episode 1-2

[4/10, 8:57 AM] .: Episode 1
“Out! Get out of my house! You have eaten all your
siblings, your broth ers and sisters are dead and you
know why they are dead! You killed them, witch!”
shouted Mr. Effiong. “No papa; I ate no one. Please
don’t send me away, I have nowhere to go.” Ekaette
pleaded tearfully. Mr. Effiong raised his machete and
swung it at his daughter. She ducked but not quickly
enough. The tip of the machete grazed the skin of her
neck and she yelled in pain, “He has killed me oh! I am
dead! I am dead o!” “No! You are not dead Ekaette!
The reason you are still alive is simply that I don’t
want to stain my hands with blood. But if you don’t
step away from this house this very minute, I am going
to spill your blood!” “Daddy please, have mercy on me, I
am not a witch. I did not eat my brothers and sisters.”
“I said get out of my house!” Mr. Effiong raised his
machete again and began to slap his fourteen year old
daughter around with the side of the machete. Eka, as
she was fondly called, rolled on the floor yelling in
heart-wrenching pain as her fair, supple, soft skin
reddened and tore open.
From the bedroom Ufoma, her mother ran out, dragging
behind her a Ghana-must-go bag. She dragged the bag
through the living room and out of the house and
dumped it on the street. She then ran into the house
and joined her husband in the callous attack against
their teenage daughter. Ufoma kicked Eka, punched her,
dug her nails into her skin and then buried her teeth
into her back. Ekaette’s cry could have melted the
hardest of hearts; but sadly not a soul on the street
came out to help the girl. On the street people were
heard saying, “Eheh! Finally, Effiong and his wife have
decided to drive away the little pretty witch who ate all
the children in our street.” Eka bled from all over her
body. At some point she gave up hope that she would
survive the ordeal. When her mother saw that she could
no longer utter a cry, or raise her hand to defend
herself from punches and waves of machete-slaps she
and her husband unleashed on their daughter, Ufoma
asked her husband to stop beating Eka. She then knelt
close to her and tore with her bare hands every piece
of wear on Ekaette’s body. When she was done, she
dragged her by the hand into the street and left her on
the ground.
While Eka lay on the street, a swarm of flies settled on
her naked body to lick her wounds. She was too weak to
stir a limb, so she let them have their fill of her bloody
wounds. Passers-by mistook her for dead and wondered
how a young pretty girl like her came to meet death in
the gruesome fashion they saw her. Sadly for Eka, it
began to rain. With the rain, her skin began to burn
intensely, but the swarm of flies fluttered away for
cover from the rain. Eka tried to get off the ground
but could not, so she lay back on the ground and hopped
that death would pity her and snuff the life out of her.
The rain which began as light showers turned to a
heavy downpour; still Eka lay on the ground. There she
wailed and cried, but her voice was too faint for any to
hear. She had cried herself hoarse. Then a momentary
help came; Simbi her only friend and the only person
who believed she was not a witch ran into the rain with
her six year old brother and lifted Eka to a shed by
the street side and put her on a table. There they
cleaned her many wounds with a piece of cloth they
took from the Ghana-must-go bag which contained her
belongings.
Simbi and her brother worked hard and fast to help
Ekaette. They were afraid of being seen by their
parents; if that was to happen all hell would break
loose, and more so if Iya Jegede was to see Ekaette on
her table. She would raise hell over that and claim that
her shed and the table where she sold her wares had
been defiled by bringing a witch to sit on her table.
When Simbi and her brother were done, they helped Eka
into another clothe taken from her Ghana-must-go
bag. Simbi squeezed two hundred Naira into Eka’s hand
and said with tears in her eyes, “Eka, this is all I have.
I saved it from selling tomatoes for my mother. Use it
and get away from here. Those two people who did this
to you, they are not your parents. I believe they
adopted you and now they want you out of their house
by all means. Go far away from here and don’t ever
come back. Here is my father’s phone number, you can
call me whenever you need to talk to someone; just
don’t tell my father you are Ekaette. Okay?” Eka said
nothing; she simply stared emptily right through Simbi
and her brother as tears flowed from her eyes. Simbi
wanted to hug her for the last time, but could not
because of her many wounds. She did not know if they
would see again. She had to squeeze her hand and even
that made Eka wince in pain.
Simbi and her brother ran back into the rain to get
home before their parents would notice they were gone.
The rain did not let up till nightfall. While Simbi went
about her home chores she wondered how her friend was
doing. She was not sure she had eaten anything all day,
and she knew no one on their street would offer her
anything to eat. When Simbi could not bear the pain of
the horror Ekaette her friend was going through, she
scooped some food into a disposable plate and ran into
the rainy night to give it to her. When she got to Iya
Jegede’s shed, Ekaette was gone. Simbi felt pains
stabbing at her heart. She cried silently and ran
around their street to see if she could spot her. After
about thirty minutes of searching for her she went
home heartbroken.
That rainy night, Ekaette had no clue about where to
go. She just wanted to get away from her street and
her parents who branded her a witch. Through the rainy
night and with hunger gnawing away at her intestines,
she trekked until her legs could carry her no longer.
When she spotted an uncompleted building, she made for
it to spend the night there. She did not want to spend
the two hundred Naira Simbi gave her; it was her
security against any eventuality. She dropped her bag
on the rugged floor of the uncompleted building, laid
her head on it and began to muse over her sad life. In-
between her musings she sobbed. She knew she would not
be able to sleep that night. The thoughts on her mind
and the burning pains on her body would not let her
sleep. As the thoughts of her sad life ran through her
mind and she consoled herself with hot tears, she began
to hear a hissing sound like that of a snake. She stared
into the dark to see if she could make out anything.
While she peered into the dark, her mind began to play
tricks on her. Something seemed to be coming for her
slithering on the floor like a huge snake. Fear seized
her heart and she began to pant like an asthmatic
patient. Without giving much thought to it, she sprang
to her feet, grabbed her bag and fled from the
uncompleted building.
Ekaette could only be aptly described as a head-
turning, drop-dead beautiful lass. It was hard to run
into her without pausing to have a second look at her.
Though she was just fourteen, somehow her beauty
worked surreal magic on men which often left them
stuttering on their words and acted stupidly in her
presence. Her hair was the strangest thing about her,
besides her near unbelievable beauty. A wisp of her hair
felt strange to touch and stretched way down to her
waist line. Because her parents were poor, she could not
afford to go to a beauty salon to take care of her
hair. So every once in a while she would wash her hair
with hot water and apply petroleum jelly to it. In spite
of that, her hair still looked great. Owing to her
