Early the next morning, his father came to knock on
his door. “How are you my son? He said, going closer to sit on the only chair
in the room. Francis rose from the bed and greeted his father in the most
traditional way.
“What brought you home? I hope you are not having any problem
with your job?” He asked with concern showing all over his face. Francis smiled
and shook his head in disagreement, “ But Papa you know I miss you people and I
always want to be with you. But my job is very demanding, that is why I can’t
come home often.” He replied, looking
into his father’s tired eyes. Yesterday,
when he came back he was not able to see much of his father face. But this
morning he noticed that his father had grown old and tired. His eyes were weak
and his hands trembled slightly.
“My
job is okay papa. I have no problems at all. But my main aim of coming home is
to tell you and mama that I will be leaving for Liberia for peace keeping
mission.” He watched his fathers face as he spoke to him. But he didn’t show any
trace of emotion. It was just like him, he never in to emotion. Even when that
thing hit him hard, his face will always remain blank. For someone minutes, he
was silent, then he asked him. “Is that Samuel Doe’s country? That place where
thousands are dying everyday?” “Yes papa. But we are not going to be involved
in the war. Our aim of going there is to bring peace back to the country,
Francis told him. He nodded his head silently, while he was lost in thought.
After
a while of prolonged silence, he turned to his son, a sober look on his face.
“My
child, you know you are not getting any younger. All your age group in the
village have gotten married, except you and you know that in this kind of job
you are doing, you need to get a wife on time and bring forth children Anything
can happen in this your job. You need children who carry on your name. So I
advice that now you are home, open your eyes and look for a woman of your
choice. We have so many beautiful girls who would be ready to jump at your proposal.
“But
papa, I’m not thinking of marriage now” Francis answered. “In fact, I don’t
have anything yet to take care of a woman. If I want to marry, it may be in the
next five years” he added. “God forbid! In the next five what? By the time your
younger brother would have married and given birth to children. You had better
be serious and face reality. Time waits for no one and lost time is never
found.” He said and stood up from the chair.
Let
me leave you for now. Before you travel, we’ll talk about it again” he told
him. Francis could sense little bit of threat in his father’s voice. He smiled
as his father walk out of his room.
“He
had always been like this. He would want to plan our lives and dictate for us
how to run it. He still looked at us like children who could not distinguish
their left from the right, and who should still be taught how to put the right
foot in the right shoe before leaving the house.” Francis concluded.
Against
Francis’s better judgment, about three days later, he saw this girl who
instantly stole his heart. From the first day he saw her, he wouldn’t think
anything else. He kept seeing her face in his mind, day and night. The first
time he saw her was in the evening.
He
was sitting on a stool outside the house speaking with their last born Prisca
who would not let him rest from her endless questions. The sun has gone down
and the evening breeze was warm and soothing. They had been gisting for a
while, his back turned to the east side of the village that led to the forest
and the stream. Their house stood beside the brownish dusty road which was
never short of people passing to and fro because it was the only route to the
forest and the stream. As he was talking, he heard some voices behind him. This
was not unusual, as every minute; people coming from the forest would stop on
the way to greet themselves. But the voice he heard were that of teenage girls
giggling and talking in loud voices. He turned and looked towards their
direction. In the first instance, he saw three young girls carrying firewood on
their way home from the forest. As they drew closer, he noticed one of them who
had a rather short wrapper tied around her waist. She was ebony black in
complexion. Her face was well sculptured like the face of a carved goddess. Her
hair was dark and shining. It was plaited in a unique style. He realized she
was different from the other two girls. The sight of her had turned Francis’s
heart into jelly.
“Which
girl?” Prisca asked looking at the direction of his brother’s finger.
“That
black girl in the middle” he replied.
“Oh
that one, her name is Aunty Isabella. She lives there.” Before Francis realized
what Prisca wanted to do, she was already shouting.
Aunty
Isabella; Aunty Isabella.” The girl turned her head towards their direction and
waved, Prisca waved back. Francis just stood staring at her.
The
next day was a traumatic day for him. He stayed outside the house from morning
till evening, he was almost half baked by the sun when finally saw her coming,
he was happy to see that she was alone. The girl walked past their house, and
Francis followed her from behind. When he had walked a bit out of sight, he
called her name.
