Chapter 5 Friends

Jeremiah and I were inseparable for the rest of the holiday period. We spent most of our time at the stream, swimming or talking about swimming. I used to swim just for fun, I never knew people made a living out of swimming. Jeremiah opened my eyes to this. He loved swimming! He thought me some new tricks, city people tricks. He called them 'strokes'. Back stroke, side stroke, butterfly stroke, etc. Fact is I used to do all those strokes on my own, but I never knew they had professional names or certain techniques. The only style I knew had a name was the monkey jump.

"You do pretty well with most of these strokes, it's just that, they're crude. A little polish and you'll be as good as any professional swimmer out there." Jeremiah told me.

"When you get out of here, you should seriously consider swimming professionally." He advised me.

When we weren't at the stream sharing our love for swimming, (Me, listening to Jeremiah obsess over swimming, that is.), we were at my house talking. My parents were more than proud of me for roping in the coveted Americana. If we were older, I'm sure they would have concluded that he was going to marry me. Every time he came visiting, they laid a mat out front for us to sit so that people who walked by could see that their daughter was friends with the Americana, son of Paul Maduka. Even if I were busy with some chores whenever Jeremiah called, they relieved me of the duties and my sister Uloma was always more than willing to step in for me so that I could entertain my guest. He had my family in his hands, especially after he brought them gifts of American cookies, chocolates and electric toothbrushes. The cookies they ate with reamer, but the toothbrushes, they kept as trophies. My mother kept hers on display without removing it from it's packet in the living room.

"I am using what Americans use now!" She boasted, even though she never used it to brush her teeth.

Being Jeremiah Maduka's friend came with certain privileges and one of it was, I got to visit the big white mansion. Paul Maduka's mansion! Of course, with my sister Uloma and my best friend, Uju. We went on the day before Christmas.

The inside of the compound was an entire world of it's own. To us, the experience was like visiting space.

"I've seen this kinds of house many in the city, but I have never entered them." Uju confessed.

The tall walls of the fence hid away every single detail of the compound so that all that could be seen was the roof and part of the upper storey. Since the gates were almost never opened, except on few occasions when Paul or one of his sisters came around, no one really knew what the compound looked like. The few who had been privileged to visit it said it was 'Heaven on earth'. We believed them, but as we stood in the compound that afternoon we visited, we agreed that 'heaven on earth' was probably an understatement.

Inside the main mansion was pure heaven! Sparkling white tiles and clear glass from floor to roof and wall to wall. The sofas were multicolored and they were arranged in sections. A set of crimson red cushions at one end, another set of lemon green round sofas with an inject of fluffy yellow seat at another end and a big white sofa sat in the middle of the living room. They looked like large, live size cakes!

"Make yourselves at home." Jeremiah offered, ushering us towards the chairs, but we wouldn't bulge. The seats looked too good to seat on, so when he insisted, we sat on the floor and nothing he said was enough to make us sit on those chairs!

The electronics in the room were vast. Uloma and I didn't recognize most of it. The only thing I recognized were the television set which was ten times larger than any TV set I had ever seen, and the video players. There were several video players, I thought, but Uju said they weren't all video players.

"This one is the only video player." She said, pointing at the set above the others. "The rest are decoders. They control the dishes you see hanging on the roof outside." She explained looking to Jeremiah for approval every now and then. The latter nodded his support and Uju beamed with pride.

"What about these ones." Uloma asked, pointing to the set of rectangular looking electronics that looked alike but varied in size.

"Home theaters." Uju said with confidence.

"That one, that looks like fridge?" I asked, pointing at the giant looking electronics.

"Those are AC. Air conditioners. They keep the room cool." Uju explained.

"If there were power supply, I would turn them on to show you how it works. But you know what the power supply is like here. Once a year, I heard." Jeremiah apologized.

"It's not that bad. It scarcely comes, yes. But sometimes we get lucky enough to get it twice a month!" Uju argued.

"Well, too bad. Our solar panel developed some fault and we don't turn on the generator until evening." Jeremiah said. "So, sorry, but you'll have to enjoy a boring afternoon."

"We don't mind." I assured him.

Jeremiah smiled at me.

"Hey, your English is getting better. I must be rubbing off on you!" He said.

"It's only been a week. Don't blow your trumpet." I rolled my eyes.

"Yet, last week you couldn't express yourself this much." He said with a mocking smile.

"Are you insulting me?" I asked, feigning anger.

"No!" Jeremiah laughed. "I'll give you your credit, you are one quick learner! So, give me my credit. I rubbed off on you." He insisted.

"You......." I was starting an argument when Uloma interrupted.

"Me, nobody has rubbed me, so now I am very hungry! Is there no food in this big house or you just willingly want to starve us, Jeremiah?" She said in Igbo.

Jeremiah looked lost, he knew he was being addressed but he didn't understand a word of the address.

"She said she is hungry, professor. Good teacher, slow student." I jibed.

Jeremiah winced in pleasant surprise.

"Now, there's no way you can convince me I didn't rub that into you!" He said as he got on his feet.

"Yet, nothing has rubbed into you." I shot at him as he walked away towards the kitchen.

"That's because you are a bad teacher!" He fired back as he disappeared behind the kitchen doors.

Uju broke into a laugh.

"He got you good Regina. 100-0." She laughed. I glared at her.