parent’s poor state, she could not go to school. To help
ends meet at home, she had to sell fruits on her street.
In spite of her beauty, there was no trace of arrogance
about her. Not a few people admired her for her
industriousness. Being the first child and having no
grown up brother to help her with some manly home
chores, she did every work in the home. She would push
all by herself a barrow containing six twenty-five liter
gallons of water to supply water to their house. And
when she was done, she would go to sell oranges,
cucumber, banana and watermelon in the street.
to be continued.. stay tuned
[4/10, 8:58 AM] .: episode2
Children would often circle around her table asking her to give them some fruits. In spite of how hard poverty bit on their family, she would cut some oranges in bits and give the children. People saw that and loved her for it. However, that was the beginning of her problem. After some time, a few children in the street became sick. Their parents took them to hospitals, but hospitals could not help them; and they had to take them to spiritual houses where those children were diagnosed as having been bewitched. No one knew who bewitched the children, but all accusing fingers went in the direction of Eka. She was the one who gave the children fruits in the street and worrisomely her beauty made her look like a mermaid. Slowly many people began to believe the notion that Eka was a witch. Parents made sure that their children were not seen near her fruit table. Eka’s parents were confronted in the street by the parents of the sick children and warned to tell Ekaette to remove the witchcraft she put on their children. Eka’s parents did not believe one word of the claim that their daughter was a witch and so defended.
While the accusations against Eka flew around, the sick children began to die one after another, and this made things worse for Eka and her parents. Many believed that Ekaette was supplying the children to her coven. The death of the children brought her fruit selling business in her street to a sudden end as even adults became afraid that Ekaette could also bewitch them. So not to be idle, she began to carry her fruits in a tray to some other streets to sell them; but not long after, the rumours followed her to those streets and people began to avoid buying fruits from her. When the pressure on her parents came to a head, they invited Eka to know if she was truly a witch. “Ekaette, I and your mother want the truth from you. We are your parents, don’t lie to us. Please Ekaette, are you a witch?” “Ah! Ah! Papa! How could you think such of me? I am not a witch!” “But Eka, the children who ate your oranges are dying off in the street?” “Why are the adults who bought and ate my oranges not dying? I am not a witch! I am shocked that you and mama have allowed the bad talk and rumours in the street to sway you.” “Eka we have not been swayed, we only want to be sure. Also they are saying that you are targeting little children for now.”
Ekaette could not say another word; she could tell that her parents were shifting amazingly to what people were saying about her. All she could do was cry. After some time her mother came to console her and told her to forget the matter. Some months after the first round of children who took ill had all died. New batch of children in the street became sick and began to die. As it was earlier, Ekaette was accused even though her fruit selling business had wound up. People claimed that she had already initiated them to her coven through the fruits she gave to them and was only taking them out one after another. The matter came to its c----x when Ekaette’s brothers and sisters became sick as well. Her parents went berserk in their efforts to save their children. They took them from white garment churches to native doctors and to hospitals and nothing could be done to save the children. One after another, Ekaette’s four siblings succumbed to death. Tongues wagged in the street that because Ekaette could not find more children to supply to her coven, she turned on her brothers and sisters. Her parents were mocked in the street. When her parents could not bear the loss of their four children, they went to Oron to make enquiries about what actually killed their children. After days they returned to Calabar with the conviction that Ekaette ate her brothers and sisters and so threw her out of the house.
That night as Ekaette ran from what she perceived to be a snake in the uncompleted building, a car almost ran over her. The driver of the car was a woman. She pulled her car up by the road side and went to see the young girl she thought she had killed. Still afraid, Ekaette jumped to her feet and tried to continue her run, but she felt giddy and slumped back to the ground. The lady who had brushed her with her Hyundai Accent flipped out and began to shout, thinking that Eka had died. A few passers-by stopped and helped the lady take Ekaette to the hospital. It took Eka about two weeks to recover from the hospital. The lady who had knocked her down was faithful to pay the hospital bills. The lady, who went by the name Efe, was shocked by the wounds she saw on Ekaette’s body and so asked her about it, “What happened to you? You have ugly wounds all over your body.” “My parents and my street branded me a witch…” She paused as she got very emotional. Efe waited for her to continue, “…when my brothers and sisters died in much the same fashion as some children on my street, my parents travelled to Oron and came back with the conclusion that I was responsible for their deaths as much as the other children who died in my street. They beat me up and threw me out of the house,” she continued. “Excuse me, do you mean children, including your siblings, began do die unexplainably in your street and then your parents concluded you were behind it?” “Yes, twelve children in all. Four out of the twelve are my siblings.”
Efe paused and didn’t press further for answers; she sat beside her and thought deeply. From the night she met her there was something that struck her about Ekaette. She could not get her hands on what it was; but she was certain about one thing, Ekaette’s beauty was surreal, almost creepy. She could see why she was easily branded a witch. Efe reached out and touched Ekaette’s hair and felt its smoothness. The feel shocked her and she asked, “What do you do to your hair to make it look this way?” “Nothing. It has always been this way.” “Are you telling me you were born this way?” “Yes, I was born this way.” “Wow! Perhaps for your beauty they branded you a witch. You are unbelievably beautiful. Do you know that?” “Thank you. People tell me I am beautiful, but it was not for it that I was branded a witch. I was selling fruits on my street when the children became sick, so people concluded that I bewitched them through the fruits I gave them, but I did not. God knows I did not.” She began to cry again. “But did you give the children fruits?” “Yes, very often they would come to me asking for fruits and I would give them the little I could afford to give out what I had to sell.” “But did any of the children you often gave fruits die?” Ekaette could tell Efe was leaning more toward the idea that she was perhaps a witch and so did not answer her last question. She could see it in the way she looked at her. She remembered what she asked one of the doctors the night she was brought to the hospital, “Is the girl a human being? She looks like beauties from the water.” The doctor laughed and brushed aside her question....

