Loveache: A Novel Exploring the Transformation of Good Men to Bad Men

By Dumo Kaizer J Oruobu

The novel Loveacheis it an exploration or the study of . . . ?

As in many a work of fiction in the conventional or traditional sense, two characters dominate the things that happen from cover to cover here in LoveacheIbifaa and Ekine, heroine and hero or hero and anti-hero? Who transit quickly from man and woman to husband and wife, each one of them with dreams and expectations all their own for entering into that union, discovering soon enough too how strange bedfellows they are even before the resonance of the wedding bells die down on them and on the ears of the huge crowd that witnessed its solemnization in metropolitan Lagos.

The two major characters all hail from Kalabari Land, but only Ekine has his umbilical cord buried in the soil of that their common ancestral land.

Ibifaas beginnings, her past, and her present as well as her future being firmly rooted in LagosLagos, home to her forebears if her forebears are but her father and her motherLagos, which Ekine sees only as a temporary farm land or fishing ground or settlement from which he would go back home to his roots at the fullness of time.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Partridge Publishing Africa
• Release date: Nov 18, 2016
• ISBN: 9781482876802

Dumo Kaizer J Oruobu

DUMO KAIZER JOHNNY ORUOBU was born in Ogurama in Degema District of Nigeria’s Rivers State of Th e Niger Delta Region to Christie and Chief Kaizer John Oruobu on September 22 in 1952. He studied at Baptist Day School, Old Bakana, Zixton Grammar School, Ozubulu, Government Comprehensive Secondary School, Borikiri, County Grammar School, Ikwerre-Etche and Baptist High School, Port Harcourt between 1959 and 1973; and in 1975 went on to study English Language and Literature at Nigeria’s Prestige University Of Ibadan, graduating in November, 1978. He is an accomplished Singer, Poet, Inspirational Speaker and Preacher of Th e Word of God. He is a Prize Writer in all the genres, an accomplished Print, Radio and Television Journalist and is fi rmly rooted in Entertainment, Advertising, Marketing and Public Relations. He has written well over eighty Novels out of which sixteen have been published between 2016 and 2018. He is a Fellow of Nigeria’s Institute Of Corporate Administration and is a Member Of Th e Nigerian Institute Of Public Relations. He holds two Traditional Chieftaincy Titles – Anyawo XI Of Ogurama and Amaibi Dokibo Se Erena XII Of Kalabari. He loves Travels, People and Makes friends very easily.

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Copyright © 2016 by Dumo Kaizer J Oruobu.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

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Contents

Dedication

Chapter One   Not In Vain

Chapter Two   What A Wordsmith?

Chapter Three   Grey Areas

Chapter Four   Worries Of The Young

Chapter Five   Shake Up, Shake Down

Chapter Six   Why Not, If Not?

Chapter Seven   The Arioza Matriy

Chapter Eight   Time Freeze

Chapter Nine   Time Zone Freeze

Chapter Ten   Elementary Geography

Chapter Eleven   Martin Luther King?

Chapter Twelve   Six Flags Wonder Land

Chapter Thirteen   Home Away From Home

Chapter Fourteen   Loss Of Appetite

Chapter Fifteen   The Almighty’s Emergencies

Chapter Sixteen   Taking Time

Chapter Seventeen   Tamara

Chapter Eighteen   Realm Of Conjecture

Chapter Nineteen   America The Best And The Beast

Chapter Twenty   A Family In Tears

Chapter Twenty-One   America! Their America!

Chapter Twenty-Two   Tearful Good Bye

Chapter Twenty-Three   All Good Things Come To An End

Chapter Twenty-Four   Pains Of The Past That Endures

Chapter Twenty-Five   Horse Trading In Secret Places

Chapter Twenty-Six   Cutting The Nose To Spite The Face

Chapter Twenty-Seven   Leaking An Open Secret

Chapter Twenty-Eight   Labour Without Reward

Chapter Twenty-Nine   Dealing With A Very Stupid Man

Chapter Thirty   Head Of Sate?

