The Liberian Girl

That morning, Teta was in her room, which she shared with another refugee from Liberia. The   tiny chamber reminded her of the narrow cells where her father’s pet – pigeons, lived. They were slightly just bigger than the pigeons. She had always wondered why pigeons found their cells comfortable. She was claustrophobic.  An inexplicable sense of doom always enshrouded her each time she was in a small room or narrow enclosure. She hated using elevators because of that. She always experienced shortness of breath, fast heartbeat, dry mouth, shaking, dizziness and nausea each time she used an elevator or stayed in a tiny room.  That was why she avoided such places.

Her room in her father’s mansion in Monrovia was spacious, and from there, she could see the beautiful sea, which she loved very much. Her room at the refugee camp was the exact opposite of her room in her father’s mansion. She had not gotten used to it even after staying there for about six months. The shortness of breath, fast heartbeat, dry mouth, shaking, dizziness and nausea plagued her like persistent mosquitoes that often sang in her ears at night and reminded her of her status as a refugee. She had puked that morning and was reclining in her bed to regain lost strength when Didi, her roommate, walked in and announced that someone wants to see her.

‘Who’s the person?’ she asked casually.

‘Your ex-boyfriend’s mother,’ she replied.

She sat up quickly, gaped at her and asked, ‘Kola’s mother?’

Didi nodded.

‘What does she want again?’ Teta asked, visibly frightened.

‘I don’t know.’

‘She said I should leave her son alone. I have left him. Why does she want to see me? Please, tell her I don’t want to see her.’

Didi shrugged, walked out and came back moments later, her eyes twinkling like stars.

‘She says she wouldn’t leave until …’

‘I hope she came with a bed,’ Teta cut in. ‘I’m not going to see her.’

‘She even knelt down and gave me three thousand naira to convince you to come out.’

Didi knelt down, clasped her hands as if she were praying and said to Teta, ‘my sister, please, for my sake, just go and see her. I think something is wrong. She seems worried and agitated.’

‘That’s her business,’ Teta spluttered. ‘She’s shameless. After what she did to me, she still had the guts to come here and look for me. I’ll not talk to her.’

Teta stood up, went to the window, gazed at the bush at the back, spat out and returned to the bed.

‘That woman should leave me alone,’ she drawled, lay on the bed again, covered her head with her pillow and broke into a sob.

‘If not for the war, would I be here receiving shit from people who wouldn’t be able to clean my father’s shoes?’

Didi watched her sob for a while. She sat on the bed beside her crying roommate and put a consoling arm on her shoulder.

‘Please, for my sake, just go and see her. The money she gave me means that I will not have to sell my body tonight. Do you think I enjoy prostitution? You are lucky you have not tried it. I cry every night that I sell my body to men, but that is the only way I can survive here. Please, my sister, just help me. I am tired of sleeping with men. With this money in my bra, I wouldn’t have to spread my legs this week.’

Teta sat up and looked at Didi. For a while, she did not say anything. Finally, she spoke. Her voice was as cold as the morning dew.

‘It is because of you I’m doing this – just because of you.’

‘I know.’

‘Did she come with people?’

‘No, she came alone.’

Teta stood up, applied brown powder on her face and went to meet Kola’s mother. The middle-aged woman was leaning on her car, a black infinity jeep. Immediately Didi came out with Teta, she went to meet them. Even from a distance, Teta knew she was worried. There were deep furrows on her dark face, which once glowed like the moon. She wondered if Kola was ill or… She did not want to imagine he was dead.  She still loved him even though she was no longer engaged to him. The fault was not his.

Teta greeted Kola’s mother politely when she walked up to them. She responded courteously and, for a while, said nothing. Teta knew she was struggling to talk. She could see a big bulge dancing up and down her throat like a ping-pong ball. After a short silence, she exhaled noisily and said, ‘My dear, I’m ashamed, coming to see you after the way I treated you. I am sorry. Please, forgive me.’

Teta did not say anything. She moped at her, wondering at her sudden change of disposition.

‘Is that what you came to tell me?’ Teta asked boldly.

‘No,’ Kola’s mother replied. ‘I thought it would be proper to ask you for forgiveness before I state my reason for coming.’ She paused, regarded Teta for a while and then continued. ‘Actually, I came to ask you for a favour.’

‘What exactly is that?’

Kola’s mother paused again. This time, she inhaled deeply and said, ‘Kola is in Libya. Did he tell you he was going there?’

