Ramon watched a movie every weekend with his dad on cable television and also spoke about his desire to become the next Sylvester Stallone or Arnold Schwarzenegger. Every Monday afternoon lunch, he will tell Rajiv and Osaro about the action movies he had seen at the weekend. Osaro was surprised that Ramon’s dad would let him watch action films, because the movies always had age ratings and restrictions.
On one particular afternoon, Ramon spoke about the film he had watched and how many people the action hero killed in a gun fight. Only Rajiv enjoyed the story, Osaro ate lunch and kept quiet as usual, without saying a word. He didn’t have cable television neither did he know a lot about sports or movies, so he wasn’t bothered. Ramon noticed that his friends were becoming bored, so told them he was planning to have a party that weekend.
Rajiv shouted, “A party, it’s been long since I attended one.” “Is it your birthday?” Osaro asked. “Can I come with my sis” he demanded. Ramon at that point said he was just having a party for his friends that the party was strictly for 10years old kids and older. “Are you guys coming?” He pestered. Rajiv confirmed that he was coming for the party but Osaro was quiet all along.
Ramon put some pressure on Osaro and he said, “But I just asked if I could come with my sister, I know she is 8 and she is tall, she would pass for a 10year old.” He said with a smile. “No, Osaro it’s not a birthday, so your sister can’t come…maybe next time, but not this one.” Ramon replied. Osaro quipped, “I don’t know if my mom will let me, but if I tell her it’s a birthday party, maybe she would let me.”… Ramon said, “Then tell her it’s a freaking birthday party, and make sure you don’t come with Ebehi, your sister.” Ramon said angrily. Osaro replied, “But that would be telling my mother a lie, I have never told my mother a lie, I don’t want to get into any trouble with my dad.”
Ramon and Rajiv laughed out so loud they almost fell off their seats. Ramon said, “Really, dude that sounds strange, you are probably still a little kid then, even though you are 10. What so hard convincing your mum about some gig?” Ramon told them that his mom always let him go to a party in their neighbourhood in Miami, as long as he comes back home on time. He advised Osaro to devise an ingenious way to convince his mother to allow him go for the party. Osaro promised he would speak to her that afternoon on the way home but insisted that he would not lie to his mother to attend the party.
Later that day at the dinner table, he asked mom if he could attend a friend’s party in Ikoyi that weekend. Mrs. Aneto preferred he spoke to his dad about it once he arrives. “If you need to stay up a little late today to see your dad, then maybe you should. It will be good to mention it to him.” She said. “But my dear Osaro, you know I don’t know anything about the parents of your friend who is hosting this party, and I know I haven’t met them before”.
Osaro protested that he knew a few things about Ramon, the host. He told his mom that Ramon was a foreign student from Miami and had come to study in Nigeria because his dad was working in the United States Embassy in Nigeria. “What about his mother, Osaro, does she work in the embassy too?” His mother asked.
Osaro told his mother that he didn’t know much about Ramon’s mother, but Ramon told him his parents were separated. That his father had recently won a custody battle against his mother, and that after the case, he was permitted by the Judge to take him along to Nigeria. At that point, Mrs. Aneto felt uncomfortable about the party. She worried about what kind of upbringing Ramon would have without his mother in distant Miami. She knew that a child whose parents were separated could be battling psychologically.
When Mr. Aneto got back that evening…
[To be continued]
Written by Chineme Uzo
