The Triangle

The Triangle

Nine

When life sends you  on a journey, it stays at home too but gives you an accompaniment – love. Love is the sweetest thing in life and its handmaid. You only need to trust life and free your heart to fall in love. Lest you begin a war you can never end… – Anonymous…

Adeolu briefed Layi of how his day went and gave him the information he needed to know about Lola’s arrival thereafter, he ended the call and dialed Lola’s number.

Lola’s Blackberry Porsche phone vibrated and belted out her favourite King Sunny Ade track which she uses as her ringtone. She had been expecting the call for the past one hour but when it didn’t come, she had run to the bathroom to have her bath. She hoped it was the call she was actually expecting.

“E su biri biri k’e bo mi o, iwaju l’oloke yii n wa mi lo, eyin ko l’oloko yii n wa mi lo, mo ti mo o…” the phone belted out for the second time as the expectant Lola rushed through her nightly beauty ritual. Her friend was already out of her room else she would have told her who was calling her phone so repeatedly. Lola was now convinced that it was the call she had been waiting for.

The phone sang again for the fourth time by which time Lola was already through. She looked at the screen and smiled. A reflection of satisfaction and contentment. She was very happy inside.

As Adeolu dialed Lola’s number, a lot of thoughts were going through his mind. He checked the time on his phone, it was past 10 o’clock. It rang the first time and she didn’t pick it. He began forming a series of excuses for her not picking. The call to Layi had taken less than fifteen minutes. They didn’t say much – not that there wasn’t much to say but he wanted to make this important call. His food was what took most of his time. Adeolu was eating slowly and didn’t know when the time rushed by – to him he was fast – he was thinking high of himself having caught Lola in his hook. But he forgot that even a living fish on the hook could still escape with minimal injury. All the fish needed was to be put in fresh water and with a little struggle, it would be free.

He wasn’t a man who broke his promises – he would rather not make any than let his words go by without coming to fruition. His mind did a lot of questioning and answering sessions on its own. Was she already asleep? Was she angry he didn’t call immediately he got home? Was his call disturbing to her ears? Has she changed her mind about him? But women hardly changed their minds after a first date. But was their outing that day really a date? Women are really unpredictable beings, she may have changed her mind after waiting for a while. But she could have waited a little more now. But ‘Deolu, why do you want to kill yourself over a woman? Try her number five times and if she didn’t pick then go to bed jo. This stress over a lady you just met and you think you are not falling in love with her. God forbid! Fall in love ko, fall in thrash ni.

“I will call you before I sleep tonight Lola,” he remembered he had said emphatically as the damsel got into the cab which took her home. She had also smiled as she waved him goodbye from the moving old model Toyota Corolla, which showed she would be expecting his call.

The phone connected for the third time and began ringing. On a lighter side, Lola’s caller tunes have made Adeolu to decide that he would be calling her very often. He loved the three songs she used for the service. It was those times when the caller tunes service was just getting popular among the country’s GSM network service operators and subscribers. Adeolu himself used two of the classic songs he loved. He had Victor Olaiya’s Baby Jowo and Ebenezer Obey’s Baba Elesin. Lola’s first caller tune was Fatai Rolling Dollar’s Won kere si number wa, which coincidentally was one of Adeolu’s favourites. On a second dial, her callers were entertained to Rooftop MCs’ Silence  and now Adeolu was listening happily to Shina Peters’ Afro Juju as the call connected to Lola’s phone. Still she had yet to pick the call.

Adeolu heeded the advice of one of the voices in his head and decided to try two more times before calling it a day besides, he wanted to hear those songs again in their short polyphonic forms on the phone. He dialed for the fourth time and again Rolling Dollar sang in his ears.

“Won kere si number wa, won kere si number wa, won kere si number wa awon omode yii kere si…”

The song had yet to finish when the sonorous voice he had become used to over the last four hours or more sounded more beautifully over the phone. Adeolu’s Blackberry Torch had a way of amplifying the voice and giving it a melodious texture which makes even the worst of voices sound nice and the most beautiful of voices sound more beautiful. He was really happy that his wait had paid off.

“Eyin onisuuru ni Olorun wa looto (Truly, God resides with the patient ones),” he told himself.

“Hello,” Lola’s voice sounded at the other end.

