MARIA'S VISIT

I heard a knock on the door one Tuesday evening six months after I left the hospital. I looked at the time and knew mom was at the door; it was the time she got home from work every working day except some emergencies kept her. I opened the door and mom walked into the house with Maria trailing behind her. I gaped at Maria for many seconds while my heart ran a hundred meters race.

'Hello, Paul,' Maria said, standing by the door, a big bag strapped around her shoulder. She wore a tighter Jeans than the ones I had seen her in and the T shirt hugged her closer and tighter, as if it was another layer of her skin. I opened my mouth to speak, but the thoughts of all the things that happened in Lagos flooded my mind and cut off the words from my throat.

'Do you know her?' mom asked. She stood in the middle of the living room, her eyes searching my face.

I nodded. 

'Well, ask her to come in and sit down.' 

I moved away from the door.

 'Come in,' I said.

'Thank you,' Maria said and walked into the living room. I glanced at Mom and saw the disapproving look on her face as her eyes followed Maria's back until she sat down on the settee. Then she turned to me. 

 'So, you know her? Where?'

'We met in Lagos,' I said.

I turned to Maria. 'What are you doing here?'

Maria's eyes darted from my face to my mom's.

'I came to see you,' she said. 'There is no one else to talk—'

'Why didn't you call?' I asked. 'You should have called instead of barging in on me like this.'

Maria nodded vigorously. 'I tried your phone and the social media platforms, but you are off everything.'

She was right. I had switched off from the world—afraid the police would trace and catch up with me if I used my number or any social media platform. 

I sighed. 'What do you want, Maria? Why are you here?'

She dropped her eyesight to the floor. 'I don't know…'

'Young lady,' mom said, 'didn't you say you came all the way from Port Harcourt?'

'Yes, ma,' Maria said.

'Are you pregnant for my son?'

'No, ma,' Maria said, her eyes widening. 'I am not pregnant.'

I laughed. 'Common, mom! She is not my girlfriend. How can she be pregnant for me?'

'Everything is possible with your evil generation,' mom said, her voice taking an authoritative tone. 'When you can have a surrogate baby in this age, what else is impossible?' She looked between Maria and I as if we were responsible for all the evils associated with our generation. 'Let her rest and eat and then you can find out why she is here. One does not travel over eight hundred kilometers without a thing or two on one's mind.' 

'Mom!' I said. 'Stay out of this. This is between—'

'Take her bag to your room,' mom barked. 'Let her freshen up. She has been on the road all night long and she came and waited in the office for more than five hours before I closed. Let her have some rest before you have your talk.'

I stared at mom, surprised by the change in her attitude. I wondered what happened to the issue of limiting the number of people we invite home since we don't have enough to feed the extra mouths with.

Mom turned to Maria. 'Follow him to the room. I will bring hot water for you.'

'Thank you, ma,' Maria said and stood up. 'I am grateful.'

Mom smiled. 'No problem; by the time you come out I should have fixed something for you to eat.'

'Thank you, ma,' Maria said again and followed me. 

I got to the door to my room and stopped. 'This is it,' I said, pointing to the inside of the room. 'The bathroom is the other door.'

She walked into the room and closed the door behind her. Thirty minutes later she came out and mom placed a plate of steam breathing noodles in front of her. I saw two cooked, peeled eggs lay opposite each other on the plate and I looked at mom in amazement; nobody ever got two eggs in the house, not even when you are sick and wanted it.

'Eat, young lady, eat,' mom said. 'Let me know if you need anything else.'

'Okay, ma,' Maria replied. 'Thank you very much.'

'You are welcome,' mom said and walked into the kitchen. 

We sat in silence while Maria ate the noodles. I had many questions to ask her, but asking them now would be telling mom what happened to me in Lagos. I sat in the silence and stared at her. Mom came out of the kitchen and walked into her room without giving us a glance. 

I watched Maria ate the noodles one fork at a time. I remained silent, since I knew mom would hear anything we say, and presently, she re-emerged from her room about ten minutes later, about the time Maria was eating the second egg.

'Thank you, ma,' Maria said.

Mom waved her hand in protest. 'Don't thank me, thank God. Are you okay? Do you want more?'

'I am okay, ma; thank you.'

'You are welcome,' mom said and went into the kitchen.

Maria finished eating at last and took the plates to the kitchen.

'Don't bother washing them,' mom said. 'His brothers will soon be here and they will wash them.'

'Okay, Ma,' Maria said, and kept the plates in sink. She returned to the sitting room.

I stood up. 'Maria, let's take a walk outside; just a short walk.'

