As I soon learnt later, it was all about Bode who slumped when he was on a swing playing with his friends the day before,which was the Children Day Celebration.
Bode’s head hit hard against the swing and he bled to
unconsciousness. That was
the same day I was asked to hawk, not
regarding that it was
our day (Children’s Day).
John my father didn’t return home
because somebody must
have to stay with Bode in the hospital.
Toyosi who returned
early the next morning had only come to
prepare something
for her son.
If not that I asked her where Bode and
my father was, she
wouldn’t have told me. I had pity for
them when I heard the
misfortune. Was it not the same Bode
who was healthy and
kinky just the day before? Wasn’t he the
one who made fun of
me the most? I thought. I silently prayed
to my God to spare
Bode’s life because I would not wish
anyone dead.
John and Toyosi lost their joy. They had
to spend many days
without going to their places of work, all
in the name of
wanting to cater for the health of their
sons. With the confused
look on the faces of the illegal couple, I
thought they had
repented, therefore I approached them to
ask them if they
would let me come with them to the
hospital where Bode was,
but my father refused blatantly. As for
Toyosi, she had
softened. Her eyeballs had popped out,
just because of
incessant tears.
I watched my father’s wealth gradually
fading. I could do
nothing but pity. Maybe God is fighting
for me, I thought. But
this war seemed too much for them to
bear. Bode had already
spent a month in the hospital, between
life and death.
As if that was not all, Toyosi’s womb
began to swell up. I
thought it was another ailment until I got
to know, somehow,
that she was already pregnant for my
father. They were
confused, not knowing what exactly they
would do with the
pregnancy. If I hadn’t seen the doctor’s
report where she kept
it, I wouldn’t have discovered this. She
was two months
pregnant.
John and Toyosi began to have some
quarrels regarding
whether the pregnancy should be kept or
aborted, because any
moment from then, Toyosi’s husband
would return from
South Africa where he was. John wanted
the pregnancy kept
while Toyosi wanted it aborted. John
believed that a bird at
hand was worth two in the bush. Since
they didn’t know if
Bode would survive it, then John had
easily passed him for two
birds in the bush and ironically, the one
in the womb would be
the bird at hand.
The confusion was much for the illegal
couple such that they
even resorted to physical fight. John
threatened to visit Toyosi’s
home at her husband’s return and tell
him the truth of the
whole matter if Toyosi aborted the
pregnancy.
I was surprised that John could regard a
foetus still in the
womb that myself, a child who was of
legitimate birth. John
lost his job and depended only on
whatever Toyosi earned
from her business. Whenever Toyosi
refused to give him
something, John would come to me and
collect some of the
profits I made from the egg sales and
whenever Toyosi
returned, she would pour out the content
of her mouth, but
who cared? I had no ears to hear her
shouts.
The two began to behave like Tom and
Jerry. They would pick
offences at the slightest provocations.
Toyosi threatened to
abort the pregnancy without my father’s
consent but John
threatened to kill her if she did.
Amidst their piteous state, Toyosi
received a letter. Her husband
would be returning to Nigeria in seven
months time, which
would be February of the following year,
2001. Already, Bode
had completed three months in the
hospital without
improvement.
Mrs Omotayo had become my enemy.
She would turn her
face away from me anytime she saw me.
I even took a step to
apologise, but she refused blatantly and
shouted at me. I
wondered why it seemed too difficult for
her to forgive me.
Toyosi’s fear was that her husband
would come when she
would be eight months pregnant already,
then it would be too
late for her to abort the pregnancy and
she would eventually
lose him. Toyosi didn’t want to lose her
husband because he
was very wealthy, so she needed to abort
that pregnancy on
time.
South Africa? I pondered. That was where
John’s younger
brother went and never returned to
Nigeria till date. I had
missed him so much because Uncle
James, as he was called
then, was a very good friend of mine.
Sometimes I had
wondered why he wasn’t wicked like John
my father. I
remembered how Uncle James used to
get angry at my father
anytime he was maltreating me. He
would nearly punch John
on the face. Even the day I saw him last,
it was through a hot
brawl he left our house, threatening to
jail my father for ill-
treating me. That day, John slapped his
face and he raised his
hand too to send a hot slap on my
father’s face in return, but
when my mother entered the room, he
retreated just for her
sake.
James, who had been staying with us all
the while because of
accommodation problem, was sent
packing by his elder
brother. When my mother was pleading
with John to let uncle
James be, that wicked man slapped her
and pushed her out of
the way, accusing my mother of having
sexual relationship
with his brother. Uncle James left
eventually. The day I saw him
last, he only came to secretly tell us that
things had eventually
worked out for him and he would be
travelling to South Africa.
He told us to keep it secret from John
his brother and my
mother did. That was the last time we
saw him; the only times
I thought of him was whenever Toyosi
was talking about
South Africa where her own husband had
gone too.
Surprisingly, Bode recovered from the
illness and was
discharged. It was then that John my
father agreed with Toyosi
to abort the pregnancy. She did and took
ill for a whole month.
All she could do was cry all day. John
also cried along as well
as Bode, but it was I alone that wouldn’t
cry though I tried to,
but tears wasn’t just going to come out
of my eyes.
To be Continued
