Recently there was a competition to write a modern version of the biblical story of Joseph. Find my entry below… let me know what you think.

“A taxi from Jibowu to Ikoyi?” the woman
interrupted, reading the address. “Please, that will be too expensive. If you
are not in a hurry, just wait here. My son is coming, and we are going to
Obalende. From there take a bus to waterside just tell the conductor you will
drop on Lugard.”

Joe was immediately worried, remembering all the
horror stories he had been told about Lagos.
What if this woman wants to kidnap me, he thought to himself – but then
he looked at her kind and wrinkled face, and decided that she looked safe
enough, and moreover, she was a fellow easterner. In the ensuing conversation,
she told him that her name ‘Mama Okey’, a widow, who lived with her son,
Okechukwu, an accountant at an Indian owned company. As they made small talk,
they discovered that they are from the neighboring towns of Ihiala and Okija.
This immediately puts Joe at ease, and before long they are chatting away like
close relatives.

“Ehen, Mama Okey, did you hear about
Obodigwe’s kidnapping? Do you know it was a set up by his ex-wife?”

“Ezi okwu?” Mama Okey retorted. “You mean
it?”

They were so engrossed in their conversation that
they didn’t notice the smartly-dressed young man standing beside them.

“Mama,” the man called out.

It was Okey. Mother and son embraced warmly, and
as her son apologized for his delayed arrival, Mama Okey introduced him to Joe,
explaining how it was Joe’s first time in Lagos
and that he needs help getting to his destination. Okey’s car was one of the
flashy “jeeps” Joe had only seen in those Nollywood movies, and so he was
excited to jump in.

They dropped him off in Obalende, and before long
Joe found a bus going to his uncle’s area. 
He disembarked and walked down the street, scanning for numbers on buildings.
Before long, he had arrived at No 12. Surely my uncle can’t be so rich!,
he thought to himself. He had been told by his late father that Uncle Pius was
a senator in Abuja,
but he was shocked all the same.

As he stood outside the lavish house, Joe
remembered how his uncle sent for him after his mother’s burial. Joe’s uncle
and father were first cousins, and although they had drifted apart, they had
been extremely close as children.

“What’s that your name again?” Uncle Pius had
asked after the burial. “Ehen – Joseph… I hear you have finished your
secondary school”.

Uncle Pius had then gone on to tell Joe how he had
always offered to help his dearly departed cousin by helping with Joe’s
training, but Joe’s mother had always refused, as Joe was her last child. Now
that Joe’s parents had both passed on within the space of a year, Uncle Pius
had wanted to help.

“Your mum always said you were the most brilliant
of her children,” Uncle Pius had said. “How would you like to live with us in Lagos? Anyway, I’ve already
spoken to your older siblings and they are okay with the idea… so since I’m
going to Uyo for the Presidential Retreat, you will go straight on to Lagos. I have told my wife,
and she is expecting you.”

After giving Joe his address, Uncle Pius walked
away, but then turned back. With a mournful look, he said, “Your parents both
meant a lot to me.”

“Yes? Can I help you?” The voice of the policeman
standing outside the gate stirred Joe from his reverie.

“Yes?” the policeman repeated.

“Erm… I’m here to see ‘Madam’… Mrs Atuanya.
My name is Joseph Atuanya.”

“Atuanya,” the policeman grunted, “I sabi everybody
for dis family… how come I no know you? Anyway, wait, make I tell them
inside.”

Fifteen minutes later, Joe was ushered into the
kitchen by a middle aged lady, whom he was later discover was the cook, Dora.
After a few minutes, Dora told him that Madam wanted to see him in the living
room.

Joseph meekly followed Dora down a corridor. She
left him in the living room, where he came face to face with his uncle’s wife,
Angelica. She was so beautiful… so this was his uncle’s notorious American
wife? Joe mused to himself. She was actually from the island of Barbados,
but as far as everyone back home was concerned, ‘Nwunye Pius’, as they called
her, was an American. Her skin shone like glass, she had a slender, hourglass
figure, and she had very light skin and large light brown eyes. She smiled when
she saw him.

“Wow! I had no idea you were such a big boy… Pius
kept on describing you as his brother’s baby.”

As she spoke, Angelica looked him up and down, and
pursed her lips as she smiled.

“Welcome my dear,” she went on, “Dora will show
you to your room, I’m sure you’re exhausted… so have a bath and make yourself
at home.”

It was the next day that Dora explained to Joe
that, as a serving senator, his uncle was actually based in Abuja
and only came to Lagos
every other weekend. He also had a huge house in Abuja,
but decided to leave his family in Lagos
to continue to run the family businesses – a car sales shop and a thriving supermarket
called TRUST Cash and Carry. 

