Village People

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We called him Chico but his full name was Chicago. To date, I do not know if he was named after the city of Chicago in the United States of America or the name meant something in Igbo. It’s not pronounced like the popular city of Chicago but more like “Chi-cargo”.

 

I don’t remember what his profession was, but he worked with footballers and was often dressed in football jerseys and those loose shirts that we called togs in those days.

 

He drove a blue Passat back in those days and even though he lived in a “one-bedroom and parlor” apartment, was very successful in his own right.

 

In that one-bedroom apartment, he had everything one needed in a home to be comfortable. He had a big television and a two-in-one stereo that had a radio and turntable record player. He had a sizable refrigerator, a bookshelf, a clothing hanger, a shoe rack, and a stove.

 

He had a set of sofas that covered his whole parlor (living room) and a center table right in the middle where it belonged. There was a dining table that had four chairs and took up the rest of the space, there was a piece of furniture everywhere that made Chico’s apartment look more like a museum.

 

Chicago was exceptionally courteous to Beatrice and sought her opinion on everything. He went from being a neighbor to a, particularly good friend to the family. He visited as often as he wanted and it was easy because he just lived adjacent to number three which was our home. He always had business proposals for Beatrice, from buying a machine for making chalks to buying shops at the local market. Chico became like a son to Beatrice and at some point, he moved from number six to a bigger apartment in the neighborhood, we visited his new home which was a three-bedroom apartment, a lot bigger than what he was used to. It was good to see that his new living room swallowed all the furniture so his living room went from being overcrowded to looking simple.

 

Beatrice advised Chicago to settle down with a wife and start a family as expected of any grown man, he promised he would and so the search began for a wife for Chico. It is said that life is a mystery, sometimes people get entangled in the mystery of life and find themselves in a web that they never get out of. Chico found himself in the deepest part of that mystery and nothing he ever did afterward, turned out well.

 

He went from being a trusted friend to one who we struggled to understand, he wouldn’t account for funds Beatrice gave him for businesses, he would disappear for a while each time he got funds for a project and reappear with excuses why he could not deliver as promised. At some point he could no longer afford to pay his house rents and things went downhill from there and no he was not addicted to any substance.

 

The story went from finding a wife for Chico to stabilizing him, he just never seemed to get it right anymore, he became like a nuisance, and each time he showed up, it was to ask for help. Everyone was sick and tired of him but not Beatrice; she gave him chances upon chances and never gave up on him. Chico had no immediate family and the two people who we knew as his relations were a man named Darlington who was a US returnee and another one named Kelechi; they were his cousins and it was one of them that said that Chicago was under diabolical powers by people from his town who were jealous of success he once enjoyed. Chico’s predicament must have necessitated the term “village people”. His situation went from bad to worse and he even became sick.

 

This was another case of diabolism that we were faced with and looking at Chico’s circumstances, it was hard not to believe that there were strong evil forces hell-bent on destroying him. We all gave up on him but Beatrice never did, she admonished him several times but never stopped assisting him, we knew that she helped him with house rents and several businesses start-ups. Each time, he failed but was never ashamed to come back to ask for help. Mother understood that he was almost alone and helpless in the world and not even any of those that he helped in the past was there for him.

 

She prayed for him, paid hospital bills, and supported him the best that she could, when there were events at home Chico found an opportunity to return the favors received by making himself available for errands.

 

Everyone including Ferdinand believed that he was taking advantage of Beatrice’s kindness but she wouldn’t give up on a son that she indirectly adopted. She was pained by Chicago’s predicament because he was in her words, “such a promising young man”.

 

The last time I saw Chico, he had deteriorated, he walked with a cane because he had another stroke that left him partially paralyzed, but he said he got himself a wife, “a wife?!!” my sisters and I screamed before we burst out laughing. In all his dilemmas, Chico never lost his sense of humor; we often teasingly asked him what business proposal he had for Beatrice any time we visited, and he came to say hello. It was the Christmas season and we were all visiting Beatrice Enugu when Chico announced to us that he got engaged and was preparing to have a wedding. He said that his fiancé lived with him and so was already his wife but they needed to formalize things.

 

We joked with him that the wedding thing was another format to scheme some money out of Beatrice and all of us, we were laughing when Ezioma asked him if his anaconda was still working. Chico took this question very personally, he stood upright, made a fist with his arm to demonstrate to us that his anaconda was still active. “Amu m kwu chimchim” (my penis is standing strong), he said this reassuringly with a very straight face and went on to say that his wife could even be pregnant. We could not hear the rest of his explanation because we were laughing hysterically. We all contributed to Chicago’s wedding that never happened. We heard that the lady left him even before the wedding happened.

 

Chico moved back to his village, closer to the village people responsible for all that he had suffered, we heard from him occasionally when he needed some help, Beatrice helped him till the very end. After Beatrice passed, we imagined how Chico would face life without his support system. Even though he moved out of Enugu, he still enjoyed Beatrice’s benevolence, we knew he couldn’t handle her passing, he was fragile anyway.

 

A few months later after he learned of mother’s passing, Chico passed on peacefully. He was done with life, the Village people w