PROLOGUE
She lights four candles and places them at different compass points. A green candle in the north, a red in the south, a blue in the west and a yellow in the east. They rest on a red piece of cloth she has placed on her bedroom floor. She lights two more candles and holds them in her hands, both of them pink. Then she faces the red candle in the south, clad in nothing but her Jigida.
“Powerful one, hear my prayer!” she calls out with emotion in her voice. “Lords of fire, burn my desire, three times over!”
She breaks, lifts her head upwards and shuts her eyes. Tears slide to the sides of her face. She continues with unsteady lips.
“Bring Jideofor back to me. Restore his passion for me. May the strange women in his life bring him nothing but pain. The same pain I have known. He will search for love but will never find it until he searches for me and finds me.”
She lowers the pink candles gently and picks a wedding gown spread across the floor. She slips into it. The gown has red blotches but she doesn’t seem to notice as she picks a surgical blade from a table nearby. The blade swiftly slices into her palm with one smooth motion, drawing instant blood. Maneuvering her way through spaces between the candles, she kills the burning flames with her blood as she chants on.
“Come back home, Jideofor. Come back to me. Home is here with me. Come back.”
The last flame goes out and so does the light in the room. She sits down and slips her feet into a pair of yellow heels. She will wait for him. She doesn’t care for how long. She must wait. Jideofor must come to her.
∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞
It’s another Saturday…
And I’m immersed in a lady’s reproductive parts. This is life, I tell you. And it’s the one thing I do the best.
The woman whose legs are spread open before me moans and tells me she can’t take it any longer. I tell her to hold on. We are almost there. If only she’ll just let me do my thing.
She moans again and grips the bed sheet she’s lying on. Her legs shake irrepressibly. She’s swearing, saying things I can’t understand, speaking in tongues. Why do they all speak strange things?
“Oh God!” she screams. I smile. We are almost there. Just one more…
The door flings in and this Goliath-like creature charges into the room with fire in his eyes.
“My husband,” she gasps.
Without realizing, I pull away from her. The man looks like he’s about to pick me from where I stand and pluck my head off the rest of my body. Maybe this is the best time to recite the Hail Mary my mother has been wanting me to recite for years.
“Who you be?!” the man growls, pouncing towards me. “I say who you be?!”
“Ah, Baba Patrick!” his wife replies as I search for my voice. “Na midwife be dis.”
“Middle wife?!”
“Abeg allow am make hin finish hin work before I die for here.”
“Middle wife?” Goliath looks at me from top to bottom and back again. “Man dey do middle wife?”
“Oooh-oh-oh! Baba Patrick!” His wife cries. “Dis pikin wan commot o! Leave the man abeg!”
Goliath still doesn’t trust me or his wife as he glowers at both of us, but because it is unimaginable for us to be doing something immoral when a baby is on its way out of her vagina, he lets me be.
I take my former position between her legs and I’m glad to see that all on its own, the baby is making its way into the world. All it needs is a little help.
“Okay, madam, one last push.”
Mama Patrick gives it all she’s got and a beautiful, little girl slips quietly into this world. Usually I don’t immediately sever the umbilical cord until the blood has balanced between the placenta and the newborn, so I place baby on her mother’s chest for warmth, throwing a clean cloth over them. From the corner of my eyes I see the look of sheer incredulity still impressed on the father’s face. I know that expression too well. The ‘why would any man want to do a woman’s job?’ look.
Well, the answer to that question is because of all the places in a woman’s body, the vagina is my favorite. Lord knows how many lady parts I’ve seen in this life but let’s not dwell on that. The second reason I’m doing a woman’s job is simply because I can, so give it a rest, dude.
I eventually clamp the umbilical cord, sever it and take baby away from her mother. The little thing protests with a “Waah! Waah!” and breaks into a full cry. I place her on a table in a corner, which I previously made sterile as best as I could, and clear mucus from her nose and mouth. I don’t believe in washing off the vernix that comes with a newborn until after twenty-four hours. It’s the best natural moisturizer for babies and it doesn’t stink.
I pat her dry and wrap her in a fresh, warm blanket and hand her back to her mother.
“Madam, I’d love to stay around and take care of you two but unfortunately I can’t. You’ll have to go to a nearby hospital to make sure all is well.”
The grateful woman nods. “How much do I owe you?”
I laugh. “Nothing, madam.”
She is touched. “Thank you very much, sir. God bless you, sir.” She gives her husband a stern look and he mutters off cheerless thanks but continues to stare at me as though he really caught me screwing his wife. Funny how people reason. If I had told him I was a doctor, his attitude towards me would have been different.
