You get what you get

Life 307

"You don't get what you want, you get what you get." 

-Gregory House

"Maybe you could've made better decisions." I offered, as Sam opened another bottle and passed it to me. 

He nodded, taking a swig straight from the beer bottle in his hand, "I've been told I married the wrong girl. Your mother said she's bad luck." 

He was staring at the night sky, reaching his hand to slap at a mosquito drumming in his ears, audible enough for us both to hear and cringe-  a downside to living in the slums of Agege.

"I don't think so. Your wife is awesome." I wasn't kidding, Rose was the best woman I had ever met. When I was younger, I created an image of my own future spouse just by looking at her.

He scoffed and watched me squeeze my eyes shut as I gulped from my bottle. "It's a mess. My life is riddled with bad luck. Just mine."

I opened my eyes and tried to peer into his, under the moonlight. I saw the regret shone. 

Sam had always been an extraordinary man, from his years in secondary school when he visited the governor's office (the first in his family tree to ever grace the State House), getting a fully funded smooth ride through one of the best universities in the country and a post-graduate course in Nottingham. He was the next best thing, and I was proud to be his nephew. 

Whenever he came to our house, here in the slums, I always thought he was the next Abraham Lincoln. Such power he commanded when he spoke.

It's been six years since he returned with his family. He was sitting with me here, gulping beer and telling me life is beautiful and I should dare to dream. He'd seen the rise and fall of himself. And he wasn't even forty yet.

 

"There's hope." I managed to say. My mom always said that whenever I returned with another failed UTME result, like I had been having for five years now.

"Tobi, there's nothing."

'Siyah