EPISODE 56 - ENTANGLED

Before I begin, I am glad to inform you all that this blog has been nominated in the 2012 Nigerian Blog Awards. 'The Geebee Chronicles' was shortlisted in the 'Best Personal blog' category. I thank you all for your efforts in the nomination stages that made this possible. Coincidentally, this blog was nominated in this same category in the 2009 and 2010 editions but unfortunately didn't clinch the spot on both occasions. Hopefully, it would be different this time around but that's only gonna happen if you vote. Please, go ahead and vote for my blog and your other favourite blogs by clicking HERE. Thank you! That said, let's continue with our series.

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 “Hello, are you there?” BG asked worriedly.

I could not tell what she was worried about. Was she worried that her sister might be missing or that her sister might be with me?

“Yea-yeah I’m here,” I said in a stutter, my gaze fixed on Cher in total confusion. I tried unsuccessfully to communicate with her with my eyes. She was busy on the computer chatting with my maga and appeared uninterested in my phone conversation to my utter disgust. She should have been the one receiving BG’s call if only her blasted phone was not turned off.

“Has Cher called you?” BG asked again.

I was at crossroads on what my response would be. If I told her I had not heard from Cher, it would cause more agitation on her part if indeed she was worried about her sister’s whereabouts and I didn’t want to put her through such mental trauma considering her condition. On the other hand, if I told her that Cher was with me, she would probably smell a rat and wonder why Cher had not bothered to call her after meeting me or why I had not called for that matter. It would also cause more mental pressure for her. It was a case of two roads leading to one unpleasant destination. I needed a few seconds to talk to Cher to determine what my response would be. I ended the call abruptly and hoped to grab as much time I could to talk to Cher before BG called again.

“Cher, BG’s been trying to reach you. She says your phone is switched off.” I lashed out, trying really hard to suppress my anger.

“Oh really? Yeah, I turned it off earlier on. I totally forgot about the phone!” she responded lamely.

I was sure it was another lie but I decided not to push it.

“Okay. Well, she’s calling me now and asking about you. What do I tell her?”

She smiled. “Are you asking me? You can tell her I’m here with you.”

I felt my head was going to explode. “Really? You want me to tell her that?” I said, looking at her disbelievingly. “You ought to have called her to tell her that yourself earlier on!”

“Sorry” she simply said.

“So what next?” I asked, wishing I could slap the taste out of her mouth. “Why don’t you just turn on your phone now and call her so you can tell her whatever you want. I really don’t like what is happening right now.”

She was going to say something but my phone rang. My heart froze.

“I think you should pick this call, Cher.” I said and stretched the phone, still ringing in my hand to her.

“And say what?” she asked. “It’s your phone. You talk to her.”

I could feel my blood rising as I accepted the call.

“Hello baby. Sorry, I think there were issues with the network.” I said.

“Okay. I was beginning to  . . .”

“Cher is here with me!” I said suddenly.

The shock on Cher’s face was as clear as crystal. I held her gaze and managed not to smile. Apparently, she had expected that I would ‘cover up’ again like I had done earlier but I was already neck-deep in fury and was ready to damn any consequences. The truth was, I half expected myself to come out so straight with BG at that moment but I did it anyway, more like the words jumped out of my mouth. Cher’s expression revealed obvious disbelief and I could sense a tinge of apprehension. I had successfully turned the tables with one sucker punch and I was glad to savour the moment.

“She’s with you?” BG asked. “And you guys could not even call me?”

“Sorry babe,” I said. “We are in the café now anyway.”

“But I’ve been trying to reach her since and . . .”

“Yeah, she said her phone is switched off . . .”

Cher snatched the phone from me in a flash and put it to her ear. I was sure she had been scared that I would go all out to tell BG all her antics previously and she had quickly decided to save face. The truth was, I wouldn’t have done that but I was glad she was scared.

“Hey lil sis,” she said into the receiver.

