The Tattered Husband- My husband vanished abroad and returned home as a bigger to deceive us.

Williams ORJI Realistic Urban

There lived a man in Ebisam village, not far from Swali in Bayelsa State. His name was Pa Ebikebena, but everybody called him Pa Ebi. Pa Ebi was not a lazy man. He was a hardworking man, but poverty was like a second cloth on his body.His house was a small wooden house with zinc that leaked when rain fell. Inside that house lived his wife, Mama Ebi, whose real name was Favour, and their three children - Weri, who was 12 years old, Ebiere, who was 9 years old, and the last born, Junior, who was just 4 years old.Every morning, Mama Ebi would wake up by 4am to go to Swali market to sell small crayfish and dry fish. Pa Ebi would go to the jetty to push wheelbarrow and carry blocks for builders. At the end of the day, what they got was not enough. Sometimes they ate garri without groundnut in the morning, and in the night, they would drink water and sleep. The children were thin. Their school uniforms were torn.But Pa Ebi was a prayerful man. Every night, after the children had slept, he would go outside, kneel under the mango tree behind their house and pray, "Oh God, show me a way. Show me a way. I am tired of this poverty. My children are hungry."His wife would hear him and cry silently. She loved her husband. She did not know that God was about to answer, but the answer would bring another problem.In December 2019, during Christmas period, Pa Ebi met his old secondary school friend, Collins, who had just returned from Italy. Collins was looking fresh. He wore fine clothes. He drives a car. Pa Ebi was ashamed to even greet him because of his own tattered shirt.Collins looked at him and said, "Ebi, is this you? What happened to you?"Pa Ebi told him everything. How he had no job. How his children were out of school. Collins pitied him. He said, "Ebi, I will help you. I have a man in Italy. He needs people for his factory. If you can find small money for your flight, I will connect you. But listen, don't tell anybody. If you tell your village people, they will spoil it with jealousy. Keep it secret until your visa comes out."Pa Ebi was happy. For the first time in many years, hope entered his heart. He went home but he did not tell his wife. He thought, "If I tell Favour, she will tell her mother, her mother will tell the whole Swali. Let me keep it secret."He started looking for money. He borrowed. He sold the only piece of land his father left for him behind their house for N300,000. He added his savings. He gave everything to Collins.Two months later, Collins called him by 11pm, "Ebi, your visa is ready. You are travelling next week Tuesday. Come to Lagos."Pa Ebi was shaking. He did not tell his wife the truth. On Monday night, he told his wife, "Favour, I want to go to Yenagoa tomorrow to look for block work. I may sleep there two days."Mama Ebi said, "Okay, go well."That was how Pa Ebi left. He did not go to Yenagoa. He went to Lagos. He entered a plane for the first time in his life and left Nigeria. He left the country without his wife knowing. He left his children hungry. He switched off his phone.When Pa Ebi arrived in Naples, Italy, life was hard at first. He slept in a room with six other Africans. He worked in a cold warehouse. But after six months, God began to open doors.His Italian boss liked him because he was hardworking. He was promoted. He was given documents. He started earning 1,800 Euro every month. That was more than N2 million in Nigeria money at that time. Pa Ebi was now rich by village standard.But something changed in his heart. When he was poor, he was humble. Now that money came, he became proud and selfish.He met new friends in Italy. Nigerians who liked to party. They told him, "Don't send money to your wife too much. Women will finish your money. Enjoy your life. You suffered."So instead of sending money to his family in Ebisam, Pa Ebi started helping others outside. He would buy expensive drinks for friends. He would give money to Italian girlfriends. He would send money to his old friends in Lagos to show he has arrived. He would post on f*******:: "God is faithful. I am a cheerful giver."Meanwhile, back home in Ebisam, hell was happening.Mama Ebi waited one week, two weeks. No call. The phone number Pa Ebi gave her was switched off. She went to Yenagoa to look for him. She went to his friends. Nobody knew where he was. People started telling her, "Your husband has run away because of poverty."She cried every day. She could no longer sell fish because she had no capital. She started washing clothes for people in Swali. Her children were sent out of Community Primary School because of N5,000 school fee. She could no longer pay their school fees, and the headmaster sent them home. Weri started carrying loads at Tombia junction, Ebiere hawked sachet water in Swali traffic under hot sun, and little Junior always asked, "Where is Daddy?" It was a friend of Ma Ebi that told her about the husband movement.He repented, cared for hisfamily, found true peace finally.

Unfold