On Christmas Eve.

The night was awash in shades of different colors. Blue, red, white, green and yellow lights illuminate the family compound. Thrown all over the walls of the fence which wrapped itself around the parsonage were shadows of different forms, appearing and disappearing and morphing into one another. The compound was teeming with people. The gate was thrown wide open and from where I sat, perched on a low stool like a bird, I could see people walking in groups into the compound. Little boys were running all over the lawn, while the older ones engaged themselves in shooting fireworks, the type we called Moses Rod, into the sky. Older women sat or stood in groups discussing their preparations for tomorrow’s festivity while the men moved around bellowing greetings to one another while decorating the walls with broad placards which read “HAPPY CHRISTMAS”. The moon was bright and the breeze had a chilling effect. Everybody was in a festive mood. At the other end of the compound, beside the small store which housed father’s aged and damaged motorcycle and other bits and pieces of useless metals, women stood round a huge pot simmering on the fire with and already, I could perceive the aroma of tomorrow’s jollof rice. It was Christmas Eve.

Despite the excitement hanging in the atmosphere, my mood was somber and I felt completely joyless like a mother hen whose only chick got carried away by a hawk. I watched Holy Joel (as people called my father) as he strutted into the main house with Minister, his bosom friend. They were chatting and the man seemed to be smiling at something Holy Joel was saying. I looked at them until they disappeared into the interior of the house and for the first time, I doubted whether Holy Joel was really a man of God, as many people believed he was. I doubted whether he truly possessed a wealth of wisdom as members of church believed, almost to a fault. If truly, he was a man of God, if truly, he was sagacious, he would consider my heart desire, he would consider how his decisions might affect other people’s plans. I knew almost every verse in the and I could wager there was no place in it where permission was given to men to marry off their daughters against her own will. But Holy Joel was obdurate. His decision to give my hands in marriage to Jeremiah, Minister’s son, was cast in stone. Unchangeable. Irreversible. Jeremiah was not only detestable, He was pompous and spoilt and he had a bloated sense of his own self-importance, simply because his father was made the most donations to the church. Even now, I could see him standing beside the pen, arms akimbo, his balding head shining under the gleam of a white bulb which flicked on and off on a wooden pole above him, his neck stretched like a giraffe's. I watched as he scanned the compound, clearly looking for something, or someone. Perhaps, me. I shifted my stool closer to the avocado tree under which I was sitting and glanced at the entrance to the compound. No sign of Akeju. My frown deepened and I felt a surge of anger rise up within me. If I was a volcano, I would be spitting up lava. I had waited for many hours, constantly looking out at the entrance, to catch the first glimpse of Akeju when he arrived. I was sure it must be nearing 11 o’clock. However, everything pointed to the fact that I was bound to be disappointed. Why did he heighten my expectations? Why did he allow me to plunge into this river of curiosity? Why did he promise to give me a surprise? Why? When he knew he was not coming. In frustration, I gave up the hope I had been painstakingly nursing and stood up, scanned the environment to see where Jeremiah was. He was nowhere in sight and I marched towards the house. I would sneak into my room, bury my face into the pillow on my bed and cry and cry until my eyes popped out. Perhaps, sleep would come to my rescue and relieve me of this excruciating heart ache. I had barely taken ten steps when I heard my name and turned around. It was Eniitan, my friend. She was rushing towards me and a man followed calmly behind her. It was Odu, the son of a wealthy cocoa merchant, who had just returned from the city. Unlike others, he was dressed in a befitting black suit and trousers. He wore a broad smile as he marched towards me. 

“Modupe, where have you been all this while? Odu wants to see you”. Enitan said and flew away, leaving me and Odu.

“Odu”. I muttered, tongue-tied and looked around to make sure Holy Joel and Minister had not come out. The latter stood before me, stared at me for a while, smiled and then spoke.

“I have come to make my final move”. He said. “Modupe, I have made my intention known to you and as you know, I do not have much time to spend here and I have to speed things up. But, you have been silent all this while. So, I am here to tell you once again that I love you and to ask if you will marry me. Modupe, will you?”

I watched him in surprise, no, shock, as he gradually went down on his knees and thrust his right hand into his pocket, I didn’t wait to see whatever he was bringing out. I covered my eyes, shook my head vigorously and whirled around. I heard him shout my name multiple times as I rounded corner leading to the backyard. I slipped into the house through the backdoor, sneaked into my room and bolted the door from behind. 

