Mr Immaculate, Moses’ father was amazed at my poems and the true life story of myself I had been writing for over two years. He was in a hurry to see it published.
“This is so amazing!” he screamed. “Do
you mean to say you
write all these all alone?”
“Yes sir,” I humbly replied.
“Are you sure of what you are saying?”
“Yes sir, I did them all by myself.”
The man walked in slow motion to me
and ran his index finger
around my face, my lips, my ears, my
nose. When his finger
got to my forehead, he clicked it twice
and turned his ear to me
as if he wanted to detect the sound from
there. He turned to his
son and said something. They laughed.
Bose had become my best friend. We
began to do everything
together. She had even come around with
me to the house
twice. She never knew I could be better as
a friend than as an
enemy. Bose was the first person to edit
my works. She saw
her part of the story in the manuscript,
but fortunately for me, I
had ruled a line on it to show that it had
been cancelled. How
would I portray her as a bad character in
my book? Afterall, she
isn’t a bad girl anymore.
It was Bose herself who brought the
manuscript to me and
opened to those parts where her
villainous characters were
portrayed.
“Rose, why did you cancel out these?”
she flipped the book.
“Oh! I’m sorry I wrote them there in the
first place,” I
apologized.
“You don’t need to be,” she said. “I want
them there.”
I thought a bullet had just sunken into
my skull when I heard
her.
“What do you mean?”
“Leave it there as it is Rose, I want to be
in there.”
“As a bad character?”
“Yes, a bad character turned to a good
one,” Bose said. “Just let
it be!”
“Impossible!” I shouted with my hands.
Bose was laughing. She must be very
crazy.
“Never!” I said. “In fact I’m tearing off
those pages.” I grabbed
the book.
“You can’t!” Bose held my hands. We
began to struggle. She
overpowered me and got it.
Laide thought we were fighting. We had
to smile to her to
show that we were on top of the matter.
She calmed down.
Mrs Omotayo was the first to come into
the matter:
“Rose, if she says you should leave it
there, then leave it there!”
she communicated in sign language. In
the past six months she
had kept late nights learning it.
“Why ma?” I asked her.
“Do you know how many bad characters
will turn over a new
leaf by reading about her bad lifestyle
turned good?”
She had a point, but it wasn’t enough
reason for me to admit. It
was the past, so Bose should not show
up in my story as once
bad. I would only bring in her story right
from that point we
become friends, I thought.
The principal knew about our friendship,
myself and Bose. But
he was amazed not seeing us together
for almost six days. He
called us to his office and asked why. I
narrated the whole
incident and he laughed.
“Two funny kids,” he said. “Rose, do
exactly as Bose said to
you,” the man supported her. “So, this is
what is causing
quarrel between you two?”
“Yes sir,” Bose said. “And I promised not
to be her friend
anymore if she doesn’t start my story in
her book from the
beginning.”
“I won’t!” I screamed in sign language.
“Better we go separate
ways than putting it in black and white
for the whole world to
see that my friend once steals and do all
sorts of evil!”
“I want it just that way!” Bose spoke for
herself. We eyed each
other.
“It’s better I don’t publish that poo at all
—I mean the whole
book for that matter.”
“You can’t do that, Rose!” the principal
said.
“Watch me sir; I’m no more interested!”
“You can’t do that, Rose. If you’re no
more interested, I am!”
“But you don’t have the manuscript sir.”
“From where?”
“You of course!”
“I’ll flush it off today.”
“Don’t dare that Rose!”
“That’s what I will do sir. It’s better for
me not to publish it at
all!”
The principal knew I was bent on doing
it. He persuaded me
not to. I felt proud. How come someone
who didn’t know me
was now showing keen interest in my
write-ups tagged
nonsense by those who knew me? Hmm…
would I ever forgive
my father and Toyosi his miserable wife
if I saw them again?
“Okay, Rose, why can’t you go ahead and
publish it; all you
need to do is to replace the name ‘Bose’
with another name
entirely and no one would know she is
the one.”
I didn’t give the principal any reply. I left
his office with the mind
to do my own will; perhaps I would
consider his latest
suggestion.
Our neighbor who was now occupying
our apartment told Mrs
Omotayo that someone came asking for
Mr. John’s family who
were once occupying her flat previously.
Mrs Omotayo asked
her who the guest was and she said he
was the younger
brother to the head of the family.
“Rose, do you know your father’s younger
brother?”
“Yes!” I exclaimed. “He travelled to South
Africa some years
back. Do you see him?”
“No! He came here this morning to ask
for your family!”
“What! Where is he?”
“I wasn’t at home as you know. He only
delivered his message
to Mrs Eunice and…”
“Ha! Uncle James! Is he back in Nigeria?”
“Wait, let me land,” Mrs Omotayo said.
“Mrs. Eunice told him
that your family is no more living there.”
“Gush!” I banged my hands against each other.
To be continued
