Utianle

The tension in the car was thick, not too thick but I would still need a knife to slice through it. My eyes met Courage's over the rearview mirror and I looked away. King was looking out the window, I followed his gaze but there was nothing interesting to look at. Maybe he was still avoiding me.

I had felt fear like never before when he said he was travelling later today. It was strange, unusual, I never did the begging, the men always did. I cast another look at him, he was staring straight ahead with his hands on his knees. So focused on nothing.

What was he thinking? Was he having second thoughts about agreeing to go out with me? I cleaned the sweat off my palms.

"Hey," he said; he placed his open palm in the middle of the backseat and I put mine over his. "A kobo for your thoughts?"

My head moved left and right, my thoughts were better left as thoughts. He flashed me a smile and the distance in between us seemed to diminish. The awkwardness still lingered in the air but it was bearable.

I was not thinking when I said we would create our own memories. In truth, I stopped thinking straight as soon as he asked me what I wanted in that cold, cruel voice of his. I shuddered, I'd never seen him like that and I hoped never to again.

The kiss with Umoh was never supposed to happen, I agreed to it without any intentions of kissing him. And he had not given any prior notice before his lips covered mine. It was the shock that kept my feet rooted to the ground, my hands glued to my sides, my brain on lockdown, not enjoyment like King was kind to point out.

We didn't even know he was watching us.

King. I didn't want to think about what would happen if our date was not enough to convince him to stay back. One thing was sure though, Faith would have my head if I let him go. I would have my own head if I let him go, I wanted him around me and my babies forever. So long he agreed to stay.

Are we still getting married? I shrugged in response to that. I guess I could say that we were taking it one step at a time.

My phone vibrated inside my pocket and the flashlight came on. A quick look at the screen showed a message from Faith. I chuckled as I read the contents to myself.

How far? How's it going?🍆🍑💦

Laughter bubbled in my throat and I covered my mouth to keep from laughing out loud. She was crazy. Not all of us were lucky to have things move nice and easy for us like in the case of her and Junior. King and I had only shared a kiss.

I typed in a simple, not far, shoving my phone back into my pocket. I should be thinking of making our date special, not Faith's message but I couldn't stop my eyes from wandering to King. He had trimmed his hair and beards now and my fingers itched to touch them, to touch him.

The turtleneck he was wearing stretched when he switched to a more comfortable position without letting go of our tangled hands. He murmured something under his breath and I watched his lips, biting down on the corner of mine. His eyes were closed so I was allowed to openly admire him and my gaze stayed longer than it should have on the lower parts of his body.

He opened one of his eyes without notice, his head slightly tilted in my direction and my gaze immediately dropped to my well-trimmed fingernails. Maybe I would paint them. I pretended to inspect them until I could no longer handle his stare and my head turned till we were both facing each other. He had opened both of his eyes now and didn't care to hide the fact that he was staring at me with a toothless smile.

For some reasons, I felt conscious under his scrutiny. He was looking at me like we were seeing for the first time and I found it endearing. Intense but endearing. Special.

The previous questions I had tried to ignore earlier began to resurface as the car neared the entrance to the site and I could only hope he liked this place as much as I did even if I hadn't been here in ages.

I got out of the car first, went over to his side, opened it and partially curtsied with my arms extended by my side.

He chuckled. "You didn't have to do that."

We were standing face to face with my hand lingering on the car door. The space between us was nearly inexistent and if he so much as dipped his head, our lips would lock. I didn't mind that at all. I bit the insides of my cheeks; to kiss or not to kiss. 

My eyes flittered to his, an arrogant smirk danced on his lips. I cleared my throat and gave an answer to his last remark.

"I wanted to do that," I whispered. I really did. Faith said to make efforts, show him that I also wanted him, that the care and attraction for each other were mutual.

So far, it was working. The smiles he would pass my way when he thought I wasn't looking, his dazzled expression followed by a sheepish grin when I asked him out showed I was doing a decent job.

"Are you sure this place is safe?" He asked.

Courage had left, to come back whenever I called. We had walked a few metres ahead to the front of a gate with restricted area written in big, bold letters on a placard attached to the wire fence. I bit the inside of my cheeks, this was impromptu, I'd been desperate to convince him to stay and didn't think of all the things that could have happened since the last time I came here.

"It is." My left eye twitched as the response left my lips and he sighed. It was safe in the past, I only hoped it was now.

Nonetheless, he followed closely behind me as I approached a part of the fence that was heavily covered by leaves. A small gate was behind it; our secret entrance. I pushed some of the leaves that had grown to form a carpet aside, using my fingers to locate the padlock I was certain would be here.