Chapter Thirty-One   Secret Never To Be Shared

Chapter Thirty-Two   Test Of Nuclear Storm

Chapter Thirty-Three   Premonition

Chapter Thirty-Four   Goodnight At Early Dawn

Chapter Thirty-Five   All Motion, No Movement

Chapter Thirty-Six   Return Of Seyi

Chapter Thirty-Seven   Proof Of Manhood Imperative

Chapter Thirty-Eight   Master Stroke Deftly Delivered

Chapter Thirty-Nine   Basket Of Broken Dreams

Chapter Forty   The Coup De Grace

Chapter Forty-One   Wisdom Of King Solomon

Chapter Forty-Two   The Abrahams In Kirikiri

Chapter Forty-Three   Spacecraft God

Chapter Forty-Four   Father For The First Time

Chapter Forty-Five   Mission Accomplished

Chapter Forty-Six   Flight From Egypt

Chapter Forty-Seven   So Far, So Good

Chapter Forty-Eight   Ekine Strikes Back – Loveache

Chapter Forty-Nine   Two Of A Kind

Chapter Fifty   Abraham’s Regret

DEDICATION

Loveache is dedicated to my Dad Chief Kaizer Johnny Oruobu Oku X of Ogurama, and my Mom, his wife, Christie, through whose love for each other, no matter the opposition they faced, I came to be, and without whom and which, I would not be; and to God Almighty Whose Will it was, and Who steers my life still on the path that it steers on in fair weather as well as in turbulence, safe, secure, sure and as lovely as He Wills it.

DUMO ORUOBU

CHAPTER ONE

Not in Vain

Okay, my dear Chief and King. Okay. I’m here now. I am all yours… Ibifaa said, almost in whispers. She was not yet done. She observed a stoic silence for a while, and then spoke again.

"I want to cry, my King, I want to cry. Cry… I feel so guilty after listening to you, Ekins, that I can’t hold back my tears any longer. No, I can’t any longer. God, I wish you understand, Ekins.

Please allow me to cry for a while…for a while, for me to free my soul of the guilt that I bear…

She placed her hands on her face and chest, making a great effort to control the tears as they flowed. She was not done with sharing her thoughts with her heartthrob.

"This is why I love you… This is why I have always loved you – the way you put your views across. Good God. It has always been terrific…wonderful.

In this regard, Ekins, let me confess, that there is no one like you in my whole world… in the whole wide world… You are such a wonderful communicator of ideas. God!

I’m sorry, Ekins. I’m sorry. Please forgive me… Kill me, if you want to kill me. You can go ahead to kill me, if you want to do so. Kill me now, so that at least, in death, my soul will fly away, happy, free from my guilt; and maybe even receive pardon and forgiveness from Him above.

Sshii… Sshh, Ekine hissed, his forefinger placed vertically across his lips. He took her into his powerful arms, and kissed her tenderly, at first, and later, intensely crushingly.

His heart was beating increasingly faster now. Her heart beat also picked up momentum.

Two estranged hearts in time past, were now beating as one, after all the aches and quakes they had suffered from their separate hospices where neither of them received any cure or respite.

Moments later, the two of them passed out, none of them saying anything any more.

Were a third person half their age there, who heard their conversation that led up to that moment, that ear or eye witness would conclude that Ekine the lonesome lover had obeyed Ibifaa, and sent her soul flying to heaven.

What about he himself? Maybe in doing her bidding, he had killed himself too.

Maybe he had done so, in order to accompany her to the same destination? No. Maybe to a different destination. Maybe to face the wraught of God the All Knowing.

Have you forgiven me, Honey? She asked him in a very faint voice, her eyes half open and half closed, her two hands wrapped around him.

He did not answer. He did not move either.

Have you forgiven me, my all? She asked him again; and again, silence greeted her. She felt numb. She knew very well that she was fainting herself, and that if she did not immediately grab the last opportunity left for her, she could be gone herself.

That would amount to her being in soup – in very hot soup. She could be gone herself!

She let out a loud scream; and that done, she mustard as much effort and courage as she could, and pushed Ekine over on his back as powerfully as she could, and immediately bent over him, and started pressing his chest rapidly, praying silently as she did, to God Almighty to bless her efforts.

