He Lost His Job, His Wife Left Him By Joseph edgar

He Lost His Job, His Wife Left Him By Joseph
edgar
He has come to my office two times.
Lean and dark, trying very hard not to
betray his deep sadness as he manages
a smile each time he looks at me. His
eyes remain sad, deep and penetrating,
his gaunt look making his oversized
jacket hang on his dour frame with pity
at his condition. His sadness infects me
as I remain almost helpless in solving his
immediate problem which is to assist him
get a job.
The saddest thing in all these, is his firm
believe that I can assist him. For each
time he sees me, his tired eyes light up
with hope and this throws a huge burden
on me. Yesterday, he came in as usual
and I promptly forgot him in the
reception. Deep into my own issues I
continued fighting the fires that threaten
to consume me. The Gringe is at it again,
generally disturbing me so I forgot that
my friend was patiently waiting in the
reception. On my way out I saw him and
asked him to come in. We had a brief
chat and I saw that he did not really
have enough skill set to work in any of
my platforms not like we could even
afford him since we too were struggling.
But his enthusiasm and earlier mentioned
‘hope’ spurred me to try my best.
I asked him to remind me later at night
to discuss with Segun in a bid to see if
Segun could assist him and that opened
the floodgate. He sent me a text begging
for this opportunity and in the text he
mentioned that his wife left him cos he
lost his job.
That hit me, this was the second time I
was hearing this and my mind went
straight to my mother’s advise when
Nicholas the big headed argonaut sacked
me for nothing. My mum advised me not
to tell my wife since I could not
guarantee her reaction. So I did not tell
her o. I told her I was on leave and would
be using the opportunity to start
something for myself. When the ‘leave’
time passed, I started going out with my
suit and lap top every morning like I was
going to work but always ended at the
Southern Sun Hotel to seat down and
pretend I was working on a project and
after ‘work’ I will go home and tell her
how busy I was today and how work will
soon kill me.
So this my brothers revelation and my
mums advise got me thinking. What kind
of a woman will leave her husband
because he lost his job? Is it no longer
‘for better for worse’. Is this truly a
trend? Are women this fickle and
heartless-staying when the going is good
and jumping out at the slightest stress in
the marriage.
When it happened to my former
secondary school classmate I threw up
the issue on our class forum and it was
debated heatedly. For me it is good
riddance and no single tear should be
shed for such a Jezebel. She should be
swept away and everything she touched
should be burnt the way you burn
everything touched by an Ebola victim.
That woman would have eventually killed
you even if you did not loose your job.
As I write, I am told to listen to both
sides. For me there is no both sides
according to my friend, Lanre Olusola the
life coach any woman carrying out this
evil act would only be looking for a
justification for an act that already been
perpetrated long before the job loss. To
me the woman should be hung out to dry
up and be treated like a confessed witch
burnt at the stake with her b----t thrown
out there for the cats to devour.
My father lost his job and for eight years
we had real life poverty as a direct
cousin. My father was a wreck
emotionally as he lost the will to live. A
very proud and handsome man was
turned into a wretch and in the wake of
his job loss became depressed and
almost suicidal. So apart from the
obvious financial distortion we had the
additional stress of carrying out a
suicide watch with me sneaking into his
room intermittently every other night to
watch his famous pot belly to see if it
was still moving. The Afang my mother
fed him with made sure he woke up the
next morning. Despite his mood he still
loved his freshly made Afang soup and
his chilled bottle of coca cola.
But the story is my mother’s reaction to
all this. She immediately became the
General in the house. Moving the troops
and not letting us relax or fall into
despair. She used to vow that our
standard of living will not drop and that
she will die instead of letting us drop out
of school. We started hawking bread and
I was the main champion. You can
imagine me just getting into my teenage
years complete with comb hanging from
my back pocket and flying my collars
and winking at the luscious babes that
littered shomolu then and now hawking
bread. It was a terrible experience, but I
could not dare refuse, my mother would
skin me alive furthermore I understood
why I had to hawk the bread. My people I
hiked bread so much that when we
eventually came out of it and I surfaced
at the University of Ibadan anytime
someone shouted ‘Omo oni bread’ I will
subconsciously turn my head. It got to a
point where my then darling, the
lusciously gifted and eternally beautiful
Ms. Toyin Olosunde once asked me why I
always turned back when they called
bread seller, I told her that it as out of
pity for the bread seller that I hated
hawking and when I got rich, I would
liberate all bread sellers in the country.
She hugged me and thanked God for this
angel of a boyfriend. If only she knew.
My mother stood behind my dad.
Shielding him from the shame of a job
loss. Fighting everybody from the NEPA
people who came to disconnect us, to
errant landlords who did not understand
why we could no longer pay the rents.
She worked two jobs as a Nurse, Hawked
bread, sold one of the cars and much
more importantly became the father and
mother and today she single handedly
trained five graduates complete at the
prestigious University of Ibadan. Today
she is nestling in comfort and bliss in
Uyo enjoying the products of her
struggle.
So I will never understand this growing
phenomenon of women jumping out and
in my minds eye I see no justification.
My mother used to laughingly joke with
my father those days. She used to say,
the former Governor of Akwa Ibom was
her toaster and if she had known she
would have agreed but see where her
search for handsome husband has landed
her. My father will burst into tears and
we will all laugh at him and throw his
Afang his way to appease him.
My people I plead with our women to be
like my mother. For eight years she stood
and made sure her husband did not
really feel the humiliation of a job loss,
the loneliness of your essence rudely
dragged away from you by terrible
economic conditions and the absolute
worthlessness you begin to feel as a
result of your inability to be a man.
So to my friend I say good riddance. Do
not beg her, she does not deserve you
and she will perish in the wilderness of
perfidy with her carcass fed to the
vultures and hyena’s of opportunity who
prey on such embodiments of greed and
selfishness by sucking their disease filled
bodies drying it up and leaving them a
worthless carcass to be dragged around
the street by mangy dogs and spat upon.
You have been liberated.
Congratulations.
My mama try sha. Kai, I never give am
her chop money in three months o.
The End