“Isabella;
Isabella.” She stopped and turned towards him, a puzzled look on her face. “How
are you?” he asked smiling. “Do you know me?” he asked again. She stood staring
at him for a while, then started smiling slowly, “Yes, I know you”, she replied
shyly. “What is my name? Francis asked moving closer towards her. “ I don’t
know your name but I know you are a soldier,” she said while twisting her
fingers round and round. By now Francis was so close to her that he could touch
her. Then he discovered she was something else at close range. At that moment,
he knew he wanted her.
“That
is true” he replied “but soldier is not my name. My name is Francis,” he
informed her. He didn’t know what to
say. She too was quiet, all the time her eyes were down the dirty road, later
he asked her.
“Look
up now or are you afraid to look into this eyes of a soldier?” he teased. “No I
can’t look into your eyes.” She replied. “Ah why now?” he asked. “Because I’m a
shy girl.” “But you are also pretty girl, and pretty girls are not supposed to
be shy, don’t you know that? She smilied and looked into his eyes for the first
time.
“Can
I see you again after today?” he asked her she nodded her head. “Where would I
see you? It must be far away from watching eyes. He added. “Ehm, do you know
the big rock by the stream?” she asked. Francis said yes. “ Okay, if you come
there in the evening, I would be there washing my clothes.” “But what about
your friends? Wont they be there with you?”
“Why
did you ask?” don’t you like them? “I like them but I will rather prefer seeing
you alone. You know, I want to say many things to you.” He told her. Again, she
threw her eyes away and began to make some drawing on the ground with her toe,
while lost in thought.
“Okay,
I will be there alone when you come” she said.
Francis
returned home that evening with his heart doing multiple somersaults that he
thought he was going to have a heart attack. Throughout that evening, he could
think of nothing else, Isabella occupied his mind. He just felt delighted,
happy and excited that he couldn’t eat anything.
The
next day, at the appointed time, Francis told his parents he was going out for
a walk. He walked down the road and headed for the stream. She had almost
finished washing her clothes when he got there. They talked about this and
that. He told her about himself and become an officer before he retired from
the army. Isabella too told Francis about herself, the youth in the village,
how she wanted to go out and explore the outside world, her dreams and
aspirations, everything she could think of. By the time she finished, it was
getting dark. She prepared to go and Francis walked with her down the road, on
their way home, he said to her.
“Isabella,
I want to tell you that I have interest in you” she didn’t say anything. He
looked into her face, but could not see clearly because of the enclosing
darkness.
“Do
you understand what I said?” he asked. “said I like you and would want to be
your friend.”
For
a while, she remained silent. By now, the movement had slowed down to a crawl.
He stepped closer to her and took her hand, she didn’t resist.
“Listen
Isabella, I want to tell you that in my life I’ve never felt this way before.
Please don’t turn me down.” He pleaded, still holding her hand, while waiting
for her to say something. At last she spoke.
“I
don’t know what to say. You see, it’s not that I don’t like you. I am only
scared. I feel if I give you my love, you will later dump me when you see all
those pretty girls in Jos. I am afraid I cannot compete with city girls.” She
said slowly. Francis stopped walking and faced her, holding her two hands.
“Isabella, you are wrong you know. All those girls in Jos are not as pretty as
you are. And apart from that, what I feel for you I cannot feel for any of
them.” As he spoke, he drew closer to her and she asked Francis not to come any
closer. Then, were silent for some seconds Isabella later broke the watched as
her figure was fading into the darkness.
That
night, when he got home, he called his mother into his room and told her
everything and how he would want to marry Isabella. As he spoke, his mother
began to smile and she looked really pleased. She explained that Isabella was
from a good family and a disciplined girl. She was pleased with his choice.
Later, she went out and called in her husband. She must have told him everything
because when they came in, they were beaming with smiles.
The
next days were blissful ones for Francis. He met with Isabella at all times and
they began to plan their future together. Along the line, his parents were
preparing to make a formal call to the girl’s home and ask for her hand in
marriage. He objected to this and told them he couldn’t possibly marry her now,
at least not until he returned from Liberia. But his parents insisted it was
necessary to approach her parents and intimate them of his willingness to marry
their daughter, so that she won’t be given away to somebody else before he
returned from Liberia. With this line of reasoning Francis accepted.
Chapter Five Betrayal of Love; This Amazing story
will drop by this time next week..
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