His mouth opened involuntarily, saliva oozing from the left side. And then he jerked – first his legs, and later, his hands, one after the other.

Slowly, his eyes closed firmly, and then began to open gradually.

Praise God she said, trying to subdue her sobs.

Praise God! My two months’ stint with Nursing and Midwifery has not been in vain, she declaimed, congratulating herself.

Nursing and Midwifery Ekine asked her, totally surprised.

Yes, Honey, she replied, taking in a deep breath, her eyes widening as if with flaming fire.

That’s what brought you back. You were almost gone!

He looked about him, and then took in everything that he could see in the environment, including their nakedness.

He felt shy.

He was ashamed about the way he looked completely helpless. He held out his arms, and as if being mesmerised by a force she could not resist, Ibifaa let herself fall into Ekine’s embrace, relieved at last, that what she feared would have been, did not happen.

Have you forgiven me, Sweetie? she asked him again, wondering how many times she had asked that same question before, and in how many different ways.

When love is on the roll, who can tell what wouldn’t happen? Or would happen? No one, save God The Almighty.

Forgiven you? he asked her, almost as though he was talking to himself.

"After what we have just been through? And after what happened and would have been if not for providence, about which you are telling me tales of the unexpected?

"No. Or should I say Yes? There was nothing to forgive in the first place. There is nothing to forgive now. I have all to give you, instead, for you coming back to me, and for your bringing me back from the brink of disaster – total extinction.

Forgiveness? No. That is totally out of the equation. And if you insist that forgiveness is the word, and must be given, then I should be the one asking for it from you, not you from me.

CHAPTER TWO

What a Wordsmith?

This man, she thought to herself. What a wordsmith. What a wordsmith he is. What else can anyone say to respond to what he had just said? she wondered.

Then they held onto each other again, and for a very long while, no one saying anything in the interlude, an interlude long as could be.

Ekine woke first. He looked about him once again, lost in thought for a while. He saw Ibifaa’s chest rise and fall rhythmically, her lips closed as though by a mechanical device.

What a piece of beauty she is, he told himself as he looked at her with pride as the man because of whom she was there, sleeping like a new born baby beside him. Beside him!

How helpless, how vulnerable we all are when we are asleep, he thought to himself. He looked at her one more time, and then carefully slipped out of the bed in order not to disturb her innocent but well deserved sleep.

He made for the smallest room, emptied his bladder, and tip-toed into the adjoining sitting room. He reached for the fridge standing imposingly at the far right of the room, not sure what he actually wanted from its belly. Beer, stout, juice, soda, campari.

They were all there, staring him invitingly. There were whisky, brandy, vodka and other liquor beside the fridge too. He settled for something completely different.

He gulped the bottle of water hungrily, and then sat down on one of the sofas. Then he realised that he was still completely naked.

He had to interrupt her sleep. She opened her eyes, and seeing that it was he, smiled girlishly, raised herself from the bed, and flung herself on his legs.

I’m so tired, she said, I can sleep for two days non-stop.

I know, he said, caressing her face.

I’m sorry to wake you, but I had to.

You’re very hungry, aren’t you? she asked him.

You bet, he said, You must be too, I know. And that’s why I had to interrupt your sleep.

He stopped talking to let her make for the smallest room. She came back after flushing the cistern, a towel wrapped around her upper chamber, revealing a lot of loop-holes at the bottom end of her body. She sat down coyly, her left side resting on his right side.

Where would you suggest that we go to, if I should say that we should eat out? he asked her.

"You know, of course, that I would pick the Sunsplash any day, don’t you?" she answered, throwing the question back at him.

I know. Or should I say that I should know? I had to ask anyway, because I wouldn’t know what else has caught your fancy these many months that have rolled idly by without our making contact with each other. It’s good to know that there are certain things that don’t change with time. Very good to know.

Honey, she cut in, rising to her feet in excitement.

Aren’t you the one who always hammered it into my head that time changes everything?

Yes, time does, he said in agreement with her, but quickly added

"But I am pleasantly surprised to know that the same time has not altered your knowledge of the little things that always bound us together, Sunsplash, for instance, to which I’d be honoured to take you right away".

