Breaking unbroken friendship

In literature, it is usually and clearly said or stated that most short stories are failed novels.  They are, just so because the tales in most short stories can be conveniently enlarged or elongated to produce full prose fictions.  Here in Unbroken Friendship, Oyelola Ogunrinde tells a swift short story embedded with lyricism.  It is the story of Tomi, Uche and Uncle Charles.  Most of the scenes carefully documented in the story happens always amongst teenagers or young adults in higher institutions.

Uncle Charles is Uche’s uncle who has lived in Russia for many years.  Unknown to his people, his long absence from home here in Nigeria, and his being incommunicado with his brother is that he has turned into a Russian secret agent back in Mosco.  But the story here is that Uncle Charles left Nigeria when Uche was still a baby.  Being Uche’s only paternal uncle, Uche indeed misses him a lot.

So when news got to them that he has returned to Nigeria, staying in a hotel, Uche chooses to visit him.  She goes in company of her close friend, roommate and confidant, Tomi.  Incidentally, Tomi is the narrator.  She tells the story in a way to seek peoples interest on how love at first sight really works.  She is a victim.  She amplifies it.

On getting to the hotel, Tomi is surprised to see how young and appealing Uncle Charles appears.  Without much ado, she falls in love immediately.  Charles, an old and professional secret agent also notices Tomi’s nervousness and immediately capitalizes on it.  Meanwhile Uche is not conscious of it.  Told by way of making the story subtle and to also teach lessons on love, on impulse, Tomi does not waste time in allowing Charles capture her.  As soon as Charles visits her hostel in the absence of Uche, both of them go out on a date.  They end up in Charles hotel room where passion, love, the strong lure for hot sex takes over.

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Clearly, both are in love.  But it is not the type of love meant to last.  Charles is in Nigeria to plant communism and entrench communist ideas.  In the main body politics of Nigeria, Russian government sends him to hoodwink some leaders, more so, political bigwigs to weigh into communist ideologies for Nigeria.

So, Charles is a communist agent known to have the charm to win women over and to also bamboozle their ways into a government system.  Combining these two, he digs into Tomi.  Tomi herself is equally a willing prey.  Yet Charles goes into her fully ready to love, to leave an everlasting impression on her.  After Charles has used a few Journalists to establish some communist tendencies in Nigeria, it is time to disappear the way he came.  He does not want to stay long enough to be captured or detained or noticed by Nigerian government.

He does not also want to let Tomi know the exact time he will disappear.  After making love with her countless times and leaving Tomi wanting for more, he quietly disappears from Nigeria.  Tomi is only told by Uche that Uncle Charles has left Nigeria.  But as it is Tomi does not want to let Uche know she is in love or that she even slept with her Uncle.  Meanwhile, Tomi keeps to herself, becoming suddenly moody.  She chooses never to let Uche know until the story comes to an end.

It is a clear story of love gone soar.  It is unbroken friendship quite alright.  Maybe in the next part of the story, Tomi will go looking for Charles in Mosco.  Or she herself will be made to become a single mother.  That is why it is a failed prose fiction.  This story is part of a collection by Hammond House International Literary Prize 2025.  The Unbroken Friendship is told so much soothingly that it is tagged the editor’s choice.  Ogunrinde is a literary journalist.  She is fond of squeezing stories out of nothing.  This one also is loud and clear.  The penchant to love, to have sex quickly, the dazzling effects of most secret agents, all come together to beautify the story.  It is simply told.  It captivates.  It flows smoothly, appealing to young people, eager to explore in a hurry, to experiment.  Tomi gets a dose of it within a few days that Charles entered her.

It is also a story imbued with urgency.  Ogunrinde has been nominated for this famous Hammond House International Literary Prize just because of the texture of the story.  It brings out a colourful sentiment across all continents of how feeble things make young women forget decorum for love.  It shows that most spies and secret agents are brought to their knees most times by the weakness they have for women.  Therefore, Tomi is indeed a willing tool in this regard.

The choice of Unbroken Friendship by the editor is well understood.  It shows there is a story in every situation.  But what makes a story a dazzler is when it is told stylishly, depicting the writer’s ability to convince and capture the essence of readers.  Ogunrinde has done this and ensuring there are lessons to learn from the tale, this Unbroken Friendship.