"Uti," King called from behind me.

"Hold on," I replied without looking up, the padlock was supposed to be here.

A few minutes passed and it seemed like I had gotten the wrong entrance. I shook my head, it couldn't be. The restricted area sign was the same as it was when we last came here, I was certain that if I looked closely I would see Jo + Uti written in faded, red ink.

"Uti," King called a second time and my hands ceased their search. I sighed, I wasn't ready to admit that this was a failure. This had been my special place at some point and I really wanted to share it with him. "I think someone is trying to kill us."

"What?"

"There's a man pointing a gun at us." I looked at him first, his stance was relaxed, face composed. His statement sounded unbelievable until I looked in front, there was really a man pointing a Dane gun at us.

A fragile-looking, skinny man with hard eyes on a face that has seen better days.

My hands went up in surrender and a stern look from me got King to do the same. I would have chuckled at his adamancy only that we were at the wrong place for that. There was always a security man stationed to guard the back gates of the restricted area and the man in front of us didn't look the same as the kind elderly man I knew.

"Hello," I said, my heart was pounding but my voice managed to come out steady.

In response, he pointed the gun to my face and I nearly peed myself. Buried memories stirred, this was all too familiar, only that I was the one on the receiving end, me and King. Sweat formed on my forehead, my heart lurched and my body shook with fear.

"Pa Unyime." The man's eyes narrowed and his gun seemed to get closer to my face. It was as if the fence between us no longer existed. I swallowed. "I'm looking for him."

He was the former security man stationed here, we were all friends, almost family.

"Na my papa be that." He lowered the gun, my chest nearly heaved in relief until he cocked it and brought it back to my face. My heart skipped a beat, having a gun in my face was scary. "You na one of his mistress?"

Until that moment, I didn't know I could shake my head the way I did and with that speed. I didn't stop shaking until I felt dizzy and the world around me began to spin, causing me to stagger lightly.

"You say na wetin dey you? E better make you no fall, nobody go carry you." I found myself nodding, my tongue had gone on a vacation. "Who you dey find, anti? Unku?"

"We are looking for Pa Unyime." It was King who spoke now, I had forgotten that he came here with me. His tone was smooth, confident, the opposite of what I was.

"Una don talk that one before, I talk say na my papa, who wan see am and why?"

"Uti. Utianle Agbah. Tell him it's mbopo mmi, our wife." I could sense King stiffen beside me as I added the last bit. Again, I would have laughed if this was the right time.

"Mbopo mmi?" The man asked; I nodded.

That was a nickname Pa Unyime and Baba gave me, I had no idea what it meant, nobody used it except them. They would tease me to the point where I would cover my face and smile till my cheeks ached.

"Mbopo mmi?" He said again with a dazed expression, "our wife material; Unyime's first wife? Tinkoko tinkoko." He said it like he was a court jester singing the King's praises. I nodded, really tempted to smile. 

Tinko tinko was among one of the many games Unyime and I would play. It was my favourite and we would play till our palms ached and our knuckles were sore.

He continued, "na me na," and stamped his foot into the ground like I should have recognised him. I probably would have if he had dropped the gun. "Your husband."

Pa Unyime fondly called me our wife because he would always joke that I would marry his first son, Unyime. As a kid, I liked the idea until I went to school and if this was really Unyime, no way, never.

"You for talk since," I was talking, "wetin do your head?" He lowered the gun for real this time, made his way to the placard.

Oh. My head. I ran a hand over my scalp, it used to be full of long, thick hair that Joseph liked, maybe that was why I cut it.

"Nothing, I cut am." He smiled as he opened a lock behind the placard and pushed a gate open. I didn't do much to hide my shock.

When did they even move the small gate?

"E don tey small," Unyime answered, he pulled me in for a side hug and for that brief moment, I was overwhelmed by the smell of cigarettes, alcohol and home.

Baba used to work here at the Seaport long before his death, he showed me the secret entrance and since it was his friend who was in charge of guarding it, I had permission to come in whenever I wanted. They would drink a lot of cheap whiskeys, smoke cigarettes and chew tons of tobacco.

He would buy me lolly, a coloured drink that was wrapped in transparent nylon, left in the fridge until it turned rock solid so that I wouldn't tell Maami that he still smoked and drank. I never told on him and he continued bringing me against Maami wishes. My favourite part of this place was sitting on a container with Baba, watching the ship depart and workers hailing them. It was beautiful and I hoped King liked it too.

Unyime introduced himself to King, not failing to mention that he was my childhood husband. This time, we all laughed. Unyime looked older, much older than he should and it made me sad a little. Though we were happy back then, life was quite difficult and it seemed much had not changed with him.

