My Life Story - Season 1 - Episode 9

Episode 5 years ago

My Life Story - Season 1 - Episode 9

The school fees woke up some dead news; our school fees were Ninety-two-thousand Naira and the accommodation with the textbooks wasThirty-five-thousand-Naira, everything adds up to One hundred and twenty seven thousand naira only.
I gave the list to my Uncles, Uncle Niyi to be precise and he called his brother to notify him so that my own share of my Daddy’s gratuity can be retrieved and paid into my account so as to pay my school fees.

“How much will you be able to afford?” Uncle Ola demanded.
“Why are you saying this? Didn’t I say you should put some aside for this little boy then and you refused?” Uncle Niyi fired back on the phone and ended the call abruptly in full rage.
The reality now dawn on me that nothing was set aside for me from my Daddy’s gratuity of almostfour-million-naira!I later got to know that all was given to my step-mother and her children. I wondered where Uncle Ola devised this callous and murderous plan. I began to think maybe I wasn’t a biological son of my Daddy; this made me to vow that I will never in my later life have extra-marital kid(s).

The school fees were eventually paid. Before the demise of my father, he was using a Mazda 626 model, this was later sold andone-hundred-thousand Nairawas set aside for me as my own share. The money was used to buy shares in a company and the money with its dividend was the one used to settle my one-hundred-level fees. I begin to anticipate how that of the following years will be taken care of as what they called my own share has been exhausted!

I sustained my first two semesters in school through up and down. The day I ate and the day I couldn’t, the day I couldn’t go to classroom due to transport fare, the days i had to trek three kilometers to and fro, the days I couldn’t sleep because there is no food in the stomach.

The height of it was when we went for five-month hospital practical. I was posted to a hospital in the eastern part of the state. I was able to gathered around five-thousand naira for my up-keep. At exactly three months, the money was exhausted! I would trek for two kilometres to and fro my house to the hospital. I couldn’t tell my friends and colleagues because I hate being a burden on other people. It now got to a stage where my food stuffs finished. I started going to work with ordinary water! I did this for two days but on the third day I couldn’t stand the stomach pain, I asked for permission to travel to my hometown maybe my Grandma can find something for me. Moreover, old age and thoughts have taken its toll on her. Poor woman!
The permission was rejected by the Pharmacist. I went to a corner and started vomiting blood because it has become ulcer. I took some drugs but it couldn’t work because there is no food in my stomach. Unknown to me a pharmacist has been noticing me all these days, she called me into her office and gave me three-thousand-naira and five rubbers of rice. I instantly refused it but she persuaded me that it was her own action not a collective one. I was greatly overjoyed that day. I have never been happy to eat like that day. Come and see how a hungry man devoured a plate of rice! Ha!!! Hunger and poverty is not a good thing.


We finished the practical and come back to school. It was in the second semester that I met T-boy who brings about another curve into my life.

T-boy was a student like me. He was studying Environmental Health Science but he was a year ahead of me in the college. He was among the big boys in the campus. We got to know each other through one of my course-mate, Tope.

T-boy was very generous to me; he used to give me raw food. He sometimes took me to beer-palour for relaxation and I started taking alcoholic drinks in minimal again.

T-boy called me one day to meet him at that relaxation joint for a discussion he has been pestering me about. I got there and met him with some other guys drinking and smoking as if they don’t care about life.

“T-boy, how is it now? I saw your call and here I am” I said and pull a chair close to their table to sit down.

“Barman, please give my friend……”
“Star.” I cut in. The barman brought the beer and I continue “You said you wanted to discuss something with me all this while and you are yet to divulge it to me, hope I am safe o?” I said amidst laughter and merriment.
“Don’t worry now, we have the whole day for ourselves.” He said patting my shoulder.
“See this man, why are you in such a haste?” demanded Skul-boy one of his friends.

“No mind am jare, maybe we wan chop am ni o.” Another one put in jokingly and we put aside the issue for the meanwhile.

I began to hallucinate and my eyes were blurring by the time I was on the fifth bottle.

“T-boy, let me be on my way so far you are not ready to talk o.” I said this so as to take my leave because I was getting drunk and it was getting dark because the time was around 9pm.
“Give this ‘Jew’ two slap to wake am up” thundered T-boy with full authority….