I help the woman birth out the placenta and then clean out her uterus. At this time, neighbors are already waiting in the sitting room, most of them women. I wonder where they were when she was shouting the entire neighborhood down in agony. Even the Papa Patrick, where was he? Walking out, I pick my suit hanging off the door and stare at the Armani shirt I have on, stained with blood and whatnot. Bobby will kill me for showing up late for his wedding.
I walk through a group of women on my way out of Papa and Mama Patrick’s home. I get approving stares. One or two of them recognize me.
“Oh, it’s the new neighbor,” I hear a fat one say in a whisper that is clearly not a whisper.
“The one that packed in day before yesterday?”
“Yes. That lives in Baba’s compound.”
“So he’s a doctor.”
I’m almost at the door now. I should leave them to their little gossip and be on my way to my friend’s wedding but I can’t help it. I stop and turn.
“Midwife, not doctor. I’m a midwife.”
I leave them in the wake of my stunning revelation and kiss the fresh air outside. My sharp ears pick out another statement by the fat lady.
“Ha! Midwife keh. He should just kuku call himself mid-husband.”
Story of my life. I laugh as I walk away.
∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞
I arrive at the wedding midway. My friend, Bobby and his wife are making their way out of the church hall when I slip in. I pick a chair in the last row, skirted by two Christian mothers that smell of camphor and talcum powder. With their heavy head gear and shimmery attires, I pray I am well hid from Bobby’s bespectacled eyes. And he is not the only one I’m hiding from; friends that I abandoned for a long time are on the premises. Most of them are mad at me. After some heartbreaking event in my life five years ago, I packed a box in the middle of the night and moved to a smaller town where nobody knew me. I cut off communication for the first three years and when I finally reconnected with everyone, I did so meagerly. Social media was off limits for me and whenever any of my friends popped into town and suggested visiting me, I often gave one silly excuse or the other.
Now I am back, quietly, as I had left. I am not expecting a hero’s welcome. Only Bobby would be glad to see me. After all he is still my best friend and the only one I kept the line open with. He is going to be upset about my showing up late and would think I opted out of wearing the Armani shirt he bought for me. I have chosen a Ralph Lauren in its place and it is shades off the yellow and grey theme of the wedding.
I lower my head as Bobby and his wife approach. Bobby, the ever-jovial fatso delights the crowd with his clownish dance moves. I am missing the show but I dare not raise my head. As I count the seconds, waiting for the procession to be over quickly, I feel a heavy knock at the back of my head that sends a shooting pain down my spine. I jolt up. It is Bobby. He has stopped in his tracks and is staring at me with the heaviest of frowns.
“Hey, Bobby…” He doesn’t let me finish as he picks up where he left off and dances past me with his wife. Following closely behind them are my friends. They have all seen me. Their reaction surprises me as all I get are smiles.
Looks like it’s going to be a good day after all.
I wait for the bridal procession and a good number of people to leave the church before I find my way out. It’s a fine weather outside. No sunshine, no rainfall. Just a cool draft of air blowing in all directions. The crowd that has just exited the church is scattered around the premises in clusters of yellow and grey. The place looks lively and I am affected by the contagious spirit of happiness. I hear laughter behind me and I turn. A group of bridesmaids is smitten by some dude who has just announced his coming with a G-wagon. He is the playboy type and going by his looks I can understand why they would be struck.
I smile at the scene and breathe in the air. This is my town; I have missed this place. It feels good to be home. Wait till my mother finds out her favorite son has returned. Surely she’ll slaughter the fattened calf. I’m glad she’s not in town presently. I can use the short time fixing up my new apartment before she returns and my freedom is taken away.
“Jide!” a familiar female voice calls and I turn, only to be smothered with a hug from one of my closest friends. I hold her and warm memories fill my head. I used to love this girl to death. I still do.
“Mary.”
“You came,” she says, looking into my eyes. I know she is about to get emotional.
“Don’t,” I warn her with a finger but I’m too late. Tears have filled her eyes.
“I didn’t just come for the wedding. I’m back for good.”
My statement has a positive effect on her. Round chicks blushed up by makeup glow as a smile fills them.
“For real?”
I nod. She hugs me again. This time, she lingers.
“Mary, I’m sorry.”
It is my first sorry for the day. More are to come.
She frees me and hits me weakly. “Don’t ever leave me again.”
“I won’t.”
Our moment is broken by the appearance of a couple of my friends’ wives and their kids. There are hugs and introduction to children I’m meeting for the first time. They leave after I promise to visit them. More people recognize me and stop by with their “longest time!” “where have you been?” “you dey so?” greetings. So much for slipping back into town quietly.
“Bobby and the guys are looking for you.” Mary takes my hand after everyone is gone. “Come.”
