Ifemia.

Sometimes one must fight to remember.

Somewhere in my father's house is an empty barrel; a mouth that mumbles songs of despair. Songs of no remembrance. And what is music if it cannot compel you to remember? To feel? 

Inside my father's living room is a body with no roots. Nothing grows. Nothing stays. And all that once were now withers.

Except her memory of Ebuka.

Ifemia loved Ebuka for many reasons, and although the passage of time is gradually feeding on her remembrance, she whispers his name under every breath. Like someone who slips out through the back-door anytime death comes knocking. She will not let this vacuum in her mind’s eye steal Ebuka. So she holds up an image of him and says, “I will not forget when I first knew I loved you”, then she laughs, as if reliving the memory. As if time gracefully holds her hand and takes her back to that very moment. To a time when she had not lost her mind, when she did not have to teach herself to remember.

The year was 2010.

Ifemia, a second year law student in the University of Benin, had just gotten to class when Ebuka, a transfer student from Benson Idahosa University, strolled in.

She would remember the first thing she noticed about him - his slightly bow legs and how wave-like it made his walk. If she didn't like bow legs before, she did now.

In the months that would pass, she would grow to like him for many reasons. The first being, as you already know, his bowlegs. And how it accentuated his walk.

The end. Or not?

Actually, I wasn't going to end it here but on a second thought...this is where I want to end as the writer. I've always wanted to do this, give the readers a chance to continue the story...

So if you would indulge me, and I hope you do, what traits would you ascribe to Ebuka? What attribute must one possess to make his memory worth fighting for?

Why do you think Ifemia, whose mind verges on instability, fights so hard not to let him go? Why is he what she holds on to when she can't even remember herself?