That weekend, Joe’s uncle was in Lagos and sent for him almost as soon as he
arrived.

“Joe boy, welcome to Lagos. Well, like I told you back home, I
have always wanted to help one of you, as your father really took care of me as
a small boy during the war. I am sure that in the few days you’ve been here,
you must have heard about my shop in Victoria Island.
Well, I need you to work there. I know you must want to further your education
but you can always do so part-time during the weekends, and stay in the shop
during the week. My last manager was a fraudster, and since then, I’ve been
looking for a close family member that can come in and run things there. My
wife is always away, traveling to visit the children in the States. I trust
you… you know blood is always thicker than water. Anyway, I’m exhausted; we will
talk more at the shop tomorrow.”

In the next few weeks, Joe quickly learnt the
ropes, and in fact exposed more pilfering than his uncle could ever have
imagined was taking place at the store. In no time, Joe endeared himself to his
uncle and his wife. Soon, the kind of profits that the supermarket had been
recording before his uncle decided to go into politics, were being
surpassed. 

With time, Joe’s uncle kept his promise and got
him admission into Lagos
State University,
as a part-time student of Accounting. Life was hectic, but Joe was happy! He
loved working at the supermarket, and enjoyed his studies immensely. He only
had one problem – his uncle’s wife, Angelica… whom the household secretly
called ‘Spreespreespree’, a nickname given to her due to her affected western
twang. Joe thought the woman was weird… she would stare and smile at him for no
reason and then call him ‘Joey Baby’. Once, he could even have sworn she
touched his bottom, but then he thought it must have been a mistake.

With the passage of time, Joe got very close to
other members of the household – namely Dora the cook/cleaner, Ifiok and
Danjuma the mobile policemen (‘Mopol’), Bennett the driver, and ‘Baba Pam’, who
doubled as laundry man and gardener. Of all of them, he shared the closest bond
with Dora. One evening, he and Dora sat outside the kitchen eating some suya
that one of the Mopol had bought them.

As the gate opened, a sleek Honda drove into the
premises. Madam was home. Joe got up to greet her and brief her on some
developments at the store. As soon as he stood up, Dora grabbed him.

“Be careful,” Dora whispered.

Joe looked at her in confusion.

“Yes, Joe, you heard me – be careful,” she
repeated. “I have seen how Madam looks at you. Why do you think all Oga’s staff
are old-old men… be careful. You’re her in-law, but a bad woman is a bad woman.” 

Joe shook his head and released himself from her
grasp. What is Dora on about? he wondered.

He walked straight to Angelica’s room and knocked
on the door. In that household, even her driver had free access to the house,
so entering her room was nothing strange, but today was different.

As soon as Angelica told him to enter, she asked
him to close the door.

“Joey boy… so how’s the supermarket doing? Anyway,
I trust you….”

As she sat down, Joe noticed that her nightie was
transparent. He did a double take and then looked away in embarrassment. She
noticed the movement of his eyes and smiled.

“Come on, Joe,” she said softly, “come and sit by
me, you know your uncle is always away, and I get so lonely at times.”

As she spoke, Angelica took Joe’s left hand and
slipped it under her nightie, and in another swift movement started fiddling
with his trousers.

“No!” Joseph drew away from her sharply, “Aunty,
what are you doing?” he screamed.

“Aunty! Open this door or I will start shouting
here, o! Aunty!!” 

The next thing Joseph felt was a hot slap across
his face.

“Will you shut the hell up!” Angelica exclaimed. “Wow,
you’re more stupid than I thought, and I’m gonna make sure you pay for turning
me down!”

With that, she opened the door and pushed him out.
Joseph knew he was in a lot of trouble.

The next morning Joseph hurried to the shop
without saying a word to anyone, and when he got back he was shocked to see one
of his Uncle’s orderly’s by the gate. His Uncle was sitting outside in the
gazebo and was clearly upset.

“JOSEPH! His Uncle screamed. Joseph ran to greet
him.

“Daddy nno, how was your journey Sir..”

“Mopol” his uncle called and beckoned to the two
Mopol , “teach this idiot a lesson and when your done with him take him down to
cell, Next time he will think twice before messing with me”.

Joseph woke up the next morning with a severe
headache, the last thing he remembered before he passed out was being beaten
with a metal rod. He knew his Uncle’s wife had told her husband something but
it wasn’t until he overheard two officers discussing outside the cell that he
knew the details.

“ Do not mind the useless boy, e dey steal
millions from Senators business , na the wife catch am red handed!”