“My daughter will not marry that he-goat!” I heard Mama’s (my mother) voice. I strained my ears and caught some of Holy Joel’s words; “understand”, “The Lord”, “trust” and so on. His words were spoken in hushed tones and I guessed that must be because Minister was in the sitting room. I knew my Mama's resistance would not last. She would soften as soon as Holy Joel finished preaching and quoting the Bible to her. She always did. In anger, I threw myself on the bed and cried. 

“ Modupe! Module! Modupe!” 

My mother was banging on the door so hard I bounced off the bed and hurried to unbolt the door. I must have fallen asleep. 

“ What is wrong with you? Sleepy-head! Your mates are helping the women with cooking and you are here sleeping. Your father wants you in the sitting room”. She said and skidded away. I knew why Holy Joel was calling me and I stiffened my mind, preparing to be rebellious. I dawdled across the passage into the sitting room and there, on plastics chairs arranged in a semicircle were Holy Joel, Minister and well_ you can imagine, Jeremiah, grinning from ear to ear. I was seething.

“ Sit”. Holy Joel said. I obeyed. 

After his usual introductory speech which often contained proverbs and Bible verses interspersed with prayers, he opened the lid off the pot.

“I have decided to honor the agreement between me and Minister”. He gestured towards the beaming Jeremiah stood up, straightened his Danshiki and marched towards me, taking one step at a time. I looked around and Mama was not present. That signified her disapproval of Holy Joel’s stupid arrangement and I felt emboldened. Jeremiah stopped before me and like Odu, he thrust his hand into his pocket but unlike Odu, he did not kneel. That typified his arrogance. 

“Modupe, I love you and I’d love you to consent to my proposal. Do you agree to be my wife?” He said and brought out a ring, bent over and took my hands. I did not react. All this while, Minister was beaming with smiles. Holy Joel, however, wore a blank and unreadable expression, staring at me. I felt a cold ring slipping into the fourth finger on my left hand and I yanked my hand off. The ring dropped and rolled away. I stood up. Holy Joel stood up too, stunned. I had never defied him before and he seemed overly stupefied. 

“Touch me again and it will be a chair smashing into your face. You despicable human. I am not going to marry you. Never! Not on anyone’s arrangement!” I blurted out, stared Holy Joel in the face and on my way out, I met Mama at the entrance. She stared at me with pity and shock in her eyes. I ran past her out of the house into the teeming and lively compound, a stark contrast to my state of mind. I was livid and I needed to clear my mind. A song of praise was playing softly from a large speaker. The excitement was at its peak and no one noticed when I ran past, cutting through the crowd, cutting through rows of benches and plastic chairs into the Bible College, a block of classrooms built in a U-shape, situated at the extreme of the compound. The classes were dark and I sat on the corridor behind the bed of flowers which lined the front part of the building and wished Akeju was with me. 

“ My Belle, my belle”. Wannabe's voice sounded behind me. I didn’t bother to turn around because there was nothing new about him. He would be wearing his worn-out black gown, the one he always told people he wore on his graduation day at Oxford in 1950, fifteen years ago. I was a ten year old girl then . Certainly, he would be with one of his large books which he called “mind nourishments”. He must have been studying in one of the classes with his small torch (that was very typical of him) and having seen me, he must have thought he had found a willing listener to one of his stupid “ I wanna be an academician” talks which earned him his nickname in the Community Grammar School where he taught History.

“My belle, my belle”. He said again and sat down shoulder to shoulder with me. I didn’t protest neither did I respond as I would have done on a good day.

“ You see ….”, he started. “ … I’d say that your materialization at this particular place tonight is not by happenstance but by coincidence. That is because I have been cogitating about the modus operandi with which I would bring a very personal and emotional matter to your cognizance. Do you understand me?” I didn’t answer and he went on. “ I believe that we are, by divine ordainment, intertwined. This knowledge, I have kept in the hallway of my esophagus. But because I have had strong perceptions of wolves preying on you, especially Minister’s son, I have decided to strike the iron when it is hot. I am convinced of your love for me and if we must solidify and concretize our relationship, there must be consensus ad idem between us. That is why I am expressing my genuine and undiluted intention to take you as my Juliet. Do you agree to accept me as your Romeo?” He finished and moved closer to me and placed his hand on mine. I grew irate.

