The Painful Pleasure

The Painful Pleasure (TPP)
EPISODE 1

I waited patiently as the phone loaded slowly due to the poor network. Believe me, network is always very slow whenever one wants to check result.

It was my third post UTME in the prestigious Obafemi Awolowo University. My first and second post UTME result was 168 and 199 respectively, i could remember vividly that my mum (who gathered money from her petty trade of fruits) said to me having seen my second trial result “If only they were so nice to add one mark, you would have gotten 200″.

Well, she was very sad, but she still encouraged me (without even talking about the money with which she obtained the form for me). She just said that i should try more, she said ” ti esin ba da ni, a maan tun gun ni” which means that; when a horse makes one fall, we try climbing again. . .

I was so lost in thought, all i could think of was my mum who had been struggling to make me someone in life. She has been doing all these alone since i lost my father when i was ten in a fatal accident along Lagos-Ibadan express way (that was some 8 years back). Since I’m the only child, she has only shown me so much care and affection, and i can’t afford to fail post utme the third time. . .

All these was going through my mind, and my thoughts were too crowded to notice that the result has loaded, and is right on the screen staring at me. I snapped out of my thoughts to discover that ‘the bridegroom’ is here, all i needed to do was to ‘zoom’ on my outdated Blackberry tour that i bought (3000 Naira, UK used) with my life savings. Trembling with so much fear, i pressed the middle key, there came my result. I looked at it, and behold. . . .
The Painful Pleasure (TPP)
EPISODE 2

Trembling with so much fear, i pressed the middle key, there came my result. I looked at it, and behold, it was ‘255’.

I shouted so loud, that my mum heard my voice in the shop “Thank you Jesus” I couldn’t believe my eyes, with a JAMB score of 235, that is an aggregate (Jamb+postutme divided by 2) of 245 which is enough to study microbiology (my first choice) since the cutoff for microbiology the previous year was 240.

I started rolling on the floor with so much Joy. My mother (who had heard my voice earlier) came in. “Dapo what is it” she enquired. I just gave my phone to her, then she saw my result, no adjective can qualify the look on her face on that fateful day, she was just too happy as she didn’t know what to say. She opened her mouth, and what came out was “ose oko mi” as tears of joy started rolling down her both chicks. This means; “thank you my husband”. (This is how Yoruba mothers do when they are very happy with you, they call you “oko mi” which means “my husband”)

Well, I’m her husband, since she has lost her husband since 8 years and I’m the only one she has. “I knew you will make it”, she said to me, hugging me tight with so much Joy. She went to the market, bought life-chicken, killed and fried for me. I ate the chicken with garri, garnished with sugar and milk (that was the best meal i had that year). My mum was so happy, indeed that day was the happiest day of my life. All these happened August 12 2010, and by November, the admission list was out and as expected, i was given my course of choice- Microbiology.

For those in OAU, you will agree with me that OAU is a university that gives you admission today, and then you resume in ten years time (that’s just exaggeration o). I saw my admission status in November, and we were to resume June of the following year, because there was ASUU strike then which disrupted the school callendar. Well, it’s an advantage for me, since it would give my mum enough time to source for my fees.

So my mum did all she could, and got the fees, what a wonderful woman she is. Though that period appeared to be so slow, because i had waited for years at home and can’t wait to resume school. As long as it seems, the day drew near and it was just a month to resumption.

Behold, it was time for online registration, i couldn’t do it on my phone because it includes uploading of scanned WAEC/NECO result, birth certificate, signature and the likes. So i had to go to the Cafe. So i went to ‘God’s Grace’ (A famous cafe in Apata, Ibadan) to upload my WAEC result which was full of C’s and just 2 B’s (It wasn’t bad anyway) and other documents. When i got there i discovered that there were 5 people already waiting to do that same online registration. That was where i met Sandra.

Tbc

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