Must Read: Taking Chances

Episode 7 years ago

Must Read: Taking Chances

She must have recently gone through the album seeing that it la!d on her bed, Jide concluded as he set it down.
He wondered why she had put herself through the torture? For he had not seen any wonderful moments worth remembering in the album. Why had she seen his scandalous acts in the wedding and yet rode home with him after the wedding? Left to him, the annoying album would have long gone up in smokes. So much for weddings and memories, he sighed.
One thing that was clear was the fact that he hadn’t treated Daisy any better than she had deserved. But then again, he was yet to understand why she had put up with him and even married him in the first place.
As he made to rise, his eyes caught something else stucking out of the pillow. Relaxing back, he raised the pillow to discover another endless stream of still pictures. Jide wanted to ignore it and be on his way out, but he couldn’t. He felt drawn to it, especially as he was currently looking down at one bearing a younger version of Daisy. Jide picked it up, then smiled when he saw the unmistakable resemblance.
That sealed the deal, he decided then to just as well spend whatever time there was discovering things about his wife. Wasn’t there a saying that pictures never lie? Besides, the million and one pictures now scattered on the bed teased and tugged at his curiosity with the promise of taking him deep into the secret world of a wife whom he hardly knew.


There was nothing to lose, he concluded and drew the pictures closer.


******


Jide now in the parlour, was in his usual prancing form, the saying, ‘curiosity kills the cat’ could best describe his plight. He had discovered more than he had bargained and instead of feeling accomplished at his discovery, the hunger to know more overcame him. There were many puzzles about his wife he needed to unravel, but he knew Daisy was angry to even look at him, much less talk with him.
But he needed answers. Things were gradually falling into places, he could presently grasp little about Daisy’s life, but he wanted the complete version, wanted to know about her connection with Nigeria, wanted to know about a particular male that dominated some of the photos of he’d seen. He knew who Brenda was and had somehow understood why Brenda seemed so protective of her friend, even if she showed it in an annoying manner.
But most importantly he wanted to know what his personal portrait picture had been doing amongst her collection. It was too significant to discard. He was sure that there was more to the picture than coincidence.
And the next best person to explain these mysteries was his grandmother. But the problem now was how he would call a woman whom he had despised, scorned and held in contempt over the past months. Even though he believe that he was a changed man now, he knew that his grandmother wouldn’t simply take his past sins in her stride and act as if nothing had ever happened.
These were his fears.
Jide sighed and pulled out his phone, he felt his heart pounding hard against his chest, but he urged himself on and dialed her number.
‘here goes all or nothing’ he muttered silently as he waited for the call to connect.
*****
Daisy seemed to have all her life documented in still images. Jide had been fascinated whilst he tried to piece the pictures together.




He had seen pictures of Daisy’s younger years, when she had been schooling and all. Although he didn’t know the exact places she’d grown up in, he had guessed it to be in Nigeria because the scenery, arches and curves pointed towards it.
Then they were pictures of her when she had been in Boston, he’d seen pictures of her and a woman he guessed to be her mother, but the word ‘RIP’ had been written above the woman, knowing that it signified death, he felt pity for Daisy and saw the connection they both shared in terms of losing their mothers.
There had also been endless pictures of her and Brenda in various poses, Jide had smiled then, realising that their friendship obviously dated way back and would account for the closely knitted bond they shared now, even if it was doing more harm than good to their marriage.
He’d also seen a particular male that dominated some of the pictures, sometimes, it was him and Daisy and at other times it was the trio of Brenda, Daisy and the guy. He hadn’t needed more to discern that the guy meant more than just a friend to Daisy, because some of the pictures in which they both appeared in portrayed a closeness that could only exist between lovers.
Jide had felt a little threatened but overcame it with the fact that Daisy should be expected to have dated someone else before they got married just like he had Grace, so they wasn’t need for him to be jealous.




The guy, he concluded, would have been married or in a serious relationship now, but whichever way, he wasn’t in Nigeria so there was no reason for him to fret.