to be continued

episode 3-4

[4/10, 8:59 AM] .: Episode 3
Seeing she had hurt the girl deeply, Efe stood up and left the hospital. Though she paid for every ounce of Ekaette’s hospital bill, Efe was never seen in the hospital again. However there was a newly employed medical doctor who took a lot of interest in Ekaette. He was often around to have banter with her. About the time Eka was to be released from hospital, the young doctor, who went by the name Gerry, noticed that Eka became very moody and listless. So she pressed her to know what was wrong with her. For days Eka refused to answer him a word, but Gerry was persistent and kept asking her what the matter was with her. Eka dug her feet in and refused to give say much. On the day she was to be discharged from the hospital, she packed her stuff into her Ghana-must-go bag and made ready to check out of the hospital, and then Gerry showed up and took her to the little bunk which served as his office and pressed harder, “I know you are in some trouble, don’t lie to me. You were in this hospital for two weeks and not one member of your family came to visit you. I have not heard you speak of your father, mother or siblings. What are you hiding?” Eka burst into tears and told Gerry about everything that had happened to her. Gerry was shocked and brought to tears by her story. “Eka, I am not going to let you let you go into the street without anywhere to lay your head or money to survive on. I live in a two bedroom apartment all by myself. I can let you have one room. In fact I want you to take that room. I know people in this place who can help you get job as a cleaner. Please don’t go into the street. It is hard out there, you won’t survive it alone.”
“No! I won’t take your offer doctor Gerry. You think I don’t know your plan. You want me to move in with you and become your toy, and tomorrow your girlfriend will come and throw me out. I know about all that. I have seen girls fall for it. I won’t do it. Yes I know I need help, but I won’t accept your offer.” Doctor Gerry almost went down on his knees and pleaded with her soulfully, “I am older than you are by some years Ekaette, and I know what the street is like. Believe me you don’t want to go into it with this your beauty and no financial support. Life and circumstances will push you into things that right now you think you can never do. I swear by God, I won’t take advantage of you. And if you accept my offer and find out tomorrow that I have gone against our understanding, you are free to leave my apartment. Look, you know me and my place of work; if I do anything stupid you can always come here and report me to my superiors. Please don’t go into the street without knowing even where you will sleep tonight or what you will eat.”
Ekaette thought about Gerry’s words and squeezed the two hundred Naira Simbi gave her; it was all she had. “Okay Doctor Gerry I will accept your offer because I don’t have a better one right now. But I swear by God, if you do anything stupid, I will strip myself and curse you by night.” “It won’t come to that Ekaette. I promise you I will make you forget you once were thrown into the street by your family. One day you will look back and you will be happy you took my offer.” “I hope it all works out well, but if you try to put me through hell, I will curse you and kill myself. I mean every word of what I have just said.” “Ekaette you worry a great deal.” “I should and worry is my right. I don’t even know anything about you except your name. Moving into your apartment scares the daylight out of me. I wish I don’t have to do it. What if you wake up in the night and kill me for rituals? Who would ask you questions? After all my parents have rejected me.” “Stop! Ekaette stop! I don’t remember having seen anyone as negative as you. One, nobody is going to kill you for rituals. Two, worry is not your right; it actually hurts you more than you think.” “You have to understand Doctor Gerry that I do not have any reason to trust you. I am not being negative, but protective of myself.” “I have heard you Ekaette, no harm will come to you, okay. Now leave your bag here, let’s go get something to eat.” Reluctantly Eka left her Ghana-must-go bag in Doctor Gerry’s office and they left for the food canteen. When they entered the canteen heads turned in their direction as if they were being choreographed; and voices began to whisper. Ekaette felt very uncomfortable at the starry host of ocular daggers stabbing at them. Twice she missed her step and Doctor Gerry caught hold of her.
The medical and non-medical staff who stared at them did not do so in disgust, but in sublime awe of the beauty which entered the canteen in Doctor Gerry’s company. However Eka did not know the reason for which they looked at them and whispered. Before the steward who would take their order could arrive, Eka had begun to perspire terribly and could hardly speak. Gerry noticed the change in the look of her face and asked, “Eka what is it? You don’t look alright to me.” Eka couldn’t speak; when she parted her lips words simply failed to come out. Gerry had to gently press her once more for answers, “Eka what is wrong with you?” When the words finally came out, they did so with tears, “They…they are…they are talking about me. Maybe someone… knows…” Eka began to choke terribly on her words, coughing and breathing deeply. Gerry understood that moment how much Eka had been hurt and lacerated by what she suffered in her street and in her parents’ hands. Doctor Gerry tried his best to stabilize her; when Eka had come round fully, he led her out of the canteen and those host of eyes admiringly followed Eka and Gerry out of the canteen.
When they came back to Gerry’s office, he did his best to convince her that those people in the canteen were not talking about her, “Eka I actually heard them; some of them are my colleagues. They were not talking about you. Believe me there was no one there who knows you. There was no way they could have called you a witch.” While Gerry persuaded her that no one called her a witch, hot tears freely flowed from her eyes. “I thought I heard them calling me names. For a moment I thought I heard the word ‘witch’.” “Eka they were talking about your beauty. They were all swayed by your beauty. Believe me, when you start working here as a cleaner, most of the men who saw you today will press you out of measure with love advances and crazy gifts. Get ready for them. I want to take you home now, if you were to stay around here for a while longer, you will notice my office will become busy. All those men and women will come to ask me who you are. I know them.” Fearfully Eka asked, “Who will you tell them that I am?” “What do you want me to tell them if they ask?” “Tell them I am your sister.” “No Eka. I won’t tell them that. I will tell them that you are my friend, a good friend at that. I will speak of amazing things about you.” “But you know nothing about me to tell them.” “On the contrary I do. I know you are the prettiest woman my eyes have seen. I know you are very hard working. I also know you can make fruit salad, you told me about it the other day. And from our conversations since you came to this hospital, I can tell you have a good upbringing. Most girls wouldn’t care about who they move in with after going through what you have gone through; yet you are bothered about that.”
[4/10, 9:00 AM] .: Eka's story Episode 4