"Long time," he said in our childhood language. We had formed it so we could cheat whenever we played a game of cards with our Babas. Most times we won.

"Yes, how are you?" I responded in the same language. It sounded foreign, I had not spoken it in a long time so I was a bit rusty.

He smiled a sad smile, said nothing, only asked why I was here. I told him. His face lighted up, the harsh lines on his face softened. I was lucky, a ship was leaving tonight. The initial excitement came back with full force and I turned to my partner.

"Have you seen a ship leave the harbour?" I asked King, he was quiet but held my hand while I conversed with Unyime.

He shook his head in response.

"Good," I said with a smile, "you will see one today." Dragging him by his wrist, "let's go."

Unyime stopped us before we took a step forward. He rushed off, came back with folded wrappers, a bowl which contained lolly and my heart nearly burst with joy. I didn't think of that before bringing us here.

"My wife dey make am for our pikin," he said while scratching his head like he was shy; I knew he was. "Go well."

Then I hugged him with a grateful smile.

"Our wife, where should I put this?" That was the first thing King said when we were alone. If I didn't see the smile he was fighting, I would have taken him seriously.

We were standing on top one of the empty containers. The port was no longer used as frequently as in the past. I liked it this way, it provided us with some sort of privacy.

Smiling at King, I borrowed the words of his mother. "Put it on my head."

He frowned, I laughed out loud, pointing at a space in the middle for him to lay the wrapper. He obeyed. We sat cross-legged at the centre, the bowl sealed in front of us.

The air was rife with the smell of salt, smoke, tobacco, paint and rust. I inhaled feverishly, taking it all in. I loved it. This was our special place, mine and Baba. Mine and Joseph too. It was under these skies I told him I was pregnant for Esther.

King's arm came around me, pulling me unbelievably closer to himself. My head soon made a resting place out of his shoulder but he didn't seem to mind. 

There was something peaceful about staring at labourers happily doing their jobs amidst whistles and singing. So, we watched and waited until the clear evening skies turned darker and the containers in front of us were no longer visible to see.

I would never know why I did it but I told King about Baba and Maami and Joseph. Maybe he felt obligated to do the same because he told me about his parents. His father and all of his mother's marriages.

"I have never had one of these," King said; he covered his mouth, "sorry ... 'Scuse me."

He held up one of the empty lolly nylons, looking at it like it was strange. The empty wraps of biscuit Unyime had been kind enough to put inside the bowl were strewn around us. I laughed, no one I knew would apologise after belching. Faith would open her mouth to see if she could make a bigger sound. Emma and Esther would compete to see who could belch the most and loudest.

No apologies.

My response never came, instead, a light came on. One by one, the bulbs attached to tall poles positioned at various ends of the fence began to come on until the whole port was bathed in a bright glow.

The chanting started off slow, almost inaudible. I stood up, gestured with my hand for King to do the same. He did, not failing to lace our fingers together. This was the best part, the singing if you could call it that, before the final departure.

One more light came on, the brightest and the biggest; it was situated at the top of the ship. I giggled, they were ready to leave.

"Why are they shouting?"

"They are not shouting," I explained with a laugh, "they are saying goodbye." I pointed at some of the females present. "They don't want them to go but they know they have to," I paused to cast him another look; I also didn't want him to travel. "They won't see them in a long time so they'll miss them."

King nodded thoughtfully without looking at me and I smiled; did he get the hint? Four weeks was a long time to go without seeing his face and hearing his soothing voice.

"Where are you going?" He asked when I started walking towards the opposite end of the container and I smiled.

Another reason why Baba and I liked this place was that it served as our venting ground. He never raised his voice at Maami nor me, he was a calm man. Whenever we were here, while the others would sing, chant and hail the men, he would yell out his frustrations to the wind. It worked.

No one cared, no one listened to us, they were too focused on their own people. I would probably come back here to do the same if King still left. I would need it.

"To shout; you should try it."

*****

Media: Children playing tinko tinko.

BOTC: Project Fishers of men by phaylove4. If you are looking for a teen paranormal story, then you're at the right stop. Worry not, it's Nigerian themed too.

I have no idea why I was reluctant to upload this chapter but here we go.

There's a place I used to go to in my old school, just to shout or pretend to sing. It was refreshing. Who remembers tinko tinko (I don't know the English name)?

And my elder sister tried to teach us one language they formed in school 🤭🤭Lord knows that I tried to learn it but you see, some of us are meant to just write 😂🤣

Q: Have you been to a seaport?