They all waited with bated breaths as they watched the gigantic package being wheeled into the room. Felicia’s eyes were almost popping out of their sockets. Her roommates squirmed audibly in their bed spaces. The colour on Biola’s face could have been described as scarlet if indeed black girls blushed.
“I told you I was going to get the biggest gift! I did, I did!” Felicia sang, as she danced a few steps on her blue rug.
***
The atmosphere in Moremi, Room 106 had been painted an envious-green since Felicia got a new boyfriend at the start of the semester. The other girls had their own boyfriends too, except for Sister Mercy, who wore those painfully plain clothes and always tied a grim scarf on her forehead. They were good friends in the definition of the carefree goodwill that often existed amongst young people. The problem was that the bevy of Biola, Seun and Toun could not stand the reality of Felicia dating one of the biggest boys on campus.
Tony drove a sleek E-class Mercedes Benz, dressed to kill and spoke flawless English. Whenever he came to their room, his expensive cologne will cloud the girls’ senses; creating an aphrodisiacal allure that drove them crazy.
“Sugar, I really missed you. I couldn’t wait to see you tonight,” Felicia would murmur in the babyish voice she adopted anytime Tony was around. Tony would flash his irresistible charming smile as he enveloped her in a bear hug.
Tony never failed to give his customary greeting – “Hey ladies, how are you doing?” Therefore it was impossible to hate him or castigate him as the rich snobbish guy. To the other girls he became the standard that their boyfriends must abide by. Toun lost her boyfriend after he got tired of being compared to Mr. Tony, the flawless. Biola swallowed her disappointment when she received a cheap body spray as her birthday gift and Seun was waiting for the perfect opportunity to ditch poor Johnny boy and hitch on to Tony’s prototype.
As the Valentine’s Day approached, the tension in Room 106 intensified. Everywhere on campus featured the aura of the approaching celebration. The tuck shops stocked their shelves with romantic cards, chocolates, huge teddy bears and cakes samples. The frontage of the female hostels was transformed into open markets every night as enterprising students displayed their wares – some of the bolder girls led their boyfriends to the display of lovely shoes, perfumes and dresses to impress their choice on his mind.
***
It was all buzzes and bubbles in Moremi hostel as the clock struck twelve – ushering in the Valentine’s Day. The deliveries were followed with squeals of delight as the packages were ripped open. Delivered cakes were displayed on the tables like garlands not to be eaten until friends and foes have oohhed and aaahed over it. In Room 106, the trio of Biola, Seun and Toun had received their packages of cakes, perfumes and beautifully-worded cards. They expressed fake delight and waited in high expectations for Felicia’s gift to arrive.
Felicia sat on her bed with a wide lazy smile on her face. She had decorated her bookshelf with red ribbons and shiny gold balls in the spirit of the season. She was already reveling in the anticipation of her roommates’ envy as she opened her big Valentine gift. Of course, it had to be really big; Tony only dealt in excellence.
The seconds ticked in rhythm with the girls’ heartbeats as they waited. At exactly 12:30 a.m. there was a knock on the door. The four of them collided as they moved to open it. A very slim girl with protruding teeth was outside with a wide smile plastered on her face as if she were the recipient and not the bearer of the gift.
The gift was big! So big that it was wheeled in on a trolley. There was a very big card taped to the top of the box. Felicia cast the card away without taking a second glance at it. She went to the task of removing the wrapper around the huge box. Her hands were shaking so badly that Biola quickly took over from her. The wrapper came off and revealed another shiny wrapper, after that came another wrapper, then another and yet another one.
“This is becoming mysterious,” Seun muttered under her breath. As the last fifth wrapper came off, Felicia sprang forward and pushed Biola away from the box. She raised the lid off the box. Their heads came together in a painful clang as they tried to look inside the box at the same time. They drew back and looked at each other with slackened jaws.
There was a single paper at the bottom of the box, it read:
My love for you is so deep,
So wide, so tall
No gift on earth can express its length or breath
This box is a symbol of that undying love
Though empty, it’s full of all my love
Yours forever, Tony.
The air gushed out of Felicia with a loud whoosh. She fell backwards on her bed like a deflated balloon. Her condition looked critical but no one noticed as the peals of Biola, Seun and Toun’s laughter resounded and bounced off the walls.
It was indeed the greatest gift of all.
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