The Externals Reloaded - Chapter Six

 VICIOUS HOMECOMING

Quinn eventually made it in time for his flight, thanks to Mart who drove like his life depended on it. Yet as much as he didn't want Quinn to miss his flight, it was hard for him to say goodbye. As he waved goodbye a few miles away from the boarding gate, the scene of the first time he met Quinn flashed through his mind. He never thought a black kid whose football fell in his mini playground would turn out to be his longtime friend. Even when the plane's door was shut, he stood there trying to figure out if visiting Nigeria would mean the end of their "buddyhood".

Lagos, Nigeria
Adegbamigbe was the last name of the family Mart and Miss Claire arranged to look after Quinn during his stay in Nigeria. The family consisted of a chubby woman and two teenage girls who couldn't spend a second without arguing with each other despite being identical twins. It didn't matter that their mom did her best to make them develop a cooperative spirit because they were her world. Since her husband left, Asake had been channeling her energy toward caring for her kids. She was keen on making the only thing left of their brief union work.

Asake agreed with the idea of Quinn staying with them for the time being because she needed to make extra money to fend for her family. The family who initially got the contract lived in Ikeja, GRA but they had to host another family member who also just arrived from the United States so they had no room left for Quinn. Funnily enough, the matriarch was only her customer yet she pitched the idea to her because she was a nice person. She was confident she would take good care of him regardless of her home's physical state because she plays a motherly role even to kids who weren't hers.

"Mom, will you please come talk to your daughter? She left the cleaning of the new guest room for me alone" Martha, her second daughter told Asake on Quinn's arrival day.

"You're supposed to clean up your room so how's that my business?" Mary, the first one defended herself.

"But I told you to do the work together. How could you disobey me!" Mrs. Kunbi said with fury in her eyes.

"Mom, you have to understand me.." Mary tried explaining herself but she was silenced by the presence of a neighbor popularly known as Onifufu.

"Mama Mary, shebi you said you were leaving home by six to pick up a visitor at the airport. This is six-thirty oo", She warned.

"Oh, my God! Thank you so much for reminding me", Asake rushed to her bedroom to change her outfit.

"I can smell something burning", The kind neighbor spoke again.

"Jesus! I forgot the jollof rice I was cooking for our guest", Asake wanted to go to the kitchen to check it out but Onifufu offered to help her with it.

"Mom, should we wear the Ankara for Aunty Tayo's naming?" Mary got more excited about the trip.

"No, Maria. You're staying home to finish what your sister started", Asake said sternly.

"Mom, that's not fair. You're even going to need me to take pictures", Mary tried to blackmail her.

"Give your camera to your sister!" Mrs. Kubi had already turned on the shower in the bathroom but her voice could still be heard clearly.

"Mom!" Mary whined. "I hope she spoils it so you can get a brand new one".

"Good for you", Martha said triumphantly. "Can you lend me your curly wig since you're not using it?"

"In your dreams", Mary rolled her eyes.

"Thank God I'm in mom's good book now", Martha rushed to her bedroom and locked it.

"Don't do anything stupid", Martha groaned.

After getting off the plane, Quinn went through passport control, retrieved his luggage, and was checked by customs officials. Thereafter, he proceeded to sit on an airport chair hoping to see a cardboard with his name on it being held by the chauffeur sent to pick him up immediately but he didn't see anything for the next two hours. He tried contacting his Nigerian host but the network was poor so he couldn't reach her. At some point, several good Nigerian citizens saw the distressed look on his face and approached him to offer help. However, the fear of what he saw in "Nigerian Prince" wouldn't let him accept it.

Mrs. Kunbi felt bad about arriving at the airport late yet there was nothing she could have done to turn back time. To prevent incessant calls from Mart and Miss Claire who were both worried sick about Quinn back in the United States, she had to switch off her phone. More also, she needed to concentrate on driving. But it's not like she was allowed to drive how she wanted though. She had to keep stopping at intervals due to the orders of police officials and the only person she could lash out her anger on was her second daughter. Poor Martha almost regretted following her.

Eventually, they got to the airport and found jet-lagged Quinn dozing off in the waiting arena. Of course, he didn't accept either of their apology, regardless of how touching it was. As payback, he made them carry his luggage by themselves to the car boot without offering any form of assistance. He didn't even consider the fact that they were women. Anyways, they made it to the parking lot without breaking any arm then settled into Mrs. Kunbi's ash Toyota Camry, ready to drive home. Quinn was surprised it wasn't a luxurious brand. To make matters worse, its ac wasn't working!

Quinn voiced his concern over the discomforting state of the car but all he got in return was an apology. That's all I've been getting since I entered this damn country, he thought. The lack of hospitality from his host made him so angry that he couldn't appreciate the glamour of Lagos lights or the comforting breeze that occasionally found its way into the car when traffic becomes minimal and they move. His mind was too preoccupied with thoughts of not being able to survive his new neighborhood that he couldn't appreciate the vibrant voices of the Nigerian hip-hop artists keeping Mary awake. Over and over again, he kept regretting his decision to visit fatherland so he was in no mood to answer her question on what America looks like. 

