Lost Earnings

In Lost Earnings Nnamdi arrives in Nigeria after deportation from America and learns his brother Ekene has disappeared with the money he sent for a family home. He goes to the address Ekene provided and finds a naval officer's residence where a security man denies knowing Ekene. Nnamdi suffers a panic attack and collapses at the gate. He is taken to Amalexis Hospital where he has no emergency contacts and no money for treatment. Desire works as a cleaner at the hospital and is on her final warning for being late. She sees Nnamdi sitting alone outside the ward at night and learns he is penniless and homeless. She invites him to stay in her small room even though her volatile boyfriend might react violently. Desire shields Nnamdi from her boyfriend's anger but the doctor fires her for fraternizing after pressure from a powerful cousin of a patient Nnamdi was mistaken for. They scrape by in Desire's cramped quarters and Nnamdi helps her start a roadside provisions stall using space given by a grateful former patient. Their fragile stability breaks when the landlady storms in demanding rent and humiliates Nnamdi for living off a woman. Nnamdi sells his gold bracelet to support Desire's business. A mysterious late night phone call offers him a job interview. Nnamdi secures a corporate position and rises to a managerial role. His past crashes into his present when Ekene appears as a gaunt drug addicted company driver who is fired for negligence. Ekene storms into Nnamdi's office demanding his job back. The explosive reunion reveals Ekene bought the land but squandered the construction funds on a drug habit enabled by a man named Michael. He even turned to loan sharks in a desperate bid to replace the money. Nnamdi seethes with years of grief and rage and physically ejects Ekene from his home declaring he never wants to see him again. Desire intervenes tearfully highlighting Ekene's deteriorating health and the fact he did secure the land.