Ekaette visibly calmed down and a sweet smile wrinkled her pretty face. It had been an awfully long time since someone had something good to say about her. From outside Gerry’s office, a male voice called out, “Gerry! Gerry! Hey!!” Gerry whispered to Eka, “Now listen to what he will say about you.” Gerry swiftly made it out of his office and stood by the door. “Gerry! O boy! Who was that angel I saw you with at the canteen? Heey! There are amazing things in this world o!” “She is a friend.” “What sort of friend? I mean are you two so close I can’t make a move on her? Please tell me the truth.” Before Gerry could give his colleague a reply another guy came over asking, “Gerry I heard an angel came by. Is she your guardian angel or did God send her to all of us?” “God sent her to me, and if she bears any message that has any use to you, I will gladly pass it to you.” Gerry replied laughing. Inside Gerry’s office, Eka heard Gerry’s friends and giggled happily. She was so happy she momentarily forgot all her pains. Before long about six men clustered in front of Gerry’s office describing Ekaette’s beauty with different adjectives. One described her beauty as ‘heavenly’, while another called her ‘Angel Michael’s younger sister’. After the cluster of men left one after another, about three ladies came over to make their own inquiries, “Gerry who was that girl I saw you with at the canteen? Her hair is not of this world. We just argued in Ubong’s office whether her hair was real or fake. Is her hair real Gerry?” “I don’t know, but it seems real to me. At least I know she wasn’t wearing it, it grows from her scalp.” One of the ladies observed, “Gerry someone said she has been in our hospital for weeks now, is that true?” “Yes. She was treated here for a minor accident wound.” “Are you serious? That means you are too stingy Gerry. Why didn’t you let us meet her?” “Don’t worry Ada, soon you will get tired of seeing her around this place.”
After Ekaette’s male and female admirers had left, Gerry went back into his office and met Ekaette in joyful tears. Amid her tears she said to Gerry, “I heard one of your female colleagues wondering aloud about what makeup I wear. I don’t wear any and have never worn one before. And your male colleagues, they are all clowns. Did I hear one call me Angel Michael’s sister?” “Eka, you have seen nothing yet. Wait till you start working here; you will need a Doberman to keep them off your back.” “Doctor Gerry, can we go eat now?” “No Eka, I will go buy the food for you…” ‘No Doc. My mother will be disappointed to hear I let an elderly person go buy me food from a canteen. Let me go buy the food.” “Eka, you are on your own now. Your mother doesn’t give two hoots about you anymore. And if you were to step out of this office again, then I won’t be able to do anything to day; my colleagues will crowd into this place and my bosses won’t like it. So I will go get the food, okay.” Grudgingly Eka allowed Gerry to go buy the food.
By the time Doctor Gerry returned with the food Eka’s eyes had moistened with tears; and it wasn’t because she was going to eat a sumptuous meal, but because she could not believe it that someone could value her so much as to do things for her. Like a maiden wife serving her husband food the first time after their wedding, Doctor Gerry took pains to set the food on a small table for Eka to eat. Eka stared unbelievably at Doctor Gerry hoping to unravel his intentions by the look of his face. Eka stared harder at him, trying to fathom what sort of thoughts played out in Gerry’s head. She came up with nothing and so promised herself that if by the time they get home and Doctor Gerry doesn’t do anything stupid, then she might start to believe that God had seen her plight and sent her help. With her mind full of thoughts, Eka silently ate the food. While Doctor Gerry worked on a stark of medical files on his table, he keenly studied Ekaette’s sublime beauty. Bewildered by her beauty, Doctor Gerry thought to himself, “There has to be a reason someone could be this beautiful. This beauty must have a purpose from God.”
Minutes after Eka had finished eating her food, there were still no words spoken between the two of them except Eka’s tacit appreciation for the food to which Doctor Gerry replied, “The pleasure is mine Eka.” The two of them seemed lost in their private thoughts until Doctor Gerry said, “Ekaette I think it is a good time for me to take you home, I have a lot to do today at work. I won’t like you to stay around till my close hour.” As if she did not hear him, Ekaette asked, “Doctor Gerry what is your full name?” “Oh! I shouldn’t have let you ask, please forgive me the oversight. My name is actually not Gerry. ‘Gerry’ is a nickname sub-classing from Gerald. My real name is Gerald Chambers. I am from Ikot Abasi. My grandfather served white men so they gave him an English name.” “My name is Ekaette Rita Efiong, I am from Eket. Is there something more you have to tell me about yourself doctor? I am about to move into your apartment, at least I should know much more than your name and home town.” “I can see that your beauty is not superficial, it reaches deep within. Well I am the oldest of three children by my parents. The other two are ladies and are married. My parents are aged and live in Ikot Abasi.” Ekaette smiled and said, “Good to know a bit more about you. Well as for my siblings and parents, you know the gist already. I think I am ready to move into your apartment now.”
Doctor Gerry picked up Ekaette’s bag and tried to make his way out of his office; with a baby’s grip Ekaette grabbed her bag saying, “Please it is my bag, allow me to carry it. I wasn’t brought up to let elderly people to things for me. See doctor, I can push a barrow containing six twenty-five liter gallons of water all by myself. Don’t pity me, the bag is not heavy.” Doctor Gerry started laughing uncontrollably and replied, “Eka, you are not in your father’s house. You don’t have to work like a horse anymore. Like you said, the bag is not heavy and that’s the more reason you should let me carry it.” Eka tried to protest but no words came out of her mouth. She was very uncomfortable with letting doctor Gerry do things for her and that made her uneasy. Doctor Gerry could see her struggles, but he ignored her, pretending he did not notice. To him Eka would be caught in cloud nine by the time he would begin to treat her as precious as she really was.
As they made their way out of the hospital, heads turned in their direction staring at them. This time Eka didn’t miss her step nor did she think they were looking at them because she was a witch. For no reason she could explain, she reached out and held Gerry’s hand and walked beside him with an air of panache. For the first time in her life Eka began to come to terms with the fact that she was truly a pretty girl. Back in her street, though she heard it often that she was very beautiful, but people didn’t make her feel she was worth much, rather they branded her a witch. In her new environment she could tell from the little she had seen that she would be adored for the same reason she was branded a witch back home. She didn’t let go of Doctor Gerry’s hand until they left the hospital premises. Outside the hospital, just beside its gate, Gerry turned and asked her, “Did you notice how people were looking at us? I hope you know it wasn’t because they thought you a witch.” “Yes, I am beginning to realize that now. With time I will come to terms with the fact that people look at me not because I am a witch…” She paused, obviously thinking deep about something. Gerry could tell thoughts were on something else and he waited for her to volunteer them. “Doctor Gerry, how beautiful am I?”