They were all ready to hit the road in a matter of minutes. He fastened his seat-belt, and watched her do the same thing, and then turned the ignition on.

Aibee, he called her lovingly.

My All, she answered, equally lovingly and adoringly. She turned left to pay total attention to him, to hear what he had to say.

I don’t want to surprise you by what we are going to meet when we get where we’re going now… I mean you should know before hands.

What, Honey, are you talking about? About surprises, what I should know before hands, and all that? she asked, not allowing him to go on to puzzle her further.

"We’ve brushed the subject of time not long ago, haven’t we? We have, and are in agreement that certain things don’t change, with you reminding me about how all things change, not according to what I say, but according to the law of nature, and as amplified by the Bible in the Book of Ecclesiastes.

"Certain things change at certain times; even between us, no matter how hard we may try not to change or allow change to take place.

We will meet a few friends of mine where we are going who may already be there now, while a few others will be joining us after we arrive. It’s my birthday today, Aibee.

O my goodness! I completely forgot, Ekins. I’m so sorry. And I’m going there empty handed! Not even a card for you.

"Don’t you worry, Aibee. You’ve already given me more than you should. You’ve given me the whole of you. You’ve forgiven me. You decorated me, sweetened my heart and everything in me so much that I almost tripped over, not so?

"And how am I here now? If not for your experience of the past, wouldn’t I have been dead on my birthday a few hours ago?

Only God Almighty can give me a present more valuable than you have given me already. And I appreciate it immensely. Thank you. Thank you, sweetie, for making this day worth more than the celebration we are going to hoist and foist on our friends and on us. How about that?

CHAPTER THREE

Grey Areas

Ekine rolled the Honda out of the garage, and hit the road. The sun was setting in the western hemisphere with its usual spectacular glow and lustre. Time was a little past six, post meridian.

There was hardly a space for them to park their car when he drove into the Sunsplash premises. Just as they were about to give up the search, a very old man, accompanied by a not so young lady came out, and made straight for the huge car in front of them. They were very happy to make way for the older couple to make their exit, so that they could make their way in without wasting a second. They did just that.

Ekine and Ibifaa were mobbed as soon as they came out of the car.

Happy Birthday to you uu! the crowed of friends sang, and dizzying and waltzing along with him and his companion, they went into the Main Hall of Sunsplash, the place instantly electrified.

There were lots of foods to eat, lots of liquor to drink. There were speeches upon speeches. Toasts too. Toast to the good health of the man of the moment. Toast to his continued prosperity, long life, blah-blah-blah.

And then it was time for Ekine to respond to all the goodwill messages and gifts of varying sizes and definitions that had been fired at him.

He excused himself from Ibifaa, and walked up to the podium from where the Chairman and members of the High Table sat and stood to make their speeches and presentations, cheered on with a thunderous clapping of hands.

He courtesied to the Chairman and the crowd of happy friends and Associates, and put the cordless microphone to his lips.

I would like to request the kind permission of the Chairman of the day, Mister Chairman! To ask for the one and only Aibee to please come over here to stand with me.

There was an even more thunderous ovation as Ibifaa stepped forward to meet him, after the Chairman gave his nod and everyone shouted their approval, her legs a bit wobbly from shyness and the effects of the liquid contents already consumed.

Mister Chairman, Ekine said again.

I believe that ninety nine percent of everyone present here knows about my association with Ibifaa who we call Aibee!

More applause greeted the duo. And nearly everyone was now grinning from ear to ear in wild anticipation.

I am also sure that every one of you who knows us that way, has also been expecting for something else more meaningful than Aibee and I have achieved or recorded so far to happen.

A most thunderous applause. Many people stood on their feet at this point to have a good view of the centre of gravity.

Thank you for your approval and support. Thank you, everyone. And in order for me not to disappoint any one of you, including the Chairman, our very special friend and Patron, and most of all, the one and only Aibee, I would like to do what I want to do now, with all of you as my witnesses without much ado.

Ekine went down on his knees and brandished a shiny object at Ibifaa which he brought out from his breast pocket, and, holding her left hand, asked, after the introductory blah-blah-blah, Will you marry me, Aibee?