Teta shook her head and then asked, ‘What’s he doing there?’

‘He’s on his way to Europe.’

‘Europe! Why?’

Kola’s mother bit her lips sadly and drawled, ‘I made it clear to him that I wouldn’t have you as my daughter-in-law. I wanted him to marry the daughter of my bosom friend. He insisted on marrying you. I told him he would no longer run my businesses, if he went ahead to marry you, but he refused to listen. I had to send those boys that threatened you. He was furious when he learnt what I did to you. Two weeks later, he vanished without a trace and told me not to look for him. Nobody knew where he went. He called me this morning, after two months, to tell me that he is in Libya and would attempt to cross the Mediterranean Sea to Europe tonight. He said he decided to go to Europe to make his own money so that he would not depend on my wealth.  He might die if he crosses the Mediterranean Sea. I had terrible dreams about him. I told him to come back, but he refused. You are the only person I know that can convince him to shelve the idea of going to Europe and come back home. Please, if you need money, I would pay you handsomely – any amount you demand. I want you to call him and tell him to come back.’

‘I don’t need your money.’

‘If you won’t do it because of money, then do it because of God. He is my only son. Please…’

For a while, Teta thought of Kola and their strange meeting. That was a week after she had arrived at the camp. Things were hard for her. The rations did not come regularly, and even when they did, they were not enough to sustain her. The weekly stipend the camp officials gave them was like a drop of water given to a thirsty man to quench his thirst. She had wept throughout that week as she compared the life of luxury she lived in her father’s house in Monrovia to the harsh life at the Oru camp. Didi, her roommate, had assuaged her pains and helped her pick up the remains of her life shattered by the civil war in her country. She was also the person that convinced her to sell her body for money.

‘Almost every girl here does that,’ she said. ‘I do it also. It is not as if I like it, but I have no choice. The war at home forced me into it. If I do not do it, I will die of hunger. You have to do it to survive.’ She had taken Didi’s piece of advice after some days of persuasion. Didi tutored her on how to operate.

‘My dear, what we’re doing isn’t legal, so you have to be smart. The police can arrest you, but you should not bother much about them. All they need is money, and they will release you. The people you have to watch out for are the street urchins known as area boys. They can rape you and rob you of your money.’

‘What of ritual killers?’

‘They’re there, but they hardly bother us. I do not think they use street girls for their rituals. Since I came here, none of us has been killed. God has been protecting us.’

The day she went on her first outing was the day she met Kola. He had pulled up by the road where Didi and she were standing that night and motioned her to come closer. She nudged Didi. Didi smiled at her. Both of them went to the car. The man in the car smiled at her. His teeth seemed to sparkle in the neon light that illuminated the quiet road. He was strikingly handsome and wore a stylishly trimmed moustache that gave him a polished appearance. She wondered why he preferred prostitutes when he could get any woman he wanted.

‘Didi did the talking, since she was a novice in the game. ‘Na my sister she be. How much you go pay for her?’

‘Two thousand naira,’ he replied.

‘Haba!’ Two thousand naira dey small. You no see say she dey fine? Her breasts never fall. You no see say them still stand kampe. Na five thousand naira be her money. She no be all these yeye girls wey dey stand for road.’

‘I no fit pay five thousand naira,’ he said. ‘Let’s make it four.’

‘Four small. Make am four thousand five hundred.’

‘No.’

A deal was finally struck. The man agreed to pay four thousand three hundred naira.

‘This one na good person,‘ Didi whispered to her. ‘You fit follow am comot.’

‘How you know?’

‘If na ritual killer, he no go haggle, but the man haggled. Ritual killers no dey haggle. Their own na sharp sharp.’

The man gave Didi the amount she had demanded. Didi handed it over to her.

‘Keep it,’ she said and gave it back to Didi. ‘It’s safer with you.’

‘You can go with him, but be careful. Remember; do not go to his house. It is risky to go there. Anything can happen to you there. I wish you, luck, and my dear, may God protect you.’

She boarded the car, and the man drove off. At first, she was apprehensive, but gradually, her fears melted like an ice block in the hot sun after some time.  The strange man introduced himself as Kola.

‘I’m an importer as well as an exporter,’ he said as he slowly drove along the quiet streets. ‘What about you?’

‘I’m Teta.’

