Must Read: The Abandoned Child - Season 1 - Episode 93

7 years ago

Must Read: The Abandoned Child - Season 1 - Episode 93

Ah Akin! She said
You still remember him, don’t you? I asked
She nodded.

He is married with Kids now; he is the biggest Cocoa merchant in the whole of Ekiti.

She flashed me a quick surprise glance and started biting her finger.

Yes! I continued; he has fleet of exotic Cars, his wife runs a complete school from crèche to secondary school in Ado Ekiti, he is also into real estate.

Akin? She interrupted
Yes Akin!
He dropped out of school after the death of his father! She said
He almost dropped! I corrected. He struggled to graduate eventually
Not much was left for him after the death of his father! She added.

Well, yes you are right, but you know, he put the pieces of his life together, he did some restitution and today, he is better off. He takes care of my dad when I am not around!

Your Dad? Or you mean to say your mum? She asked.

My mum is dead now, she came around eventually, we then discovered that Baba Land lord is my biological father! In other words you were my father’s tenant!
Jeez! She exclaimed
Yes o! It’s a long story, but the long and short of it is that I am no longer a bastard you and others tagged me.
She slowly went on her knees. Oh my God! She said; Bolaji I don’t know how to apologize for all the wrong my mother and I did to you, I don’t know.

When things started going sour for my family I thought maybe you had gone to the village chief priest to curse us or your spirit was fighting against us!

It could not have been my spirit because I am not dead. Maybe it was my grand ma’s spirit sha! I said. You know her money was involved too; the clothes and jewelries we sold were hers! And for your information, that money that had my picture with it and the note about my secondary education were actually from my mother.

In fact we could not explain what happened to all we money we stole from you! Every business my mother we ventured into went down the drain! It was so bad that she could not see me through the university. I had to resort to hustling just to meet up and graduate. I ended up graduating with a third class degree and as such I could not get a job. Life has not been easy with me and my mum.

There is no peace for the wicked! I reminded her
Really we have not had peace! Bolaji I am so sorry!

You are married I heard! I told her.

I met Cletus in Lagos, he gave me the impression that he was an engineer with Nigerian Breweries Kaduna, we started an affair and before long I was pregnant for him so my mum and I moved over to Kaduna. It was when we got here that I found out that he actually drives a fork lift machine in the Logistics department. That was when our problem started, he could not meet up with our daily needs because his salary was meager and not regular, he got me the job I am currently on.

And what is your job? I asked.

Don’t make a mockery of me BJ please, I know Dauda must have told you everything about me.

Okay I am sorry! I just wanted to hear from the horse’s mouth, but go on please. I said.

I supervise the bottle sorters and washers; the job is out sourced to our company by the brewery, the cleaning of the brewery premises and the entire environment. We were managing our lives until Cletus went and connived with a Truck driver to steal some crates of beer from the company. He lost his job and the responsibility of the family fell on me alone. Cletus has taken to drinking and mama is loosing her health.

The work is too hard for her!

Please stand up! I said. And what does your mama do? I asked
She paused as she cleaned her knees before answering me. She is among the workers that I supervise! She said.

Jesu Christi o! Your mother is among these people wearing hand gloves drenched in water washing and cleaning the Breweries! I exclaimed
Yes! She said, nodding her heads, now she is suffering from pneumonia.

Where is she now? I asked.

She has gone home! I told her that I saw you this afternoon. Her blood pressure rose and she had to go home to rest. She said she cannot withstand the fright of seeing you. If you see my mum now, you will not recognize her again, she is so thin and grouchy, and she uses every day of her life to pray for forgiveness for what we did to you years back.

And you guys think God will forgive you just like that? Did you guys ever think of coming back to Ijan to look for me to apologize? You are asking God for forgiveness when the man you offended has not forgiven you? I asked.

The thing is that even if we come to look for you, we don’t have the money to return to you nah! She said.

That is the more reason to come and beg! Well some people say life is not fair! I continued: but I think life is very fair! It is we humans that are not fair in our dealings with one another. But whatsoever a man sows, he reaps!” to tell you the truth Dupe, I am here today because of you!

Me? She asked
Yes you! You so much humiliated me in school back then that I cried when I am alone. You made me feel like a failure in life! You reminded me that I was a bastard and have no place in the world of your kind! Well look at me today! I think you were right back then when you said that water finds its level! I pushed my self hard to prove to the world and your kind that I was not doomed to failure! I went through a lot to be where I am today, but all is because I dared to succeed. Look at you today! Look at your mother!

Look at me! Well, I thank you for giving me attention this evening and most especially answering my question. But the reason you gave was not good enough, I think it was more out of my back ground as a pauper than seeing you Unclad, I t was a class thing. That is my take on that but all in all, thank you for your time. I am closed for the day, can I drop you off? It seems you were on your way out, I asked.

No I am good. She said: I need to get some food stuff and drugs for mama before going home.

Please tell your mother that I have forgiven you guys. Tell her I thank you guys for what you have made me become today. If not for you guys, I will not be here today.

The fact is that I was happy that nemesis had caught up with Modupe and her mother and she has seen that it is not good to look down on someone that is not dead because no one knows tomorrow. But on the other hand, I felt that if Dupe had not run me down back then, I would not have taken my destiny in my hands and fought to be a man today. I felt vindicated, no more bitterness but pity and compassion towards Dupe and her mother. I imagined the once elegant mama Dupe now washing bottles and cleaning gutters in the Brewery where I am a manager, she and her daughter that denied me my only source for a good a secured life. I cannot wait to tell Baba Fapounda and my father in law of this new discovery of mine. I cannot wait to go to home and narrate the discovery to my pregnant wife, she will be due to deliver next month, Baba does not know of her pregnancy yet! have not spoken with him for close to a year now.

Feeling good and light in my feet I went to the Car park to drive home and call my wife.

THE END