Friend
Life was always easier in your home country and his boasted of as much as 250 linguistic dialects which came with customary cohabitation. That was the point for him; there was that sense of simplicity back home and not just from the now long forgotten sounds of popular musical hits of the day redubbed in auto tune and sped up for the sake of the ghetto party effect. He still remembered passing through that sprawl enroute his way to the airport in his bid to check out of the country. Back then it was about discontent but right now he wasn’t so sure anymore. Even pidgin English with its simplified lexicon which was the language of choice appropriate for the common man was out of place where Felix presently was. The saying went thus: ‘friction for this life don brush me sotey I no get eye to dey look Uche face’ which translated to ‘human Interaction; frictional or otherwise opens the eyes to dispassion’. And of all places to find a concurring friend; the accessibility of a computer was one thing. Felix had just been released from prison for a white collar crime he claimed and had always maintained he wasn’t guilty of which turned out to be the reason for the extended incarceration. The fact was he had been set up and He hated being set up especially now that he was finally free. His parole officer had sorted out the issue of a job but he would have preferred to find his own way if he could help it. It was the same with every other aspect of his life. He simply didn’t like to be assisted not since his betrayal. He had lost faith in eager people especially; the only people he thought he could trust had to be the effacing types. Hence if ever domestic humanoids became popular, his would be left in its box gathering gremlins where this had everything to do with the affected servility of such images of iron. Even though he didn’t care much for technology especially the type that was designed to make human life easier, he also saw that it was here to stay. He had reluctantly and forcefully accepted that status quo while in prison. The prison library’s computer had become his only conciliatory escape. The luxury had been permitted due to good behavior. Only level-headed inmates were ever allowed access. From settling fights to starting a rehabilitation club, he had been a superstar. However, there was nothing to compare to it since he had been released. The few friends he had made online while still in prison were either clergy or petty criminals on the outside hoping to employ his services.
Nevertheless, he was out now and he had to make the most of his situation. He was Nigerian with a reputation that was known the world over for good or bad. And he had always wanted to be the exception. His part to be played was laid out for him right from the get go. He had applied for a job in the far-east because he felt like it. No frontier was too far flung nor daunting for him which was also the case for the average Nigerian. It was touted that you could find Nigerians anywhere, even on the arctic-circle bunking with Eskimoes. He got the job and got on a plane. During his second year, he promptly got married to an Asian woman tritely named Kim who went on to dump him when his tsuris finally came to a head. He was implicated as the executive who had syphoned his department’s holiday bonuses. He had since found out that Hong kong was a cruel place especially for a convict worse still is it rhymed with king-kong. He had been forced to see the movie when still young and it had frightened and marred him in equal measure. It was the scariest thing he had ever experienced as a five year old but still, better Hong kong than new York. Barz Lurrman had put it thus, live in New York only once but leave before it makes you hard. Too bad Hong kong was already building up a reputation for being difficult also, at least to him. Towards the close of his time in prison, he had seen the need to take greater advantage of the availability of a computer to lay the foundations for when he was eventually released. Since then however he had come to learn that post prison life was a very lonely one and the computer if and when it was available always came to his rescue time and time again. Now he could boast of a few friends; He could at least say he knew people who it turned out he needed more than they needed him amongst who was one Cynthia Pradesh. She was the most intelligent of his online acquaintances. She resided far way in the U.K. and he was slowly falling for her understated charm and it had to be distinguished, this was not attraction. He had learnt the hard way that there were greater considerations that served to overstep romantic love. No one was that patient and if there were he had not yet met them. It seemed love was not that absolute a thing to be desired above everything else after all.
Meanwhile, He had to go on with living out his life like everything was fine even though his quarters were only fit for a recluse in the way that it inadvertently simulated his cell. It was a self-contained apartment not big enough to accommodate one more person. It comprised of a bedroom and a partitioned area for taking a dump. The entire building was a joke aimed at the shortcomings of modern civil engineering. It turned out to be the landlord’s money basket and a very lucrative source at that. His tenants were migrant workers who cherished these chance lodgings as much as their immigration papers, valid or not. So they always paid up on time over the threat of being reported to the authorities. Felix looked down on all of them. They somehow reminded him of better times when he was deemed an educated economic migrant. Back then nothing could have stood in the way of his success. Moreover they reminded him of how low he had now sunk in hustling for the same odd jobs they survived on. He was definitely past his prime now; seven years in the can had done that to him. Yet he knew he was lucky he still had his physical strength intact which was a condition he required on his current job as a construction worker. Hence he relished the fact that he was somewhat productive; a status which gave him enough dignity to not resort to suicide nor even consider it.
