My Cousin, Junior

My sister regularly visited my aunty and her family who lived in the same town as she when she was in the University. I came visiting at the resumption of my school year as not much was happening and she suggested we go spend a few days in aunty’s house.

Aunty Blessing and Uncle DD had two sons and a daughter. Chichi was the ‘baby’ of the house. Junior was the middle child.  He was handsome, ‘knew what’s up’ – the latest trends, music, fashion, celebrities, movies etc. He was friendly and very likeable. His elder brother Nnamdi was your typical ‘efiko’, he wore glasses and was the ‘spiro’ of the house. If it wasn’t in a medical or science textbook, Nnamdi couldn’t find it. Junior had many friends and followers. Whatever Junior lacked, he made up with his personality. His grades for one were not exactly impressive. His teacher’s comment in his report notes at the end of his SS 1 school year – ‘If only you can apply yourself I know you can do better’, became his father’s mantra. Junior could have been the proverbial black sheep of the family but I think he was more grey than black. He was his mother’s weakness. She would say she saw herself in him, probably the reason why he could get away with anything. Uncle DD, on the other hand, was not impressed. Junior did not remind him of anything about himself. Uncle DD didn’t have the privileges his children enjoyed and (as far as he was concerned) took for granted. He and his nine siblings grew up poor. He seemed to weave his childhood stories into everything. He would tell them how, growing up he did not have the basic necessities let alone luxuries. He walked a long distance to school every day, got new clothes and ate chicken twice a year – Easter and Christmas. Eggs were luxuries – How can you eat an egg that can hatch and grow into a chicken and lay more eggs? Same logic for wanting to eat chicken. How would it lay eggs if it’s in your belly?  His wife thought he overdid it sometimes. I found his illustrations hilarious.

Uncle DD was very proud of Nnamdi. He was studying hard to become a doctor coupled with the fact that Nnamdi a naghi-enye nsogbu (Nnamdi is not bothersome). Uncle was stricter with Junior than with his siblings. It seemed he was overcompensating for Aunty’s softness.  Uncle gave Junior the fare to and from JAMB remedial classes. The other students that had passed didn’t have two heads. Uncle expected him to have breakfast at home and eat a packed lunch. Junior was a ‘G’ – how could he make a packed lunch of leftover rice from the night before? The girls at lesson couldn’t see that, he had a reputation to protect. So his mother funded his Mr. Biggs lunches about 2-3 times a week. He passed JAMB after 3 attempts and was going to study Economics.

Junior’s first two months at University was FUN – unlimited freedom. He would call my sister and say, ‘This is the life!’. He could do as he pleased. His dad wasn’t there to breathe down his neck. He was living it up till he ran out of money. While I was there, Junior called his dad to say he was coming home because he was broke. This was one of the reasons Uncle wanted all his children to attend the University close by, if Junior had the fare to make the trip home, then he could survive on it and remain in school. ‘Is this not why I said you should go to the University here? Is Ibadan not good enough for you?’ (even though he was an alumni of the University of Ibadan, Uncle still pronounced Ibadan with an Igbo accent). ‘Better stay there. You think I work in Central Bank? I print money okwa ya? (right?), printing and minting?’. Uncle was on a roll. I was laughing. ‘You see your cousin?’, he said to me when he got off the phone. ‘Children cannot know more than their parents’, he fumed. That night, Junior called my sister complaining he really needed money. He said his friend who lived in the same town was coming home and we should talk to his dad.

The next morning, we heard a knock. A slim, pretty, light-skinned girl stood at the door, she was wearing white sandals. . .

Kech

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