EPISODE 5
Madam Lagos named the child,
Dayo and took care of the child,
like a grandmother would do.
When Dayo was a year old, she
threw the biggest party in
Oshogbo and even invited her son and his family. Her son,
Gberan and his wife, Bella, just
had a baby boy too, who was a
few months younger than Dayo.
The moment Gberan set eyes on
Dayo, he liked the little boy, for he was comely and had a smile on
his face for everyone. Gberan: “Mother, you have such a
kind heart, to take in a total
stranger and care for her child ,
even when she is dead. I love you
mother” he said and embraced
his mother. Madam Lagos: “I love you too my
son. I also taught you to be kind,
and I hope you learned from me
because your kindness would be
needed” she said and held her
son’s gaze. Whenever his mother got like that, she always made a
request that was more like an
order. Gberan: “What is it mother?” he
asked Madam Lagos: “I am an old
woman, and there is so much an
old woman can do. I want you to
take Dayo with you back to
Lagos. I want you to take care of
him, like your own son, and give him the best just like you would
do to your son, Ken” she said. Gberan: “Mother, you know I
have never been able to refuse
you, but you also know how
Bella is, I don’t know how she will
take this. Can I talk to her first?”
he asked with a worried frown on his brow. Madam Lagos: “You can talk to
her, but, regardless of what she
says, you will take Dayo with you
to Lagos.” She retorted, with a
note of finality in her voice, and
turned away with a frown. Madam Lagos had never
supported Gberan’s marriage to
Bella. She had seen in the woman,
certain selfishness and her eyes
were thirsty. She was the type of
person that would do anything to get their desires. But Gberan had
said he loved her and wanted her
for wife, so she had no choice but
to bless their union. However,
both women had stayed away
from each other’s path. It was the reason Madam Lagos rarely
visited her son in Lagos. Even
when she did, she stayed in a
hotel throughout the duration of
her stay. So it happened that despite Bella’s
hesitation, Dayo was taken to
Lagos to live with them, as a son.
A nanny was employed for him,
as Bella had refused to take part
in his upbringing. Bella: “I have my own son,
Gberan” she would say anytime
her husband complained about
her nonchalance towards the little
boy. Gberan: “And God has decided to
bless you with another son. Why
don’t you like the boy, everyone
does” he would always try to
persuade his wife. “Yes that is the problem. Everyone
loves Dayo, nobody thinks of my
own son, Ken” The child grew both in wisdom
and grace. Gberan made sure he
had the best of everything, at 3
he already could swim, play the
piano, and talk intelligently. This
only made Gberan love him the more, even more than he loved
his own son. The little boy took
Bella as his mother and Gberan as
his father, even though his little
mind always wondered why his
mother, Bella was always cold to him. Who wouldn’t prefer Dayo to
Ken though, where Dayo was
affectionate, Ken was entitled,
where Dayo was smart and wise
beyond his years, Ken was dull
and only thought of what was his. Things came to a head when they
were five years old, Dayo was
already ahead of Ken in class,
because he got double
promotions. Ken began to envy
Dayo, especially as he felt his father loved Dayo more. He took
his complaints to his mother. Ken: “Mommy, why does daddy
like my brother more than me?”
he asked Bella: “No my child, your father
dos not love Dayo more than you.
He loves you more than anything
in this world because you are his,
but Dayo is not” she said, as she
kissed the child’s tears away. But in her heart she began to wonder
if her husband and his mother
had not played a fast one on her.
Why would a man favor another
man’s child to his own child,
except the other child was really his. “Hay God, Gberan and his mother
brought his love child into my
home. Gberan impregnated
someone and brought the child
into my home” she thought as
she stroked her son’s hair. That was the beginning of misery
for Dayo. Bella told her husband
that the child didn’t need his
nanny anymore, as she had
decided to take care of him.
Gberan was overjoyed to have his wife come around. But Bella did
not take care of Dayo as she had
said she would, she began to
maltreat the boy. She would make
the maid relax, while Dayo did all
the chores, even wash clothes. She would also make the little boy
go hungry and would only feed
him dinner because she knew her
husband would ask if he had
eaten when he came from work,
and Dayo was known never to tell lies. Gberan got a promotion
at the office and became
extremely busy, and Dayo’s
misery got worse. When Halima had told her
boyfriend of the pregnancy, he
had accepted and asked her to
marry him, on the condition that
she would convert to Christianity.