Tomorrow was Sunday and he looked forward to chatting with his online friends as he always did on Sundays. It was the only time he had available to himself. The weekly exercise was what kept him sane. Today was already coming to a close and as he headed home from the parole office, he dreaded the upcoming attempts at familiarity by his neighbors. The queue over at the parole office had been as long as the snake train on his cheap phone as it picked up more balls. He had played that game all day with nothing better to do than wait. Maybe he would try to come earlier next time. Right now he was glad it was over. He wasn’t ready to entertain any pleasantries but the problem was his neighbors never got the message to back off especially after he had made the error of announcing his conviction. Since then he had become some sort of demigod. The only thing his misfiring had achieved was to prove that he had once been better than them and probably still was. Luckily they accepted him just the way he was yet he didn’t entirely like that arrangement nor did he reciprocate the gesture for that matter. He believed he didn’t need the goodwill of said people as a condition to be nice to them in turn. As he entered the building on his way to his humble room, he was happy there was no one around. Where had they all gone to? he thought; even if he, for the most part didn’t care. As far as he was concerned, he was prepared for a good night’s rest without the recurring nightmares that always followed such unnaturally cordial evenings. He had already undressed for bed when he heard a knock at the door. He desperately wanted to ignore it. But this particular culprit was persistent and there was the high pitched naming which was hard to ignore. He opened the door to lee who always spoke so fast, and was also bandy-legged; a striking combination it must be said.
‘A party without our in-house accountant is no party so we thought we should invite you. I told them you weren’t home but they insisted I be the bearer of the jolly news. Are you coming? If you don’t feel like it then we can understand. Imagine a party without music. Not a very good one, you can bet. Are you coming?’
They all liked Felix to the point of respect and perhaps fear. He had listened patiently but knew he didn’t have to say anything as lee walked away with tail between his legs. Those guys were desperate, he had to admit; a party without music. Sure it was the landlord’s orders but it seemed the poor too needed their release. He was thoroughly tired by now and that observation may as well have been his last for the day.
His penchant for going solo had a lot to do with the time spent in the pen. He had since come to know that if you showed any inclination for dependency while in prison then you were sure to be eaten alive by the circling vultures. It was a belief system he now swore by and more so he had achieved a lot in imbibing the ideology since then. Although he had stumbled upon it accidentally and it may have originated from a paranoid place, it was shaping up to be very effective in almost emancipating him. It was 10 a.m. by the time he was ready to head out for the cyber café this Sunday morning. He usually spent most of the day in front of the computer trying to keep up with his online friends and the good thing was there were no strings attached. He craved the opportunity to be able to show off his current status as a white collar con even if it was a condition he was not very proud of. In essence, there was a little good to be derived from his situation and he was wise enough to see it. This was what got him noticed in the first place. All fall from grace stories were especially classic enough to the point where they still intrigued humans as a whole who could never get bored of them. Either it was the lessons to be gleaned or the scorn to be doled or the sheer empatheticism of it all. Felix could now see that the old days were slowly returning. But however hard he wished, this did not translate to an improved standard of living for himself. He was still stuck in the system and his online activities were only a welcome distraction. Still, he had to be content with what he had been dealt even though he felt he deserved better.
He logged into his account just as the forum picked up momentum. It was the randomness that he relished. Being a part of other people’s lives by means of the unguarded familiarity was liberating in a nosy kind of way. He read and posted comments in socially navigating his way as through a party crowd. All in all, herein lay the argument that he was still residually intelligent and had not lost his charm. At some point, Cynthia came online and wanted to chat. She more or less never missed her 12 o’ clock.
‘How are you doing, how is life holding up with you’? she started.
‘I’m surviving, that much I can admit’, Felix replied. And the conversation fleshed out as both parties multitasked in between entries.
Cynthia: I don’t know if I’ve told you this before but I’m currently in the middle of a study.