I am dragged to one side of the building where my guys are. Bobby and his wife are seated in a limo. Bobby has his legs out of the car, talking to our mutual friends. I hear a round of laughter that breaks off when they spot me.
“Jydo!” Ibro greets me first. He is the coolest guy in our clique, and the richest too. A northerner with a taste for southern women. He is married to two of them.
“Mutumina!” I greet back with a slap on his palm that passes for a handshake and a pat on the back for a hug. I face the others—Shadrach, Reno and Bright. They are actually glad to see me. All beef squashed.
They throw in some light questions about my welfare and the town I’d just left. I tell them all is well.
“But Jydo, the Bridemaker gist na true abi na just scopes you dey use enter chicks?”
A smile crumples my lips at the edges when Reno’s question hits me. I look at their faces and realize it’s a question they all want an answer to, a question I was hoping no one would bring up.
“Answer nau.” Mary nudges me.
“Come on, guys,” I speak up, “on this blessed of days? Haba mana? At least let Bobby introduce his wife to me first.”
And that is how I escape the Bridemaker gist. But I’ll share it with you.
Fable has it that any girl that sleeps with me ends up getting married shortly afterwards. To be frank, I don’t know how it started or who started it but I can swear on my life that it is real. I didn’t believe it at first but when a colleague at work pointed it out to me and we sat down and took inventory of the girls I had bedded and how all of them were married, I knew it was no longer a joke. I was ecstatic at first. More chicks to screw for absolutely free. No commitments, no hassles. Just go in, hit it and get out. It was fun for a while until the lonely nights became so hollow and scary. I’d be in bed with a woman and yet it would feel like lying on a deserted highway in the middle of the night. In addition, I met crazy women who lost it if they didn’t get married as quickly as they wanted. They’d haunt me and fight me or whoever i was dating at that moment. It was at that point I was dubbed the Bridemaker. Guys envied me, girls just wanted to sleep with me. And there I was in the center of it all, unable to stop myself from engaging in carnal pleasures. It felt as though I had been cursed.
Nobody had to tell me to leave that town and go back to family and friends. I’m turning a new leaf now. I have buried the Bridemaker.
“Kate, meet Jideofor,” Bobby introduces me to his wife. I bend my tall frame into the limo and extend a hand to Kate as Bobby stands and gives me some space.
“Our wife,” I address her as she places her hand in mine and I kiss it with a bit of theatrical flair.
“Ehn-ehn o!” Bobby objects. “Not our wife. My wife.”
“Okay, sorry. My wife,” I correct myself. The bride smiles. Her face lights up shyly. I have just discovered she is a virgin. Don’t ask me how I know. I just do.
“Nice to meet you, ma’am,” I tell her and straighten up. “You have a good man here.” I tap my best friend’s shoulder. “Have no fears. You’re in good hands. But if he misbehaves, just give me a call and I’ll set him right. A left uppercut always sets his brain in order.”
She smiles again. That virgin smile that makes me look at Bobby with a question in my eyes. He reads me well and laughs.
“After all the rivers you went a’dipping.”
“No mind am,” Shady comments.
We tease Bobby for a while, using terms the virgin wife cannot decipher. She simply sits there with her maid of honor, smiling politely at us. A crowd that has just discovered where the bride and groom are hidden is making its way to us. It’s time to leave; I face Bobby’s wife.
“Nice to meet you, Kate.”
“Same here.”
“Kate, mummy is here,” Bobby announces the coming of his mother and launches off into Yoruba with the old woman. When I turn and see her, I fall prostrate to the ground.
“Ah, Olajide!” she calls me. “You are back.”
“Yes ma.” I rise up and hug her. My friends snigger behind us. After all these years, the old woman still doesn’t know I’m Igbo. I don’t blame her. She has never met my parents before and secondly, I come off more Yoruba than her son.
With a concerned expression she asks me why my parents are not at the wedding. I tell her my mother is out of the country and my dad is recuperating from a stroke. The second part is a lie. The old man is just being the grouch that he is. He actually made it clear to me over the phone that he won’t show up for Bobby’s wedding because he will be disgraced, seeing that his own son is yet unmarried and has no plans to do so. I tire for the man. He has an older son that is married. Wetin come concern him with my own life
And it’s not as if I don’t want to get married. I desperately do. But I haven’t found the one yet. Cliché as that may sound, it’s the plain truth as you would come to find out. All of my close friends are married, Bobby being the last to walk down the aisle. My life is going to be shitty from now on. I will be the butt-end of their jokes. They and their wives are going to pair me with all sorts of women, left, right and center. I’ll be left out of family-oriented outings and such. When they’re talking about school fees, sexless wives and family planning, I’ll be brooding in a corner like an idiot. Like I said, pot of beans life.
∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞
Read All Episodes of It’s Another Saturday Here
Image Credit: ronovanwrites.wordpress.com, pinterest.com
I am excited!!!!! Yaaay!
Nice read!
More inspiration to your mind.
Thank you, Brytnex
Hmmm Jideofor u don enter am o.
No be small tin
I guess we are in for a thriller…bring it on Ms Sally ‘m getting so excited already. Thanks for this new breath of fresh air. I guess it’s d season of change after all.?
Lol! It is
This is good!
🙂
We are waiting…..
This is going to be awesome.
🙂
you really got me there, “her legs spread open” and ” The door flings in and this Goliath-like creature
charges into the room with fire in his eyes.” My head had gone far… I’m already feeling it.
Hahaha! You have a dirty mind, Prince.
Sally am loving it already
Thank you
Already loving this!!!!!!!!
I’m glad you are
Sally has come Yaaaay…excited about this one very interesting and long yea…
I’m excited too
*Rolling up my sleeves* let’s get this started!! Oh. This is going To be a fun read.
Roll your sleeves well o
I’m captivated already!
Nice piece.
It’s gonna be an enjoyable ride with this piece!!!
😀
I gat me dere, which kind ring tone b dis wey she dey give. lolz. dis is going 2 b a fun ride. am allready feeling d story. Sally is d best. take it or have it.
Thanks, Wasmakelly
Nice write up as always. I cant wait for Boys with toys ebook o, na me go buy am first
I’ll inform you when it hits the market
Been waiting for boys with toys all week……….now….attention diverted…thumbs up ma’am…chilling for the next episode.
Awww, Boys With Toys needs more than the attention i’m giving it because of the complicated characters and all.
And you guys deserve the best
Hmmmm! Olajide-Jideofor, Jide na Jide o! And am already loving this Jide! Bridesmaker! Indeed! Sally I think I also want to borrow your head, it’ll be nice to have it on for a while! #justsayingo#
Come and take, my dear. I will happily give you the head (erm…hope that didn’t come out wrong)
Another one! Dancing! thanks,Sal. how baby?
Baby is fine, luv
thanks!
I stand by my promise to buy anything from you that goes on sale. Please keep me in the loop as regards Boy With Toys e-book.
This is going to be another fantastic serial. I’m in all the way.
God bless the work of your hands Sally.
Thanks, Seye.
You are always here for me and i appreciate, gaan!
I’m super excited… this story sounds really promising. Thanks sally.
You’re always welcome
I am excited already!! Let me start reading asap. Thanks Sally
and thanks aswell
Hmmmm im excited about this series.
🙂
Very interesting but wen will boys with toys be available on okadabooks
When it’s ready i’ll let you know
Nice as usual
thanks!
Loving it already <3,cant wait to read more. Please Sally keep me posted on Boys with Toys e-book.
Loving it already:-),pls Sally, keep me posted on Boys with Toys e-book. Thanks.
Sure, girl
aunty sally oo. i want to write like u
*enters shy mode*
loving this already….!
Thanks, Bunmi
Okay, I’m enjoying this so much already. When I got to the end, it felt like I’d been cut off from my supply of oxygen. You’re always on point ma’am. About Boys with Toys, I’m glad you’ll be getting aid for that story.
Okay, I’m enjoying this so much already. When I got to the end, it felt like I’d been cut off from my supply of oxygen. You’re always on point ma’am. About Boys with Toys, I’m glad you’ll be getting paid for that story.
Thanks, dear.
God bless!
Awww,Sally….you write so beautifully
I can’t wait for boys with toys to be out as e-book
And ermmm,i think there’s still another e-book pending….fish brain…..i think the last book in the trilogy
Am glad you and baby are doing great….hugs for Kayla….now she gets to act bigsis
Stay blessed
Hmmmmmmmmmm. *pulling up a chair 2 balance well*
Sally….One day u are a doctor,the other u r a sexy girl in her 20’s and then u transform into d mind of a man.U just keep blowing my mind with ur amazing stories.Can I borrow ur mind 4 a day?
Great piece. a beautiful way to start this ride.
Weldone ma, pls when boys with toy is out pls notify me
Oh, yea! oh yea! ON to the next one!
Ghen gehn. Me I am just starting. Better late to the party than to miss it entirely.
Sally u kne ehn wen i saw dis last yr i ddnt want to read it yet so dat i can read dem all togeda nd wen i startd? u twisted my mind nd i knw i ll b hooked until i read o d end, u sabi tumble my mind Welldone sally
Sally u kne ehn wen i saw dis last yr i ddnt want to read it yet so dat i can read dem all togeda nd wen i startd? u twisted my mind nd i knw i ll b hooked until i read o d end, u sabi tumble my mind Welldone sally. I ll savour evry bit of dis series