to be continued

episode 5-6

[4/11, 9:11 AM] .: Episode 5 and 6
“Eka, my diction is inadequate to describe how beautiful you are; but I will try anyway. However you should know that my effort will classify as a failed attempt to aptly describe your beauty.” “Okay doctor, let me hear you try.” “Eka, have you seen blooming flowers before?” Ekaette nodded. “They pale in beauty when compared to yours. You have heard the chirping of birds early in the morning, haven’t you?” “I have,” replied Eka. “Then you will agree with me that those birds can make good music, but Eka, your shapely figure, from head to toe can make the songs from those birds sound very uninteresting. I am convinced that your beauty can make a dying man wish to hang unto life a little longer just to have a sustained look at you. Look at your hair; they are not of this world. I haven’t seen anything like it before. I would like to have a flock of it to study it closely.” “I can’t afford to give you a flock of my hair, but I can give you a strand,” Eka said and pulled out a strand from her hair and handed it to Gerry, and began to laugh heartily and when she did, her face seemed to lit up.
Doctor Gerry tapped her on the shoulder saying, “Eka, stop laughing, you might cause motor accident if you don’t stop this minute.” His words made her laugh harder. Indeed passers-by and motor drivers seemed to be looking at only their direction. In that minute, for the first Gerry took notice of what Eka was wearing. His eye had been squarely fixed only on her absorbing, hypnotic, fascinating beauty. He didn’t like the look of it. He wondered that if what she had on wasn’t good to be looked upon, who knew the condition of the clothes in her Ghana-must-go bag. “Eka, we are not going home right away, there is a place we need to go first and then from there we will go home.” “Where is the place? What’s happening there?” “It’s a surprise.” “I am not good at containing my excitement when people have a surprise for me, can you give me a hint of the surprise.” “I am sorry I can’t do that. If I tell you, it will no longer be a surprise.”
Doctor Gerry flagged down a cab and told him where to take them to before they got in. Along the way Eka said very little. Having lived in the suburb of the city there were many things she hadn’t seen. Their drive through the city afforded her the luxury of feasting her eyes on the architectural beauty of the city. After about fifteen minutes drive, the taxi driver rounded a junction and pulled up in front of a shopping complex. Gerry paid the driver and they alighted from the taxi. Leading Ekaette into one of the female boutiques in the complex, Doctor Gerry asked her to select a few clothes for a change of the stuffs she wore and the ones in her bag. Eka was dumbfounded; she had never spared a thought about her clothes even though she knew they were worn out. Doctor Gerry’s kind gesture drew out a mixed reaction from her. She was glad someone was thinking about her needs, but was also a bit ruffled about her appearance. For a while Eka was rooted to a spot and could not move. Doctor Gerry leaned closer to her and said, “Go ahead and pick a few things. Just a few things you need for a change. When I get some money, we will give your wardrobe a complete makeover.”
The sound of his voice gave Eka the assurance that Gerry was well-meaning. With tears in her eyes Eka said, “Thank you Doctor Gerry. Frankly I don’t remember the last time I got a brand new clothe. My mother would often bring home some clothes her sisters had abandoned I would make something to wear out of them. I can sew clothes.” “Really?” “Yes. Things got so bad that I had to learn to sow or I go naked. I had to teach myself, now I feel like a pro with a sewing machine.” Her words brought tears to Doctor Gerry’s eyes. He had to turn away so Eka would not see him cry. Pretending he was rubbing his eyes to remove dirt, he wiped the tears on the edges of his eyes. While Eka tried out a few clothes, Doctor Gerry went to one of the sales girls and said, “Eno, you know me. I am a regular customer here, but right now I am low on cash. The much I have on me right now won’t be enough for the things I want my friend to leave here with. So this is what I would like to do. I would be happy if you let me make a deposit of twelve thousand Naira for the things my friend will pick today and at the end of the month, I will clear the rest of the debt.” “Doctor, you don’t have to worry about that. I know you and my boss knows you as well. You are a valued customer here. Every mother’s day you come here to buy things for your mum and sisters. You are very credit worthy. You have nothing to worry about, let your friend pick what she likes,” Eno said. “Thank you Eno. But I still have one more favour to ask of you. My friend over there, she has been through a lot. There are some kinds of wear I know she most likely doesn’t have, but I can’t talk to her about them. I mean the undergarments ladies wear, please can you lead her to where she can find them and encourage her to take some.”
Eno laughed out loud and whispered to Gerry, “Where did you say you grew up? Men like you are extinct. I hope and pray that God will give you a woman who will realize that you are now classified as endangered specie.” “Thank you Eno.” “You are welcome doc; have a seat while I get on your request.” After about thirty minutes’ time, Eno helped Ekaette pick some clothes that gave her good fitting, and she did so with an eye to keeping Doctor Gerry’s bill low. After the clothes and one or two foot wears had been packed, Doctor Gerry deposited the twelve thousand Naira he had on him and they left. When they got to Gerry’s apartment, Eka was impressed with the simplicity of the furnishings in it. With glee in her eyes she asked, “Doctor Gerry, am I going to live here with you?” “You are not going to live here with me, you are already living here with me; and remember, you are not my house help or wife. Don’t spend your whole time working slavishly like you were one. When I get back I will give you a few rules you will have to keep while here.” “Can I hear them now please?” “Eka I have to get back to work.” “I know, tell me at least one.” “Okay, please don’t ever bring men into my house. And don’t stay out late in the night, except you have a good reason to do so.” “Is that it?” “Yes.” “Then you have nothing to worry about.” Carrying some of the stuffs they brought home, Doctor Gerry asked her to follow him to her room.
The room was so clean that Eka could not help to ask, “Doctor, were you expecting a guest?” “No. Why did you ask?” “This room is so clean that it leaves me wondering if you knew a guest was coming… okay! I see! Your girlfriend cleans them for you at weekends; but why that often?” “Eka, I don’t have a girlfriend. I clean my apartment by myself.” “What?! But at the hospital you told me you have a girlfriend.” “I never did Eka. You assumed I have one and I let it pass. I am certain I never told you I have a girlfriend.” “Are you serious doctor?” “I am dead serious Ekaette. I have to go back to work now. Come and lock the entrance door. Doctor Gerry left Eka’s room and headed out of his apartment. Eka followed behind him, wondering if Doctor Gerry was deliberately acting nice. She could have sworn she heard him one of the days they chatted at the hospital say he had a girlfriend. When Doctor Gerry stepped out of his apartment, Eka went back to her room to try out some of the clothes Gerry bought for her. About six minutes later Eka heard a knock on the door and went to check who it was. When she opened the door, Doctor Gerry’s jaw dropped in utter bewilderment at the sublime curvaceous figure which stood in front of him. Eka asked him, “Doctor Gerry, you are back. Did you forget something?” Doctor Gerry did not hear her. His eyes were fixed on the figure accentuated seductively by one of the clothes he bought for her.
Episode 6
Doctor Gerry thought he knew Eka was beautiful, however as he stood by the door staring at her, he realized he was wrong. Actually he had seen nothing yet. Eka had to tap him on the shoulder to knock him off his stupefied state of mind. “What happened? You came back,” Eka inquired further. “I…I left my office key behind, can you fetch it for me? I remember leaving it on the table.” “You don’t want to come in Doctor.” “No! No! I am already behind schedule.” Seeing he wouldn’t come in Eka turned to go get the key for him, in the process showing off a curvy shape that would have made Monalisa swallow hard in envy. Under his breath, Doctor Gerry mumbled a query to God, “Dear God, what have I done? I have brought a great temptation into my house.” Eka picked the key and turned to go give it to Doctor Gerry, smiling while she did that. And her smile; oh God, left a smooching palpitation on Gerry’s heart. When she got to the door she playfully refused to give the key to Gerry and asked, “Didn’t you notice the clothe I am wearing? I was going to show it to you, but you wouldn’t come in.” “Eka I noticed it and you look beyond beautiful in it. Frankly speaking, I thought I knew you were beautiful, but right now I have realized I was wrong. Your beauty is not of men.” “Are you suggesting I am a mermaid?” “No Eka, I wouldn’t say that of you. But to be candid with you, I don’t know what you are. Even mermaids would be envious of you.” “My aunt said I was too greedy and took all the beauty for the women in my generation. I think she was right. Perhaps that’s why life has been cruel to me. I would give this beauty away just to have a normal life.”
