‘ Angela, One Day You’ll Kill Me O!’ ( 3)

Continued from Saturday, January 9, 2022

“ANGELA! Angela!!”, Ike called her excitedly. “I thought as much. You know I called you Angel! Remove the last ‘ A’ and your name becomes Angel.

If I were a prophet, my predictions would always come true. Oh, boy, buy anything you want here and I’ll pick up the bill.” That night, Ike went home with the sexy beauty called Angela. With women, you couldn’t beat Ike. He had the bait, the tricks and everything that comes handy when it comes to matters of the heart. Before one could say ‘ Ike’ he had made love with his new ‘ catch’, not minding the fact that she was a total stranger. When it comes to romance, he had no moral scruples. And he would take the ‘ plunge’ without hesitation or carefulness. That was his way. Ike was so putrid, so rotten and foul in language that you’d better not leave your 9- yearold daughter with him for a minute; sure she would come out with negative, awry and warped thoughts about life. Such was the dirt in his mind that only the devil could be his loyal friend. He was so debased, lewd and proud of his bad nature and he would even gloat over his sex appeal.

That evening when he set his lascivious eyes on the nakedness of Angela, he screamed: “Unto thee I bow and shall pay homage, O mother of Eroticism and Concupiscence! Angela, one day you’ll kill me o!”

Angela was exactly the last straw in

Ike’s journey into the maze of romance. A week later, he realised he wasn’t feeling well. His health was gradually deteriorating. He was always having headache and getting tired. He saw his doctors and was given medication, but the health problem persisted. He was so weak he couldn’t do anything. Three weeks later he became so lean and thin, like a dehydrated horse. Most times he would vomit any little food he took. About a month later, he had become so gaunt and sunken that his chest bones became noticeable and he looked haggard.

He contacted his doctors again and a test was carried out on him; it was detected that he was HIV/ AIDS positive. Ike became a recluse from that moment. He became desolate and forlorn. His close friends deserted him. His once bubbly lifestyle came to a stop. He was always lonely in his house.

He sold all his properties and estates to take care of his ailing health. He became so poor, broke and led a pauper’s life.

The dashing young girls that swooned over him at every occasion left him to his fate. People avoided him like a plague. He lived painfully for another year and died the following year 2009, alone in his room. He died like an old haggard dog, unsung and mirthless. It became so strange how a man who was once gay, merry and happy died like a sad and uncelebrated villain. Caution and carefulness should be our watchword when climbing the ladder of life. May the Almighty God guide us all not to fall into the pit of hell. And we should take time to listen to His hallowed voice and warnings.