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It's Friday! One of the best days of the week for many workers and students. Daytime on Fridays tends to go by so quickly because of the anticipation for the weekend and the relief of weekly stressors from their usual resolve to sustain order and function from the dawn of Monday and the brunt of Tuesday to the bland recapitulation of Thursday. So on Fridays, classes, in addition to other forms of average weekly work tend to usually be less. Friday nights as well, are the nights of relaxation, nights of decompression and nights of partying. Saturday night parties are awesome too but Friday night parties come full and fresh with the heat of a stressful week, and with individuals ready to unwind in ways that dissolve the boundaries of inhibition. Also, for those who have productive plans for the weekend, Friday nights are the best times to throw all caution to the wind and wake up with hangovers on Saturday morning during which you can slowly recover, get yourself back together and for the rest of the weekend engage in things that are personally productive. For guys like Shola, it is equally similar. Although, unlike most of his friends, he is less into a full blown dissolution of inhibitions for many logical and existential welfare reasons; also in part because his father has taught him and his brother time and again over the years how dangerous a complete dissolution of inhibitions can be, especially for men who according to his father can either choose to be 'protectors of society' or 'vessels for chaos'. In spite of all his admonishment, bluntness and brashness in nature, Mr. Ehigie through several life experiences and by learning from the gentle sage-like wisdom of his late wife, has equally allowed his children as they've grown older to explore the world for themselves, make their own decisions and their own mistakes, as long as they aren't grave ones. And as Patricia always said, he has equally resolved to keep his arms perpetually open to receive them whenever they need solace and recovery from the impact of an unpredictable world, which as they came to learn, sums up most of what a good parent does once their child becomes an independent existential element of life.

Today, Shola has up to three events to attend. One of them is a traditional wedding, another is a burial ceremony and at night, his friends will be going out to have some fun. After attending his final school lecture for the day, he drops his backpack at Mr. Cosmas' shop, changes his shirt and shoes then heads out with his phone, wallet and a comb to smoothen his hair. He keeps combing as he walks under the scorching sun and then passes under a cool shade of palm trees down to the main tarred road in the school premises. Before getting to the nearest faculty bus stop, he sights Jimmy's sleek black sedan with silver rims driving past him with loud music playing from within and he immediately waves with a wide smile, "Baba Jay!"
In a few seconds, the car stops and slowly reverses toward him.
"Baba Jay!" Shola echoes again in praise, as the tinted car window rolls down.

"Shola, how far nau?" Jimmy asks with a posh accent and unusual charisma, as though forgetting how familiar they already are with each other, and that unlike usual when he stops on the road for an attractive damsel, this time, he is actually lowering his car window for another bro.

"I dey o, bro!" Shola responds with the usual radiant joy he wears when he meets and interacts with people.

Realizing that this situation is a different one, Jimmy phases out of the default asking-a-girl-out posh accent mode and responds more relatably, "Enter na.. make I drop you for front.."

Shola opens the car door and enters while combing his hair.

"Where you dey go? " Jimmy asks.

"Na Stella sister wedding. Her sister dey do traditional marriage today. She be invite all of us. I just wan quick show face."

"Stella.. Wait o.. no be Stella for our class? That girl wey be dey follow Chuks.."

"Yeah." Shola responds.

"Na'i she no even tell me? How many of una dey go?" Jimmy asks.

"Many guys. Both the guys and girls for our class. Chuks and Robo suppose don even reach there. I just want quick go meet dem."

"Eh ehn??.. And the Stella nor even tell me. We see each other yesterday o. We greet for class, con still even dey talk as we dey comot from lab and she no even invite me." Jimmy recounts in compassionate offense.

In response, Shola tries to diplomatize on her behalf, "Eh.. she no really make announcement well sha for our class. This kind thing, she suppose even announce am at least make everybody hear, then we o con show our support. She no invite guys early. Na just recently she just dey randomly tell people. Na yesterday me even hear. But based on sey we like gbedu, all of us just agree sey this weekend we must go! "

"Which area e dey? " Jimmy asks.

"Na Sapele road side." Shola responds.

"Mo dey go nau." he opines.

"Okay." Shola responds

With a smile and in appreciation of the sleek interior of the vehicle, Shola echoes again in joyful praise, "Baba Jay! This your car is fit for a king. Daddy Jimmy, you are doing well!"

Jimmy smiles in response and then they both laugh chummily.

"As you buy this car so, you sell the other one? " Shola asks.

"No.. the thing still dey house. Although, ee get one of my guys wey wan buy. I fit just give am for like ₦‎1.2M "

"Ahh.. Omo! Which means the car value still dey high even for second hand." Shola responds in bewilderment.

