A MOM IN SIX MONTHS [ONGOING]

1◇ARRIVALS

Abuja, Jabi.
Friday, 10:53am.

That feeling you get when you're home, the way the air and everything else feels welcoming and familiar, like in the movies. The part where the main character spreads out her arms with a smile on her face and shouts 'I'm home!'.... That's what I expected. But God knows I couldn't have been more wrong. The weather, for starters, did me dirty.  Eight years away from Nigeria had most definitely damaged my Nigerian weather adaptation system and the sun seemed to be out specifically to remind me of that. Somehow, I survived the hectic drag of changing my money to Nigerian currency, getting myself an MTN sim card and a spare Airtel one, and finding a good hotel to stay till tomorrow, and now I lay on the comfortable, fluffy hotel bed, half-dead.  I just want to curl into a ball and sleep, wake up tomorrow and find myself in Ogun state, in Abeke's house. It's been.... Eleven years since I last saw my grandmother, and when I finally decide to take a break from work, give myself the long overdue six months break, who else, if not Abeke would I hit up? A slow smile finds its way to my face as  Abeke's little face comes to mind; the last time I saw her, she was fifty nine years old, and I try to picture what she'd look like now, at seventy. I wonder if her hair, long, black and shiny like that of an African queen would be any different now. Maybe a bit shorter with loads of white strands? And her hands- she'd show it to me while telling me stories from her childhood-rough, but gentle and soothing... They'd be a little rougher, and maybe a bit blackened? Her forever glowing skin would still be intact, most definitely, since Abeke never let her signature natural black soap see its end before she refilled it. I remember vividly, the red and blue container, and I can't help laughing out loud to myself.
             A gentle knock on the door got me out of my daydreams, and I reluctantly stand up from my comfort zone, I check who it is and an hotel attendant comes in, with a smile that looked like one she has on simply because she had to, she makes to uncover the dishes in her arms for me to eat, but I ask her politely to leave me be.
She asks if I'm sure I'll be okay on my own, but the expression on her face is one of utmost happiness. For a moment, I consider telling her to go ahead, just to be mean, but she does look like she needs the rest, so I tell her I'll be okay. I watch her leave and close the door gently behind her, then I settle down and uncover the dishes myself, revealing a well put together meal of °amala and ewedu. My favourite.  Back in Carlifonia, I'd been occasionally able to get it from an African restaurant, but yunno, it won't exactly be the same, no? I savour every bit of it and wash it down with orange juice. The food is good, but Abeke makes even better meals, defs. After calling the attendant to come for the plates, I bring out my laptop to call my friend, Audrey, just to check on how everything is going. Simple as it may seem, running an interior decoration business is way harder than people think; but so far, TOH has been well and good, with the help of Audrey. It takes a while, but I'm able to connect to the not so stable WiFi connection provided by the hotel services. Welcome back to Nigeria, huh? Audrey's face pops on my screen immediately I request for a video call, and her cherry voice fills the room.
  
'Babes! Aren't you supposed to be on a vacation?! If you're calling me to ask questions related to work, I'm going to slap you  through this damn screen.' She fumes.

'I know, I know... But I just wanted to know how you all are doing, how's the whole moving in process?' A few weeks ago, TOH had gotten a big contract that gave it a huge breakthrough; and i had had able to secure a new place for my workers- Bigger, more space and effectiveness.

'God help you, Tofunmi, everything is fine. Josh, Ella and JJ have been a great help, we just have a couple of small boxes to move around, and we're good. We've been getting huge turn-up as well, since we included the contract in the last advert, a lot of clients have been rolling in. Ella's team will be decorating a sweet sixteen birthday venue, and the parents are willing to pay any amount at all to have it glamorous, shiny, and elegant. Josh's team will be meeting with Idiana West's personal assistant later today, to select what kind of preferences she'd want for her summer house, and I also have about six appointments with caterers within today an tomorrow, I'll be meeting one over a late brunch in a few hours. So yeah, everything is going fine, just relax and enjoy, okay?' Audrey has always had the thing for saying a lot of things in one breath, and this happens to be one of those moments.