BLUNTED ON REALITY
By Chinedu W. Achebe
Tuesday, April 9, 2013.
Editor's Note: Blunted
on Reality follows the life of Obi Ifeanyi, a Nigerian born American
who is coming of age after the historic election of Barack Obama. As Obi
confronts challenges that impact his family, career, and romantic
interests, he is forced to examine his past and present choices to
define his future.
While
they enjoyed a late breakfast, they began to discuss the history of
Obama’s election. Obi started the conversation saying, “I still can’t
believe this racist ass country elected a black man named Barack Hussein
Obama to be the President. I guess Bush fucked this country up so much
that Americans were ready for a dramatic change. Regardless of the
matter, it is all good with me. Tamika, you wouldn’t imagine the
electricity that was at the spot we were watching the election results
at yesterday. It was like everybody knew he was going to win, but when
CNN reported that Barack Obama would be the President-elect on the
screen; the crowd erupted in a euphoria that I have never seen in my
life. I was embracing everybody at the place, including people I didn’t
know. I can’t even lie to you; I got real emotional and shed a few
tears. It was one of those moments that everybody will be able to tell
their kids and grandkids about.”
Tamika
also indicated the feeling was the same at the place she was at with
her friends. She posed a question to Obi, “So how does it feel to be 29
and one year closer to the big 30?” Obi responded, “I guess I am just
embracing it. I think sometimes people get caught up in reaching a
particular age as needing to have reached a certain level of
accomplishments. I now see that in life everything comes with time. But
it does make me more introspective that I am not getting younger and
that I need to start prioritizing what is important for the rest of my
life as well.” Tamika responded, “So are you ready to settle down, get
married, and start a family?” Obi said, “At this point of my life I know
I am ready for the right woman to come into my life. I guess it depends
on if that woman is ready for a man like me.”
The comment was not
intended for Tamika, but she took it like it was. “Well everybody isn’t
ready to settle down at the same time, we all got our own time.” Tamika
said. “That’s cool, but I am not going to hang around while someone
decides if I am a good enough man or not. If that person doesn’t
recognize what she has in front of her, then maybe I am not the guy for
her.” Obi responded. Tamika started pondering a lot of thoughts in her
mind. She really loved being around Obi and wanted to be with him one
day, but even though she just turned 30-yearsold; she was just getting
into her advertising career and wasn’t sure if she wanted to make a
sacrifice for any man, including Obi. The other thing is she couldn’t
imagine giving up Obi to another woman. It was funny how life turns out.
In college she would never worry about competing for the affection and
attention of a man. She held all the cards and decided who she wanted to
date. But in the world outside of college, the odds of meeting a tall,
smart, and conversational man like Obi were very slim.
Tamika’s
dating experiences after breaking up with Obi were not very successful.
She didn’t want the Obi type of guy, so she reverted back to the type
of guys she dated before Obi. Even though in her early to mid 20s, the
roughneck niggas were her thing, lately she finally realized that those
weren’t the type of guys to build a future with. The problem with Tamika
was that she never fully appreciated Obi’s scope of knowledge on
political and social issues. She wasn’t a very engaging conversational
person beyond discussing the entertainment industry.
Tamika
thought Obi’s knowledge consisted of a wide variety of things like
fluff which didn’t amount to anything. She would always wonder why he
liked to know what was going on in the world. Obi would be upset with
Tamika’s lack on intellectual curiosity. He would tell her, “I don’t
understand how you know almost everything about these damn reality
shows, but you can’t take 20 minutes to read the headline news from CNN
on TV or the Internet.” Tamika had never been asked to do much in her
life but to smile and look beautiful. Most men never demanded her to
challenge them mentally. But with Obi things were different. He was a
very strong willed, outspoken, and opinionated man. He came from a
family growing up where his father would have him read the New York
Times by the time Obi was 10-years-old. Obi would have to write a
thorough analysis of what he read. Both of his parents challenged their
kids to be critical thinkers and not just memorize things or just
regurgitate them. Tamika and Obi grew silent for awhile as they watched
TV. “Well Obi I know you are a good man and I hope we can someday make
this thing work out between us; if not you will get yourself a great
woman.” Obi looked at Tamika with a sign of disappointment. Just when he
thought she would make her appeal to really want to get back with him;
she reverted back to grandstanding. In Obi’s mind, this wasn’t undergrad
and his days of chasing and trying to make a woman want to be with him
were over. He responded back to her, “I guess we will just see want
happens.”
After
about another 30 minutes, Tamika started to get ready to head back
home. As the both of them walked outside toward Tamika’s car, they
caught themselves holding each other’s hands. “I really enjoyed you
coming over, fixing breakfast, and the birthday shower,” Obi said
laughingly. Tamika said, “No problem. I don’t mind doing anything for
you. I know you, Chike, and Lamar are going to be in the streets
tonight. Call me when you guys are done partying so you can come over to
my place and we can pick up where we left off.” “Well I am going to
have to take a quick nap to get ready for all of that,” Obi responded.
They
embraced and Tamika gave him a big kiss on the lips and started towards
his ears. Once, Tamika pulled off; Obi went inside and fell asleep.
Later
the phone rang and it was Obi’s cousin, Chike Ifeanyi. “My president is
African, my Toyota is blue, and I’ll be Goddamn if my rims ain’t too.
What the fuck is going on man?” Chike yelled that into the phone after
singing his own remixed lyrics from Young Jeezy’s song, ‘My President is Black’. “Hey,
Obi what have you been doing today? I know we had a long night
yesterday, but I hope you are ready for your birthday celebration.” Obi
responded to him, “Well Chike, I have been good. I just had a long
morning and you won’t guess who stopped by my place.” Chike responded,
“Obi, I ain’t into this guessing game shit. Who was it?”
The novel is available on Amazon at - http://www.amazon.com/Blunted-Reality-Chinedu-Achebe/dp/0615629253
Chinedu
W. Achebe is a Nigerian of Igbo descent who was born in Richmond,
Virginia. He received his bachelor's degree in Economics from the
University of Houston and currently resides in Houston,Texas. He is the
oldest of three siblings.