“Hello dearie. You really can dash a man a small dose of hypertension,” Adeolu said sounding relieved.

“I am sorry Ade for keeping you in suspense for that long. I am not one to joke with phone calls o – except when I am sleeping and the phone is on silence. Even at that, I will return all the calls when I wake up and see the calls I have missed. I am sorry dear.”

“Hmmm! That means you were already asleep abi? I am sorry for robbing you of and disrupting your beauty sleep. Kindly go to bed your ladyship. We can converse over the through these means and instruments tomorrow plus it would come at your conveniently decided time,” he said with his tongue in his cheeks.

“Oyinbo man, I wasn’t sleeping o and I had really been waiting for your call for the past one hour plus. I knew you should have got home by nine with the address you gave me. So I didn’t know what could have kept you for that long. I only stepped into the bath to freshen up for bed and call you myself before you started making me rush my bath with your calls. So I also demand an apology for that sir.”

“I am sorry your revered highness,” he said with a pleading and apologetic tone carrying all his false emotions. He really knew how to look and sound sorry without meaning it.

“I never meant to keep you waiting. Truly, I got home a little before nine o’clock but I was hungry ni o. the kind of hunger that can cause a war between Modakeke and Ife was what I was experiencing then. So I had to worship that deity before venturing into anything else. Or would you have loved it that I fainted while talking to you on the phone?”  

By then, Lola was laughing very hard on her bed where she sat yoga style with her white towel tied on her chest and another tied turban-style on her head. She had yet to change into her night gown. This Ade is a real character, she thought to herself.

As she continued with her laughter, Adeolu continued his apology story, “After I finished eating, I had to tell my brother and friend about you first before I forgot him. Look at that. I never remembered him for a second while I was with you, such is the power you wield, Lola mi. By the time I was through with that, time was far-spent and one hour was already past. I am sorry for calling you this late, although I can’t promise there won’t be a repeat or even calls at times later than this but for this first, I am sorry your highness.”

Lola loved his plain simplicity. He didn’t promise not to do such, but he rather apologised for this and she believes if there was a repeat of it, he would surely apologise again. She just loved gentlemen and this Ade guy is one. She can’t wait to tell her friend about him.

“Apology accepted Prince Ade. So how was your day today? And what are you doing tomorrow?” she said.

“Thanks Lola. Your head must have been swelling for me calling you your highness. You must have been really high on those praises o. Don’t you know that your highness is used for those who get high on cheap and expensive drugs?” Adeolu said feigning seriousness.

“Me? Get head-swollen on your flattery? I am not o. I knew all along you would want to use it against me. Do you really mean that the greeting your highness is for the drug abusers?” Lola said getting interested.

“See her, I caught her again. She is so off guard. It was a joke and actually a slang coined out of the normal greeting for royal fathers. Please don’t go about using it for guys you aren’t familiar with who you see getting high on their own o. You might not like to tell the other part of the story o.”

They both laughed at his joke with Lola reeling on her bed. She has never regretted this meeting and hopes it will end well as it had begun so well.

“I will be going nowhere tomorrow except going to see my friend, Layi. I am not much of a church-goer. I believe that my church is in my heart and so, I have no permanent church although I was born into an Anglican family. Do you have an idea of how best I can spend it?” Adeolu finally answered her question.

“Hmmm! I am not too better than you but I don’t miss church every Sunday because of the preaching and the sightseeing that goes on there. I pick a lot from going to church apart from which I believe my most sacred church is any corner in my room. If you don’t mind, I will like you to go with me to church tomorrow. I was born a Methodist but I attend Daystar at Oregun. After church, we can hangout at your friend’s place. I think I want to meet him.”

“That’s not problem. Since you have said that, I am in. Layi attends church better than I do so I’ll inform him we will be coming together or we may even head to your place after all has been said and done. I think I want to meet your friend too.”

With that agreed, they called it a day for the night. Lola changed into her green transparent and short night gown and went straight to bed smiling to herself about the day’s activities, which memories have been nothing but sweet.

Ade hit the sofa in his sitting room, where he had been since he finished eating. He looked at his unpacked plate of beans, which he had eaten and his clothes strewn all over the chairs and shook his head. They would definitely remain there till the following morning.

“There is nothing as enjoyable as the life of a bachelor,” Adeolu said as he drifted into a deep sleep with a smile dancing around his lips.