As soon as they arrived at their designated location, Quinn asked to be shown his new room and crashed on the bed there. He didn't even have the energy to complain about the simplicity of the room, that its walls were only painted light blue with no artwork whatsoever and the only furniture in there aside from the bed was a wooden chair and table. He also didn't have the strength to complain about the food Mrs. Kunbi made because he had slept off before she came to plead with him to have dinner with them.

"So what was being the first to meet prince charming like?" Mary asked Martha as they settled in her bedroom.

"Oh, my God!" Martha squealed. "It was so magical! He looked like someone from a different planet".

"Wow!" Mary covered her mouth with her hand.

"When he finally got to the spot where Mom and I were, he took my right hand and kissed it like gentlemen do", Martha blushed.

"I'm so jealous of you right now", Mary fake-cried.

"At the car park, he also opened the door of the passenger's seat for me", Martha blushed.

"Seriously?" Mary cooed.

"Yeah. He couldn't stop stealing glances at me throughout our trip. I bet he would have told me all about himself to impress me if Mom wasn't in the car", Martha finished her story, waiting to hear more comments from Mary.

"How's someone bold enough to kiss your hand in front of Mom not able to tell you about him near her as well? How hard can that be?" Mary furrowed her eyebrows in confusion.

"People are called shy for a reason, dummy. Besides, you and I have watched foreign movies long enough with Americans to know kissing is just a form of greeting to them", Martha defended herself.

"Mart, do you find it comfortable lying to your other self?" Mary shocked her twin sister with her question.

"What do you mean?" Martha stuttered.

"I kept my phone in the car with the recorder on silly", Mary laughed to her heart's content.

"Why the fudge would you do that?" Martha's voice could pull down the whole household.

"Because this also proves you're not trustworthy, Martha. It proves that you can conveniently lie to me because of a man!" Mary yelled back.

"Would you bitches keep your voice down!" Quinn barged into their room with bloodshot eyes. "Damn it!"

"Did your mom not teach you not to barge into other people's rooms, girls especially? And who are you calling bitches?" The twins took some time to process what was going on before replying. They were shocked by his statement.

"Are you still talking with those foul mouths of yours?" Quinn yelled.

"Don't you ever insult us again!" Mary punched him in the nose and he started bleeding.

Asake had been in the kitchen trying to make breakfast for Quinn who was still fast asleep in his bedroom even before her chicks got up to crow. Soon, Mary joined her in a bid to make her stop being angry at her for quarreling with Quinn the previous night but she knew that was close to being impossible. Rather than scold him for barging into their room or insulting them, she placed the entire blame on them. She blamed them for talking too loud when they should have been asleep and not taking things easy on poor Quinn. She said they should have been more patient with him since he was finding it difficult to adjust to his new environment. Still, Mary didn't see that as enough reason for him to be nasty towards them. She couldn't wait for more future opportunities to deal with him without being grounded. She couldn't believe her mom had started using that term barely twenty-four hours after an American entered their home.

Instead of joining her mom and sister in the kitchen, Martha begged Mrs Kunbi to allow her to watch over Quinn without Mary's knowledge and was granted permission to do so. Truth be told, she didn't mean to be harsh towards him but had to do it due to the influence of her vicious twin sister. If she didn't do that, Mary would have accused her of being a hypocrite. She knew Martha could have killed Quinn if he was a real Naija boy for what he did.

Martha felt Quinn's pain. She admired him for having the courage to leave the United States of all countries and come live in Nigeria. If she had been in his shoes, she felt she would have even fainted before boarding the plane so she resolved to do anything that would help ease the pain he was feeling. As he slept, she helped clean bits of sweat on his forehead at intervals and adjusted the hair covering it as well.

"Everything's gonna be fine", Martha whispered as she held his hand softly like he was going to develop skin rashes if she held it too hard. That wasn't her fault though - she was only trying to prevent what happened yesterday from repeating itself.

"What the heck!" Quinn yanked her hand off when he opened his eyes and saw her standing near his bed.

"I'm so sorry", Martha's heart started pounding. "I felt bad for what happened last night and didn't want you to be alone in your state".

"You being here is only going to make things worse so get out!" Quinn pointed at the doorknob as if she didn't know where it was.

"Good morning, poor guest", Mary entered the room hoping to see a lonely Quin but was greatly displeased to see her sister there.

"Hey, foul mouth", Quinn frowned. He still hadn't gotten over what happened with her.

"Just wanted to know mom wants you to come have breakfast", Mary felt the room angrily. She won't ever forgive her twin sister for this betrayal.

AUTHOR'S NOTE
Thanks for reading. What do you think about the chapter? Do you think Quinn will be able to survive living with the Adebamigbes? Please, don't forget to drop your comments and share to friends who are also interested in fiction books.

Your dearest writer,
Eniola Oluwamuyiwa😁😍