Since the day Bode was beaten by me, I wasn’t allowed to come out of the house at will anymore, except on environmental sanitation days to tidy up the environment.
I was sad because of my education which was halted once again. I began to pray earnestly for my mother’s return because as it seemed right now, there was no hope for me aside her.
I was still having those heavy thoughts in
my heart when
Toyosi came to my room, the store room,
to tell me that I
should come with her to the verandah. It
had been long I saw
the sun last, since the day my father
tasted my urine and fell
sick.
I began to follow my stepmother. When
we got to the parlour,
she ordered me to stay still and wait for
my father. John
stepped out of the bathroom with a towel
around his body. He
had just taken a shower with Bode too.
As soon as he set his eyes on me, he
began to laugh aloud.
Bode was laughing too. They spoke to
each other and Bode
went to his room. My father sat on the
cushion chair and began
to scribble something in the sheet of
paper Bode just gave him.
When he was through, he gave it to me
to read; I didn’t hesitate
reading it:
Ha! Ha! Ha! Rose, you are ridiculous. So,
because I told you that
you can never have a man to marry you
in the future, you
decided to impose yourself on that blind
kid out there. It’s
funny! And you think I would bless your
marriage? Rose, listen
to me, if you don’t get a real man to
marry you, then forget
about having me to bless your marriage
because when a
disabled marries a disabled, they end up
disabled. I say it again,
let the earth bury me alive if you ever get
married to a normal
person. Ha! Ha! Ha!
I wondered what was bringing about
such utterance from my
father this time around. Toyosi cleared
my suspense when she
explained clearly to me the reason why
she had called me:
Your blind boyfriend, Biodun, is indeed
blindly in love with you
right now and he has been lovesick for
the past seven days
now. He was only mentioning your name,
saying that he
would die if he doesn’t feel your presence
around him. His
mother has come to beg me to allow you
see him, so that’s
what I’m taking you out to do
I was shy when I read it. John made me
more shy with his
laughter. I felt like running away, never to
return.
My mind shifted back to Biodun. Indeed
the disabled are also
able to make love. I am indeed able, I
thought. I was glad I
would see Biodun again, but I knew this
time I would see him
as a brother and not as a lover because I
thought I was too
young for that right now.
Even if I had wanted to see him as a
lover, it wouldn’t work
because my father would eventually
curse us and not bless us
ahead of a blissful marriage.
I stepped outside the roof of my father’s
flat and got arrested
by the cool natural wind. For the past
few days I had been
deprived of it. I sighed as I watched
Toyosi knocking the door
of our neighbour. Mrs Omotayo stepped
out and was
enthusiastic when she sighted me. She
hugged Toyosi tightly
as she saw me.
“Come in, come in,” she said as she
ushered us in. Reading her
lips seemed quite simple for me,
compared to reading my
father’s lips. My mother’s were the
easiest lips I had ever read.
I saw Biodun folding up on a sofa,
shivering. Tears ran down
my eyes. Laide was beside him, caring
for him. When she saw
me, she screamed my name and Biodun
thumped up.
I hasted towards him. He deserved pity
so much, looking
emaciated and wan. Laide rose up for me
as I took my seat and
placed Bode’s head on my lap and
rubbed his head.
Bode sighed and gave up. I thought he
was dead. I shook him
and he responded with a yawn. His
mother laughed and I
perceived she just said ‘loverboy’. I
smiled.
“He says he would feel better sleeping on
your lap. Blind
Samson on Delilah’s laps,” Toyosi signed
to me and I became
ashamed of myself. She asked me to
remain there while she
returned.
Mrs Omotayo watched in amazement. It
seemed as if Biodun
was snoring. She soon left us alone and
went to her room.
Laide scribbled something in a paper. I
read it. She was telling
me the reason why she didn’t show me
Biodun’s letter on time:
I was jealous over the fact that I would
have no one to play
with if I showed his love letter to you
because the two of you
will neglect me and play with each other.
Only me alone would
be left in the world.
I smiled when I read Laide’s note. She
had a point.
I watched Biodun’s nostrils expanding
and contracting as I
fought hard to get rid of the feeling of
lust that had engulfed my
heart. Suddenly I began to see the future
inside his nostrils
which seemed to me like a telescope:
Biodun and I walked up the podium.
Everywhere, to me, was
silent as usual, even though people
around me seemed to be
shouting. Flower girls stood around us,
helping to spray us
with bouquet of flowers-Roses,
Hibiscusses and lot more. It
was an awesome sight to behold, first of
its kind, I thought.
I looked around and saw my mother
seated as I held Bode’s
hand leading him to the podium where
the clergyman was. He
was cute, having a dark goggle on his
face.
The clergyman spoke and I watched the
sign language
interpretation by my class teacher, Mrs
Oyindamola. My aunty
and Honorable Daniel her husband were
also seated in their
befitting regalia. My father and mother
were smiling all the time.
I was glad that in the end John’s heart
had softened, having
spent a lot to see our marriage come up
successfully. He had
left Toyosi and Bode long ago.
“If we have anyone here who have a
reason why we should
not join these two in marriage, let such
person speak now or
keep silent forever.”
Nobody responded. I smiled. The dream
was coming to pass.
The clergyman turned to my mother:
“Mrs John Hannah, are you giving your
daughters hand in
marriage to this man, Mr Biodun?”
“Yes I am,” she said.
The clergyman turned to my father. He
was the only man
standing right now. If he said yes, then it
would be yes. Of
course, nothing more than a ‘yes’ would
proceed from his lips,
having asked for my forgiveness earlier,
some months before
the marriage.
“Mr John, do you want your–?”
“Yes I do!” my father responded before
the clergyman could
complete his statement.
It was a dream come true in the end.
Biodun held my
ringfinger as he slowly made to put a
ring in it, feeling around it
with his fingers. When the ring was
almost going to pass right
into my finger, I felt another hand, a
little bit wrinkled one,
slapping hard against our hands. The
ring fell off and rolled
away. To my shock, it was my father. He
wouldn’t allow the
marriage, having slapped the ring off our
hands.
“Ha! Ha! Ha!” he laughed, revealing his
brown teeth stained with
dotage. I screamed!
I was shocked. I had dozed off. Biodun’s
head was no more on
my lap. Infact, he wasn’t in sight
anymore. I had spent an hour
and half in the ‘sweet dream’.
It seemed my sound was too loud. Laide
and her mother
rushed in to ask me what was wrong. I
shook my head and
pointed to my laps to ask where Biodun
was.
Biodun began to enter the parlour with
his walking stick. He
was quite better right now. I was
surprised.
I couldn’t tell anyone the dream I had.
Now I knew that my
love life with Biodun wouldn’t work,
according to what I just
saw in the trance. I had rather relate with
him as a brother and
not a lover, I thought.
To be Continued