"Yes nau! Na tear rubber before. And I no even use am up to two years. The guy wey wan buy am na one of my chief guys from Ekehuan. Ee just dey start work, so ee wan buy cheap car to take hold body small. Make ee fit dey carry girls for ee area." Jimmy responds with a casual chuckle at the end.

Shola also laughs in concurrence.

After the thirty minute ride, both guys arrive at the location of the traditional wedding event and the place is full, with nine canopies half filled with about two hundred people, a hundred more littered across the open space in front of the compound, some cooking and packaging food in the outdoor kitchen beside the house and others arriving from time to time. There is a very loud traditional Edo music playing in the background by the DJ and echoing throughout the entire vicinity from four large speakers mounted on top of each other. The bride and groom had not yet come out of the house to celebrate with their guests because there has been a significant hold up within the house where the intimate family rites and negotiations are taking place at the oversight of the Egbe or 'extended family' of the bride and the representatives of the extended family of the groom who have accompanied him to pay the customary bride price and deliver all the items on the bride price list presented by the bride's family for their daughter's hand in marriage. Some items presented from the list were apparently not to the liking of the Okaegbe or 'head of the extended family'. Hence, he and some of his loyalists in the extended family have opted to cause a commotion until appeased by the groom and his companions for the inadequate gifts presented.

Outside the house, Shola and Jimmy sight their classmates and head towards their canopy to greet them. As they all exchange warm pleasantries, Stella walks down to their canopy elegantly from the main house and starts to greet them.

"Baby girl.." Shola says with a smile as he hugs her, "..You look fantastic."

"Thank you!" Stella responds charismatically.

Upon reaching Jimmy, she echoes gracefully, "Hi!.. Thank you for coming."

"I dey vex for you o. You didn't invite me." Jimmy responds.

"Oh my.. I'm so sorry."

"..And we spoke yesterday," he adds.

Embarrassed Stella covers her face in a coy manner, revealing her gold bracelet, stellar manicure and almond shaped nails. Then she moans outwardly in a sentimental manner with a slight smile, "I thought I'd told you.. You're Jerry, right?.. I texted you and Robo.."

"Wow.. So you don't even know my name?" Jimmy responds, bewildered and sensing that she may not be acting completely earnest.

In delicate shock, Stella covers her mouth again and afterwards lets out a radiant smile while holding onto Jimmy's hand "Oh my.. You're Jimmy. Yes, I know your name. I'm so sorry, dear."

"Wow.. I see how it is."

"No.. Don't worry, I promise. I'll make it up to you." she replies with an adorable tone in her voice, taking his hand in hers and then rubbing it gently.

Biting on his lower lip, Jimmy concurs, "Please do."

Afterwards, she lets him go and turns to Shola, "Shola, please I need you to come help me carry some refreshments."

"Oh.. okay, no problem." Shola responds. "From where?" he asks.

"Just follow me." she says, before flossily gliding away toward the main house. Shola follows behind.

As they get to the house, she tells him to wait by the door to the living room where the entire extended family are gathered for the finalization of the marriage rites. The Okaegbe and his cohorts finally agreed to a settlement after bouts of disagreement and less than subtle quarrelling amongst family members. Looking inside the parlour, Shola notices what he considers to be one of the most intriguing parts of the internal Edo marriage ceremony—the presentation of the bride. First, they put an opaque veil over some of the bride's sisters or other girls including the bride and then present them one after the other before the groom, to see if he would truly be able to recognize who his bride is, without seeing her face. The test is in many ways symbolic of how much genuine familiarity exists between the bride and the groom, as well as the trueness of intent and conviction on the part of the groom to request the hand, be willing to protect and love someone whom he truly knows very well and can recognize beyond facial appearances under any veil. Some say that in ancient times, it was so serious for a man to correctly identify his bride that if he made a mistake, he could end up losing his bride's hand or being made to marry someone else whom he wrongly selected as his bride.

As they all begin to clap and sing, with each trial, the family asks the groom, "Is this your bride?"
To the first one, he says, "No, this isn't her."
"Okay." They all burst into laughter and then bring in the second veiled person. "Is this not your bride??" they ask again.
"No.." he responds sheepishly, "..Not this one." Then everybody laughs again.
After bringing in the third person, once again, they echoe, "Surely, this is your bride!"
The groom looks at her carefully, squinting his eyes to the left, to the right, at her attire and then to her feet before responding wittily, "I have not seen my bride yet."
"Ohh!.." They respond playfully, before bringing in the fourth person. As she comes out, everybody becomes silent and awaits the groom's response.

