Episode 20
By: Faith Lucky.
Audrey’s Pov:
“Mr Rodney…”
I tried saying something but the noise from a bar nearby interrupted me and made me confused.
I looked at the transparent bar and noticed the people were cheering a lady who was climbing up the stage.
She took a mic and started singing but her voice was kind of husky.
Oh! It was a singing bar.
I looked back at Rodney and he still looked restless. He leaned on the car and placed his right hand on his head.
I moved closer to him and slowly, placed my hand on his shoulders.
“I…I think you need to calm down Mr Rodney” I said.
He didn’t say anything and didn’t even turn to look at me. He just continued smoking from his cigarette.
I looked back at the bar and looked back at him.
“Um…Mr Rodney’ I called.
“I…I think you’re heating up. Why don’t we have a cold drink in there?” He still remained silent and looked away.
I felt hopeless and thought of holding his hand but felt scared to. What if he hits me?
“Mr Rodney…”
“I don’t want to” he cut me off and looked away again.
I carefully reached for his hand and luckily he didn’t resist.
“Come on Mr Rodney. Maybe it’ll be of help” I said in a serene tone and took a step towards the bar, still holding his hand. He followed sluggishly.
The bar was a little crowded but wasn’t too noisy.
The lady on stage had rounded up her song and the people clapped for her as she came down.
I took Rodney to an empty table and there we sat, facing the stage.
A man climbed up the stage with a mic and the place became calm.
“Who’s next?” He asked and about 12 people raised up their hands.
He smiled and pointed to a boy and the noise resumed as they all cheered him while he climbed the stage.
He collected the mic and began singing and I kind of prefer his voice to the previous lady.
He sang a lively danceable song and some of the people in the bar stood up and started dancing.
I smiled and looked at Rodney. If only he was in a good mood.
Soon, a waiter came and I ordered for cold alcoholic drinks.
I looked around and noticed a man was staring keenly at us. He kept staring at us until our eyes ran into each other’s and that was when he looked away.
I looked at Rodney and noticed the cigarette in his hand was out. I sighed with
relive.
Finally.
“Mr Rodney, would you love to dance?” I asked with a nervous smile but he didn’t
reply.
Really?
The waiter returned with the drinks and opened them on the table and after which, he left.
“You take alcohol?” Rodney asked and I couldn’t believe I just heard him speak.
At that moment; it sounded like the voice of an angel.
“Um…just a little” I replied happily.
We drank from our glasses and I enjoyed the song going on, although I didn’t know of Rodney. He still looked pale.
Soon, the boy singing on stage rounded up his song and the people clapped and cheered for him.
“Mr Rodney, why don’t we sing next?” I asked and he scoffed.
The boy climbed down the stage and the man who acted like the emcee climbed up again.
“That was an awesome performance” he said into the mic and the people calmed down a bit.
“So, who’s next?”
I looked around and noticed much hands were up this time around. I also raised mine and the man pointed to me.
“Oh! That pretty lady over there with a blue shirt. Why don’t we give you a try?” He said and the people resumed cheering as I stood up. “What are you doing?” Rodney asked, surprised.
“‘Singing” I replied and shrugged.
I ran upto the stage and took the mic and waited for the ovation to calm down a bit.
“Um…good evening lovelies” I started ecstatically.
Rodney kept watching in amusement.
“My name is Audrey and I love singing a lot. The title of my song is Smile and it was sung by a Nigerian artiste named Simi. So some of the lyrics of the song might be in the Nigerian local language.
“I um…I hope this song is helpful to someone”.
I cleared my throat and smiled and started singing and the instrumentalists picked
up immediately.
Smile for me
Even if you’re sad…
Be good to me
Even if you’re bad
Stay with me
Even if you got some place to be…
Rodney’s Pov:
A smile touched my lips as I watched her sing and dance so perfectly.
The whole place was calm and just her tiny magical voice ran through the room.
And everybody was so engrossed listening to her.
She danced steadily to the song and it fitted her so perfectly. I kept staring at her the whole time and wished she never had to stop. *
When she was finally done singing, the ovation was more than the others as not some, but all the people in the bar stood up and started clapping and cheering – including me.
I just clapped while smiling.
Audrey dropped the mic and rushed back to me, beaming with smiles.
“How was It, Mr Rodney?”she asked excitedly.
“You were awesome” I replied with a smile and she giggled.
“isn’t that extra ordinary?” The emcee as he climbed the stage and the cheering increased.
“Isnt that extra ordinary? That was beautiful miss.” Audrey giggled and smiled widely, releasing all her teeth. I Could notice she was blushing.
She emptied the drink in her bottle and coughed a little. I looked at her in surprise.
She just raised down a full bottle of alcohol.
She called a waiter and ordered for another drink.
Then, somebody walked up to our table and tapped her.
“Im sorry miss, but you were awesome. Would you mind sparing us another song?” The average woman asked with pleading eyes. “No ma’am. I’m sorry” she replied and laughed.
Why was she laughing?
She opened her new drink and started gulping it down immediately.
Another singer was called up on stage and the song turned the bar in to a disco hall as almost everybody started dancing crazily to it.
