Goodbye my Lover

The weather was very hot, and the dry wind that heralded the beginning of the harmattan season was blowing ferociously, the dust it carried got into everything, houses, eyes, even cars.

Clara was glad that she had fixed the windows of the SUV the previous day, if not she and the children would had been bathed by the dust, the tricycle driver in the traffic beside her was not as lucky as her, the wind battered away at what was left of the tarpaulin that was on his tricycle.

The traffic was not helping matters, obviously there must be something wrong ahead, because traffic on independence avenue was not always heavy, she was growing worried that there will not be enough time to visit the cemetery before going to the airport .

Timothy has fallen asleep in the front seat beside her, he was such a sweet boy that his siblings always let him seat in the front seat whenever they were going out.

She looked at the backseat and her first son Kene was fiddling with codes on his laptop, he was the carbon copy of his father, and a science geek, and he already had built four applications for different companies.

His sister Evelyn was beside him staring at the laptop with awe, she has always adored her elder brother and wanted to be like him.

The traffic finally started moving and then Clara saw the cause of the delay, there was a big wedding reception happening in one of the hotels along the road and since there was limited parking space, guests resorted to parking along the main road, so most of the cars ahead which she thought was part of the moving traffic was actually parked.

After passing the blocked areas the road was finally free again, and Clara increased her speed, she must bid Johnson farewell, before they leave for America.

Her husband Johnson was a senior army official who was killed in Liberia, when he went for a peace keeping negotiation, his death has created a huge vacuum in her life.

Johnson was her first love, she met him in her second year In the university, in a birthday party of one of her class mates, then Clara was very shy, she was practically dragged to the party by her friend matilda, when they arrived she sat down at a corner sipping her drink and admiring the people on the dance floor, she was so engrossed that she did not hear him the first time, “hello there, can I sit beside you?”, he asked and she turned to look at him, and was instantly blown away by his handsomeness, “of course”, she muttered

. He sat down and introduced himself, my name is Johnson, and you are? My name is Clara, she replied him still admiring his physique. Are you a student of Unec? He asked, I am a second year nursing student, she replied. Wow, nursing, my mom is a nurse. Well I am studying law, I am in my final year actually, but i would be joining the army after graduation.

They both chatted for the remainder of the party, and Matilda was glad that she was finally socialising with people, after the party they exchanged numbers and promised to keep in touch. He called her the next day and invited her to lunch, and she accepted to go.

The next day came very slowly for Clara, for the first time she was anxious of what to wear, he picked her up with his car and they had a good time, he told her about his family and his intention to join the army after his graduation, at the end of the day she knew that she was in love with him.

Their relationship waxed stronger and stronger as days went by. He proposed to her after her graduation and she agreed to marry him, they got married three weeks later, their marriage was blessed with three children, Kene, Evelyn and Timothy.

They had a blissful marriage and they were making plans for their twentieth wedding anniversary when Clara got the call on that fateful Sunday morning that tore her heart into a million pieces, her husband has been murdered in Liberia.

His body was flown back to Nigeria and he was given a proper burial. He was buried in the National Cemetery. She wanted to visit him one last time before moving to America, where she secured a job in a hospital.

The main reason she was moving though was because of her children’s education, she wanted them to school abroad.

On arriving to the Cemetery, she parked the car and they alighted, they went across the road walked down to the burial site, she found out that someone else has already been buried next to her husband.

As she stood in front of his tombstone a lot of feelings were coursing through her, she tried to keep herself from crying, she remembered the day he first kissed her and professed his love for her, it was her first kiss and she would never forget that day as long as she lived, he promised never to leave her.

Mummy, we have to go now or we will miss our flight, Kene said calmly, but his voice betrayed his emotions.She hugged him and they all walked back slowly to the car. Timothy gave her his handkerchief and told her to stop crying.

Evelyn’s sadness were momentarily forgotten when she saw a brightly coloured black and yellow butterfly, she admired it as it flew in the cool harmattan air, she had always loved butterflies, and she had a collection of stuffed butterfly dolls at home that she normally played with, flying them all around the house.

They all sadly got into the car and headed for the airport, and they hoped that America will bring them happiness.