She had expected him to ask her questions about her background, but he did not do that. He simply said, ‘that’s nice. The name sounds lovely… Teta,’ he chuckled and asked her whether she liked dancing.

‘Yes,’

‘Good,’ he said. ‘I’m taking you to a nightclub. We’d dance first then…,’ His voice trailed off, and he giggled.

The nightclub he took her to was a lovely nightclub in a quiet part of the town, just by a river. Kola danced with her for a while. Afterwards, he ordered food and drinks. She was hungry and devoured the food ravenously while Kola watched her with interest.

‘It seems you have a good appetite.’

‘Of course, I skipped lunch ‘cause I’m trying to conserve my cash. Things are hard.’

Kola chuckled. ‘You’re sincere. Not many Nigerian girls would admit that. I guess you just came into the country because your accent is exotic.’

She laughed and asked, ‘Is it?’

‘Yes,’ Kola replied.

‘I came in not quite long ago,’ she admitted.

They talked for a while before Kola took her to the room where they would spend the night. All the while, she had remained composed. However, when Kola began to strip himself of his clothing, the reality of what would happen next dawned on her. She lost her composure and broke into tears.

‘Hey! What’s wrong with you, Teta?’ Kola asked.

‘Nothing,’

‘Then why are you crying?’

‘Nothing’

‘Come on! I am not a baby. You cannot tell me you are crying because of nothing. Something is making you cry. What’s it?’

‘I don’t know how to say it.’

‘Say it.’

‘I’m a virgin.’

Kola guffawed, fell backwards on the bed and for a long time, he continued to laugh. He sat up after a while and asked, ‘Virgin? Then why are you in this profession?’

‘This is my first time.’

‘Your first time, I cannot believe it.’

‘It’s true.’

‘Are you a student?’

‘I used to be before the war.’

‘Which war?’

‘The civil war.’

‘Civil war?’

‘The Liberian civil war.’

‘You’re not a Nigerian?’

‘No, I’m a Liberian.’

‘I can now understand why your accent is different.’

She told him the story of her life and broke into a sob afterwards.

‘I’m sorry,’ he said and put a consoling arm around her. ‘I shouldn’t have brought you here. I’m sorry for causing you pains.’

Kola did not touch her that night, as he had intended. In the morning, he drove her back to the camp and gave her some money. It was more than her monthly stipend. She flung her arms around him and began to cry.

‘I appreciate Kola. I do not know how to thank you. I’m stunned by your generosity.’

‘I don’t want you to go out in the street again. Do you understand?’

‘Yes,’ she drawled and nodded.

‘It’s unsafe out there. You could easily fall into the hands of ritual killers. Please, don’t go out again.’

‘I won’t.’

‘Is that a promise?’

‘Yes.’

He kissed her on the lips and left afterwards.

His visits became like the rain at the peak of the rainy season. For two months, he visited her. Didi noticed his nocturnal visit.

‘It seems he’s interested in you,’ Didi said after one of his visits.

‘I think so,’ Teta replied shyly.

‘You’re lucky.  The girl you replaced also found love while hawking her sugar in the street. One of the men that tasted it decided to marry her. She lives in Abuja now with him, and they’re happily married.’ She paused and then asked, ‘Is your guy married?’

‘I’m not sure.’

‘He may be,’ Didi said. ‘Yoruba men are polygamous. He may have another wife. You have to be careful. His wife may make trouble, and you’re not ready for that, are you?’

‘No.’

‘Grab what you can grab now and make good use of the opportunity. I foresee trouble. I can perceive its unpleasant odour.’

Just like Didi had predicted, the trouble she had perceived erupted like a volcano, spewing fiery ash and dust that scalded her. The volcano had erupted the week Kola proposed marriage to her and bought an engagement ring for her. She showed Didi the sixteen-carat gold ring, which Kola had bought for her, slipped it on her finger and proudly displayed it.

‘He proposed to me today,’ she said to Didi. ‘I told him I’d give him an answer tomorrow. Should I accept his proposal?’

‘You know I asked you whether he’s married.

‘He’s not.’

‘I wouldn’t advise you to reject his proposal, but before you accept it, tell him to take you to his parents first. You know how rich people behave. You were once in that class. If his parents accept you, you can then accept his proposal.’

Kola was reluctant to introduce her to his mother when she suggested that.

‘I don’t think it’s a wise idea,’ he drawled, shaking his head slowly.

‘Why?’

‘I know my mother. She’s a difficult woman.’