Felix: what’s it about?
Cynthia: well! In concise terms it’s about the validity of altruism in an ever hurried society and the impediments working against that.
Cynthia: of course, it is much grander than it looks
Felix: sounds like fun!
(Cynthia didn’t catch the hyperbole)
Cynthia: it really is a lot of work trying to study human nature from a distance. Please, can I ask you a favor..Can I use you…. Sorry, i don’t mean that in the wrong way
Felix: I don’t mind, I’m glad to be of help.... what would you like to know.
Cynthia: do you regard yourself as a good person?
Felix: I think being good is a relative condition, being bad too. Whichever one is in vogue at the time usually flies but not so with me. I’m not that predictable.
(Felix tried to cover his tracks with those last few words)
Cynthia: you’ve not answered my question
Felix: tell you what; I could try being a saint just for you and for as long as you need me to.
Cynthia: I guess you fit the profile...
Felix: what profile?
Cynthia: A man caught in between the two negatives of injustice and abasement. It must be very hard for you to maintain a positive attitude but there you are making a life out of the wreckage.
Felix: well I see now that you can also be very blunt. No one has ever said that to me before...
Cynthia: now I ask again, do you think you are a good person?
Felix: is that an impudent tone I detect? you better watch it now! You don’t know me from Adam but you seem to think that you do. You better apologize or else…
Cynthia: alright; I’m sorry; please, I beg your pardon, you’re right; I don’t know you that well to be going on like that. I was only trying to force a lie. Now I can see you’re just as honest as you are humble, (she desperately wanted to keep him by risking flattery and even more so by asking the follow-up)
Cynthia: what is the story here though…?
He went on to tell his story via the in-mail service. He composed about two full pages with the hope that she would have the time to read and reply at once. He was quickly developing an appetite for sympathy that was bad for him. His self-pity which was barely perceptible before now, shown through in his missive. ‘Hope this goes into your final draft’, he began. It was akin to a tale designed to open the teary glands especially to those who weren’t watching against this. He was hoping it would have a little less than that effect on her just as he was bent on milking things with a little exaggeration. Justifiably, everyone online did that but his was different, he rationalized; because at its core it was really a creatively written factual story.
Felix’s job application had taken ages to mature. He remembered anticipating the call up with a lot of anxiety and forfeit just as well. It was more of the latter however having wisely noted the fact that the term Greener pastures was loosely defined. During the wait, he had more or less given up on ever migrating to Asia. It was 2009 and the west was looking less attractive in those days with their once strong but now recovering economies. Talk less of his own country with its celebration of mediocrity against meritocracy that threatened to forever leave people like him unemployed i.e. qualified people. He had finally come to Hong-kong with high hopes and an actual job interview was only a formality. It was all going to be a new and different experience for him and it helped that his potential employers had a global human resource eye. He would fit in quite easily. On his arrival, He had gotten posted to oversee company financials for the concern which sold the concept of vertical farms to governments all over the world and prided itself on being culturally diverse. The market for such a product was the future of agriculture with buyers convinced well enough to approve the erection of Local test units with floors that mimicked the sun’s ultra-violet light and also amounted to some sizeable acreage of land when aggregated. Hence the pay had to be good. He could afford to send some money home to his only surviving relative who was his sister. She was still in school at the time. They had had a privileged upbringing but things quickly turned sour when their parents died in a car crash. He had just concluded school at the time and the inheritance could only go so far. The plan was to travel then eventually facilitate her own emigration once she was done with school herself. Too bad, when he went to prison, she lost her respect for him and in extension her more responsible side. But irrespective of how she felt about him which was fanned by the lack of communication due to the distance and incarceration still, she had to survive and walking the streets seemed like the only thing to do. Five years slowly went by in prison before he heard anything from home. When news finally came, it was about her death. Her pimp had been duly implicated. There had been no one to bury her as her body took up space in the morgue. The authorities back in Nigeria needed his permission to incinerate her. It had taken them that much time and it must be noted, effort to find him. That night he cried himself to sleep. He was alone in the world now.
Kim who was his ex-wife by now, had long since remarried. She never visited in presupposing their union hadn’t meant anything. He had forgotten about her by all means and moved on. They had a son together that he had never met because she bore him four days after Felix was whisked to prison. That sort of experience was downright extreme especially for a woman who had gone out on a limb over him. Small wonder she never forgave him. He didn’t even bother to search her out when he was set free because he knew that ship had sailed a long time ago.
