In Less Than 24 Hours

A short sad story

Rufus opens his eyes edgily and fixes his gaze on the gold-plated clock on the yellow wall of his bedroom as if to decipher some esoteric inscriptions on it. His eyes quickly move from the clock to his wife who lies beside him, a sleeping log. It is already 7:36 a.m.; by the time he gets prepared and undertakes the 83km drive to the head-office in Port-Harcourt amid the disquieting traffic congestions he shall be late for a crucial appointment with his boss for 8:00 a.m. in pursuit of a government contract that is capable of boosting the company’s profile and changing its entire pecuniary base. His wife has overslept and failed to wake him up at 5:30 a.m. as arranged. He jumps out of the bed, rushes through his toilette, dashes off to the car and zooms off. He arrives at the office late. His angry boss fires him in a rage of madness. His legs take him down the stairs without his consent; he is too devastated to give it. At the parking space he meets yet another ugly scenario, his car has been stolen! He makes to calls the police only to discover he has forgotten his phone at home. He rummages his pockets in a bid to pay the cab driver that has taken him home, it then dawns on him that even his wallet too is not on him. He appeals to the driver to wait while he rushes into the house to fetch his fare. He dashes into his bedroom, and behold, his wife is in bed with his best friend, both of them completely naked! Rufus decides to poison himself and put an end to the whole misery that has claimed the better part of his comportment. While his head is bowed in deep contemplation over a foaming glass of poisoned wine, there comes Chuzzy, his friend and neighbour who takes the glass and gulps down its content before even considering an exchange of pleasantries.