouth shivering, making me make some funny kind of noise while talking. Five minutes later, he brought a mug filled with steaming tea. I just had to make do with it just for a little warmth.
“The first thing you get to offer me in your house is tea. Tea…. Dude…really…?” I said. “It’s not an African thing oo…”
Kenneth couldn’t help but laugh out loud this time. “Welcome to London”. He said.
My cousin Kenneth was a total opposite of me. Articulated, and responsible with a gentle nature. He seemed to know where he was going. He was two years older than me, yet with a maturity of a forty-year-old. Well so I thought then. His apartment spoke volumes of a responsible student, who cleans up neatly. Stacked medical books could be seen almost around the corners of the living room. Bible quotes and some inspirational images were neatly pasted on some specific angles of the living room. He’s truly the angel my dad had described. I just concluded in my heart that my cousin was boring. As I unpacked some of my things, I kept thinking to myself if I could be able to live with Kenneth. We were just two worlds apart. Ok, maybe family and medicine.

**********************************

First day at school was fate. You know that kind of fate that happens and you just want to look up and whisper to the skies “Thank you God”. That was just what I encountered at the student office in queue trying to get registered. The lady in the office was sluggishly attending to each student, smiling and being too nice. I guess that was part of her job description.
“Dude, you notice how the lady be smiling like she is being fingered or something”.
“Totally dude”, I concurred smiling at the comment from the white boy seated next to me in the queue. “Man I need a smoke up”. He added. I turned to have a good look at the white boy. Tight jeans, ruffled hair, gold wrist watch and chains – his outlook gave him away as a stoner.
“Dude, you’re speaking my language”. I said.
That was the moment I looked up the roof, and gave that “Thank you God” whisper. He stood up and headed for the exit, I followed suit. Few stairs down, we found an old store filled with used and abandoned wares. He lit s up a well folded blunt and drew a long one from it.
“Dude, this is London’s finest. One of the purest forms. Not those ghetto shit. Have a hit.” He said, with a strong British accent. He must be from around Britain, no doubt.
I collected the blunt and drew a long one. I definitely had missed it. It’s being hours, yeah…? “Yeah, you’re right. This is good shit.” I said.
“Oh yeah…?” The white boy said.
“Yeah… Just like some good Lagos SK.”
“What’s that? Lagos…?” The white boy inquired curiously. “Lagos is in Nigeria; Nigeria is in Africa.” I said.
“Oh…. Africa…” I passed the blunt and he collected it and paused. “Africa…” he said again, as if trying to remember what Africa means. Then it came to him after two seconds or so. “Oh…Nigeria, Africa…oh yeah…, Cola is from Nigeria I think.” The white boy added.
“Cola…?” I asked.
“Yeah, awesome dude. You got to meet him bro.”
“…oh you mean Kola…you have to say the name with the accent. Otherwise, you’d be saying coca cola. And it’s a K not a C…” I tried suppressing my laughter.
“Of course Cola…that’s what I just said. Isn’t it…?” The white boy said, sounding so sure of himself.
I gave seeing it was an accent problem. “Yeah, right”, I said.
We both laughed out loud.
“Look, I might seem white and all to you, but I’ve got some African blood running ina my blad. I got Jamaican friends, Nigerians, Zimbabwe. I love Bob Marley, dude...”
“You got black friends and you like black music, and that automatically makes you black…?”
“Yes. I knew you were brilliant, just as I’d thought.” The white boy retorted. I guess he was high or deluded. If only he could hear himself, I thought.
“Dude, I barley know your name”. The white boy said while reaching out for a handshake.
“Olu…” I muttered.
“Olu…” He said. His accent was point on. “Marshall here, but I go by Marsh, you know. The ladies love Marsh. Look here, I got to take you to the club and meet some nice looking beautiful white chicks. I’m sure you like them white, yeah…?”
I smiled and opened my eyes wide. I lacked words. “Well…”. I finally said. “That’s my nigger” Marsh said, I would later come to understand he was allowed a free pass to say the word ‘nigger’ because of his self-purported theory of having some African blood. He was whiter than a white albino. That’s some good expensive joke. Well, boy had some good guts.
“Bullocks!... I got to head up and finish the registration. What course did you apply…?
“Medicine” I said. The white boy laughed out loud. “So you’re the next in line Dr. Stoner I guess.” I smiled. “Well, that’s another way to put it”.
“Dude, I don’t really care much about college you know…I don’t know why applied here. Oh wait, I think I do. Yeah right…to get all the Uni chicks.” He nodded his head, concurring to what he just said. “…and also sell tons of drugs. I’m talking Pablo Escobar style, mate.” Now laughing hard basking in the euphoria of the weed we just smoked.
I laughed too, I knew that moment that I had found a friend. A stoner. A talker, a good one for that matter. A white boy who parades himself black



+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
I spent two weeks at Kenneth’s. It would have been less had the estate agent I hired found something in time. My cousin lived like a monk and I was a rebel and unrighteous. I knew living with him was going to be war. I just wasn’t ready for that owing to his first rule of no drinking in his apartment. How could someone live like that. Young and free acting like a fifty-year-old man. I’d wondered.
My new apartment was just perfect. Just a few minutes’ drive from the school of medicine. Haven settled in, I had made quite a few friends within the campus and out. You just had to keep meeting different kinds of people every day, that was the quirks of London – Caucasians, ‘Blacks’, Asians, Arabs, just about every race. And walking through the campus sometimes seemed everyone was in a rush, and minded their businesses. I was still trying to adapt to living in my new environment
Hi, I’m kind of lost. Uhmm…I’m heading to the library. Someone told me to ask of Bishop Street… Can you point that direction for me, please?
“You’re in a luck. I’m going to the library too.” She said smiling. She clutched some good amount of text books under her armpit and had one huge one held firmly on her other hands
“I’m Bethy…you must be from Africa”. She looked my direction as we walked the path leading to the library.
“Yes, I’m from Africa”. I replied politely.
“I guess you’ve seen all the lions, zebras, giraffes and all the animals”. She makes a rotating gesture with her hands to buttress her point of ‘all the animals’.
I’d fringe for a second – I know it wasn’t her fault thinking everywhere in Africa is the big jungle. Of course, that’s what the media paints – TV, magazines and newspapers had safari as the only tangible thing to show of Africa. On this occasion, I would have loved to have a longer chat with her and explain things, owing to the fact that she seemed sweet and welcoming but I was in a rush for a class. I had to waive it off with a smile.
“You know Africa is not just one big zoo or something. It’s just what media paints of us on TV”
“Oh really. Well…I don’t know about that. I’ve always wanted to visit though”. “of course, if you’re ready right now I can take you. She laughed hysterically. We had gotten to the library.
“It’s nice to meet you Olu. She’d said. I got a lecture to attend at the moment. See you around, maybe…”. I reached my right hand to shake her while adjusting my strapped bag.
“See you around”, she muttered, whilst adjusting the books on her left arm and shook me smiling.
It came to me. Must be the racial difference that made everyone seem unfriendly. But deep down everyone wanted to get along and discover their individual race differences. Interesting!