Her gaze met mine and she eyed me with obvious disgust. I wasn’t in the least bothered. In fact, I had to hold myself back from bursting into laughter. I sighed in relief and settled down to face the computer screen. The ball was in her court now.

The call lasted for about six minutes and while I chatted on the computer with Petr, a prospective maga, I listened to Cher’s side of the conversation with her sister. I was awed by her smartness and how she easily got herself out of the dicey situation with a convincing tale on how she got stuck in traffic and how her friend’s brother played games on her mobile phone and caused the battery to go flat. At a point, BG asked her if it wasn’t getting too late considering the time. It was already past seven o’clock at that point and her home was another two hours drive away. Cher simply told her she would be on her way soon. Meanwhile, Petr insisted he would like to see me on webcam because he had heard a lot of bad stories about Nigerian scammers. I decided it would be a perfect time to allow Cher begin to perform her duties as the ‘face’ of my Yahoo enterprise. I was due to receive a call from Luke Pine that evening after I had sent him the call numbers to the phone I had previously given to Cher. I was yet to brief her on the modalities of how she would respond to his call but with all the drama that had happened that day, I was already starting to wonder if bringing Cher in wasn’t a grave mistake.

“So . . .?” I said as she ended the call.

“Get lost!” she said angrily.

I was amused. “I’m sorry Cher but you pushed me that far.”

“You should have known I was just messing with you all along,” she said and she sounded so sincere that I felt very guilty. “I play a lot of games. That’s just me.”

“Well, that was a very expensive one. I’m sorry I overreacted.” I said, meaning it.

Cher shrugged. “It’s alright.”  She said, facing the computer screen. “So let’s make this money sir! Is that still the guy I was chatting with? What’s his name again?”

“Petr,” I said. “However, I think it’s getting late. Don’t you think you should get going?”

She frowned. “Geebee, I’m a big girl. I can take care of myself.”

We remained in the café for more than an hour more and after much persuasion on my part, she finally agreed to leave. As we got to the bus stop where she would take a bus home, she suddenly gave a cry of despair.

I jumped. “What’s it?” I asked concernedly.

“My folder!”

I remembered I had last seen the folder when she had come to my place that afternoon.

“Where’s it?” I asked, already hating the fact that I would have to rush back to the café to get it for her.

“I left it on your table while I was reading your magazines!”

I wanted to scream. I looked at my watch. It was almost nine o’clock and the traffic had already started building on the road back to my place. It meant it would take at least an hour to get back to my house.

“Oh God!” I said. “Don’t worry. I’ll bring it home for you tomorrow.”

She winced. “You can’t. There’s an assignment I wrote in it. I’m to submit it in school tomorrow morning.”

I sighed in frustration. I had no choice. We were going back to my place. It took another twenty minutes for us to get a bus headed my way and just as we settled in and I was cursing myself and the powers that be for giving me such an evil day, my phone rang. It was BG again!

SEE YOU IN THE NEXT EPISODE OF THE GEEBEE CHRONICLES.

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EPISODE 55 – CAUGHT IN THE MIDDLE

The mobile phone suddenly felt very hot in my hand. I looked from the screen to Cher. The look on her face was unflinching. This had to be some crazy dream, I thought to myself. No one could ever be this daring. What in God’s name was this girl up to? The phone was still ringing in my hand and I knew I had to receive the call. The question however was, what would I say? Would it be okay for me to simply tell BG that her sister was already in my place and risk the pregnant girl having a fit or would it be wise if I just played along and hid the truth of Cher’s presence from her? The she-devil herself had told me the ball was in my court. She seemed to be so sure I would play along with her and I was so furious and wished I could strangle her.

“So are you going to pick the call or not?” she asked, a wicked smile forming on her lips.

I hated her so much at that moment and decided I would give her the shock of her life. I punched the ‘Accept’ button on my phone and put the phone to my ear.