Halima did not see any way out because she knew her father
would disown her if she was
found pregnant. So she told her
parents that she wanted to marry
a Christian. After the marriage,
she left with her husband to America, where she gave birth to
a baby girl and named her
Cassandra. After ten years
sojourning in the States, Halima
and her family came back to
Nigeria to live in Lagos. Her husband was employed as a
regional manager in the company
that Gberan worked. Due to
Gberan’s high performance as a
branch manager, he became
close with his boss, Halima’s husband. The two families
became friends, and Ken began
to like Cassandra. However, Cassandra had only
eyes for Dayo. Whenever she was
with Ken, she would only ask of
Dayo. This only fueled the
animosity that Ken had for Dayo. Ken: “Mother, why does my
brother take everything from me.
He has even taken away
Cassandra” he cried to his
mother. Bella: “He is a usurper, he is not
your brother because I did not
give birth to him” she replied
coldly. Ken: “I don’t understand mother.
If he is not my brother, where did
he come from?” he asked
curiously. Bella: “That I don’t know, but he
is not your brother, and you
should not allow him take
anything away from you, not
even your father’s love” she told
the ten yeasr old Ken. One day, Dayo was sitting all
alone in the kitchen, he had tears
in his eyes because, there was no
doubt that his mother, Bella didn’t
love him. His father was always
away from the house, and he was feeling abandoned. Cassandra
had come visiting with her
mother, Halima, and when she
didn’t see Dayo anywhere in the
house, she knew he would be in
the kitchen. She often wondered if he was a house boy, or a son as
he was always doing one chore
or the other. Cassandra: “Dayo, are you
crying?” she asked, as she had
been standing for a while and
seen his shoulder shudder. Dayo: “Cassandra, when did you
come?” he asked and quickly
wiped his tears. Cassandra: “What is wrong?” she
asked coming to sit with him on
the kitchen floor. It was in this
position that Ken came in and
saw them. Ken: “I don’t know what you see
in this good for nothing orphan. I
am the son of this family, and I
deserve your attention” Dayo: “Ken, why would you call
me an orphan when mother and
father are not dead” he said
standing up. For the first time in
his life, Dayo was really angry. Ken: “Well, my father and mother
did not give birth to you, so if you
say you are not an orphan, go
look for your parents” he
sneered. Cassandra: “Don’t listen to him”
she said to Dayo, and then she
turned to Ken, “What is your
problem, why are you throwing
tantrums like a five year who got
his candy taken?” she asked, with her hands on her little waist. Ken: “I am only saying the truth”
he said and turned to leave, but
Dayo grabbed him, and turned
him to face him. Before Ken could
protest, Dayo swung his hand
and hit Ken on the lips. Ken’s lips broke and blood spurted from it. Ken: “You are so leaving this
house today” he said as he ran to
his mother. When Gberan came back from
work, he was met with an angry
wife, who accosted him the
moment he stepped his foot in
the house. Bella: “You have to take that child
back to your mother. It was
enough that you brought your
lovechild to my house, but what I
will not take is that child hurting
my own child” she yelled. Gberan: ‘What are you even
talking about, Dayo is not my
lovechild” he replied, with
surprise etched on his face. Bella: “Don’t give me that crap,
you love him more than Ken, it
can only mean that he is your
child too, and since I didn’t give
birth to him, fill in the gaps” she
thundered. Gberan: “Dayo is the child of a
woman my mother rescued from
accident. His mother is dead and
he needed a family, it is the
reason my mother told me to
bring him here. Dayo is a lovable child, I don’t get why you don’t
love him like everyone does” he
replied, dropping his suitcase on
the floor and falling wearily into a
chair. Bella: “How can I love a child who
is eclipsing my own child?” she
retorted Gberan: “No one is eclipsing Ken,
he just has to learn to be a better
person” he quipped, bending
down to unlace his shoes. Bella: “Are you questioning the
way I bring him up?” she quizzed
and soon they were in a shouting
fit, they did not realize that Dayo
was already in the sitting room,
and had heard everything. Dayo: “Who is my mother and
father?”
.
.
.
How will Dayo’s life turn
out, now that he knows the
people he called parents, are not
his parents. Also, what role would
Halima play in the boy’s life?
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