Must Read: Glitches - Season 1 - Episode 2

7 years ago

Must Read: Glitches - Season 1 - Episode 2

Jeremy was seated in the palour, watching his favourite series ‘The originals’. It was actually a sequel to the vampire diaries which he had already finished watching so when chukwudi – his buddy, informed him of ‘the originals’, he rushed to the film shop across his street to get it and since then he had been glued to the t.v set.

The room was poorly illuminated
revealing an old couch directly in front of the t.v and a one-sitter on the right hand side of the couch. The room potrayed the impression of someone who had once made it in life but had somehow spindle down the economic ladder.

“Tick.. Tack..tick..tack” the old wall clock registered its presence.

Jeremy was carried away by the movie, oblivous of the presence of his father. He was watching a scene were Elijah-an original, killed two vampires and plucked out their hearts.

“What type of movie is this?” His father barked.

Mr.bassey was an ardent movie follower when in his elements but never had he liked the horror genre.

“Sir… Sir” Jeremy stuttered. “It’s a new movie”
The reply obviously wasnt good enough for his disciplinarian father, his eyes flashed in anger.

“I’ve warned you never to watch this kind of movies in my house, if you want to watch all these useless movies then you might as well consider building your own house”
Jeremy was angry but he had to hide it, afterall it was only the old man, he didnt want to incure the wrath of his mother.

“Don’t mind that boy, his mates are in the university trying to better their lives but he is here wasting away his” Mrs bassey interjected.

Immediaty jeremy heard the voice of his mother, he knew he was done for it. He would have sworn she ran out of the bedroom immediately she heard her ‘hubby’ Dishing out his daily dose of tongue lashing. He was truly tired of living under the same roof with parents whose answers to his greetings were a constant reminder of his inability to gain admission into the higher institution of learning.

Not that he wasn’t intelligent, no!! Infact he could only count two people who were better than him academically during his secondary school days. His problem was induced by his parent who wanted him to be an engineer at all cost and as if that wasn’t enough havoc they’ve created, they constantly made it a point of duty to remind him of this same problem which was caused by them.

Jeremy quietly put off the T.V set and made to leave the room but his dad ordered him to sit back.

“Ronke, what was that noise i heard in the afternoon?” Mr. Bassey asked his wife.

“Ah! It’s michael o” she replied.

“Which michael?”

“Michael, the son of the olabisis” she answered.

“You mean the one abroad?” Mr. Bassey asked.

“Yes, he came back this afternoon.”

“Thats good.”

“Thats great” Mrs. Bassey interjected. “No really, it is. You wont believe what he came back with;

Clothes worth hundreds of thousands, assorted wines, some foreign foods. He even bought a car for his father and i heard they’ve started developing their land in the village courtesy of michael. Good doesn’t qualify it, great is the word.

“Yes, it is very soothing to discover that other people’s sons aren’t wasting away their lives like yours is.” Mr. Bassey replied sarcastically.

There was an aura of tension in the room. Mr. Bassey knew that didn’t come out well, nothing from his mouth ever did. How on earth does he find such pleasure in slandering his son? He knew without doubt he was the worst Dad on earth.

Jeremy never liked michael for once, he was that kid who’d bully others and flog them for the fun of it. Although michael was way older than the other kids, he was never seen with his mates, instead he would gather the kids and make them fight it out for who would help him carry his canes. One of such occasions, jeremy had dared michael to a fight. The result was a bleeding nose and a broken tooth,it was a day jeremy never forgot.

The silence in the room grew thicker and that was a great noise in itself. Everyone had things to say but was selective in their choice of words.

Apology was not an option for Mr. Bassey.

An African dad shouldn’t apologise, not for anything, it shows weakness. He prayed for an easy way out and he got the answer, a knock on the door it was.

“Come in.” He quickly answered.

Whoever it was, kept struggling with the door but it didn’t open.

“It’s locked.” he finally said.
“Jeremy go see who it is” Mrs. Bassey ordered.
Jeremy walked to the door, unbolted it and flew it open, the face he never wanted to see stood there at the door with a smile. It was michael.