Her red velvet intricately beaded garment with beautiful designs is visible from the side of the veil. Her slender arms are adorned at the wrist with shimmering gold jewellery and red coral beads, and at the top of her head, the protrusions from her ceremonial beaded headgear shaped like a crown, known as okuku is markedly visible, and with a warm smile he says, moving forward to touch her by the arm, "This is my wife."

"Yaay!.." everybody in the parlour rejoices and continues to sing songs of praise and merriment.

Thereafter, two hefty boys bring out some large cartons of soft drink and beer from an inner room in the house and drop them on the floor before Shola amidst the jubilation.

"Na you be Shola abi? Sister Stella say make I give you." one of them says.

"Okay" he responds.

Immediately, he lifts up the heavy cartons of drinks and starts to transport them back to the canopy outside for his classmates.

After they all begin to drink, laugh and make merry, Stella arrives with two friends of hers carrying sacks of packaged food and souvenirs.

"Hello guys!" Stella echoes cheerfully at everyone in the canopy full of her classmates. Then she continues, "Thank you so much for coming! I really appreciate all of you for making out time to honour my invitation, and for your support. Before we share the other refreshments, please let's all take some pictures. Osas! Are you with the camera?"

"Yes!" Osas mouths in response, as they all rise from their seats and gather together to take a set of beautiful photographs.

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Glossary:
"Shola, how far nau?" - "Shola, how are you?"
"I dey o, bro!" - "I'm good, bro!"
"Enter na.. make I drop you for front.." - "Come in.. let me drop you off ahead."
"Where you dey go? " - "Where are you going?"
"Na Stella sister wedding. Her sister dey do traditional marriage today. She be invite all of us. I just wan quick show face." - "It's Stella's sister's wedding. Her sister's traditional marriage is today. She'd invited us all. I just want to quickly pop-in."
"Stella.. Wait o.. no be Stella for our class? That girl wey be dey follow Chuks.." - "Stella?.. Wait, isn't that Stella from our class? The girl who used to date Chuks?"
"Na'i she no even tell me? How many of una dey go?"  - "And she didn't even tell me? How many of you will be attending?"
"Many guys. Both the guys and girls for our class. Chuks and Robo suppose don even reach there. I just want quick go meet dem." - "A lot of people. Both guys and girls in our class. Chuks and Robo should be there by now. I just want to quickly meet them there."
"Eh ehn??.. And the Stella nor even tell me. We see each other yesterday o. We greet for class, con still even dey talk as we dey comot from lab and she no even invite me." - "Really?.. Wow.. and Stella didn't even inform me. We saw each other yesterday. We said hi and continued a long discussion as we left the lab, and she didn't even invite me."
"Eh.. she no really make announcement well sha for our class. This kind thing, she suppose even announce am at least make everybody hear, then we o con show our support. She no invite guys early. Na just recently she just dey randomly tell people. Na yesterday me even hear. But based on sey we like gbedu, all of us just agree sey this weekend we must go! " - "Well.. she didn't really make a major announcement in class though. For this type of thing, she should've made an official announcement so that at least everyone would hear, and we could come show our support. She didn't invite a lot of people early. She only recently started speaking to people randomly. I didn't even find out until yesterday. But you know.. because we all like an excuse to party, we just decided that we must attend the event this weekend."
"Which area e dey? " - "Where's the venue?"
"Na Sapele road side." - "It's around Sapele road."
"Mo dey go nau." - "Alright, let's go then."
"As you buy this car so, you sell the other one? " - "Since you bought this new car, did you sell the other one?"
"No.. the thing still dey house. Although, ee get one of my guys wey wan buy. I fit just give am for like ₦‎1.2M " - "Oh, no.. it's still at home. Although, a friend of mine wants to buy it. I'll likely just give it to him for about ₦1.2million."
"Ahh.. Omo! Which means the car value still dey high even for second hand." - "Oh, wow!.. Which means the car's value is still quite high despite it being fairly used."
"Yes nau! Na tear rubber before. And I no even use am up to two years. The guy wey wan buy am na one of my chief guys from Ekehuan. Ee just dey start work, so ee wan buy cheap car to take hold body small. Make ee fit dey carry girls for ee area." - "Yeah, of course! It was a brand new car. And I didn't even use it for up to two years. The who wants to buy it is one of my big boss' friends from Ekehuan. He just started working, so he wants to stabilize himself by buying an average car, and also so that he can easily get some girls."
"I dey vex for you o." - "I'm a bit angry with you though."
"Na you be Shola abi? Sister Stella say make I give you." - "You're Shola right? Stella told me to hand these to you."