A CALL OF DESTINY

The call met me at breakfast, and Eric's name showed up on the phone's screen. I spoke to Eric two days ago and our conversation had held little of my interest and I wasn't in the mood to continue from where we stopped. 

What does he want? I thought, looking at the phone. 

I wasn't ready to hear about his successes with Lagos girls. My relationship problem was already too big for me to handle. Besides, my heart was as broken as a politician's promise, and was in no mood for other people's issues.

I sat back and allowed the phone to ring through. If it's important—and there is hardly anything important coming from Eric apart from girls' issues and his plans to get abroad—he will call again. 

The phone began to ring again. 

I took another bite of the bread in my hand and quickly poured the black tea into my mouth. I shot straight up and spilled the contents of my mouth out, spraying it over the dining table. I had forgotten that the tea just came out of the pot and still very hot. I stood for a minute looking between the hot tea and what I had spewed on the table with a blurred vision. The phone stopped ringing about this time, but it started again almost immediately. 

I cleared my throat and picked it. 'Hello.' 

The upper part of my mouth felt like the surface of an erupting volcano. The hello I said drew wind inside my mouth and a raw pain chewed at my palate.

'Paul!' Eric screamed. 'How are you doing, man?'

'I am okay,' I said. My palate, my heart and my mind ached at the same and I felt like ending the call. I could feel the scratching of a nasty headache coming from afar, somewhere in my brain. I was everything but okay.

'That's great, man,' Eric said. 'Are you still in Jos?'

No, I'm on the moon, I thought. Look up in the night; you will see me waving.

'Hello?' he asked.

'Yeah, I am in Jos,' I said slowly, and hoped he wasn't in town and thinking about coming over to put up with me. Mom will complain for sure; the extra mouth to feed wouldn't be welcome since it wasn't budgeted for—she would say.

'How is Jos? I miss it, man,' Eric said. 'Is it cold? Lagos is as hot as a virgin; the heat is killing.' 

I rolled my eyes. The man, man he kept saying was already getting on my nerves. 

'Hello? Paul, are you there?' 

'Yes.'

'Any news about a job?'

'Not yet,' I said. 'What about you?'

'Nothing,' he said. 'But I am about to hit it big and will not need a job. I have a plan that will get us out of the labor market as quickly as our politician's fill their pocket from the national treasury. It's a foolproof plan that's getting young men like you and I out of the grave of the labor market and into financial freedom.'

I rolled my eyes again and thought what a fool I was to have picked his call. What else would a man who has given up on getting a job think of but a get rich quick scheme? I should have switched him off at that moment, but I wanted to confirm that I was right that he was a fool and was heading for jail term. And since he was paying for the call, I lingered a moment to hear his dumb plan.

'Are you still there, man?' he asked.

'Yes. I'm all ears.'

'Come over to Lagos and I'll tell you what it's about,' he said. 'This is not a matter to be discussed over the phone. I guarantee you, once we execute this plan, we will become instant millionaires.'

I smiled, and the thought of switching off crossed my mind again. 

I asked: 'Why do you want to tell me this...this plan of ours? Why me?'

'Because you are one of the few people I trust. I don't want to work with Lagos boys; I don't want to be looking over my shoulders during and after the execution of the plan. Besides, you play chess; strategy will be needed for this job.' 

'I am not interested,' I said. 

'Paul, listen,' Eric said quickly. His voice had gone sober, serious. 'You don't have a job to tie you down or a wife to worry about in Jos; what do you have to lose by coming? Come and hear me out and decide if you want to be part of it or not.'

The thought of Talatu came back to mind with his mention of a wife. He was right: I really don't have anything tying me down.

All the same, I thought, there is no way I am going to Lagos; not for any get rich quick scheme.

I picked the bread and looked at my tea. I bit into the bread and chew slowly.

'What's the job all about?' I mumbled. 'Give me a clue.'

'Come first,' Eric said,' and I will tell you everything. Take the night bus tomorrow and get here next tomorrow morning.'

I wondered what my mom would say if she hears this. Mom hates Lagos and had always prayed that none of her children will settle in the city. The experience she had in Oshodi when a thief yanked her earrings off in broad daylight had left her permanently pitching her tent against whatever Lagos has to offer. I wondered what she would think if I told her I was going to Lagos. 

'...give me your bank details. I will see how I can send the transport fare to you.'

'What was that?' I asked. 'Come again.'

'I said if you don't have the transport fare, send your bank details and I will source for the fare from here.'

I considered what he said for a while. I wanted to say no, that I wasn't interested, but a tinge of curiosity has already rubbed itself on my mind. 

'This job,' I said, 'is it illegal?'

'No, no,' Eric said, his voice shocked. 'It's all legit, man. There is nothing illegal about it. Once you come, I will explain everything and you will see that there is nothing to fear.'

I bit my bread again, my mind busy.

'What about my fare back?' I asked.

'Your fare back? Back to where?'

'Back to Jos,' I muttered. 'How do you want me to get back?'

Eric laughed. 'Go back to Jos? By the time we finished this job you will have no need to go back to Jos. We will travel to Dubai from here and spend two months there—just to think about what we want to do with our lives. You won't be talking about the fare to Jos, I guarantee you that.'

I knew this was a pipe dream, but he got my attention anyway. In that split second, I saw Talatu and I in my mind's eye walking hand in hand in a Dubai shopping mall, smiling at each other. I felt an adrenaline rush and my body felt warm all of a sudden. If Eric's dream could come true, it would change my life; I would have Talatu back and life will be perfect.

My heart was beating fast as I considered the possibilities, but the rational part of my mind kicked in and overrode the imaginations and I fell out of fantasy land. 

'What kind of job is it?' I asked.

'All in due time, Paul,' Eric said. 'Be here next tomorrow and you will find out all about it. If you don't want to be part of it, you can take your fare and return to Jos—no strings attached.'

I smiled at the cliché, but my mind was busy, considering, questioning. Yeah, what do I have to lose? I'm smart enough to know what a scam is and would walk away from one ten miles before it comes near me. And Eric knows he could never be able to force me to be part of anything I don't want to be part of.

What would mom think? I thought. She won't buy the idea, that's for sure. Even dad couldn't get her back to Lagos after the experience she had with her stolen earrings. 

Yet I considered Eric's proposition and thought about Talatu. I could have the money to get her back and possibly marry—

'Paul, are you there?' Eric asked. 

'Yeah, yeah,' I said. 'Ok, I will send my account details. I will talk to my mom about it tonight.'

'That's good, man,' he said. His voice had regained the excitement. 'See you next tomorrow. You will be glad for taking this decision!'

'I pray so,' I said, and felt uncertain all over again. 'I will let you know how it goes.'

'Okay, take care,' he said, and rang off. 

I sat for a minute looking at the phone before I raised the tea and began to sip again, my mind busy. I thought about mom again and I wondered what to tell her that will convince her to let me go to Lagos. 

I sipped more black tea, thinking, and soon enough the nose of an idea nudged its way into my mind. I turned it over and over—forgetting my sore palate—until the idea grew into a plan. 

I test it in the evening when she returns from work.