BREAKING THE NUT

In this neighborhood Chikieze lives. He hasn’t seen this man go to either church or mosque, or even exercise any religious belief of any sort. Even when people that are Christian or Muslims are raising their feet to imprint it in the house of prayer, He has never seen him showed face in any.

Whenever Chikieze sees this…His heart is trouble and words will be imprinted in his head to really get why this man refuses to be going to any these worshipping
centres situated in his environs; called the houses of God. In the past, he said. This man usually dressed up in nice shirt on plain trouser, swinging in a brown shoe with a bible in the palm, while walking majestically down the street.

But after a while, he stops seeing this man going any longer. He could remember then, that, whenever this man is going, he usually greeted him sharply; “morning sir”. His reply would be “well done”. Most of the time, Chikieze will see him walking down the appian street that has broken stones and dirt. He doesn’t talk much. He is a gentle man, quiet in appearance and mild in face and always walked alone with nobody beside him.

Every single day that passes by, Chikieze have always thought of becoming his friend, never mind the man is older than him. What comes to his mind is what is wrong with this man? Does anybody offend him? Does he have any psychological problem that silence has always being his…….? What on earth will make this man remain in silence for the days, months he has been watching him, said Chikieze.

According to him, he said, “I know is not my business over this man’s life, when I thought of this. But within me”, he continues. “I am disturbed over this…this man’s thoughts never stops clouding my imagination, putting me in chronic concern over this man residing in the same neighbourhood I live also”.      

First, in the thought of Chikieze, he imagined whether this man is an alien from outside space. Or, a dead person before that was re-incarnated. Or, a person who is his entire life has lost everything in this world he lives. Or, he has lost memory of everything concerning him and his origin, he is trying to remember.

These are the gargantuan thoughts breaking the head of Chikieze all through whenever he sees this man walk past his residence. I know within me he said. ‘’It is not my concern, but I felt as human being emotionally, I have to show sympathy over this man’s life of loneliness’’.
          

For quiet sometime, this is what has been encrypting the heart of Chikieze, after the day he saw this man that has black hair, long face, five feet tall and amiable in human nature walking a wandering life like Socrates.

Chikieze in his wild imagination of wandering how more about this man he described as “alien”. He later realizes that his block is three block away from where he lives in the same street. In his gesture, Thursdays and Fridays of every week are the only days he sees him go in and come out.
          

However, Chikieze has always looked for a way of getting to know this man very closely. His thought really that something might have been responsible to the man long absence away from sight, as his instinct might probably tells him.

So, within the widest thought of reasoning and calculation, he has to explore these two days he has observed that he has seen the man last. But, unfortunately, it doesn’t go that way. He was sore in the heart, and said. “Oh! I miss this calculation”. Again, he continued. “What a bad move”.
         

Immediately, after galloping his calculations, he started thinking how possibly he is going to see this man again. The words that grow within him under the hot burning ball is that, “I don’t know is name or any of his identity to enhance my research about this man”. But I know, he continues, “within my thinking head, I have seen him in the three blocks away from mine because I know, my instinct tells me he lived there”.

This was the assurance, Chikieze is giving himself as relieve to his miscalculation. Where he stood, he tries to imagine how then to trace the man’s footprint another day. While this mathematical calculation shadowed his memory, he decided to choose Sunday to go to the residential place he saw the man entered few days ago. While he was rehearsing this within his head, he said, “I know is under probability because is probability”.
            

This time, throwing the dice of probability, Chikieze has to go to the next three blocks and ask after the man he hasn’t seen for the two days he usually see him go through the residential building he lives. That day, he decided to go looked for this man in the evening. When he reached there, he saw a middle age woman (dark in complexion) outside the overcrowded house that has each room facing each other like in the third floor of Titanic.
         

 “Good evening”, he greeted the woman. “Please, I am asking after a man that lives in this block?” he said. The woman looked at him and replied, “Do you know the man or his room number?” Chikieze paused for a second and said, “sorry, I….I don’t know his name precisely, but I have seen him several occasion entered this place before, ma”.

Being that the woman has not seen his face before, if at all she has, she was skeptical over his ambitiousness to see a person he doesn’t really know his whereabouts or thereabouts very well. She looked at him in the eyes sharply and said, “if you don’t know somebody’s name, what then is the big deal of you troubling yourself, trying to catch wind; my son’.
          

But because, Chikieze has paid huge attention to curiosity, curiously want to understand this kind of a person, he hasn’t seen much….. He has to patiently see a way of going through to get the real identity from the woman selling petty items in front of the Titanic compound.
However, while she was attending to one of her customer buying items from her, she kept mute and concentrates to the person standing in-front of her. Not saying a word either to Chikieze.
           

Seeing the way the mood is, and because he was curious the same time. He has to ask again, “please, madam…..sorry….forrr…for bugging you, ma”. “Sorry…sorrily….again”, he continue. “Please, do you have any idea…..I mean of this man…….?” he said.
           

This time, she looked at him with frown face and said nothing. Within the sense of human reasoning, the woman doesn’t like Chikieze bugging her with something she really doesn’t care to know about.

Chikieze, because of patient and desperation to get to the final of everything, still stood there for almost thirty minute, hoping the woman will make any comment to lift his curiosity. Yet, all was in vain, even when he tries breaking the nut, he ended up getting nothing.

This story was written on February 25, 2013.