Diary Of A Jehovah's Withness - S01 E43

Story 3 years ago

Diary Of A Jehovah's Withness - S01 E43

Read Story: SEASON 1 EPISODE 43

”mama,this has nothing to do with

them”

”Emmy my son,you know an only

palmnut never get lost in the fire,you are my only son,i dont know what to

believe this days,They told me you

robbed and beated a man”she

paused to wipe the tears flowing

down her eyes,In all my twenty four

years I havent seen her so Emotional,mama was the type that

never cried,when bad incidents occur

she rather sniffed than cry.

”mama,the man I beated is stanley”

”who is stanley?”she asked.

I sighed and briefly narrated everything to her,by the time I was

through,her mouth was opened in a

wide circle.

”ARU….abomination! You mean

chioma has a hand in your

imprisonment and that she duped you?”

”yes mama,chioma your daughter”I

replied sourly.

”that reminds me,did you call chuka

like I said?” i swiftly changed the

topic. ”yes I did,he promised to come at the

house but I didnt see him,i went over

to his place only to be told that he

travelled” travelled My shoulders sanked

i am now the scape goat,others had

fled,leaving me to my plight.

”he was among..infact he was the one

that planned everything” I

mumbled,feeling dejected. Ogechi came to see me the next

day,she brought fruits and jollof rice

in a foodflask,I was surprised to see

her,Infact when I had been told that I

had a female visitor I had assumed it

was chioma my sister,coming to apologise and plead for forgiveness.

”ogechi….”

she read the shock in my

countenance and smiled quickly.

”I went to the house yesterday and

mama told me everything”she remarked as I lowered my bulk on the

bench.

”who and who knows now?”I

asked,my face a mask of worry.

”mama confided in me,am sure am

the only one she told,so how are you doing?”

I shrugged ”fine as you can see,I am

tired of this place,my prayer everyday

is that this people should pardon and

grant me bail” i replied with a helpless

sigh. ”it is well dear,jehovah works in

mighty ways……I brought something

for you” she quietly opened the

shopping bag and brought out the

foodflask,a bunch of

bananas,oranges and watermelon. My eyes were enveloped in tears of

gratitude.

”thanks so much”

”it is nothing,what troubles you,keeps

me sleepless”

”I dont know you could go to this length for someone who has treated

you ill off lately”I mumbled.

”haa,dont speak like that,I

understand everything dear,just

eat”she retortrd.

And I ate….We were twelve in our cell and i

happened to be the youngest and

the freshest,In all…salimu was the

one i was in good terms with,he

was close to my age and was well built with strong biceps,the only

repulsion i had whenever i was

with him was his mouth odour,it

seems he was born with it and

because of this flaw of his he was

given his own corner of the cell. Unfortunately for me,I was

opportuned to sit beside him

because the small cell was

crowded and had little ventilation.

I had shared the fruits ogechi

brought with my co_convicts and as i was chewing the flesh of the

orange salimu grabbed the my

other share of orange and threw it

into his mouth.

I felt angry,the orange i was

chewing became sour in my mouth and i had to fight myself not to spit

it out on the rough-cemented floor

that had holes that reminded me of

major road potholes.

“so who is this babe that brought

you fruits?”he asked and belched. “just a friend in my congregration”

“so you are really a JW?”

“yeah…”i replied.

He shooked his head,i had told him

about my story earlier in the day

and he had told me his.I hadnt been prepared for what i had

heard,even now i cant bring myself

to believe it.

Salimu(his nickname) happened to

have a brother that made frequent

business trips to foriegn countries,leaving behind salimu

and his young wife with thier kid.

One thing led to another …salimu

fell in love with his brothers wife

and they started an affair while his

elder brother was away. Unfortunately one day his brother

came back suddenly without

informing his wife or brother,as he

entered the compound on foot,his

wife caught a glimpse of his

shadow and prepared herself. Salimu was having a good time

with the wife,he was about

unbuttöning her gown just as he

always did with her…when the

woman started screaming.

…..his brother banged into the room and the next place he saw

himself was inside the cell.

End of story.

So that was how my friend ended

in jail.

A sad and sour story isn’t it? On my fifth day in jail i felt like

dying,the cell was stuffed and the

air stanked of unwashed bodies,i

nearly cried out as i couldnt bear it

anylonger,many thoughts chased each other in my mind,what would

become of me? I kept

asking,beads of tears rolled down

my eyes and i clumsily wiped them

off.

“emekus wetin dey worry you?”salimu asked,nudging me.

I sighed helplessly and

unconciously toyed with the two

small ropes on my butterfly

patterned boxer.

“my man,for how long will i remain here?”i asked.

He smacked his lips.

“o boy is that what you are thinking

about?”

“yes naa”

“i wonder what you would have done if you were in my shoes,do

you know i have been here for

three months? My brother just

threw me here,bribed the officers

and walked away”

i sighed,biting my nails helplessly.just then I noticed a

warden walking towards our cell,i

held

my breath and prayed silently.

“who be emeka for here?”the

warden asked.

“na me”i quickly replied,my heart thumping wildly.I soon found myself walking

towards the front hall with the

warden,he darted an angry look at

me and shoved me forward.

He led me to the little office inside

the hall,a huge man sat behind a table,his eyes was focused on a

file ön the desk,he looked up when

we entered.

“so you are the called emeka? You

are quite lucky that the DPO

changed his mind and decided to grant you bail,if not you would

have celebrated your seventy

years birthday here”the police

officer behind the mahogany desk

remarked with a scrowl on his

chubby face. I remained quiet,shuffling my feets

uncomfortably and wondering what

next.

“oya sign this sharperly” he

pushed a sheet of paper with a pen

ontop.

I skimmed it and quickly scrawled

my signature at the end of the

paper.

“aliyu”the officer called the warden

who quickly came to stand beside

me after a quick salute. “take him to the counter,youngman

you are free to go,but let this

sound as a warning to you and

your cohorts”.

For the first time in five days i took

a deep breath. “thank you sir”i mumbled as i was

ushered out of his presence.

A wane smile danced on mama

lips as i was led to the waiting

room,i had already put on my shirt

and trouser that had traces of dust on them.

“nnam”she muttered and embraced

me.

“mama it is okay,how is papa and

sabina?”i asked as we walked out

of the station. “fine fine”she replied and sighed.

“hope none of our brethens knew

what happened?”i asked as i

cautiously examined the street.

“apart from oge,i told no one else”

“how come they decided to grant me bail?” i asked the question that

had been ön my mind for long.