This is Lagos! Thomas Marries Nancy, His former Prostitute-Friend

31 Jul This is Lagos! Thomas Marries Nancy, His former Prostitute-Friend

It was nearly one o’clock in the morning by the time Thomas returned to Nancy’s apartment. When he came through the door, he found her sitting up wide awake on the living room sofa. She ran and jumped into his arms so quickly that he almost wasn’t ready to catch her.

“Thank God you’re home!” she exclaimed.

From the redness of her eyes, Thomas could tell that she had been crying for hours.

“Some men came here right after you were taken away,” she told him. “They asked me all kinds of questions about you. I was very honest with them. Perhaps I should have kept my mouth shut until you had secured a solicitor.”

“No,” Thomas insisted. “Everything’s fine. You did the right thing.”

She rested her head on his shoulder. “They specifically instructed me to wait here,” she went on. “They said you would be back. I believed them at first, but then as the hours passed, I thought I may have been duped.”

Thomas shook his head. “Believe it or not, they were telling the truth,” he consoled her. “This has got to be the most bizarre and life-changing day a person could ever possibly experience. That is what you church people call a ‘shower of blessing’.”

“I called the pastor in my moments of distress, and he said something like victims of injustice and set-ups are only set-ups for breakthroughs for those who fear God. Thank God you returned the ring.”

“Sure. I believe it is only God that can serve these two big miracles in a day.”

Thomas gave her a detailed account of everything that had happened at the police headquarters. As he spoke, she looked at him wide-eyed as if he were telling her the most fantastic tale.

“I realise that it’s very late and we have both been through so much today,” he then said, “but if I am going to change my life in one way, I think I should change it in all ways.” He drew in a deep breath and look directly into her eyes. “Nancy,” he said softly, “will you marry me?”

“Yes, Thomas,” she declared, “I will marry you.”

With that, he picked her up off the floor, cradled her body in his arms, and gallantly carried her into the bedroom.

Nancy went into the bathroom to brush her teeth. Thomas unbuttoned his shirt and prepared to slip out of his clothes. He was exhausted, and the bed had never looked so inviting. Before he even had a chance to pull his arms out of his shirtsleeves, he was startled by the ring of his phone. He glanced over at the clock. It was almost half-past two in the morning. This could not be good news. No one called with good news at half-past two in the morning.

He picked up his phone, looked at the caller ID and hurried to the living room

“Hello, Mrs. Adekunle,” he said and walked to the living room.

Moji giggled. “Hello, Thomas. How are you?”

“Very tired.”

“I’m not surprised. I understand you had a very eventful day.”

Thomas drew in a nervous breath. “Is something wrong?” he asked cautiously.

“I just called to thank you for not disappointing me,” she said.

Thomas grunted. “Couldn’t that have waited until morning?” he wondered.

“It is morning, Thomas,” she countered.

He rolled his eyes. He was too exhausted to compete with her.

“I hope the police treated you well,” she then said. “I told them not to put you in the holding cell with all of those thugs.”

A spark of energy lit up Thomas’s tired brain. “You were the one who had me arrested?” he gasped.

“Well, yeah. Who did you think did it?”

“I couldn’t even begin to guess. Why did you do that?”

She laughed. “An assistant in the Governor’s office keeps track of the various foundations and charities in Lagos,” she explained. “The government tries to ensure that all foundations are legitimate and that they are not simply used as fronts for money laundering operations or other scams. The Mordys’ foundation is registered with the government. They sent an e-mail to the administration this morning naming you as the recipient of their overseas doctoral scholarship. I have learnt in life that it is rewarding to help others. In this case, I didn’t want the Mordys to take the credit for your breakthrough, so I had to find a way to head you off before you slipped out of the country. You have been so good to me, Thomas.”

Thomas rolled his eyes. “Surely, you could have come up with a less traumatic means of doing so,” he remarked.

She huffed into the phone. “Desperate situations call for desperate measures.”

“But why did I get to see Fanni?”

“Pure coincidence,” she answered. “I was informed by a contact that he had been arrested for blackmailing a top politician. But his case is so bad and involves so many highly placed people that he may not be charged to court. I made the connection and informed my contact that it may be beneficial to arrange a meeting between the two of you. Let’s just say that it was a chance to put your past misdemeanours behind you — to see that you must never go back to that way of life.”

Thomas rubbed his tired eyes. On some level, he admired Moji’s initiative, but on another, he could not believe that she had set him up to spend several hours stuck in an interrogation room.

“Thomas,” she said seriously, “you must understand how important it is for you to accept this position with Taylor’s administration. Tunji Taylor really is a good Governor, and he strongly believes that one good turn deserves another. He is not the kind of man who will use you and then dump you onto a rubbish dump the way so many other traditional Nigerian politicians have done to their loyal staff throughout the ages.”

Thomas nodded. “I do believe in the Governor’s integrity,” he affirmed.

“I’m glad to hear that,” she returned. “I am also glad to hear that you will be writing his speeches. By the way, in case you were wondering, Governor Taylor will personally contact the Mordys as soon as he arrives in his office. He will explain everything.”

“Everything?” Thomas yelped.

“Well, almost everything,” Moji clarified, “and he will even make a donation to their foundation so that they can offer scholarships to two students this year instead of one.”

“That’s very generous of him,” Thomas replied. “Now if you will excuse me —”

“Yes, I know,” Moji interrupted. “You’re tired. Goodnight, Thomas.”

“You mean ‘good morning’.”

“Whatever,” she said and hung up.

Thomas looked down at the phone in his hand, shook his head, and laughed. A voice spoke inside his head: This is Lagos!

Another voice said, Thomas, you are lucky to be alive!

        He threw the phone on a sofa and ran excitedly to the bedroom to join Nancy.