The question still lingered and never seized to astound him as to how it all came to this. He had barely spent three years in Hong kong before some trouble reared its head. His right hand man in many ways had been the real culprit here; who by using Felix’s operational account had gone on to fraudulently steal the money in other to pay off a heavy gambling debt. On many instances afterwards, Felix would mull over how trivial a reason it was (at least to him) to warrant stealing money for or more regrettably, going to jail over. The crime was possible because Raul who was his assistant saw his opportunity when they were both on a business trip and so took it. Whilst his boss attended to more pressing matters in-between symposia, he skulked around the hotel rooms; he had the keys because he was allowed to do so. It seemed Felix had been surveilled for a reasonable period of time and was finally outwitted by his conniving shadow. And so the rest was history. Felix had since learnt that people could be manifestly wicked when it came down to it. It was sad that an element like the human conscience hadn’t evolved as much as every other human trait had become advanced. Cynthia was touched but Felix’s internet time was almost up and so they had to postpone any analysis to some other Sunday. Right now he felt good, a condition which amounted to enough fodder to sustain him all week for the coming days and which he couldn’t have achieved any other way and all due to his cyber fraternizing. All the drudgery in the world could never take this feeling away but it was no uhuru by any means. Sometimes, he thought hard of running away. Yesterday, he had been down at the parole office and seen a runaway being bundled in by a bounty hunter. It wasn’t a pretty sight to be brought back. It was akin to a criminal who was so helpless; he had to go back to a life of crime out of desperation and not by choice. He had been deterred; but that was yesterday. Right now, He would have given anything to return to Nigeria and hence be out of reach. In essence, He wanted his complete freedom back but that was a decision for another day and an escape plan would take time and help which were elements he didn’t have much of right now.
Felix presently worked at a new real estate development still under construction that comprised of five hundred upscale residential housing units to be ready in time for the lunar new-year. It was just one more example of society’s predispositions towards utopia. Our aspirations were all manifest in the same manner whether they were tall and almost touching the skies or they were laid out straggling. This basically implied the same thing which is man would continue to build his dreams brick by brick whether laterally or otherwise. He hated this means of livelihood but knew he had to survive one way or another whilst also realizing his options were now limited. He couldn’t dare to rebel nor appear to do so because his distant but eventual freedom depended on his good behavior now and so he habitually showed up for work morning after morning. He wasn’t a skilled contractor and had never been but had learnt quite a lot on the job. It had been a year since his release and the future looked like a black-hole; blank and ominous. If only he could get the chance to prove himself all over again, a window maybe into a more articulated existence as a rebounding financial expert. He knew this building trade would only come in handy if he couldn’t break free from the ex-convict’s curse. He also knew that breaking free was only possible in an entirely different environment from the one he presently found himself in. So the difficulty was how to change environments without offending anyone least of all his parole officer and in extension the judicial system.
Unbeknown to him, today would be special. It was going to be about his surprise promotion to the level of foreman for being the most consistent laborer. From the onset it was evident he didn’t belong in the pit. While sweating under the weight of barrows of concrete, he could still distinguish between a slew of concrete concentrations and mixtures. The components of foundations, pillars and struts were easily registered and he had to constantly show that he was well informed in that regard if he was to inoculate himself from forever remaining down. He was unlike the others who were content with just laboring from day to day for the money. Ergo he had worked hard and felt a promotion was long overdue, actually this is what he had been aiming for since he had come to the decision to go political on everyone. He had also decided he would play the game deftly and tactfully. His co-laborers were wired to be clueless and that made things easier; they were mere laborers who could never nurse such an ambition nor detect its makings in men of their apparent ilk. It was the natural thing to do for him by virtue of his experience in more closed spaces i.e. office politics which had come to the fore out of habit. And now what a pleasant surprise it turned out to be. Henceforth he didn’t have to carry any heavy burdens except for a supervisory one and he was happy. When it was announced at midday in front of the gathered crowd of laborers, they clapped unenthusiastically. This response took him by surprise. He was a man used to driving people and even though it had been a while, his more perceptive side kicked in suggesting that there had to be a reason for the dull applause. He bitterly reminded himself to lay down the law by them; it was the rancor he momentarily felt from his past. He wasn’t going to look like he could be taken for a fool and no! He wasn’t going to tolerate any insubordination either, not ever.