Audrey giggled as she tapped her feet and nodded her head.
“Come on Mr Rodney. Let’s have a dance” she said excitedly as she stood up and
tried dragging me along.
“I’m not dancing Audrey…”
“Come on”
she finally succeeded in lifting my up, but I fred my hands from hers.
“I’m not dancing” I said.
“You’re not dancing? Fine; watch me then” she replied and started dancing.
She twirled and turned her body, laughing all the time.
Oh, no! She’s drunk.
She kept giggling and making funny dance steps and although they were funny, they were interesting as well.
She continued that way and I found myself laughing. Does she even know what she’s doing?
Soon, she almost slipped but I caught her by the waist and our faces almost hit each other’s.
She laughed and pulled my nose and my eyes widened.
She was damn so drunk.
“Come on Audrey; let’s go home” I told her as I made her. Stand.
“Huh?” She shrieked.
“But the fun’s just getting started”.
“You’re drunk, Audrey” I told her and she gasped.
“How can you say that to me? How can you say I’m drunk? Of course I’m not. It’s you who’s drunk. Look, you didn’t even finish your drink” she said and tried taking my drink from the table, but I stopped her.
“Come on; it’s late already” I said and started taking her away, forcefully.
“Come on Mr Rodney; don’t do this to me. I’m not drunk”.
I kept dragging her until we got to the car and I pushed her in immediately.
“You’re so mean!” She cried and hit my hand as I closed the door.
I looked at her with surprise and scoffed.
Alcohol is the worst thing that can happen to Audrey.
I also got into the car and was about turning on the ignition when I remembered the
car had broken down a while ago.
“Damn!” I mumbled and hit the sterling.
I just decided to give it a try and surprisingly, it turned on.
I smiled with satiaton and took off immediately.
I looked at Audrey and she started singing.
Roll roll your boat
Gently down the stream
Merily Merily Merily Merily
Life is but a dream
I stared at her and laughed dryly. Where the hell did this lady come from?
She went on singing:
Roll roll your boat
Gently down the stream
If you see a crocodile
Don’t forget to scream
And she screamed in such a way that made me screech to a halt.
“Audrey!” I called and she turned to look at me, smiling stupidly.
“Yes? Why did we stop? Are we home already?” She asked and I continued driving.
“Mr Rodney; where are you taking me?” She asked and hit her head.
“Oh! I forgot; you’re taking me home of course”.
She started humming.
“Should I help you drive?” She asked after a short while and I shook my head in amusement.
After some time, we got home and I saw it as a dream come true. I couldn’t wait to get free of this log.
I came out of the car and went to bring her out as well.
“Oh! We’re home already. Why didn’t you tell me?” She asked as I brought her out of the car.
She kept staggering. So, I carried her up in my arms and took her into the house. The room was dark and I kept her down so I could look for the light switch on the wall.
“Have I gone blind? Why can’t I see anything?” She asked and immediately, the lights went on.
She screamed in fright and jumped on me, hugging me tight.
“Audrey, what’s wrong with you?” I asked as I placed her back on the floor.
“Oh! Sorry, I thought it was a fire outbreak’ she replied and yawned.
I took her to the bed and she sat on it.
“I think I need a shower” she said and tried taking off her shirt.
“Audrey, what the hell is wrong with you? “:I asked gobsmacked as I stopped her from taking it off.
“Why-re you acting this way Mr Rodney? It seems you’re drunk” she said and laid on the bed, laying upwards.
I was sitting on the edge of the bed and she kept staring at me.
“Hey, do you have a twin brother mr Rodney? Why are you double?” She asked. “And whys your head growing so big and small?”
I bursted into laughter and was almost unable to control it.
You can give the whole world to Audrey, but never give her alcohol.
“You know, Mr Rodney” she continued.
“I don’t want you to be sad anymore because of Jocelyn. It hurts me a lot when I see you in so much pains.
“So from today, you can just see me as Jocelyn. You can start calling me Jocelyn if you want to. Just stop crying over her okay?” I couldn’t help but smile.
She yawned and laid sideways, sprawling her arms and legs.
“I need to sleep.
By the way, I’ll be sleeping on the bed today. So, you’re gonna have to make use of
the couch. I mean, you’re so rude. I’m the one being of help here, yet I’m the one
who gets to sleep uncomfortable on the hard chair while you greedily take the bed
all to yourself. But today, that nonsense has got to stop. So go and make use of the
chair.” She said dizzyly and I laughed.
Then she started singing.
A lion, a lion
A lion has a tail
It has a big waist
And a very small head…
A lion, a lion,
Small head…
And that was how she slept off.
I laughed uncontrollably and almost rolled on the floor.
Where did this lady come from? This is unbelievable.
I placed my hand on her hair and smiled.
I can’t believe I was able to laugh again. She made me laugh again.
A while ago, I had been so scared and angry; but she took all the pains away and made me forget my worries. She made me smile again. I looked into her face and smiled.
“Thank you, Audrey, for putting a smile on my face again” I said as I brushed her hair with my palm and planted a kiss on her forehead. TBC.
DEAR
JOCELYN