kalu now lives in Lagos with Abuchi his uncle, though Lagos was not a land of honey neither was it a bed of roses as speculated, and was far short from his expectations. it is filled with it's own ups and downs but he enjoyed his stay anyway,the hope of being settled and becoming a boss of his own one day nourished his thought and inflamed the desire of remaining in Lagos. he missed his mother so much but Abuchi his uncle made sure that no year passes without taking him home to see the mother, that was one of the promises he made to break the strong chain that attached the woman's emotion to that of the son before he was able to obtain the pass to leave with kalu to Lagos.
At first kalu was like taking the next bus back to the village, the number of people was so enormous, there seemed to have emerged the population of twenty villages together. The thought of the mother, the regular hunting with peer groups and most epecially the sense of being recognised as man of the house by the neighbours and the mother in particular, those were the experiences that hung with natural inclination which could ardly be let go at will, but being resilient enough, he couldn't allow himself to be lagged behind by those experiences.
he was given his own special room, well furnished and spacious enough to accommodate even three people comfortably at the same time. And was made the superior over the other servant which came almost the same time with him. being so intelligent, he was fast In grasping the nitty-gritty of the Master's trade. the thought that whatever belongs to his uncle belongs to him was from the first day infused in him by the mother and that propelled him in making sure that he put his best in whatever he was doing especially in terms of the business. he made sure that he woke early every morning except on Sundays which was the only non market day. As had been the custom of the mother, he would attend to some necessary house chores before leaving the house ignoring the fact that there would always be someone else to take care of them if he decided not to attend to them, he never at anytime relied on the advantage he had as the Master's nephew in his dealings. Those positive attitudes exhibited by kalu were secretly admired and they went so far in extracting an extra affection from Abuchi his master.
after a year of kalu's arrival to Lagos, seeing the height of smartness he had exhibited, Abuchi, forgetting how wide and confusing the city was, that mastering of the city's enviroment didn't solely lie on one's natural wisdom but also on one's knowledge gained by constant visitation of the various locations,some routes could be complicated at times, (Abuchi)thought that kalu had been grounded enough in the life of the city and could never miss his way to any part. he decided to send him to the shop of one of their customers which was some how far from the area of their residence, for a business assessment. kalu on his own part didn't perceive any difficulty in finding his way to the place oblivious of the fact that he had not been there for the first time. when he got to the park, he was successful in boarding the right bus to the place but by the time the bus departed, he was confused by the similarities in the names of the bus stops as the bus conductor's tongue was so sharp and ill in pronouncing the names of the various bus stops en route, he was then forced to turn to a young man of his age seated quietly beside him in the bus after much hesitation and contemplation, for clarification and direction, he had heard so much stories about how some dubious men popularly known as 419 men had ruined the lives of many by dubbing them of their life savings and those of their loved ones especially when they discovered that one was new to the city. the fear always kept him from unnecessary discussion and familiarity with strangers.fortunately for him the young man was heading to the same direction as he, so they both alighted at the bus stop and from there they started to have a warm discussion as they walk to the point were they would divert to their various destinations,they seemed to be relaxed in their discussion, and were both surprised to learn that they were both residing in the same area there in the city, the name of the young man was John, and he was going to the post office at that area to post a letter for his boss.
from that day, kalu and John became friends and that was the first and the only friend kalu had since he came to the city, he had abided by the mother's instruction of being careful of making friends, for Mrs kachi couldn't really be defined as an introvert but she didn't really find keeping friends gainful that much, she hardly mingled with people in terms of socialization but she specially found joy in the company of his only son,which made her to always take kalu along wherever she went when kalu was still a little boy and that had drawn the criticism of people especially the neighbours. John and kalu became the best of friends, John just like Kalu was also living with his uncle.They were of the same heights but in terms of complexion, John was a bit fair while kalu was fairer.kalu inherited the fair colour from his late father but in terms of the other good features he possessed, like the pointed nose, the mother had the upper hand.
kalu and John shared many secrets together.
on Sundays which was the leisure day for both of them, they would hang out together. that seemed to be the only day they had time for their friendship and seeing how he worked so hard on other days, Abuchi didn't interfere in his freedom on Sundays he allowed him to do whatever he liked and went to places he liked, hanging unto the belief that he was smart and knew what he was doing, he only adviced him to be careful and to make sure he didn't keep late night each time he was going out, and kalu on his own part, made sure that he came back before it got dark each time he hanged out, except for a particular day that he went to the cinema house for the first time with John. John suggested the place as they were contemplating on where to go since they were already getting bored in being around the neighborhood. as their interest were deeply intrigued by the action movie that was shown, they hardly noticed that the sun had completely gone to rest for the day, by the time they came outside they were gripped with fear to notice that everywhere was already covered in darkness, the absence of the night stars and the moon made the whole matter worse. Abuchi was able to understand when Kalu got home that night although he extended a light warning to him. kalu wasn't in any way distracted by the friendship, they saw each other when necessary and at their leisure times. John was an apprentice in a fashion store, it had been his desire to be a fashion designer.
