Dial - Season 2 - Episode 71

4 years ago

Dial - Season 2 - Episode 71

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They gave me the hottest water to bath that night.

There was an excited buzz all around, and a great amount of relief and happiness, although many of the women in the family continued to cry throughout the night. Somehow, by the sprouting of the mysterious olive branch, I had passed from being the hated villain to attain a sort of hero status.
I knew better, though; that olive branch didn’t have anything to do with me. That mysterious Holy Man had appeared on the scene and used my tears as and arduous show of emotion at the grave to cause a branch sprout, and thus serving as enough reason that had paved the way for the exhumation and reburial of Akos’ body.

My clothes, dirtied and stinky, had been taken away for washing, but I told them to discard them. There were about five sets of clothes in the duffel bag Abena Adobea had packed for me. After my bath I slipped into fresh jeans and T-shirt, and joined Nana b0s0mba for a meal they insisted I had.
I found out I was quite famished, and even though it was late I ate the banku and palm soup they served me with gusto. They had made the banku very soft, because I virtually had no teeth, and I ate it with a spoon. The fish was also very soft and tasted great.
It was whilst I was carefully enjoying the fish on my palate that it finally struck me: I was eating on my own, and had taken a bath on my own!

I paused suddenly as the realization hit me!
It was the first time that I had been able to do anything for myself!

The pains of old age had suddenly disappeared. I still looked quite old, but I wasn’t feeling so weak and the terrible pains that racked my frail body seemed to have disappeared quite suddenly since my little emotional display on the grave of Akos.
I sighed deeply; it felt really good.
I had a short discussion with Nana b0s0mba before retiring to bed. He told me that the exhumation would be in a week, after some rituals had been performed, and then a reburial on the ancestral grounds. I told him I wanted the best of coffins and funeral for Akos, because I wanted to be a part.

I gave him a lot of money for anything he might need, and he took it with thanks.

That night, I went to bed a little relieved.

Nana b0s0mba and four young men came for me at dawn, and we left the shrine of Nana b0s0mba.

They took me through the dark paths after we left the village.

We went through some forests. They offered to carry me, but I told them I was feeling fine, which indeed I was.