Aaron thought over his plans again, he loved nature and a three day picnic at ogbanike hills would be a sure way to prove that. He was oxfords definition of successful – he had the money and the fame and at 25, he had achieved more than what the average 50year old nigerian would. He had inherited his father’s pharmaceutical company when the man died of heart complications.

One apparant problem to his plan though was his girlfriend, stella. Convincing her to go with him would be an uphill task. Nontheless, it was one he would cheerfully pursue.

He picked up his phone and dialed stella, she picked at the first ring. His fine lips shaped into a smile, incurring plausible wrinkles to the sides of his eyes.

“Don’t tell me you were waiting for my call” He spoke with a tone of suprise. If stella hadn’t known better, she’d have mistaken it for pride.

“And since when has it become a crime to pick a call at first ring, sergent Yusuf?” stella fired back.

“Since you decided not to make any lunch arrangements” Aaron accused.They normally took turns to sponsor lunch. “Today is your turn remember?”
“And who said there was no arrangement in place? Cynthia told me of this new mama iyabo joint near the parish, how is that for ‘arragement’?”
“You know i’m a sU-Cker for local delicacies so don’t get too jelous when i start diverting my attention from you to mama iyabo”
“I guess thats where my karate class will come in handy” stella said admist laughter from Aaron. “On a serious note i know i’m not been fair here but would you please take care of today?”
“sure i will, heck i always do” Aaron bragged “but you’ll promise me one thing”
“which is?”
“I’m gonna propose something and you are not saying no”
“If its a marriage proposal you’d better come with a brand new bentley continental o” stella warned. “And the ring must be a 6 carat diamond ring.”

“You Forgot the part where we hire fake friends to act as suprise restaurant visitors.

“Whatever”
“1:00pm, don’t be late” Aaron said and ended the call.
Why was he being such a punk? Getting all jittery at the thought of a simple request to his girlfriend.

He had to give it to stella though, no girl had been able to make him so helpless in his entire life.

“At this rate she’ll be the one paying your brideprice… Or is it groomprice now?” his friends would always tease him.

Talking about friends, he hasn’t heard from kingsley for the past… 2hours. The sun of a gun promised to take him out clubbing this night.

Clubbing was the next thing to stella on Aaron’s love book. He could miss church service on sunday, his work on monday, shopping on tuesday, watching football on wednesday, arguing with friends on thursday but miss clubbing on friday? Escuse me, but thats like missing a flight to the Bahamas.

He dialed kingsley, just to be sure the clubbing arrangement was still in place but unlike stella, kingsley didn’t pick at first dial dealing an uppercut to his ego.

The only thing he hated more than Tonto Dike’s voice on a song was having to dial a number twice. That shii’s like farting in public – embarrasing.

“Baba i dey road dey come your office” Kingsley informed Aaron after picking his second dial.

“I wan commot o, i get date by 1:00pm”
“No hype yourself, no be you i dey come find na that your secretary, she been wink at me the last time wey i come.”

“Kingsley, my secretary is off limits. Allow her to concentate on official duties.” Now it had to be serious for Aaron to switch to pure english.

“Official duties ke, like warming your bed?”

“Whatever man, she aint your booty call”
“Who said anything about booty call? I just wanted to pay her a visit, didn’t mean to offend the boys scout”
“Shey we still dey go clubbing this night?”
Aaron changed the topic
“Yes na, thats where i wanted to take your secretary sef” Kingsley said before realizing what he’d said. “To take notes” he quickly added.

“You no well” Aaron said and hung up.

He quickly sorted some files. The time was already 12:45 so he stood up and left his office.

He saw his secretary at the reception.

“Good afternoon sir” she greeted.

“Afternoon Agnes” he answered. “I’m going for lunch, make sure you work on the famacil file before i get back”
“Okay sir.”

He walked out but stopped on his tracks as if remembering something.

“And agnes” He called out. “Your eyes are meant for the computer screen, not for winking” He said and walked out.