On the upside, she had an eye for good finds, for one of a kind buys and not only did she always turn out smashingly attired, because of her good business sense, she managed to make a pretty penny selling off some of those items to her friends and colleagues back home.
That did not negate the fact that she was going to have a struggle to get the luggage within the approved two pieces of 23kg each. Well, she had a huge handbag that could hide a small child and her hand luggage, don't go there! She would sort this out.
As she struggled with the trolley, she spoke to herself.
"You see yourself! Money no dey ever tay for ua hand anytime wey you come this shopping. Thank God sef say you kwik come yhairport. Before all those nyama nyama omo naija dem go come now begin to dey fight for scale to weigh their load, you go don arrange uaself finish".
Bags weighed, she had two bags at 23kg each, One hand luggage bursting at the seams, her handbag (also bursting at the seams and spilling its contents all over the stainless steel table provided in the weighing room), and various other items that would make up at least a standard 20kg bag scattered all over the room.
One advantage of always arriving Terminal 5 at least 6 hours before her flight, she could organise the madhouse called her luggage, before the hordes of Nigerians, trailing enough luggage to drown the titanic four times over, arrived.
She looked at the excess forlonly, well, the best bet was to buy a box at the airport, make up another 23kg sized box and either plead with a Nigerian carrying a little less load to assist with it or else pay the excess luggage charges. From her experience with Nigerians and airport assistance, she could only but thank God she had not yet checked in online.
Putting everything back into the boxes and onto the trolleys, she set off in search of a box and returned to the weighing room. Still empty, except for a dude in the corner, she began to rearrange her entire luggage.
Na wa o! Only me get four boxes fa! At least, my hand bag don reduce well well, make pessin no go peme insaid yhaircraft say him dey carry load.
But sebi na the money wey I for take buy duty free and jellof small for inside yeroplane na hin I wan touch insaid take pay dis excess luggage.
No yawa sha, at least, if I reash Abuja, I go sell some of the items, recover ma money well, well. Maybe even sef, I go fit come back again in a mont or two taim, for take restock. Pessin go even fit take this one just start up small business wan taim. Nothing spoil sha. I know say Baba God main still dey my said.
The laughter that exploded from behind her jerked her back to the present and with a start, she realised she had been indulging in her gutter speak out loud, forgetting she had company.
"Good to see my Angel has clay feet after all. We really must stop meeting under awkward circumstances"
"Can we start all over again? Hi, I am Jake and you are..."
Polished accent back in place, poise restored, she stretched out her hand and took the outstretched hand..
"Xaviera"
As she took in his appearance: Tall, broad shouldered, light skinned although obviously of African ancestry, a single diamond earring glittering in one ear, a tattoo she could just make out as "April", snaking out from his tee shirt neckline, a faint yet heady masculine perfume she could not quite place a finger on, full recognition dawned on her..
"It was you in the coffee shop.. and Liverpool street.."
She felt a little twinge of shame at her last behavior, but the business side of her brain started whirring immediately as she looked past him and noticed one solitary, downright expensive but grossly under-packed bag.
Kerching
She immediately went on the charm offensive and turned on her killer one thousand watt smile.
To her chagrin, Jake burst out in loud and raucous laughter and when he recovered, wiping his eyes, said:
"No worry ehn, you be my kain babe! I know wetin you wan ask me and nothing spoil. Ah go carry youa box for you but when the pepper rest, you must to gee me my own share o! As eye wey see"
"No yawa bros. Me ah no know say you too be naija o"
"For life! Even though I was born and brought up in America, served in the US Marines, a veteran of four wars, yet I love my African roots, my Nigerian heritage and since I left the Army, i shuttle between Nigeria and the US, trying to make a mark in Nigeria"
"Interesting. But your bota pijin sha still dey raw o, you never cook am well well yet, but still, I am impressed"
"The honor and pleasure of your acquaintance is all mine, Angel", he winked at her as he proceeded to wheel the luggage to the check in booths.
Unexpectedly, she felt a thrill course through her and immediately, commenced reprimanding herself sotto voce,
"You don start again ba? I no even know wetin dey worry you sef weda na youa head wey no correct abi na youa eye wey too dey see road. You suppose know say all dese American bad boys just dey like orobo and na only heart break go follow you waka comot from dis one. Abeg, thank youa stars say hin wan helep you carry youa load reach Abuja fee oh cee. Any other thing, nor put mind there"!
=======================================================================
Her flight was relaxing and refreshing, made even more so by her new found friend who not only charmed the pants off the hostesses, ensured she had no lack of anything she so much as cast an eye on. At a point, she had to studiously train herself not to look too longingly at any item in the in-flight magazine. When she eventually dozed off, Jake leaned over to drape the blanket over her.
