Kenechukwu woke up in daze. He already knew how his morning would look like, he'd go downstairs and Somadina would try to convince him to go to the village with her. He'd say nothing. There was really nothing he could say, he had said it all. He wasn't going anywhere to pay homage to a god he didn't believe in, a god he didn't care for. But it was almost as if Somadina had been programmed to tell him every time she saw him that they had to the go back to the village. He hadn't been there in a long while and suddenly, his village people cared about him enough to request his presence. He'd think not.

The major problem wasn't the village people or Somadina's constant nagging, it was her inability to leave. He had tried, dragged her out his house, which in all honesty wasn't a gentlemanly thing to do and heck Pam had been surprised to see him dragging someone out of his house, but he asked no questions. But then the second he stepped into his house, Somadina was there with a bottle of Fanta in her hand, and like the first time he saw her, Kenechukwu felt irritated.

It was Zikachi that bothered him the most. He had told her about Somadina and she had been pissed to hell. Which he totally understood, he wouldn't be pleased if a man were to permanently be unable to leave Zikachi's house. But Zikachi didn't care about the gods or Somadina's inability to leave, she just cared about Somadina still being in the house. And yesterday, after church service the pastor had expressed his disappointment in Somadina's presence in his house. He just wished they'd understand the complications of the entire matter.

Kenechukwu sighed and got out of bed. Today was a Monday, and according to Somadina, his period of grace expired today. She had stomped into his room and warned him to follow her to the village. Kenechukwu had politely declined. He had found out that arguing with Somadina only gingered her to keep asking him to return to the village.
He went through his morning routine, feeling very stressed. He wasn't able to speak with Zikachi yesterday, her number was turned off and he knew it had something to do with Somadina.
Kenechukwu walked downstairs dressed in a grey suit. He had never been one to complain about Mondays, but he'd be pretty unique to not admit how horrible this Monday was. Somadina was pacing before the stairs, her left hand massaging her right wrist. Kenechukwu could almost imagine what she wanted to say and he knew it would start with her calling his first and last name.

On seeing him, Somadina stopped pacing and looked at him as he walked down the remaining stairs. Once on the last one, Kenechukwu walked past her, and she looked after him before trailing behind him.

"Kenechukwu Nwodo, your period of grace expires today."

"I know," he said and walked into the sitting room.

"Are you sure we understand this period of grace thing similarly? What I mean is there's no grace today. Simply put, you could very well die today."

"I won't."

"How are you so calm?"

"God's on my side."

"You think this whole thing is going to be hard."

Kenechukwu headed for the door, he didn't want to hear any more of this whole gods thing. Surely, Somadina had to be tired of constantly having this conversation. She was beginning to sound like a broken record. Soma ran ahead him and blocked his path both her arms extended. He groaned.

"Listen to me Kenechukwu Nwodo, I don't think you understand how simple it is for them to ruin you. It's a matter of calling your name three times and blowing powder in the air. Don't be mad."

"Somadina, I appreciate your concern, I really do. But you'll see, God won't let that happen. I'm a child of God."

"Kenechukwu Nwodo, don't try yourself. Don't be another Beatrice Anyawu. You'll lose your property and-"

"I won't lose anything in Jesus name, Amen."

Somadina dropped her hand and shook her head. "Until you start to get comfortable with the idea of owning nothing, it doesn't matter what they do, you'll break." She moved out of his way. "I just wished you are ready for the brewing storm but you're not and for that, I'm sorry."

***

Kenechukwu drove to work in his Lexus. He had the most interesting weekend and he'd tell Jide and Nasiru all about it so long they asked. Part of him wished that it had been a robbery, but so far, Somadina's goons were yet to show and demand his money or his life. He was currently on his last nerve, but he couldn't be responsible for killing a beauty of the gods. That sort of act carried fatal consequences, death related consequences. He parked in his spot and walked into the company.

Kenechukwu drove to work in his Lexus. He had the most interesting weekend and he'd tell Jide and Nasiru about it about it so long they asked. He parked in his spot and walked into the company.

McPherson and Sons Oil was the company he had served in during his NYSC days. Luckily for him, they had retained him after his service. The company was owned by a man whose name wasn't even McPherson. The owner was an Igbo man named Kennedy Kanayo and MacPherson was just an added name to confuse his village people. Nasiru said so.

"Hey Angela!" Kenechukwu greeted the receptionist as he signed his name.

"Kenechukwu, the bosses are looking for you."

"Why?"

"I don't know."

"How did they say it? Where they angry or calm or just relaxed or relaxed angry?"

"Kenechukwu, calm down. It's probably nothing. They might want to commend you."

Kenechukwu doubted it. The bosses never cared about anyone and to see the CEO or manager, you had to have done something commendable or horrid. Kenechukwu was so sure he had done nothing of the two. He walked got to the large office he shared with the others and went to his desk. He kept his case and arranged his tie before walking to see the boss. His heart hammered loudly, and if he was being honest, he had spent his whole time in this place trying to be avoided. The days of being noticed were far gone. He had the job, he didn't need the spotlight anymore.

He took an elevator to the top floor and the secretary announced his presence before ushering him on. He knocked on the door and pushed it open.

"Good morning sirs."

He recognized the three men but his eyes were on the man behind the desk. Kennedy Kanayo was a huge man with lights skin. He was wearing a lace shirt and the same lace trousers. He wore a red cap on his head. The other two men were the CEO and manager, both dressed in black suit.

"Good morning young man, you are?"

"Kenechukwu Nwodo, sir."

Kennedy picked up the file before him and opened it. "Kenechukwu Felix Nwodo?"

"Yes sir."

"You're fired."

