BAD SIGN

Tolu dropped us at Alpha Beach at 11:40 PM and zoomed back home. He called twenty minutes later.

'Have you gotten home?' I asked.

'Yes,' Tolu said. But his voice was wrong.

'What happened?' I asked. 'What's going on?'

Tolu sniffed. 'My uncle called me. He had called the security man earlier.' More sniffs. 'He told me to pack my bag...'

Eric and Maria had stopped what they were doing and now turned their eyes on me. Eric held the remote control and Maria held a nail file in midair over her left hand. Tolu sniffed again. 'He said I should leave the house before he returns.' I opened my mouth, but no word came. There was another sniff at Tolu's end. 'He is coming back next week. I have less than a week to move out. Where will I go?'

I sighed. 'Take it easy, Tolu. Everything will work out well.'

He sniffed again. 'Tell Eric what happened. I am going to bed; good night.'

'Tolu, wait—'

He rang off.

'Did his uncle find out?' Eric asked.

'Yes, he wants Tolu to pack out before he returns. Tolu was crying.'

'What's he crying for?' Maria asked. 'As soon as we get the ransom, he will have no need for his uncle. He will be a millionaire.'

Eric shook his head. 'Tolu loved been a houseboy, that's why he is crying. He is afraid of being on his own. He's gotten used to been fed and taken care of; I think this separation might actually be good for him.'

My phone shrilled at that moment. I looked at the screen and Mom was on the screen. 

'Excuse me,' I said and walked out of the room. 'Hello.'

'Why didn't you call as you promised?' mom said. I heard the anger in her voice and knew I was up for a bad argument. 'What's wrong with you?' 

'Nothing is wrong with me, mom,' I retorted. 'I am just busy; I forgot.'

'You forgot? So, when were you going to call? Next week? Next year? Because it's obvious you had no intention of calling today.'

'But mom, you know how Lagos is. I got so busy I didn't remember.'

'You are now too busy to call your mother and to find out about your brothers?'

I raised my left hand up and brought it down.

'Anyway, that's not why I am calling,' mom said after a minute silence. 'I just woke up from a bad dream.' She paused. 'I dreamt you jumped off the Third Mainland Bridge and fell into the lagoon.' She paused again. 'Your brothers and I cried in the dream...that you...it was a bad dream.' 

I waited. The pause was longer this time. 

'It's a bad sign,' mom said. 'Something horrible is about to happen and I think you should come back tomorrow.'

I listened.

'Did you hear me, Paul? I want you to pack your bag this night and leave tomorrow morning.'

So, two people will be packing their bags this night, I thought. Tolu, you won't be the only one leaving Lagos.

I waited.

'Come back,' mom said again, her voice lost between barking an order and imploration. 'Come back. Forget about the job; just come back.'

'Okay, mom,' I said. 'Okay.'

She was silent for a while. Then she said: 'You are not coming back, are you?'

I didn't trust myself to speak. So, I listened to her breathing coming from a thousand kilometers away.

'Paul. This was the kind of dream I had just before...before your father died.'

I heard my phone clicked off and the sound of her breathing was gone. I stood with the phone stamped to my ear, listening but hearing nothing—except the sound of the waves coming from the beach. 

I returned to the room and found Eric slouched on the settee and Maria sat on the edge of the bed. They looked up as I came in and the smell of Lipton tea filled the room. 

'Who called? Eric asked. 'Your mom?'

I nodded. 

He smiled. 'She wants to know if you have started work, right?'

'She wants me to go back to Jos tomorrow,' I said, sitting beside him. 'She wants me to forget about the job and come back—so she can keep reminding me how useless I am without a job.'

Maria sipped from the cup. 'Why does she want you back?'

'She had a dream,' I said, my voice full of sarcasm. 'I jumped off the Third Mainland Bridge and died.' I shook my head and Eric chuckled. 'Who will blame me if I jump off the Third Mainland with the hopelessness and joblessness we face in this country? I would rather jump the bridge than return to Jos and face her piteous looks and snappish remarks.'

'Don't worry man,' Eric said. 'By the end of this week our fortunes will change. You will return to Jos a king, not as a bloody job applicant.' He raised the cup in his hand. 'To a new way of life; a new life to all of us.' 

Maria picked her cup, but since I had no cup and had no intention to share in the toast, I kept my hands by my side. They pointed the cups to themselves and drank.

'I say amen to that,' Maria said. 'Amen and amen.'

Eric kept his cup on the carpet. 'Maria, get a cup of tea for him; he must be hungry.' 

Maria looked at him for a couple of seconds before she got up and walked to the corner of the room where the cups sat face down on a dusty tray. 

'Don't worry, man,' Eric said. 'Everything will be different once we lay our hands on that money. You can start a business and never be poor again. We will have enough capital to venture into any business we want. You can laugh at those vultures who call themselves banks; they lend at thirty five percent but pay interest of less than three per cent on deposits. Vultures!'

I was hungry and angry, but I was smiling. Maria placed a cup filled halfway with steamy water on the carpet in front of me and placed the pack of Lipton beside it. She went back to the corner of the room and returned with a container of grounded sugar. There was no milk, no bread, and I refused to be a fool by asking for them.

'Thank you,' I said, picking up the Lipton tea bag out of the pack. Maria nodded, sat on the edge of the mattress and picked her tea. Her expression told me I shouldn't think this would be an everyday thing. 

I dropped the tea bag into the cup, added two spoons of sugar and stirred. I raised my eyes and found Eric staring at me. 

'How do we get there tomorrow?' I asked. 'We don't have a car or the money to hire one.' 

Eric smiled. 'That's the spirit; forward ever and backward never. We will find a way.' 

'Where is the money?' I asked. 'We can't afford a hired car and that's what we need.'

'Maybe we can,' Maria said. 'Or maybe not.'

Eric and I looked at her. Her eyes stayed on the phone as if she never uttered a word to us.

'Maria,' Eric said, dropping the cup on the carpet. 'If you have money, say so.' 

Maria glared at him for a moment and then turned to me. 'I have a little money kept for my transportation fare back to Warri.'

'And I asked you for money yesterday,' Eric asked. 'What did you tell me?'

Maria ignored him and gazed at me. 'Like I said, it's my transportation fare. I don't want to be stranded in Lagos when it's time for me to leave.' She looked at the phone again. 'But I could lend it on the condition that it will be paid back doubled.' She looked at me. 'And if I am lending my transport fare out, it will be to you and that means you are the one to pay me back.' 

'Sure,' I said. 'Once we get the money, we will pay you back.'

Maria shook her head. 'I don't want you to say "we". I want you to say, "I will pay you back."'

'I will pay you back,' I said. 

'Okay,' Maria said. 'I have your word.'

'How much do you have?' I asked Maria.

'Twenty thousand—,' 

'Twenty thousand?' Eric cried, standing up. 'You are wicked! Absolutely wicked. So, you have twenty thousand on you and you left us starving....taking Lipton for dinner? How wicked can you be? I pity the husband who will marry you; he's in for a hard time for the rest of his life.'

Maria did not look at him; her eyes remained on me as if I was the one speaking. 'You can borrow ten thousand and nothing more. Do you understand? Ten thousand and no more.'

'I guess ten thousand will do,' I said and turned to Eric. 'What do you think?'

'This is wickedness,' Eric said, shaking his head. 'It's callousness. You must have a Hitler's heart.'

'I will take that as a yes, Eric,' I said. 'Maria, please give us ten thousand.'

We slept that night with a plan ready for execution the next day. I dreamt about Talatu; we were both happy until the snake came and separated us.