Rose and Clara were still in a mutual relationship, the changes in the behavior of Clara since the absence of rose was becoming crystal clear to everyone around her especially the siblings and the parents. it was so obvious that the cleansing done on her by the spiritualist was only good in escalating the situation instead of bringing about the desired results. since no one believed her story about Rose, she had learnt to keep anything about her, to herself. To her, telling her parents or siblings succeeded in nothing else rather than deepening their beliefs that she wasn't alright. she looked for every opportunity to sleep so that she could be able to be with her sister Rose. once she was through with whatever she was doing, the next thing is to find her bed. the parents on noticing how often she slept had decided to take her to the hospital few times to check if anything was wrong with her, but still they discovered that she was sound and healthy, there was nothing wrong with her. she didn't enjoy the company of others that much any longer, always looking for an opportunity to sleep, the bed seemed to have became her best friend. "extend my greetings to ur best friend" chuckled the mother one night as she was about to go to bed and extended a good night wish to her, every one in the room burst into laughter, she went into her room feeling so stupid and dejected that evening but she, just like her sister Rose, had grown used to the situation, especially the mockery and the disbelieve.
the situation of Rose troubled Clara so much, but there was nothing she could do about it.she was thought of being so annoying and growing so lazy then, by her parents and siblings and the mother always disturbed her each time she saw her sleeping when it was not yet time for sleep. the mother made sure that she mentioned her in her prayers each time she prayed. those disturbances and disbelieve made Clara to work so hard in securing admission into the college, so that she would be away from the family who were now filled with the thought that the demise of her sister had left her mentally disorganised.
" I have not heard about an invisible human being, I have only heard about spirits, I know spirits exists some times some people talk about being in contact with some spirit, but this one you are talking about I don't know.. I don't believe it to be honest with you" responded her good friend in the college when she narrated the story to her " let her make herself visible to everyone if she is truly alive" Clara's Pouted lips and the light furrow on her forehead, were the evidence that she regretted ever engaging in such a discussion with her friend, and from that day on, she vowed never to have such a discussion with anyone again. since her own family members, her own flesh and blood would not believe her, who else would. all Clara wanted right then was to be alone, to be where she would get no or less disturbance from anyone so that she could sleep and communicate with her sister whenever she wanted and from then, the need was placed as priority as soon as she left the college.
Rose attended her classes even though she was noticed by no one but she made sure that she was always present to learn all she had to learn. the same with the other activities that she was supposed to engage herself with. When the mates were having a sporting activities, she hovers over the field like breeze in an attempt to be in participation. She was always with her friends in school listening to their various conversations and always contributing her own part even though she couldn't be heard, she heard every good things that were said about her as well as the bad ones. the fact that her presence couldn't be felt among her loved once were the major troubling and excruciating part of her situation, she couldn't chose between being in prison and being in that situation. yet being in prison is a better option because although she was free to go anywhere she wanted but that sense of her presence and existence by the people she loved had been lost. while if she were to be in prison, the freedom to go to anywhere she wanted would not be there but at least the sense of your presence could still be retained by your loved ones. for nothing is as painful as being forgotten by one's loved ones.
apart from not being visible to the human eyes, there were few more changes which were noticable with Rose, one of those changes was not feeling hunger for food any more. she sees food but there was no appetite for it. As time went on Rose was dipped immensely into the reality of her situation and she came to understand it better and got used to it. she knew that her regular visitation to Clara created more problems for her in her relationship with the people around her. Apart from the family members, many were beginning to imagine that Clara wasn't normal anymore, so she decided to visit her less often. and as time went on, she started growing used to not visiting her regularly again. she started touring places to know if she could discover anywhere that someone could at least feel her presence, she boarded flight without anyone noticing that she was there, everything seemed to be easy for her now, she boarded any vehicle she wanted without paying a dime or anyone questioning her, and she could enter any place she wanted, places that she couldn't have gained access if she was noticed by anyone even the office of the president, she would have been the envy of all if all those things were done in the sight of everyone but unfortunately it wasn't so. All those touring were done after she had passed out from the college. although she wasn't issued any certificate but she learnt all there was to learn with her mates. in her situation a certificate was as useless to her as a scissors was to a farmer, or a hoe to a tailor.