“Hey BG, what’s up?” I said in the calmest tone I could muster.

“Hey baby,” she responded. “Who’s there with you?”

I froze. That was a most absurd question. Did BG know Cher was there with me? Had Cher called BG earlier to tell her she was on her way to my place? But if she had, why had she told her on the phone a few minutes before that she was still at her friend’s? Was Cher trying to mess with my head? Perhaps, BG was in on it and they were both trying to test me to see if I was faithful. Faithful, my ass! Who gave a damn about faithfulness? What right did BG have to try and test me that way? For crying out loud, I was still struggling to come to terms with the reality that I was going to be a father at twenty two and I was not even sure I was willing to be committed to her. I was only still sticking with her because she was pregnant for me. She had no right! Neither did Cher. They had to have screws loosed from their heads if they were actually messing with me in this manner.

But wait, what if that wasn’t the case? What if it was my mind actually doing triple jumps and pole vaults? But then, what was Cher doing here? It was all so confusing . . . and annoyingly frustrating.

“Hello are you there?” BG’s voice interrupted my thoughts.

“Yeah, I’m here. Sorry what were you saying?”

“Nothing much. I just wanted to say hello to any of your room mates or friends there. Is any of them around? I’m sure you guys are probably playing Chess or smoking pot as usual.”

I suppressed a deep sigh of relief. “You’re very funny,” I said calmly. “I’m just chilling. Simon went home over the weekend and Bala’s gone to work.”

“Ehyea, so you’re all alone. I wish I was there with you.”

I laughed again. “Yes indeed. With your bulging tummy, right?” I teased.

“Abi o. Anyway, I hope you’ll come around tomorrow or next.”

“Hmmm, I’ll try.”

I was feeling much more composed now. My gaze wandered to Cher and I noticed she was seated comfortably on the bed in the corner of the room reading one of my magazines. Again, I wondered if BG was aware she was with me.

“So I spoke with Cher a few minutes ago. . .” BG continued.

My heartbeat accelerated. “Oh really?” I managed.

“Yeah.  She said she’s still at her friend’s but she’s not too sure if she’d still come to your place this afternoon.”

“Actually, the crazy lady is already here and I hope you guys are not playing any games with me. If I find out you are, I’ll be so pissed!” my mind said.

“Alright then, whatever she decides is fine. I’ll be heading to the café by four anyway.”

“Ok then baby. Take care. Talk to you later. I love you!”

“Alright. Take care.”

BG knew that right from the outset, I usually never bothered to echo the ‘I love you’ words but she always said them anyway.

I ended the call and turned to face Cher. She looked up from her magazine and clapped her hands with an annoying smile on her face.

“Awesome performance!” she said. “I almost believed you would mess up.”

I sighed. “Cher, what’s really going on?” I said trying hard to suppress my anger.

“Nothing” she said innocently. “I was bored and thought I’d come and spend some time with you. That’s all.”

“But this is not right, you know. If BG finds out, she’ll not . . .”

“Are you going to tell her? Of course you wouldn’t. Otherwise, you’d have told her when you spoke earlier on.”

“And what makes you think I won’t tell her when I see her?” I said, smiling confidently.

She shrugged. “I dare you.”

I was amused. BG had always told me her immediate elder sister, Cher was the black sheep of the family, stubborn and very weird and I was beginning to experience the truth in those words firsthand.

“Geebee, relax jor!” she said lightly. “I’m not going to eat you or something now.”

“Of course you wouldn’t.”

“So why the unnecessary excitement? I don’t see anything wrong with being friends with my sister’s boyfriend. It’s not as if we’re having sex or something?”

All the composure I had gathered in the last few minutes disappeared instantly. I swallowed saliva.

“Or do you have such plans?” she added with a wink.

I suddenly found it hard to breathe. “Look Cher. I’m not feeling comfortable with this. Let’s just go to the café right now.”