Mom came out of the kitchen, her face bridled with a disagreeable frown.

'A walk where?' she asked. 'In this night? In this cold? Do you realize she is tired and needs to rest?'

'We won't be long,' I said, walking to my room. 'It's a short walk to get some air. I won't keep her out long.' 

I picked my two worn-out jackets from the wardrobe and came back to the sitting room. Mom and Maria stood side by side, looking at me.

'We won't be long,' I said again. 'Maria, let's go.'

Maria turned to Mom. 'It's alright, ma,' she said. 'I think I will need the walk. I have sat throughout last night and most of today. We won't stay long.'

Mom said no more but she glared at me, her face taking the expression she gives me whenever she says I was as stubborn as my father was.

I gave Maria the smaller of the jackets and ushered her out of the door. Maria quickly put on the jacket and I did the same, hurrying to zip up. The jacket on Maria looked a little oversized, but after she pulled the zip and stuffed her hands into the pockets, it looked okay.

We walked in silence until we got to the road.

'Why are you here?' My voice was calm. I had overcome the shock of seeing her by now and since she didn't reveal much to mom about what happened in Lagos, I felt no need to be hard on her.

Maria kept silent for seconds, hitting one step after the other on the road and looking ahead as if she didn't hear me.

'I was so afraid,' she said at last and I wondered if that was the right answer to my question. 'I didn't know what happened to you guys and I had no way of finding out.'

She sighed. 'But I knew something went wrong when I didn't hear from you or Eric throughout that day.'

'How did you get the news?' I asked.

'From the television,' she said. 'I left early that morning guessing right that the police might come to Eric's house if things went bad. I called everyone I knew that morning until I was able to raise some money and lodge into a three-thousand-naira hotel in Ajah.'

She turned and looked at me. 'What happened to your things? Did you go back to pick them?'

I shook my head. 'I was afraid; I thought Eric and the Dracula could be in the house. I left my credentials there.'

Maria smiled. 'Yeah, but I picked them before I left.' 

I stopped walking.

'Maria, are you saying my credentials are with you?'

'Yes; there are in my bag. I couldn't pick the two bags, so I went through yours and picked the credentials.'

I stared at her, feeling like hugging her. All these months I had lived in dread, expecting the police to trace me through my credentials and here was Maria telling me she had got them.

'Thank you,' I said at last, feeling ashamed at the way I had treated her when I saw her. 'Thank you very much. You saved my life.'

She smiled and began to walk. 'I saw the news in the hotel and that night I did not sleep a wink. I tried your line but it said your phone was switched off. I called more people and they were able to transfer some money to me. I left Lagos for Port Harcourt as early as six the next morning. I have been living in fear all these months, expecting the police to come after me. But one month turned to two and its six months now and no one had come asking after me.'

We walked on, passing the Tomson shopping mall and seeing people hurrying in and out, making the last-minute shopping for the day.

'Paul,' Maria said after a while. 'Did someone give them away?'

'I don't know,' I said. 'Tolu and I changed our minds about the whole thing and decided to set Mr. Potter free; but Eric and Dracula caught us in the act and took us the Tolu's uncle's uncompleted house. They brought one Inspector Dagin and he threatened us to cooperate and to go ahead with the kidnapping or he would lock us up in a jail. We escaped from there.'

'How did you escape?'

I paused, remembering the slap the inspector had given me. 'They went out and left Joseph to guard us. We tricked and overpowered him and ran away, but Eric and the gang came after us, shooting at us. We ran and eventually separated from Tolu, who took a different route while Mr. Potter and I went the opposite way. They caught up with Mr. Potter and I and took us to an abandoned building where they did this to me.'

I showed her my middle finger in the dimmed light of the street lamb.

Maria gasped. 'They cut off your finger?'

I nodded. 'Dracula forced my finger into the mouth of snake and they left me there to die. I cut off the finger to drain away the venom and I am sure that was what saved my life.'

'Oh, my God!'

'They wanted to know where Tolu was hiding but I told them I didn't know.'

Maria was quiet and we walked on. We got to the railway crossing and we stepped over the rails quickly, moving ahead of the coming cars. 

'Eric didn't stop them?' Maria asked. 

I hesitated. 'He was caught in between trying to protect me and having his dream come true. I guess the joblessness has pushed him to the other side of his right mind. He tried to stop Dracula, but his effort was halfhearted.' I sighed. 'Eric wanted to help, but his ambition was too great to be sacrificed.'

We walked on and got to the Plateau Hospital's gate and I stopped.

'We should go back,' I said. 'It's getting colder and mom will talk until our eardrums bleed, if we stay longer.' 