This one is a looker. No rings on her fingers, hope to God she is not in a serious relationship. I would like to keep her all to myself. She has a sharp and quick wit, keen sense of humor and a ready smile. I want her. I want her for keeps.
He had felt her slowly start to relax and the tension she had etched all over her face both encounters in London seemed to slowly ease off the longer they jisted. They had exchanged banters so easily, anyone watching them would have been instantly forgiven for assuming they were long time lovers yet, he could almost touch the reserve on her part.
Standing with her back to the perfume counter at the duty free desk had been a thrilling experience.
He had enjoyed watching her twitch every time the sales executives sampled a perfume around her but yet, she refused to turn round and indulge. He had stood watching her twitch and jump. He could tell she loved perfumes, but she wasn't going to turn around for all the tea in China.
After a few minutes, he had howled with laughter and teased her:
"Yeye"
"Dey worry you"
"Turn na"
"Say I dey fine who na?"
"Turn make you look na, looking is free"
"Ohoh, shebi you know dat one? Abeg o, I dey fear you. I no wan look anything again for this yhairport"
And with that, she held up and shook in his face, the mock croc bag from the Prada stand, the MP3 player from the Sony stand and the truck load of duty free chocolates. All bought by him and handed over to her casually, simply because she had lingered for too long or gazed a tad longingly at the items.
"Ibo woman, you no wan chop youa money! Aka araldite"
"Akwa Ibom man, like governor, like indigene"
They both fell against each other in hysterics and walked towards their boarding gate.
By the time they settled into their seats in the aircraft, they had become fast old timey friends!
As he watched her sleep, his eyes clouded over briefly as he recalled the disappointments he had had in the past.
Two failed marriages, no kids yet. What his friends referred to as "Russian Marriages". Rush in and rush out! Each time, he had been fascinated by the physical. A body shape he liked, a fast talking motor mouth, and only after he had rushed himself through a short courtship and even shorter civil marriage had he begun to feel the first twinges of regret. Each marriage had lasted less than 6 months, now he was too scared to try and so, he had lived the fast life. At some point, the names, faces, shapes, ages, colours had begun to blur and mix. He could no longer tell them apart however had he tried. The ghetto girls and the class girls all began to mix up somewhere around the middle and to be on the safe side, each succeeding girl had been labelled "Babe"!
Easy to remember, no embarrassing mix-ups and most important of all, since there was no emotional attachment, extremely easy to end when his itch had been thoroughly satisfied.
Until that day at the Hammersmith train station. One look at the pretty, comfortably attired yet with a glossy finish around her, young lady sitting crying into her coffee and he knew that this could be it. Somehow, he just knew!
Since then, fate had kept bumping them into each other as if it had a serious point to make and seeing her at the airport again tonight, he knew he had to grab this opportunity fast.
"I want this"
========================================================================
As he rocked her gently in the limo, he smiled slowly. he was taking her back to London, back to the tea shop of their first encounter. He wanted to relieve the moment when he first saw her, wanted to turn that first memory of her sitting and crying into her coffee into a happy one.
In their two year's of courtship, she had firmly insisted she wanted no part in pre marital sex and he had agreed firmly with her.
It was beginning to get jaded anyway - meet girl, have sex with girl, regret girl, dump girl, enjoy euphoria of being a free spirit for a while, meet another girl... the vicious circle kept closing in, the noose kept tightening. He could do with the relief of just being with a pretty lady and getting to know her without sex marching in and sullying the works, Yes Siree!
He had also stayed totally celibate for the length of their courtship!
Xaviera was a handful. He had nicknamed her Zaza because of her full lifestyle, her quick wit, exuberant spirit, comfortable yet glossy fashion sense and her striking intelligence! Every time she opened her mouth, he fell in love anew. She had that rare ability, in a woman, to be forthright without appearing brash and could speak comfortably on any subject under the sun. He could see them, well into their nineties, tottering along beside each other, poking fun at each other and yet still enjoying the bejeezes out of every second they had together.
He could recall their first date together.
After chasing her around Abuja during his spare time and she studiously finding excuses to delay the meeting for the first three months, she had finally consented to a date and he had driven down to the address she provided him with to pick her up.
As she stepped out the door, she took his breath away one more time. He however could not help noticing that something was different about her. While she was still as stunning as ever and looked breathtaking in a dress and heels, she seemed totally ill at ease and the reason became clear when she took her fifth step towards him and took a tumble.
He picked her up and led her to the car, buckled her in and they went off to the Chinese restaurant. As usual, once she got over the initial awkwardness and hurt pride of the undignified fall, being with her was a riot. She was a "laugh a minute" kind of girl and he loved that.