‘I want to meet her first. She would not be happy if you introduced me to her some days before the marriage. No mother would accept that.’

Kola shrugged and said, ‘Since you insist, I’d introduce you to her, but I know the kind of mother I have.’

Some days after their discussion, he introduced her to his mother. Kola’s mother was furious when she saw her.

‘That’s impossible!’ she screamed. ‘You can’t marry her! I can’t have a Liberian prostitute as a daughter-in-law. Do you think I do not know about your relationship? The private detective I hired to monitor you has been giving me a lot of information. There is no way you can marry a whore you met on the road. It is not possible. I can’t have her as my daughter-in-law.’

   She had wept bitterly after that visit to Kola’s mother. She told Kola afterwards that she would not accept his proposal. ‘I mean, it’s not possible. Your mother doesn’t want me.’

‘She can’t tell me who to marry,’ Kola said. ‘I’m a man, and I’m old enough to decide for myself. If she doesn’t support it, I’ll still go ahead with the marriage if you accept my proposal.’

‘I’ve accepted you,’ she said shyly.

Kola began to make marriage plans. His mother was furious when she discovered his plans. She sent threatening text messages to her. She showed Kola the text messages. He laughed and said, ‘My mum is just being childish. She cannot do anything. She even threatened to stop me from controlling her business empire, which my late daddy willed to her. I told her to go ahead and do it. After all, I am a university graduate. I can survive without her wealth.’

A month before the wedding, two men stopped her as she was returning to the camp one night and began to beat her up. One of them pulled a gun at her and tapped the trigger.

‘Waste her!’ His mate, a short mean-faced man with a scarred face, growled. ‘That will teach her a lesson not to meddle with the sons of the rich.’

She began to weep and implore the men not to kill her.

‘It’s already late,’ the men said. ‘Kola’s mother warned you many times to leave her son alone, but you paid deaf ears to her warnings.  My dear, we are going to kill you. Just say your last prayers.’

‘Please don’t kill me,’ she wailed. ‘I promise you, I won’t go close to him again.’

‘And you want us to believe that?’ The man holding the gun asked.

‘I’m not going to go near him again,’ she whimpered. ‘Please, for the love of God, don’t kill me. I am just a refugee struggling to survive. Please, tell the person that sent you that I’m sorry and have learnt my lesson.’

The men exchanged glances.

‘Should we let her go?’ The man with the gun asked.

‘No,’ his mate replied. ‘Let’s waste her.’

‘I don’t want to waste her,’ the man with the gun said. His mate snatched the gun from him, pointed it upwards and released a shot. Teta screamed and fell in one heap on the sidewalk.

She woke up the following morning, surprised that she was still alive. The men did not want to kill her. The shot the one with the scarred face released was just a warning shot. It was a way of telling her what would happen to her if she did not stay away from Kola. She dragged herself from the ground. Dust painted her clothes brown. A large crowd thronged her, wondering what had happened to her.

‘Na all these useless ashawo wey full town,’ someone said. The crowd jeered at her. She did not respond to their taunts, which they hurled at her without mercy. She walked away with shame written all over her.

When she got back to her room, she recounted her ordeal to Didi.

‘You’re lucky to be alive. If I were you, I would end the relationship. Give him back his ring and tell him that you are no longer interested in the relationship. You have nothing to lose. He has given you so much money that would enable you to start a small business. You did not lose at all. Just forget him and change your sim card. He’d not be able to reach you again.’                                                                                                                                          

That night, when Kola visited her, she narrated her ordeal to him.

‘Your mother sent people to kill me, but thank God they didn’t do it. I love my life, Kola. Please, I am no longer interested in the relationship. Thank you for your love and care. I will always remember your goodness until I die. I’m ending our relationship today.’ up She returned his ring to him. After that day, she refused to see him or even pick his calls. That was how the relationship ended.

Kola’s mother coughed slightly and roused her back from the catacombs of time.

‘Please, just call him,’ she implored, her eyes filled with tears. She raised her ragamuffin skirt to her knees and stooped to kneel, but Teta stopped her. ‘Please don’t kneel,’ she said, ‘People may think I asked you to kneel and…’ her voice trailed off.  Fear suddenly crawled into her eyes like a pregnant tarantula. Teta took in a long breath after a short silence and then demanded Kola’s number. Kola’s mother called the number.  Teta stored it on her phone and then demanded for Kola’s mother’s phone.