The roof of the hall would have collapsed on every one’s head, if it had been engineered any differently from how it was, given the explosive shouts and applause that greeted that question. They did not even wait for Ibifaa to answer.

Yayyy ayyy ayyy!, they applauded, as Ibifaa also collapsed on the floor on her knees.

They got up together, each holding the other to prevent them from falling, Ibifaa shedding tears, Ekine wiping the tears from her face most lovingly.

Music rent the air, and amidst shouts of For he’s a jolly good fellow and wads of naira and dollar notes being thrown at the newly engaged couple, the crowd gradually dispersed, as the action shifted to Ekine’s own apartment.

Words travelled far and wide six weeks after the Birthday event that finally Ibifaa and Ekine were to tie the nuptial ties at a date, venue and time already penciled down.

Words going as far out of the local shores as Austin and Houston, New York, DC, Baltimore, Atlanta and Holywood in the United States, London, Paris and Frankfurt nearby and a few more distant and not so distant lands where friends and family lived engaging in different trades and preoccupations.

CHAPTER FOUR

Worries of the Young

Many irreversible actions had been taken and were going forward. Still neither Ekine nor Ibifaa believed that anything was in the works towards seeing them as husband and wife, for different but not so dissimilar reasons.

Ibifaa feared the most, fearing all the things young women in her situation always feared which if founded, could truncate the dream no matter how far gone the preparations were.

Ekine worried about things young men like him in the same circumstance also always worried about. And they each took their fears, hopes, misgivings, expectations and prayers for reversal of all ill winds to God Almighty in prayer, Ibifaa more earnest in her supplications than Ekine whose prayers were always adversely affected by his quest for making sure that he mustered all the money he would need for him to pull the ceremony through, as well as be in a good enough shape to keep the family he would have made afloat without any distress.

Relations of the prospective Bride and Bridegroom were excited for different reasons, the excitement more palpable on the side of the Bride than on the Bridegroom’s.

There had been a few grey areas that caused friction in the beginning, why, for instance, the ceremonies should take place in Lagos instead of Port Harcourt, since, as Ekine argued strongly, Lark and Dove, they were from the State of which the Garden City was Headquarters or Capital City.

Why the Church Ibifaa chose was chosen, and the Officiating Ministers, why none of them was from their ancestral Kalabari to tone down the predominantly Oduduwa colour and content.

Well wishers, and not just families counselled for caution, understanding and two hearts about to come together to become one, to start the journey in earnest to act as one heart even before the snooze on Ekine’s neck, and the ring on Ibifaa’s third finger.

The Bride’s families were more upbeat than the Groom’s families in what was going on, and were already making too many incursions into what Ekine saw as his territorial prerogative and integrity.

Not so, his close friend in the Petroleum Corporation, Babito was to tell him.

They are not interfering, man. You know that you are about to take their very precious daughter away from them, he said very frankly.

And they are not going to be clapping for you until you succeed in doing it, he added.

"You are even very lucky in your own case, that they are even trying to assist you with a lot of the arrangements. I was not as lucky as you are. In my own case, meeenn, what my wife’s families gave me was next to hell! Hell! Hell, I tell you, but I took it all in my stride as if I was a fool. Take it easy, my Big Boy!

"Take it easy! Allow them. Sometimes you have to act the fool to forge ahead. Let them do what they want to do. It is in your own interest. How long will it be, anyway? How long? In a matter of days – in just a few days from now, baby, it will all be over, and Aibee will become your very personal and private property – property who none of these people you see running up and down as mothers and relations, will see without first securing your permission or approval!

Babito! Ekine had hailed his friend who had spent a reasonable length of time in America studying and working, thereafter, before coming back home to Asaba and to the National Oil Corporation in Lagos.

I hear you, Babito, very loud and clear.

You mu men! Babito said laughing, deliberately speaking in his affected Americana this time, as he acknowledged the much younger man’s affectionate greeting, and presently, the two friends settled in in a café in the immediate neighbourhood to clink glasses in celebration of the unknown which everyone thought they knew.

It helped, and very much too. Because the hard hitting Ekine piped down after that conversation with