Kenechukwu went quiet and looked at the faces of the three men. They had gone back to their conversation and were completely ignoring him like they didn't just stun him to hell. Surely, they were joking. They couldn't just fire him, just like that.

"I'm sorry, I'm what?"

"You're fired."

Was this how people got fired? No, it wasn't. They had to give him some sort of warning. They couldn't just up and fire him. Who does that?

Kenechukwu rubbed the back of his neck. "Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why are you firing me? What have I done wrong? I haven't done anything wrong. I come to work early, and I do my job diligently, I've never had any issues with any member of staff, I've not gone against the company code of conduct. Overall I've been very very very very very good." His voice had become thin now and he was finding it difficult to breathe. This was one hundred and fifty thousand monthly trying to kiss him goodbye.

"We know that. It's just Mr. Nwodo, we're running low on funds, so we need to let some staff go."

"How are we running low on funds? That's impossible."

"Are you our accounts manager? Mr. Nwodo, I understand this just be difficult for you, but there's no other way."

"You can't fire me. What am I supposed to do now? Please."

"Have a good day."

Kenechukwu didn't move. He stood there looking at each man. How could they fire him? He was Kenechukwu Felix Nwodo. Wasn't it yesterday that the Manager was telling how he's irreplaceable? How did he get so less important they're firing him just like that? It didn't help that the manager had a sad look on his face instead of enforcing his capabilities.

"Oga, you can go. What do you want? Farewell party?" the CEO asked.

Kenechukwu pursed his lips trying to prevent himself from crying or cussing out. He sighed in defeat and headed out the door. He walked slowly until he got to his cubicle. Some of his colleagues, ex-colleagues, looked at him with pity. Kenechukwu exhaled deeply in a bid to push back oncoming tears. Slowly, he grabbed Zikachi's picture from the desk and thought, "I lost us monthly one hundred and fifty thousand."

Someone dropped off a box at his desk while he was at the bosses' office. They always did this, almost as if they knew who was going to be fired. Before you even knew for sure that you were going to be fired, the other workers were already positive you were going to get fired.

Kenechukwu placed Zikachi's picture in the box, his Rubik's cube, a few personal books and his table clock and calendar. Another heavy sigh and he was gripping the box and walking out of the building. He managed to get to his car and regardless of what he wanted to think, he couldn't help suspecting his village people. It took all he got to not ask God why him. He placed the box at the backseat and as he turned to open his door, his name came in one of the voices he had so much to tell if only they'd ask.
Jide came jogging out of the building, Nasiru by his side. Kenechukwu watched them and the thought of getting into his car and driving off was overwhelming but he decided to stay and hear the nonsense Jide would come up with.

"I heard they fired you."

Kenechukwu nodded.

"Why?"

"They said the company's going broke."

"Which rubbish broke? Naso dem de carry go broke. Rubbish. The company is not broke anything. It's just a flimsy excuse to get rid of you."

"I want to keep thinking the company is really broke and I'm making a huge sacrifice so riffraff like you can keep their job. You're welcome."

Jide laughed and Nasiru, like every time Kenechukwu caught sight of him, was staring at the object of contention-which was Kenechukwu in this case-with zero expression on his face.

"Your salary must be one trillion naira because they fired you, only you to save is our job. Sacrificial lamb."

"No, they fired us-"

"Who exactly is this us? Oga, they fired you, third person singular, third person only you. They fired you, yourself and you, finish. The end. Kachifo"

"But they said-"

"Bro," Jide's hands rest on his shoulder, "forget what they said. They lied. I'm telling you that you alone were fired, done with, disposed of. Nasiru, back me up here."

Nasiru pressed his lips into a fine line before saying, "Do you think they'll pay you for this month? The month's almost over and they fired you. You should worry about that."

"I worry about you," Jide said in reply to Nasiru before looking at Kenechukwu. "Do you think we should quit our jobs and join you? We're wazobia and they just fired the one of us."

Nasiru scoffed. "It's bia that is leaving and wazo sounds good too. If you or I had been fired, there'd have been a problem because zobia and wabia sounds stupid. No offence to you, Kenechukwu."

"I'm going to go."

"I feel weird that you've not started crying," Nasiru said and as if it was the trigger, Kenechukwu's eyes began to sting. "That's my boy."

"Nasiru, you'll soon go back inside. Listen Kenechukwu, I think you should go home and rest before going to a law firm and suing this entire company to damnation."

"You still work here."

"Guy, I'm tired. I just want to rest. If they fire me, I won't lose anything. Tina's job is booming. That woman is just the best of both worlds, she handles the kids like a boss." Jide flashed his wedding ring. "I married the best of both worlds."

Nasiru, who didn't get the idea of falling in love rolled his eyes to infinity and beyond. "What about Zikachi?"

"She's not back yet."

"Your life is a mess."

Jide laughed and patted Kenechukwu on his back. "Stay safe."

Nasiru stayed back as Jide walked away. He stared at Kenechukwu and nodded. "Do you suspect your village people? Because they're the only ones-"

"It's not them. It's a coincidence. I am a child of God."

Kenechukwu noticed Jide had stopped walking and was staring at him with parted lips. Nasiru just looked like he wasn't just yelled at. He placed his hand on Kenechukwu's shoulder and said, "I know it's deep, but it's not this deep. Is there something you want to share?"

Kenechukwu watched Jide start to make his way back to them. He sighed.

"No."

"Nasi, let's go. Stop disturbing him."

"He still has something else bothering him. We should be here for our friend."

"Kenechukwu, we'll come by the house."

Jide pulled Nasiru along with him and Kenechukwu watched them until they disappeared into the building. He got into his car and drove out. Instead of home, he headed to his uncle's house and prayed he met Ezinne.