Maria nodded and turned. We began to walk back to my house. 

'Eric changed,' Maria said. 'I know he didn't care much about me, but something had changed in him the day I met you guys. It's as if he didn't have a heart anymore.'

I nodded. 'Yeah, he wasn't that extreme back in school. I guess the country's situation changed him like its changing most of the youths. I never thought I will ever consider kidnapping someone…but what do you know?'

'Did you tell your mom what happened? She asked me so many questions before we got to the house and I guessed she was trying to find out what happened to you in Lagos.'

I stopped. 'I hope you didn't tell her anything?'

Maria stopped and looked into my face.

 'Of course not,' she said. 'I also have a mother you know, and there are certain things they wouldn't just understand. I told her we only met briefly in Lagos through a friend and that was all she got from me.'

We walked on. 

'Did you tell her about Eric?' Maria asked. 'Did she know he is dead?'

I shook my head. 'No. She might have a heart attack if she knows I went into kidnapping and almost got killed.' I looked at her. 'I just told her I didn't get the job and that I was attacked. It's better to let sleeping dog lie until the day she finds out.'

Maria nodded and we walked on.

'But how did you know where my mom works?' I asked.

'Eric had told me she works with the state government in Jos,' Maria said. 'When I got here, I went from one ministry to other asking for Mrs. Na'anzem. I got her on the third ministry.'

'That was smart,' I said. 'And you did a lot of walking in that expansive secretariat, didn't you?'

She nodded. 'I walked around until I got sore feet. I guess—what are those?'

She raised her hand, pointing behind me.

'Look!' she shouted. 'What are those?'

I turned and looked in the direction of her hand. 

'Bats,' I said. 

'Bats? Where are they coming from? There are so many of them.'

'From the Museum; it's a preserved park.'

'Do you have Ebola cases here?'

I chuckled. 'No. Maybe these ones don't carry the virus, who knows?'

We got to Mr. Kinsley's door and I saw coming out of his car.

'Good evening, sir,' I said. He turned sharply, peering at us through the glasses on his nose. 'Good evening, sir,' Maria said. 

'Good evening,' he said, adjusting the glasses. 'Paul, is that you?'

'Yes, sir,' I replied.

'How are you feeling today?' 

'Much better, sir.' 

'Okay,' he said. 'Give my regards to your mom and your brothers.'

'They will get them, sir,' and we went passed him. We walked on, but I could feel his eyes trailing us the way a frog's eyes would trail a flying mantis. I heard his door opened and closed home a moment later.

'He seems a good neighbor,' Maria said. 

 'A damn good one,' I said. 'He took me to the hospital the day I returned; he is like a father to most of the youths in this neighborhood. He lost all his family in a car accident many years ago and never remarried.'

'That's sad,' Maria said and turned to look at the house as if Mr. Kingsley will be waiting by the door. 

We had gotten to the front of my house and I stopped and turned to face Maria. She also stopped and we looked at each other for some seconds. I felt an awkwardness come over me.

'Why did you come?' I asked.

She looked at the floor and shifted her left leg in a semi-circle. 'There is something else I want to talk to you about.'

'What is it?'

'I don't know how to say it—'

The front door swung opened at that moment and mom's huge physique covered the entrance. 'Let her come inside, for God's sake. She is not used to this kind of weather; don't make her catch pneumonia on her first day in Jos.'

I looked at Maria. 'We better get in if we want peace. Let's talk later.'

Maria walked to the door and I followed her.

'I just finished speaking with Mr. Kingsley,' mom said, looking at me. 'I have asked him to spare a room for you tonight and he has graciously agreed. So you will be sleeping in his house.'

She turned to Maria before I could give a reply. 'Young lady, you will sleep in his room. Just manage it; I know it's untidy. I will make sure they clean it up tomorrow.'

'Thank you, ma,' Maria said. 'And I will be leaving tomorrow.'

'Okay,' mom said. 'Paul, remind me to get some Irish potatoes for her to take for her people.'

'Okay,' I said and sat on the settee. 

Maria looked between me and mom. 'I think I will turn in now,' she said. 'Good night, ma.'

'Good night, my dear,' mom said. 'Let down the net to keep away the mosquitoes. Paul and his brothers sleep like horses; they don't feel the mosquitoes.'

I glared at mom.

'Good night, Paul.' 

'Good night.'

She walked into my room and left mom and I in the sitting room. We sat together in the room until my siblings came back and mom said I should turn in early so that Mr. Kingsley wouldn't wait for me.

I walked to Mr. Kinsley's house feeling like a fifteen-year-old and hating it.