Eka’s twisted reasoning, which revealed more of her hidden pains, jolted Gerry back to his senses and barked at Ekaette, “Don’t say that again! Life is not being cruel to you. One day, all you have been through will be nothing more than a faded memory.” “I hope so.” “Eka, don’t say ‘I hope so’, say ‘amen’.” “Amen o!” “You are a woman of little faith. Can I have my key now?” Eka handed him his key and he left. Eka locked the door and went back to try out more of her new clothes. All the clothes Gerry bought for her were so good on her that one would have thought she was sewn into them. For a long time; she could not even remember the last time, she saw herself smiling without any cause. She sat on the bed and looked around her room. It had all the things she never dreamt she could one day enjoy. There was an LG air conditioning set on the wall, an OX ceiling fan, a Samsung flat screen television on the wall and a home theater set. Done assessing the room she went back to stand in front of the mirror again and admired herself in her new clothe once more. Feeling she hadn’t had enough look at the other clothes she had tried on earlier, she put them on again and admired her ravishing self in the mirror.
Done checking out the clothes, she went back to the living room and checked if she had securely locked the door. Satisfied she had locked it; she went back into her room and locked herself in. There were a few more pieces of wear she needed to try on and she did not want anyone to see her she tried them on. Removing her new set of under garment wears which Doctor Gerry bought for her, she tried them on one after another. Their fitting on her made her to pause and think momentarily. She went to her Ghana-must-go bag, unzipping it, she stared down at the sort of wears which the bag contained and drops of tears fell from her eyes. With the back of her hand she wiped off her tears. Changing to one of the clothes Gerry bought for her, she carried her Ghana-must-go bag out of the apartment and set it on the ground. Standing in front of Gerry’s apartment, she searched for the perfect place to set them on fire. There was none, fortunately for her, a woman came outside from the next apartment and Eka asked, “Good day Ma, please where can I burn some things?” The woman did not answer her a word, instead she looked at her unbelievably and then took a few steps closer and touched her hair. “What sort of hair is this? This is not Brazilian hair…wait! Jesus! It actually grows from of your scalp!” shouted the woman. “It is my natural hair…” “And your skin! How can a human being have such hair and skin?” The woman’s innocent rhetorical question hurt Ekaette deeply. She surmised the woman was suggesting she was a mermaid. “Please madam, where can I burn some things around here?!” Eka asked with her voice harsh and raised a little.
The woman didn’t take notice of the change in Eka’s tone of voice; she was still rhapsodized by the look of her skin and hair. Eka asked again, almost shouting, “Madam! Is there nowhere I can burn things I don’t use anymore?!” “Oh! I am sorry,” said the woman. “There is a place outside the gate. Wait, you can’t let smoke touch you. I will do it for you.” the woman continued. She ran into her apartment to probably get a box of matches and kerosene. Eka having been told where she could burn her stuffs hurried outside of the compound and dumped her bag on the makeshift incinerator and poised to collect the box of matches and kerosene from the woman when she returned. Eka knew she would be very embarrassed to let the woman see the condition of some of her wears in that bag, especially the undergarments. Her mind was so set on collecting the match box and can of kerosene from the woman that she did not notice the drama her appearance on the street caused. A group of boys were on the street discussing betting and football when Ekaette dragged her bag out of Gerry’s compound. The sight of her hushed them as they stared at her stupidly. They could not tell if Eka was a turbo-charged Barbie doll or a human being. While she waited for the woman, more people stared and whistled in excitement.
When the woman came out, she was so much eager to serve Eka that Eka could not stop her from setting her bag on fire for her. Eka had to shout, “Please Ma, don’t open the bag, burn everything together!” Happily the woman poured some kerosene lavishly on the bag and then struck a stick of matches and threw it at the bag. Turning to Eka she said, “You shouldn’t do such things. It is not good for your skin. Whenever you want to burn anything call me I will do it for you. My name is Faustina, I live in the flat where you saw me enter. Are you doctor’s wife?” “Oh no! I am just a young friend of his.” “What do you mean by you are just a young friend of his? All the things a man needs are in place.” With glee in her face and mirth in her voice the woman inquired again, “Are you the doctor’s wife?” “No madam Faustina, I am only his friend.” “Ah ha! You will get there very soon. It doesn’t matter if you are just a friend. See, any time Doctor Gerry is not around and you need anything, tell me, I will be glad to help.” “Thank you Ma.” “Don’t call me Ma. My name is Faustina. You haven’t told me your name.” “Oh! I am sorry. My name is Ekaette.” Feeling overwhelmed by Faustina’s overzealous offer of help, Ekaette made a brisk walk back into Gerry’s apartment and locked the door. Breathing heavily in an effort to force back tears, she let herself sink into a couch in the living room.
“This is not happening; they all think I am special. By the time someone who knew me back in my street brings my story to this place everyone will hate me. Imagine that woman telling me smoke is not good for my skin. How I wish she knew I cooked every day with firewood in my father’s house, pushed gallons of water with a barrow and hawked fruits. I don’t even have a secondary school education. If not for Simbi I wouldn’t even have been able to read English words.” The thought of Simbi having crossed her mind, she ran back into her room, to make sure she did not burn, along with her Ghana-must-go bag, the phone number Simbi gave her. When she saw on the bed, the piece of paper on which the phone number was written, she picked it and held it tightly promising herself she would call Simbi when Doctor Gerry returned from work. About 7:00 pm Doctor Gerry came back and was welcomed by the aroma of a sumptuous delicacy. “Eka, what storm did you cook up in my kitchen? My nose is under pleasant attack.” With that same disarming smile on her face, Eka replied, “I invaded your kitchen and found some things to transform into good food, and so I decided to cook so you could have something to eat when you are back.” “But I told you not to bother with such things. You are not my wife and I don’t want you to work like a slave here. You should have only made something for yourself.” “If it is wrong for me to cook for you, then it is wrong for you to buy me clothes and bring me into your apartment when I had nowhere else to go. If you won’t let me do little things around the house to show my appreciation, then I will leave your apartment.” “It’s okay Eka, it hasn’t come to that. But I don’t want you to live with the pressure that you must do these things okay.” “Thanks for letting me help. I am going to serve your food now.”
Doctor Gerry parted his lips to tell her no, but in view of the understanding they had just struck, he closed his mouth instead. Happily Eka walked into the kitchen to go serve the food. With his head hung down, Doctor Gerry went into his room and let himself drop like a log of wood on the bed and cried out, “Oh God! I didn’t know it would be this hard when I asked her to live with me. I don’t want it to seem like she was my wife when I barely know her. I don’t want to forget I am just helping a teenage girl in need. Look at how good she looks in those clothes; maybe I shouldn’t have bought them for her.”