Cher laughed. “Hmmm, my brother-in-law to be is scared of me. La la la la la la!” she said in a sing-song voice.

I had to laugh.

“Whatever!” I said dismissively. “Let’s go now.”

“But it’s barely one o’clock. Won’t it be too early?”

“Of course it would! And you should have thought about that before coming here to terrorize me!” my mind said.

“Well, we could hang out somewhere close to the café then till four.”

“Good idea.”

Thirty minutes later we were at a bar close a little distance from the café. Before long, I was really enjoying Cher’s company. Suddenly she did not seem like the big bad she-wolf anymore. She was just a girl who was out to have fun. I wondered why I had allowed so much unnecessary thoughts cross my mind earlier and I cringed. Obviously, I was the one with the dirty mind. We chatted about a lot of things and I discovered she was an interesting and brilliant person as well. I had to admit she was miles beyond BG in terms of exposure, intellect and composure. She was indeed the kind of girl I would have wanted to have but I knew there was no way in hell I could allow that happen. She was my girlfriend’s sister after all. Besides, she was a good four years older than I was even though she hardly looked that old. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves that we overshot the time and did not get to the café until almost six o’clock. I advised her that she returned home because of the time and we could go to the café together some other time but she declined.

At about six-thirty, I was chatting with one of my magas with Cher by my side when my phone rang. Again it was BG.

“Hey baby” I said.

“Geebee, I’ve been trying to reach Cher for some time now. Her phone is turned off. I called her friend, Joy and she said she had not seen Cher today. Is she there with you?”

I thought my heart would explode at that moment. I knew there was trouble!

SEE YOU IN THE NEXT EPISODE OF THE GEEBEE CHRONICLES. 

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EPISODE 54 – VOICES IN MY HEAD

Have you ever heard voices in your head? Have you ever being cock-sure of being alone in a room and suddenly heard voices that sound so real, right in the same room? The thing however is that, you actually sense that the voices don’t come from around you but from within you. 

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Now, before you begin to picture a scene from some old horror movie like The Devil’s Advocate, you should understand that this is an experience that is as common as salt and happens to the very best of us on a daily basis, so in answer to the original question, yes, I have heard voices in my head and I am very sure you have too. Please, take a brief pause for a few seconds to take in all you’ve just read . . . Now, can you hear those voices in your head? Hmm, I bet you can. 

From birth, in every one of us is embedded the knowledge of good and evil and as we grow out of infancy, this knowledge becomes clearer and informs the larger percentage of the choices we make. We get used to rules, laws, guidelines and the expectations our immediate societies impose on us and try to conform and in this process; we easily know what the right or the wrong decisions are. Whenever we do or are about to do the right thing, we always know and feel a sort of calmness inside. On the other hand, whenever we are about to do a wrong thing, something usually stirs up inside of us – an alarm goes off; a voice screams in our heads, a warning signal of some sort; attempting to stop us from taking that step. Some people call it ‘conscience’. The fact remains though, that we are never constrained to obey that voice. We always retain the power of choice.

As soon as Cher stepped into my room, I could hear the voices in my head. No, scratch that! The voices began right from the minute she called me and told me she was on her way to my place. Then, it was a tiny whisper. When BG called me and told me Cher was visiting a friend and would stop at my place later on, I tried to process the two information sources and find a correlation. Why would Cher tell her sister she was going to check on someone else when she was actually on her way to my place? Right then, the voices became more audible. It was no longer a whisper; it was actually a few decibels higher. When she called me and told me she was at the bus stop, I could almost hear the clanging of cymbals. The warning signals were getting pretty stronger.

“Don’t go and pick her. Stay right where you are!” the first voice said.

“But she’s already at the bus stop” a second voice appealed.

“So?” the first voice asked. “She doesn’t know your place, does she?”

“No, she doesn’t. But what would you tell her later on? Standing her up wouldn’t be polite.” The second voice countered.

