The search for Bode began. Toyosi and John wept all days for him. They had visited everywhere they could to find him. Mrs Omotayo had also combed everywhere for Taiba who also fled during the bomb blast. Now I knew what really happened—it was a bomb blast in the Ikeja Army Cantonment. The latest news had it that the bombs were kept in an airtight underground and became heated up. So, there was ignition and they blasted.
I secretly went through some of the
newspapers my father
bought—a lot of them, because he
needed to keep himself
abreast of all the information pertaining
to the bomb blast. He
needed Bode so much.
Toyosi had grown lean, just within few
days after the incident.
It was obvious that she was getting lean.
To worsen the story
of her life, her husband had notified her
of his return to Nigeria
in few days. Toyosi needed to get back to
her husband’s house
and pretend that she had been waiting
there for him all the
while.
My father was the most confused person
in the world. If Bode
would never be found, then he would
have to bounce back to
me and take me as his child, but would
he be humble enough
to apologize? That would be a question
for another day.
I was walking on the street a week after
the incident when I
saw Obinna walking towards a house.
Yes! We could get a clue
to Bode’s whereabout from him, I
thought. When I returned
home that day, I told Toyosi about
Obinna and we tried to
locate his home.
Toyosi and John cried out loud when
Obinna’s parent told them
something. As I was able to make out,
the boy himself had
become deaf and dumb at the loud
sound from the blasts of
the bomb while he was running away
with Bode. The real
bomb was the shock of his best friend,
Bode, who rushed into
the Oke Afa canal and sank. Obinna saw
his friend sinking in the
mire; himself had to turn around and
escape somehow from
death.
As I learnt later, many souls were lost to
the mysterious canal
which I never knew was in existence until
the occurrence of the
bomb blast. I felt for Obinna. How would
he feel now about the
loss of his speech and auditory sense he
was boasting about
just few minutes before the blast? Would
he now be the one to
get offended seeing someone putting
leaves inside the mouth? I
thought. Sometimes anything that goes
around comes around.
Toyosi fell and rolled on the floor. She
was ready to die right
inside Obinna’s house. John mustered
much courage and
helped her out of there. Obinna was just
full of tears too—he
was trying to look away from me, being
overcome with
shame. I wept for them.
I found it hard to believe that Bode was
dead for real. When
Mrs Omotayo heard that, she concluded
that Taiba was dead
too. How would the villagers feel
whenever they hear of Taiba’s
demise?
It was too ironical a thing to think about
—five people in a
house, three disabled and two able-
bodied; a mishap came
rocking and the disabled were able to
survive while the able
were not able to save themselves. There
must be ability in
disability, I thought. When I later told
Biodun what I observed,
he said it was the truth, because ‘ability’
was part of what
makes the spelling of ‘disability’.
A day after Toyosi and John knew the
truth about their son
Bode, a great disagreement erupted
between them. Toyosi
fought hard to leave John and get away
forever, but the man
didn’t want her to leave. He confessed
that he was already used
to her.
I watched as the drama unfolded. Toyosi
had her way and
disappeared. John wept like a baby. He
seemed to have lost
everything—his child and his wife. I
thought he would now at
this moment set my mother free, but I
was only making a big
mistake.
The day after Toyosi left, early in the
morning, I woke up but
didn’t find my father. I went to the
parlour, to my father’s
room, to Bode’s room and to my mother’s
room but he was
nowhere near. The home was half-empty
since they had sold
almost everything in there earlier.
I sat on the only chair left in the parlour
and noticed a note on
the table. He must have left a letter for
me. Now I needed to see
what he had for me, apology and nothing
else, I thought.
Afterall, he had lost everything he
thought he had earlier.
Rose, I have walked out of this house
forever. Don’t expect to
see me anytime soon because I will never
return. I maintain,
Rose, you are the cause of all my
tragedy, because if I haven’t
had you, I wouldn’t have had anything
doing with any other
woman, such that I impregnated Toyosi.
If you have come out
of your mother’s womb as a normal
human being, I, John,
would not have slept with another
damsel and bring her home.
If you have only come out whole from
the womb, I would
have been contented with you and your
mother; but now
everything I have is gone. I will go and
start a new life. Next
week the house rent for this flat will be
due and you will be sent
out by the caretaker. It is better for me
to remain childless than
having you as a child because you are as
useless as nothing.
Imagine, a child that will never get
married. Goodbye Rose.
I screamed. Does that mean I would
never know where my
mother was? Now I would find John
wherever he may be. I
needed help here. Who would help? I
thought.
Now I believed it was time to get on to
my feet and fight for
my right. John and Toyosi must not go
scot-free, I thought.
They must produce my mother. Now I
had nothing more to
lose. I would confide in Mrs Omotayo and
give her my real
identity, perhaps she could be of
tremendous help. I would
reveal my real identity—she must know
that I am the daughter
of John and not his housemaid as she
thought I was.
I got up to my feet and began to make
for the exit door.
To be continued