Midway through their meal and getting to know each other, he reached out a hand and covered hers with it
"I want to tell you about a girl I met and fell in love with instantly", he said looking deep into her eyes, "I met her in a coffee shop in London, sobbing and slobbering into her coffee"
As he dodged her slap, he leaned in and continued, "And one thing that endeared me to her each time I met her was her simplicity and comfort in her own skin. There were no gimmicks to her, no secrets hidden between layers of war paint, she was a fresh faced, open beauty and I loved the fact that her style could be described in one word - comfort. Believe me Angel, in this day and age where everything a woman has on her is fake and contrived, a woman comfortable in her own skin is a breath of fresh air to any right thinking man. It is like finding gold on the streets!"
As she looked down, he tipped her chin up with his index finger and planted a kiss on the side of her lips.
"I couldn't resist that Angel, but I think I want you for keeps. Is that possible?"
As she remained silent, he went down on his knees before her, you could almost hear a pin drop in the restaurant as the other diners, realizing what was about to happen slowly dropped their cutlery and began to take in the view.
As he began to build to his climax, to his greatest surprise - and collective disappointment of the eager audience to the unfolding drama- Vivi stood up and looked down at him with scorn on her face:
"You no well o, na wetin dey worry you sef? You just think perhaps I was hanging around just waiting for you to drop out of heaven and propose to me right? See Mr. Jake, you better get your acts together and think straight! You don't know me, aside from the few hours we spent at the airport and you think that is enough grounds for a marriage? You need your head examined"
He watched, mouth open, as she hissed, gave him the much dreaded "eye washing" he had encountered once before in London, flung her napkin on the table, turned her back on him and began to flounce to the door.
Ten steps in and splat, she was flat on her face once again. Darned heels!
Suppressing laughter, he rushed to her, lifted her up and went down on his knees once again. This time however, he carefully eased her feet out of the stilletoes she was wearing, slipped off his comfortable loafers off his feet and onto hers, slung her heels by the strap over his shoulder and offering her the crook off his arm, marched her out the restaurant and into his car.
Somehow, the tripping incident had managed to ease the tension between them. She had recovered her sense of humor and had insisted everyone keep whatever footwear was in their possession at the moment and so, he became the proud owner of a size 39 pair of stilletoes he was sure would only fit around his little finger and slowly, they had commenced the interesting exercise of getting to know each other.
Each had told their own story of past experiences, no holds barred and even though there were no names mentioned, each could feel the other's hurt and both had jointly resolved to see this one through to the end. They were so comfortable with each other, it seemed like they had known each other forever.
And now, here they were, Man and Wife, about to embark on their first trip around the world together. Though she did not know it yet, first stop was London, where he wanted to "meet" his wife for the first time in every sense of the word since that was where the union started. Next stop, the world!
========================================================================
Arrived airport
Boarded the KLM flight to France
France to London next morning
Fall exhausted into the hotel bed and slept the whole day through
Holding her hungrily in his arms, they spent the night talking, re affirming their love and commitment to each other, kissing, exploring, he was glad he waited for this one. Somehow, this seemed so much more sacred and he was convinced that indeed, he had finally met his soul mate.
They got up the next morning and prepared to face the day. As they stepped out and turned towards the train station, he fell a step behind her and watched her move.
My wife! Nwan mii!
He stepped forward, took her hand in his and pulled her closer to him, they moved as one as they walked on.
Arriving Hammersmith, he ushered her into the same coffee shop as when they first met, sat her at the same table and ordered her coffee. Sitting across from her, he commanded:
"Drink up Mrs Udoh, I want to assure myself my wife knows how to down a cup of coffee without making a spectacle of herself. Want to be sure that was not just a coy ploy to attract hunks and that you can be trusted to be out on your own".
He ducked to avoid a playful swat from her and stood up to go and order a more macho drink for himself, She swiveled around in her chair and watched as he walked up to a man by the counter and they playfully began to banter with each other.
They hugged like long lost friends and there was multiple backslapping. She smiled and looked away and so, missed the moment when he pointed towards her and both men began walking back to her.
Her mind went back to the first day they had met and inadvertently, she thought of Chuks. She shook him off with a shrug. Since she had barred his calls after the London debacle, there had not been a single peep out of him. He knew visiting her house would seriously endanger his life and so, had not made an attempt. Sometimes, her mind had drifted back to him and each time she did, she had shrugged him off as bad news, and consigned him to the trashcan of wasted endeavours. Hopefully, their paths would never cross again as long as they lived!
She felt his hand on her shoulder and she turned back and gasped in shock....
...the coffee she was holding fell out of her hands and split unnoticed all over the floor as she gazed from one man to the other..
"Zaza, meet my brother from another mother, Chuks, he lives somewhere in this jungle called Hammersmith with his lovely wife Chelsea and three kids. Matter of fact, the day I met you, I was just coming from his house and he was unavoidably absent, out on an errand or something"
"Chuks, my Angel Zaza, pity you could not attend our wedding in Naija...."
His voice petered out as he realised his lovely wife had tears coursing down her face...
THE END!
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