It was common knowledge that we were as intellectually distant from Divinity as the beasts and fowls of the fields and forests were from us. It was also just as symbiotic. Some hard-core environmentalists had always argued that how we treated our animal friends determined how Divinity treated us to an extent. For Felix, it was working up to be a classic case of ‘the much more powerful law establishment only exonerates him who has looked with mercy on those under his own purview’; albeit in a not so significantly damning way, he may as well have gotten away with abuse of power and responsibility. The anathema of immaturity was to blame but by the week following his promotion, Felix would learn the hard way that it took humility to even think of succeeding as a leader. He had also discovered he needed the voluntary input of his subordinates to make things work and in other to get this quality; he had to be just as generous with his carrots as with the sticks. It really amounted to a natural learning curve and this was definitely one he could never have picked up at his former office with its high profile meetings and myriad ego wars between top execs; there had to be enough of that stuff to occupy the entire office building thus in turn putting subordinates in check. Soon enough, his resentment was easily deflated or was at least replaced with something significantly less toxic. Thus it all amounted to a sorely needed healing balm for him even as it also meant he now had a rosier outlook complete with wonted thorns and all.
His parole officer didn’t get to know about the promotion until that weekend and decided to drop by. Felix became disturbed to the point where he couldn’t function properly as long as his parole officer was visiting. His parole officer kept on saying, ‘don’t mind me, just do what you do best’, leaving Felix confounded on whether he was referring to a crime which felix knew he didn’t commit or to the job at hand and he kept on making notes. Felix had always been more afraid of a bad report than an actual face to face demurral right from his days at ‘Ceres Corp.’ because the former always preceded the latter. In time his parole officer left but his name kept ringing in Felix’s head.
“My name is Mr. Chow, Felix’s parole officer and what is yours?’. He had introduced himself to everyone to Felix’s dismay.
Now everyone at work could confirm that he was a con and didn’t deserve his promotion. He was nonetheless touched when as he re-entered the office sometime later from seeing off Mr. Chow, he received a resounding round of applause. Apparently, he was being congratulated for relatively turning around his life thus far and for being the good foreman that he was. Of course, Mr. Chow had been so gracious as to quietly put in a good word to everyone he had met that day.
It was worth pointing out that the parolee’s life was one of affliction and Felix was looking at eight years of being trammeled under the conditions of his probation due to the nature of his alleged crimes by the end of which not even God would be able to reclaim him. Also, the improvements to which he was now party to, assumed their own paradox but irrespective of those, Felix could never ignore those nagging plans to run away. Fortuitously, a chance meeting would change everything and put things in motion. He was headed home after work one fateful evening; walking the distance from the bus-stop to his dormitory when he saw him. It was Raul, the man who had sent him to jail sitting show-glass style at an upscale restaurant with some lady he didn’t recognize. Worse still was Felix didn’t feel anything and that prospect scared him enough to confront Raul. Still, He just stood by the table for what seemed like forever till Raul unceremoniously invited him to sit down. It was obvious there was no love lost between them but they kept things civil for the sake of the lady who didn’t have the slightest idea why two men would look so intensely at each other in that way. ‘I need to speak to you privately’, Felix finally said and Raul’s date was excused. Felix continued with a barely audible force that shook even him. ‘you’re going to help me escape this hell hole. I don’t care how you do it and I don’t care about what may have happened in the past, not anymore...’.Raul regarded him nervously then reached for his pocket and produced his business card. ’You can reach me on that number or better yet come see me at my workplace, a new one I must add. Felix picked up the card and left slowly with eyes fixed on Raul and his now returning date like he was expecting to be shot in the back while leaving. For Felix, this was Raul’s chance to make things right again or at least as close to right as was possible and if he didn’t, Felix was sure he wouldn’t know what to do. He hoped all that intensity at the restaurant would instill the required fear and hence work in his favor. He was sweating by the time he got home. By and by, it would take the intervention of all the natural sedatives available at the cubicle he called home to fall asleep.
