Art Can Be Galant : The Artist and his Loss
He, the great artist, had peed himself.
He had peed himself on stage, in front of the President of the Federal Republic, His Vice, The Judges, his fellow artists, the caterers serving rice, everybody!
They probably had not noticed, since he had run off to the bathroom almost immediately. Even if they had, it still wasn’t the most embarrassing part of the entire matter.
Squatting with his head held in his hands and the tears flowing down freely,
He could still see and hear the entire scenario like it was just happening..
“And the winner of The 2016 edition of the Nigerian Visual Art Competition is..” “..Panbi!” “What an upset! The rookie artist is now the Champ!!”
PANBI! Panbi had just beaten him to N10million. Not even Adim o. Panbi..the artist that no one had heard of before today.
This shame is too much
“I need to calm down”, Kunle thought to himself.
Eba. Okro soup. Eran dindin. Eba. Okro soup. Eran dindin. Eba..
But even his magic words didn’t help him, as he felt himself sink into a panic attack..
Oh mehn, this is going to escalate quickly..
And then he was distracted by a familiar voice..only a few people ever referred to him using his surname.
“Galant! Galant! Hafa?” “I know sey you dey dia, abi no be your shoe be dat?!
They were his shoes
Baba Olatubosun don show, oya make we comot!”
Kunle’s numbness continued even as Lami helped him to his feet and out of the bathroom…as he got into the back of Baba Olatubosun’s cab, he raised his head and watched the commotion happening . as soon as he saw it, he knew it would be a sight he would not forget in a hurry.
This dream is really bad
He saw the cheering crowd (why were they so happy sef, abi did Panbi promise them money?), he saw Panbi as they threw him up in the air, he saw Tula as he beamed with delight (Tula go collect like 1M, na why hin dey smile laidis). And then he saw her, as she stood beside Tula, smiling and jumping for joy.
“This is just too painful”, Kunle thought to himself as Baba Olatubosun drove off into the distance.
As he expected, that image stuck in the back of his mind. Even days after the media had finally stopped talking about the great upset at the Nigerian Visual Arts Competition 2016, he could still see the cheering crowd, Panbi being lifted in the air and the love of his life, standing beside Tula and cheering Panbi too.
Maybe she had even seen him wet himself in front of the President sef.
Jesus izz Lawd.
Kunle knew it wasn’t likely at 12 noon, but still he buried his head deep into his pillow and wished for sleep to come.
Sleep didn’t.