“Turn off your phone! Make up an excuse later on.” The first voice said dismissively.

I sighed. This was crazy. I agreed with the second voice. For crying out loud, what was I scared of? Nothing could possibly happen between Cher and me. She was my girlfriend’s sister for crying out loud! No, not just my girlfriend; my pregnant girlfriend!

So, on wooden legs, I proceeded to the bus stop to fetch Cher. The voices in my head had subsided to my utmost relief.

Her words brought me back to earth.

“Pardon?” I asked stupidly.

“I said you have some nice music collection here” Cher said, loafing through my CDs. Actually, the CDs she was holding weren’t mine. They were my roommate, Simon’s. It was a CD collection of female pop starts like Shakira, Jojo, Jennifer Lopez and other female pop stars of 2007. I hated that kind of music and I never hid my disgust for them. I had told Simon a million times such stuff made him look gay! I preferred Rap and hiphop music and right below the collections Cher had in her hands were CD albums from Eminem, Tupac, Nas, JayZ, Twista, Kanye West and other albums from rappers. Those were the sort of music I believed big boys should listen to and I always told Simon that. However, since Cher seemed to like what she saw, there was no point telling her they were not mine.

“Yeah, I’m glad you do.” I said.

She dropped the CDs and came closer. I swallowed saliva and this time around, I could hear trumpet sounds in my head. I had never been a shy person and so my lack of composure was irritating the hell out of me but I could hardly help it. This lady was tormenting me in my own house. I opened my mouth to say something when her phone rang. I sighed as I watched her reach into her bag. The truth was, I really had no idea of what I was going to say so technically, the phone call saved me.

She retrieved her phone and stared at the screen for a second. She flashed me a look and crossed her lips with her index finger.

“It’s BG” she said in a whisper. I swallowed saliva again and I must have taken in enough to nearly make me choke.

“Hey lil sis” Cher said casually into the receiver, her focus still on me while she listened to the conversation on the other end.

“I’m still at Joy’s. I should be leaving in another two hours or thereabout.”

I wanted to scream! What? Joy’s house? What the hell was this crazy lady doing? She was standing right in front of me and lying to her sister – my pregnant girlfriend – that she was still at her friend’s place! Now, I realized I was officially in soup.

“No probs. I’ll call him when I’m about setting out. In fact I’m wondering maybe I should just come back home. Joy’s wearing me out with so much gist and I’m thinking I should just come back home and see Geebee tomorrow.”

There was another pause as she listened. Her gaze left mine and I managed to sit down. My legs were no longer mine. My head was on fire, thanks to the voices which had now become a mad karaoke session in my head!

“Alright sis. I’ll see how it goes. Take care.”

She ended the call and looked at me, smiling.

“What in God’s name was that, Cher?” I asked, trying hard to control my anger.

“What?” she asked innocently.

“You just told your sister you are in your friend’s place.”

“Yes I did.”

“Why?”

“Nothing. I just didn’t want her to know I was here yet. I’m not supposed to be here till about five p.m and it’s still kinda early.”

“So why didn’t you just tell her you were here already or better still, why didn’t you just go to your friend’s place like you had told her you would.”

“Well, I did. Joy wasn’t home so I just thought I’d come over so we could have a lot of time together.”

I knew she was lying! I knew she never went to her friend’s but I didn’t push it. But wait a minute! What had I heard? Did I hear her say she wanted us to ‘HAVE A LOT OF TIME TOGETHER?”

The words jumped at me.

“Hold on a second. Did you just . . .”

My phone rang. I retrieved it from my pocket and looked at the screen. It was BG. I looked at Cher and sighed in frustration.

“BG right?” she asked.

I nodded.

She shrugged. “Well, the ball is in your court. You know what to do.”

The voices screamed in my head this time!

SEE YOU IN THE NEXT EPISODE OF THE GEEBEE CHRONICLES

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