Great story
Next please

Episode 7 and 8

“Doctor Gerry! Your food is ready!” Eka called out from the dining room. Doctor Gerry jumped out of his bed. He was still in his work clothes. Opening his wardrobe, he found casual clothes to put on and then came to the dining to eat. One look at him Eka said, “I don’t mean to act like your mother, but you haven’t had you bath, have you?” Doctor Gerry looked at her, shaking his head with a smile on his face, he went back to his room to wash up. About twenty-minutes later Dr. Gerry returned to the dining looking very fresh. Eka teased him, “Now my food will find its way into your stomach without hindrance on the way.” “Who told you that eating without having one’s bath hinders food from finding its way to the stomach?” “Do you think you know everything Doc.? Have you studied Eka-ology?” “What is that? There is no such word?” Dr. Gerry opened the plate of food before him and for a moment, he could not say a thing. Eka watched him with delight on her face. He was awed by how rich the food looked, its aroma and how it was garnished. “You did not tell the part which says you studied food craft.” “You didn’t become a doctor in one day, did you? In just the same way you can’t find out everything about me in one day. Right now you are in Eka-ology class one.” “So Eka-ology is who you are?” Happily Eka answered him, “Yes. It is who I am and the things I can do. So don’t think I can’t teach you stuffs. You will be surprised by the things you can learn from me.” Dr. Gerry mumbled a short prayer and began to eat the food. First he attacked the fish in the food; with the look of pleasant surprise on his face he said, “Uhhm! Christ! What did you do to this fish? Wait!” Dr. Gerry stood up to his feet and ran into his room.
Ekaette stood to her feet wondering what he was doing. In a jiffy he emerged with his phone and snapped the food. “What are you doing Doctor?” Eka asked. “Preparing to win at work tomorrow the bragging right of who eats better food at home.” “Hahahaha!” Eka laughed heartily. “I guess you have always been on the losing side.” “Always! Always they made jest of me. That is not to say I am a bad cook, but I don’t know how to make good food look this good.” “Don’t worry; from now on no one will stand you in this workplace competition.” Dr. Gerry gave her a hi-five and they both began to laugh. Suddenly Dr. Gerry grew quiet and Eka noticed it and so asked, “What is it Dr. Gerry?” “I met you only weeks ago and already it feels like I had known you all my life.” “I have thought the same thing too. Actually I have a lot of funny ideas in my head about you.” “What ideas are those?” “They might make you laugh, but seriously they are the only way I can explain you.” “What are the ideas? Let me hear them.” “Dr. Gerry, are you for real?” “What are you insinuating? Do you think I have intentions to take advantage of you?” Dr. Gerry asked raising his voice. “No Dr. Gerry. You missed my meaning completely. What I mean is this. Are you really human?”
“Now the Eka whom everyone thinks is not human is suggesting I am not human. What is your point?” “I have heard stories about people like you; people who are not really people. Why are you helping me?” “I am helping you because you need help Ekaette. God knows and sees my heart. Yes, I might have a little challenge containing your unusual beauty, but God is my witness that I have no evil in my heart against you.” “Yet again you have misunderstood me doctor. This is what I mean. One day you are going to go to work and not come back. I will become afraid and run to your workplace only to be told they never knew who you are. And then I will come back to this house and find a note saying, ‘Ekaette take care of yourself, God loves you’.” “I still do not understand you Eka.” “I have heard stories…” “You only entered my house today, who could have told you things about me?” “I don’t mean stories about you, but about people like you. People who help those in need and after a while they simply vanish. Simbi said such people are angels. I am wondering if you are one.” “Hahahaha! Eka, you have got this one wrong. I am not an angel; if only you knew the challenge I am going through right now, you wouldn’t say that.”
“Doctor I might be a bit young and naïve, but I have heard such stories. In fact one happened in my street. On a rainy day, a pregnant woman’s house was being flooded with water. She got on her knees and began to scoop out the water with a plate. Her effort was insignificant against the heavy downpour and the flood which flowed into her house. In the process of her work, she went into labour and began to cry out for help. Of course the downpour made it hard for anyone nearby to hear her; she was drowning in her own house and was in labour. This woman, I can even give you her name, said that suddenly a man entered her house and lifted her from the floor and put her on a bed. In just minutes the man had helped her put to bed. When he was about to go, the woman noticed that the water in her house had vanished, yet the woman did not see him scoop the water out. The next day the woman went to the address he gave her and found out it was an empty plot of land. No one knows the man or had seen him before, or since then. How do you explain that?” “The man may have been an angel, but Eka, I am not angel. Believe me, I am very much human.” “Okay doctor; but whether you are a real angel or not, for me, you are my own angel. God has used you to help me. Thank you Doctor Gerry.” Eka said sounding a little emotional. Dr. Gerry could tell there was a lump in her voice; she was fighting hard not to cry. “You are welcome Eka.” “Doctor Can I use your phone to call my friend Simbi. She must be worried to death about me. I need to tell her God has helped me.”
Dr. Gerry handed Eka his phone looking the other way. The simple faith Eka had in him almost brought him to tears and he did not want her to his eyes were a bit moist than usual. He could not believe someone could think of him an angel. While he munched his food, he admonished himself, “I can’t make mistakes with this girl, God please help me not to love her as I would a girlfriend. I need to be the best friend I can be to her.” While Dr. Gerry mused and communed with God, Eka punched Simbi’s father’s number into Gerry’s phone and dialed it. Simbi’s father picked the call and his baritone voice croaked, “Hello! Who is this?” “Papa Simbi it is Rita, can I speak with Simbi?” Ekaette used her middle name so Simbi’s father would not know who was calling. The man did not say another word, Eka could hear him shouting, “Simbi! Simbi! A friend of your is on the phone!” Eka waited and shortly Simbi’s voice came through, “Hello!” “Simbi, it is me Ekaette.” Eka whispered. Simbi leapt into the air and shouted, “Ekaette! Oh God! Eka! God answered my prayer over your life!” Like a bee, Simbi swung around their living room. Simbi’s father asked with his voice raised very high, “Simbi! Which Ekaette is that? I hope it is not the witch who ate all the children on our street?” Eka heard Simbi’s father and his words pierced her heart. Momentarily she moved the phone away from her ears.
In anger Simbi shot at her father, “Daddy it is not the Ekaette you know! Are there not many Ekaette in the world?” “But she told me her name was Rita, why are you calling her Ekaette?” “Daddy her name is Rita and also Ekaette. This one is different and not the one you know.” Simbi’s father calmed down and Simbi turned to her friend on the phone and asked, “Rita how are you doing?” With a broken voice Eka asked, “Simbi so they still call me a witch in that place?” “Rita, please don’t mind them. Hear me, one day God will vindicate you and lift you high. All of them will beg to eat from your hands. Mark my words. I have joined the prayer band in church, and I did so all because of you. I will pray until God clears your name from the false accusations. Tell me, how are you?” “Simbi, if you are praying, God has already answered you. God sent me an angel like in those stories we heard in the street.” “Are you serious Eka?” “Yes I am very serious. He bought me clothes and took me to his house. He wants to get me a job. Soon I will start working.” “I hope he won’t make you do bad things Eka?” “Lai lai (never!), he doesn’t even notice me.” On the other end of the phone Simbi began to cry. Eka had to console her friend, telling her the good things God had done for her. At the dining table Dr. Gerry listened with tears in his eyes. When Eka was done talking with Simbi on the phone, she sat down and whispered to God, “Dear God, if Dr. Gerry is not an angel, please finish your work by making him to love me. He is a good man.” She stood up and went to the dining to give Dr. Gerry his phone