“ Mr. Julius!” I called him by his real name. “ Stand up, stand up!”, he stood up, taken aback. “ if I’ve been playing a silly husband -and-wife game with you before, it has stopped from today. You hear me? And I don’t want to hear your stupid grammars again, they make me sick! Agbaya! ” I spat out and stormed off. Why was this Christmas Eve full of undesirable happenings. First, Akeju's breach of promise, then Odu's proposal, then Jeremiah and Holy Joel, and now, Wannabe. My Christmas was ruined already. There was no hiding place again, I couldn’t go back to the house, lest, I’ll be harangued by both Mama and Holy Joel. Wannabe was still at the Bible College, probably licking his wounds. Even if I hid somewhere else, he would spot me and I was not sure I could tolerate another sentence from him. I would strangle him to death. As I dilly-dallied amidst the crowd, I glanced at the gate and closed, it was. My heart broke. Akeju was not coming. I felt a tap on my shoulder, turned and there was Odu again, looking at me pleadingly. In his hand was a flower. His silly flower. For once, I wondered whether that was what he was going to bring out the other time. No, he must have changed his mind.

He was moving closer and people had started staring at us. I felt uncomfortable. 

“Modupe please, just say something, yes or no, I’ll accept anything you say. Just say something.” He pleaded, held my hand with one hand and offered the red flower with the other. 

I flustered, felt people’s eyes on me and reddened with embarrassment.

“ Odu, not here please. People are watching”. I whispered to him.

“ No, I want everyone to witness this. Your father controls this place and I must not be like the legendary hawk which carried a duckling away before it’s mother’s very eyes and ended up regretting its action”. His voice was deep and loud. A woman caught his words and shouted “ O káre, mode yii” and started clapping. Others joined in and within the twinkle of an eye, we were surrounded by a cheering crowd. Seeing an opportunity, Odu leaned in. 

“ Modupe, be my wife, let’s mark this Christmas with love”. He said. Everybody’s eyes were on me, the Vicar’s daughter and I became tongue-tied. I had never experienced this before and I just didn’t know how to control the situation. Many people, because of my body language, misinterpreted my silence as acquiescence. I looked around and there was Jeremiah, obviously furious. He might have been staring at excrement. He gave me a deadly look and then disappeared, to call his backer, I suppose. 

Just as I was about to disappoint all of them, there was a loud bang and everyone turned towards the direction it came from, the gate. The person banging the gate must really be an impatient person as the banging continued and the whole compound was filled with the sound.

“ Someone, open that gate!”. Holy Joel barked from nowhere and three young men ran to the gate at once. They unbolted the smaller one and in marched the love of my life. He donned an hand-woven red cap and a lovely pair of sandals. His Danshiki looked stiff and pointed sideways. He had his favorite talking drum which he beat at church services draped on his shoulder and he held the drumstick with his free hand.

Before anyone could berate him for disrupting an entertaining view, he started beating his drum and everyone listened, He was passing messages across to me. I understood the beats and the messages he was passing. The men understood, some of the women did and of course, Holy Joel too understood. 

“ Modupe, answer me”. Odu, whose hand was still intertwined with mine prodded me again and I shouted a loud “Nooooo”, loud enough for everyone to hear. I yanked his hand off me and ran towards Akeju. Everyone stared in amazement but I didn’t care. Holy Joel could disown me, Mama may call me a stupid child, as she did all the time. Jeremiah and his dad could demand all their donations to the Church’s purse, Wannabe could throw his worn out graduation gown and books away. I did not care. Everything felt right in the world as I melted into Akeju's arms and shouted “Yes! Yes!! Yes!!! I will marry you!”.

The latter had dropped both his talking drum and the stick a second before I jumped on him and he wrapped me up in his arms. The crowd cheered and everyone clapped.

I cried as I said “You kept me waiting for too long”.

“ I’m sorry my love, I couldn’t find my drum stick on time, that’s why I’m late.” 

I freed myself, turned around and we both walks towards the crowd. Jeremiah looked irate, Minister was no different, Odu wore a sour look and his flower hung loosely in his hand. Having proposed two times in one night, he seemed not to believe he was defeated by a man who only had to beat a drum. Wannabe’s expression screamed hurt and disappointment. Mama was smiling and Holy Joel was shaking his head gently with a look that said “you silly girl, come and give daddy a hug!”. I smiled and walked towards my parents, Akeju following closely behind me. Holy Joel opened his arms and I wrapped mine around his waist. I felt a gentle pat on my back and there was Mama.

“ Father, Mama, I’m sorry it had to be this way”. I muttered.

“ You are forgiven my child. I support your choice”. Holy Blue said and I went down on my knees, not believing my ears.

“ Thank you father, thank you thank you ….”.

Suddenly, as if stung by a scorpion, someone yelled “Happy Christmas”. The crowd erupted into a deafening shout of joy. The time had clocked twelve. It was Christmas day.