‘He’s not picking my call. I tried to call him again, but he refused to pick it. That is why I want you to call him on your phone. He knows your number. He’d pick it.’

Teta called his line. It rang for a while, but nobody picked it. Then, there was a click sound. Somebody picked it and spoke. It was Kola. His baritone voice echoed from the other end of the line. Teta turned on the speaker,

‘Who’s this?’

‘Teta.’

He did not say anything, but his deep breathing showed his state of mind: he was befuddled and did not know whether to cut the call or continue with it. He spoke after a short while.

‘How did you get my number?’

‘Your mother gave it to me.’

‘My mother? Hmm!’

‘She said you’re in Libya.’

‘Yes,’ he replied, excitedly, and by tonight, I’d be in Lesbos, Greece.’

‘Are you travelling by air or by sea?’

‘Sea.’

‘You’re not likely to make it there, Kola, and you know it. Do you still remember Allan Kurdi – the three -year- old boy who drowned in the Mediterranean with his mother while they were trying to cross the turbulent sea? They had hopes of getting to Lesbos, just like you, but they never made it. Think twice before undertaking the trip. Besides, when you get to Europe, you are going to end up in a refugee camp just like me. Think of what I am facing here in Nigeria as a refugee. Are you prepared to go through that in Europe? Moreover, your mother dreamt that you drowned while you were trying to cross the sea. Please, I want you to come back.’

‘I can’t come back after all the stress I went through. I virtually crossed the Sahara desert on foot and now that I am just a few miles away from Europe, she wants me to return home? Tell her I am not coming back. She forced me into this. I do not care whether I die or not.’

‘You have to come back, Kola,’ Teta pleaded.

‘Why should I come back?’ He asked angrily.

‘Because, your mother needs you, and I need you too. Just think about it and give me a call if you make up your mind to come back. I’ve exhausted my airtime.’

Teta ended the call. There were tears in her eyes as she faced Kola’s mother. She wiped them with the back of her palms. Kola’s mother was equally crying.

‘Do you think he would come back?’ She asked anxiously.

‘He may,’ Teta replied. ‘Let’s just pray that he has a change of heart. He feels wronged by you.’

‘I know,’ he told me. ‘I regret starving him of money. I never imagined he would take this dangerous step. I will restore his status if he agrees to come back home.’   

Teta’s phone rang again, hushing Kola’s mother. She stared anxiously at the phone in Teta’s hand.

‘Is he the one calling?’

Teta looked at the number flashing on the screen, nodded and picked the call. For a while, he did not say anything. Teta knew he was struggling to speak. When he finally spoke, his voice quavered with emotion. Teta knew he was crying because he was sniffling as if he caught a cold.

‘Tell my Mummy that I’m coming back,’ he managed to say, his voice laden with emotion. ‘I’d be home probably in two weeks.’

‘Why two weeks?’

‘I’ve run out of money. I have to work so that I can earn some money that would enable me to come back.’

Kola’s mother, who had been listening to the conversation, took the phone from Teta and said, ‘I’m going to send you money. I would transfer some money to you. Just tell me what to do. I want you to take the next available flight home.’

‘Send it through money transfer. Some of the guys travelling with me has been receiving money from home through that means.’

‘I’d do that immediately, dear,’ she said and ended the call. She gave Teta back her phone. Tears rolled down the furrows on her face, which seemed to have sprouted overnight like grass after the first rain of the season. She turned, went back to her car and returned with a small black box. She handed it to Teta.

‘Open it,’ she ordered.                                                                                                                                               

Teta opened it and saw a twenty-four-carat gold ring. She was speechless. Her feet wobbled like river reeds on the riverbank, and she would have crashed on the ground if not for Didi, who held her.

‘What’s the ring for?’ Teta managed to ask after recovering from her shock.

‘It’s yours,’ Kola’s mother said. ‘I treated you badly because I saw you differently. Now, I know your heart is made of gold. It is only someone whose heart is made of gold that will treat an enemy like a friend. My son did not make any mistake choosing you as his spouse. I have accepted you as my daughter-in-law.’

She picked the ring, slipped it on Teta’s long finger. The ring, which blended perfectly with her light chocolate colour, glistened in the sun just like the tears glistening like morning dew in her eyes. Teta did not stop crying. She continued crying even when Kola’s mother entered the car and slowly drove out of the camp that had been her home since she came to Nigeria.

THE END