Episode 8
After Eka had given back Dr. Gerry his phone, she sat down in the living room and stared at the television as though her interest was in what was being shown on the screen. How her mind peeled the events of her life layer after layer. She pondered how in a short time she moved from a girl that had parents and siblings to a girl who was beaten up and thrown out by her parents for imaginary crimes. While she thought about her family and what she had been through, tears freely ran down her cheek. Vividly she remembered the smile of her younger ones and also the pain which riddled their faces just before they succumbed to death. She knew she was no witch; at least she was sure she had been to no coven or flown in the night. But as she sat and thought deeply that night, she thought about all her recent night dreams to see if she could recall anyone that might suggest she was a witch. In spite of how hard she thought, she could not find anything to suggest to her that she had something to do with the dark works of witchcraft. However one thought she could not shake off was the reason a certain prophet in Oron claimed she was a witch and was responsible for the deaths of her younger ones and the children on her street.
While Eka mused about her life, Dr. Gerry absentmindedly munched the last bits of food in his plate. The seemingly little action he took that day – helping Eka. Had slowly morphed in size and was already looking like it was going to change his life completely from the way he knew it. Only in one day, he had been branded an angel, questioned if he was human and served the best meal he had in quite a long time. When Doctor Gerry met Eka, he had only one interest which was to get as much close to her as he could. Eka’s beauty was just too hard for him to walk away from. He had hoped he would become a friend to the dazzling teenage beauty and perhaps become much more than that with time. Each day he visited her while she was being treated at the hospital; he assured himself that though there was some age gap between them, he would wait for her to make that insignificant by attaining maturity in a few years. However bringing Eka into his house seemed to have changed all that; he knew he had to be nice and courteous to her and not take advantage of a young girl who life had already dealt a bad hand at her age.
Doctor Gerry hated to be in that situation; he wanted to love Ekaette and not just be a nice, caring, friend. As he lifted his plate to go wash in the kitchen sink, his heart ached intensely. While he washed his plate, Eka entered the kitchen not wearing the trademark affecting glow on her face. One look at her, Gerry knew something bothered her. Before he could ask to know what it was, Eka quipped, “I know this is your house and you have given me your rules, but I now share it with you and I have a few of my own rules too, which I think you should do well to keep.” Dr. Gerry liked the witty manner in which her words often came out. It always clicked with the intellectual side of him. With smile returning to his face, he asked Eka, “What then are your rules? I will be glad to keep them so long as they will make for a peaceful living between us.” “I don’t have so much doing now, and even if I did, doing minor chores such as washing plates wouldn’t take much of my time. I want you to leave kitchen and all other domestic matters to me. Except maybe tidying up your room; it is one place I don’t want to go into while I am here. It is your private world and your responsibility to fix.” “Eka, I am not going to keep all your rules. I wasn’t brought up to let people do all the domestic work around me. I was an only boy in the house; my mother made sure I did not get spoilt for that reason. She made me do everything my sisters did. I scrubbed the floor, cooked food, washed clothes and dusted electronic sets in the house. I mean, I did about every chore you can think of. I am pretty sure I will flout your rules very often.”
“If your home training has left you bent in that area; well I won’t straighten you out, it is a good bent. When you get married your wife will need you to be very domestic in some cases. However, you have to let me do a bit more around the house, okay?” Like a little boy, Dr. Gerry nodded and began to dry the plate he had washed with kitchen napkin. Eka went over to the cooking gas and began to transfer the leftover of the food she cooked to small plates to put them into the fridge. She didn’t want Gerry to leave the kitchen, his company made her feel warm, so she decided to strike up a conversation to detain him in the kitchen. “Did you speak to your superiors at the office about letting me work as a cleaner in your hospital?” “Yes I did. Their answer wasn’t what I expected. A few of them have some other people in mind for the job.” “It’s okay, that is not the end of the world, somehow I will find another thing to do.” “I thought about that all day, and then I remembered you said you can sew. If you don’t mind, I can arrange to get you a sewing machine. You can make clothes for people in this neighbourhood for good money. You just have to convince them that you are good enough to make their clothes.” Eka stood rooted to her spot; she could not say a word. She only stared at Dr. Gerry emptily. “Eka, you haven’t said anything about my suggestion.” Dr. Gerry could not see that the edges of Eka’s eyes had moistened and she was breathing heavily. “Eka won’t you say something?”
Eka made to say something but instead began to cry. Dr. Gerry watched her for a moment to figure out why she cried. Then Eka said amid her cry, “I was going to ask you to help me get a place where I could attach myself and work with their sewing machine. I thought about the cleaning job and felt it would get me nowhere. However I felt it wasn’t my place to tell you what I want, so I decided to let you get me the cleaning job. My intention was to save up money and buy a used sewing machine. I may have learnt sewing the hard way, but it is something I love to do. I can dream big with sewing. I already have plans in my head.” “So sewing it is?” “Certainly yes, Dr. Gerry, I can work in the house here or under the canopy I saw outside.” “I am glad you like the idea.” “Yes! I do. I do very much! It is actually God who put it in your head. The cleaning job just didn’t click with my heart. It would have sounded very wrong for me to have told you I didn’t want the cleaning job, so I prayed about it. I hope you don’t mind, I pray a lot. When things got pretty bad for me, especially when my parents began to tilt toward what was being said about me in the street, Simbi taught me to pray. I can say with all confidence that it pays to pray.” “You can pray as much as you want Eka. I have no issues with that. I don’t pray much though. Praying was one habit I couldn’t learn from home. My parents prayed very little. I have tried to improve my praying habit without success, so I gave up. But I think God makes good use of the little I pray.”
“Don’t worry doctor, I will teach you to pray. Now you can see there are things you can learn from me; and you haven’t even started.” “I don’t need you to say it, I can see it clearly. Concerning the sewing machine, I will call my sister today from work. She has some sewing machines and I know she does not make use of all of them. If she agrees to give me one, I know she will, I will go to her house to bring it home today. I want you to start immediately. You have momentum now; it will be good to use it.” “Thank you doctor. I was right when I said you are an angel, can’t you see it now?” As Dr. Gerry stood and regarded Ekaette’s beauty, she swung 180 degrees and began to pack the small plates of food into the freezer. Her mind was filled with joy and her thoughts spread with wings and flew. She thought about her sewing business growing big and about having Dr. Gerry for keeps. In seconds she forgot Dr. Gerry was still there watching her. She picked the pots she emptied of food and began to wash them. Dr. Gerry could tell she thought he had left. Shaking his head in admiration he thought, ‘whoever branded this girl a witch, was the real witch’. Quietly he tip-toed away from the kitchen, careful not to let her know he had been standing there watching her all along.

Plz I need ur comment.. To be continued

okay notice to all nairaland'members...i won't post the continuation of this story again on this forum... because I have posted a whole 8 episodes and only one person has taken it upon himself to comment... have only been seeing views of ghost readers....

so I'd rather just focus on other blogs where am being appreciated I will continue posting there... enjoy ur evening

Ok
So writing a good story does not all mean the good components of good stories include the good the bad and the ugly so far for seven episodes you’ve given the good making the. Story a bit stale. Give twist make monsters make your story a little bit harsh
And why does she have long flowing. Hair and beautiful skin
Gods look at how you made that woman who met Elka look like a complete slowpoke
You even used the line “you are not allowed to near smoke”. So use a bit game of thrones style of writing where everyone is a good and bad guy
And you would have yourself a ton of fans
Ok I’m gone

the only word I picked from ur write up is "stale"it fine I already put an end to it ...thanks for ur critics... sorry for drawing ur attention to a horrible and less structured story... wheras other people loves it.. so it cool