Holding an obviously scared Tinuade he strolled into the palatial sitting room, Tinu admired the sitting room quietly sitting on one of his royal looking chairs.
Cliff ran up the stairs to let Emeka know he was around by-passing the little girl tinu met the other time, she was engrossed with the piano.
Gradually some other non-cast crew members arrived; they saluted tinu and sat beside her.After a while Emeka and Cliff came down the stirs joking in pidgin English obviously about one of Emeka's sexual escapades, Emeka saluted all of them looking exceptionally happy.
All though he was wearing a pair of boxer shorts and a sleeveless singlet, tinu found him as charming as ever however she was quick to turn away from him to avoid being embarrassed a third time.
Tinu was shocked at how well Emeka saluted her, as he sat beside her,"It'ssonicetohaveyouinmyhousefortheveryfirsttime,whatdo Iofferyou?"
Tinu wanted to tell him it was not her first time in his house however she kept mute feigning a smile. Finally Emeka, Cliff and other members of the non-cast crew excused themselves moving towards the garden behind the house.
"SorrytinuwehavetomeetbeforetheminiauditioningIwillcheck onyouoccasionally".Cliff patted her on her back as he hurried out to meet the others, tinu relaxed carefully checking out the sitting room and enjoying the melody as the little girl played the organ far across the living room. She watched as she repeatedly tried to get the keys to Mark Idudu's "Mom was my hero" Tinu thought she could help her out, reluctantly she got up to meet the little girl not aware of what she might say to her today,
"Hi,emIdon'tknowyourname,"Tinu gently placed her hand on the little girls shoulder. "YouthinkI canhelpyou?"
The little girls reply was very sharp however tinu did not understand what she meant.
"Idon'tunderstandyou,"
The little girl did no look up,
"YouthinkIcanhelpyougettomydad?"
Tinu smiled
"Oh-ohsohe'syourdadafterall"
She was thinking aloud,"
"Areyoublind?"
Tinu ignored the her rude comment,
"WellyouwerenotgettingthekeystothatsongandIthoughtI couldtohelpyouout."
"Wellangelofmine,'mumwasmyhero'hasadifficultkey,even mymusicteachercouldn'tgetitandIsuredon'tthink…….”
"Iwrotethatsongyouknow"
The little girl looked at tinu for the very first time, tinu was not sure of what the expression on her face meant,
"Youdid?"
The little girl wheeled her chair out of the way as if to allow tinu play the song still expressing shock as tinu sat by the organ to do "mum was my hero', the best song Tinuade Philips ever wrote.
Tears trickled her face as she hummed the song remembering her late mother: Jane Omowunmi Philips whom she dedicated the song to, the little girl cried too, tinu was not sure of why she cried, was it because of the lyrics of the song? Or was it because Tinu was crying?
Cliff came in to check on Tinu as he had promised, he smiled as he spotted her with the little girl playing the organ and left immediately to get back to business.
The little girl clapped excitedly as Tinu finished playing the song, Tinu was glad she had touched this little heart. "Sowillyoutellmeyournamenow?"
She dried her tears smiling back at Tinuade Philips.
Tinu enjoyed every bit of shooting Emeka McCauley film 'black star', she had worked closely with Cliff and Emeka, and had tried as much as she could to avoid having personal contact with Emeka.
She guessed he must have being avoiding her too however perhaps because it was Emeka's film he avoided all the ladies on set as much as he could, at times publicly embarrassing some stubborn ones.
In eight weeks it was all over and post production commenced, she sat in her room going through some pictures she took during recording and sipping a cold glass of coke, her phone rang, "
"Hitinu"She recognized little ama's voice
"Hili'langelandhowareyoutoday?"
Tinu was very excited to here from Amarachi McCauley,
“Fine,itsjustthatit'smybirthdaytomorrowandthereissomething specialaboutit,dad'stoobusywith"blackstar"wouldyoubenice enoughtotakemeoutpleeease?"
Tinu was quiet for a while; she checked her schedule for the next day"o.k.li'langel"
She finally said.
"Thanksalot!"
Ama shouted "I'llexpectyou."
It was a exciting day for both ladies, they started the day at Lekki beach Mayegun it was fun and quiet because beach visitors were not much, probably because it was a Tuesday there was more than enough to munch, they both talked about their common pain, 'the pain of having to loose their moms at an early age'.
Tinu knew she had to be strong for Ama's sake.
Tinu wanted to make ama forget about her mom at least for a while.
"OhIfeelitsgoingtobemylast."
Tinu was shocked dropping her Shawama on the beach sand.
"I'msick,IhaveleukemiaandGodhaskeptmethislong,Iguessits timetogo,thanksforgivingmeabefittingfinalbirthday.
Ama smiled, Tinu noticed an extra ordinary glow on her face, and she looked very beautiful.
"IfGodkeptyouthislong,don'tyouthinkhecanstillkeepyou,for manymoreyears?"
Tinu was crying profusely, she felt like someone was stabbing her in the heart, ama dried her tears
"Itso.k.aunttinudon'tcry."
The rest of the day was rather sober however tinu tried to ensure that ama had a nice time, they watched a film at silver birds cinemas and ended the evening eating catfish pepper soup at tinu's favorite joint.
Tinu drove ama home at about eight pm, she was so tired and sad and all she wanted to do was to drop ama and leave."Won'tyouputmetobed?"
Tinu smiled at the mischievous looking ten year old, she enjoyed every single part of pampering the spoilt little brat, tears dripped of her eyes at the thought of loosing her new little friend.
Tinu helped her unpack her wheel chair and carried her like a baby upstairs to her room.Tinu had to wait for her to have her bath, change into her pajamas and then she tucked her in bed,
"Nowli'langelcanIleave?"
The naughty looking girl passed tinu an African bed time story book.
"Oluronbicriedbeggingtheirokotreetoforgiveher….."
Tinu yawned as she watched her li'l angel sleep off, tinu smiled picking her car keys she tip toed out of ama's room praying she doesn't wake up now, gently shutting the door after her, she rushed through the long corridor it was quiet dark tinu wondered why Emeka choose to use a colored bulb, it didn't take long before she realized why.
She noticed two people glued together just before the staircase, of course it was Mr. women and yet another prey of his, they were kissing deeply as the lady moaned loudly, not even the sound of her pencil heeled shoe distracted them, tinu hissed loudly obviously wanting to be noticed, suddenly she looked back Emeka stared back at her smiling wickedly he unbuttoned the lady's blouse even as he winked at tinu ,tinu hissed again turning to leave.
She noticed two people glued together just before the staircase, of course it was Mr. women and yet another prey of his, they were kissing deeply as the lady moaned loudly, not even the sound of her pencil heeled shoe distracted them, tinu hissed loudly obviously wanting to be noticed, suddenly she looked back Emeka stared back at her smiling wickedly he unbuttoned the lady's blouse even as he winked at tinu, tinu hissed again turning to leave.