EPISODE 8
Damilola woke up suddenly, not
by the alarm clock, but the shrill
noise of his phone, someone was
calling and he wanted to ignore
that person, but the ringing was
incessant. He crossed his hand over his sleeping wife to the
dresser, and collected the buzzing
phone. Damilola: “Hello mother” he said
in a sad voice. He did all he could
as a son, but he rarely called his
mother because, whenever he
did, he was taken back in time to
Oshogbo and Khadijat. Damilola’s mother: “Khadijat’s
father is dead, he died this
morning. I tried all I could to
bring some sort of succor to him,
but nothing can comfort a man
whose family has deserted him and whose conscience is beating
drums for him to dance.” She said
sadly, and sighed. After coming
back from the States, where he
travelled to after India, he was
already married to Tania, and his mother did not care about Tania,
all she wanted was a grandchild
to heal the pain of the one that
was lost. But the more time
stretched with no child, the more
impatient his mother got with everyone, she reminded him that
karma had come for him, and
always told him she was praying
for him. Many times, he had asked
to move her to Lagos so they
could be closer, over the years he spent in America and with what
happened with Khadijat, he and
his mother had grown apart, but
she refused. It seemed she was
rooted to Oshogbo and the flat,
and leaving it would be a disrespect to Khadijat. He was so lost in thoughts
thinking of what could have
happened if he had done things
differently, one single night of
pleasure and a moment of
cowardice had destroyed a family. His mother had to ask if he
was still there, to which he replied
in the affirmative. Damilola: “Now, that he is dead,
who will bury him, you told me he
stopped going to the mosque” Damilola’s mother: “I called his
wife and children; they will give
him his last rites. I just thought I
should let you know. But don’t
even think of coming here, the
brothers might just kill you, their family has never been the same
since that incidence, Khadijat was
the light of their life” she said and
would have continued if Damilola
had not rushed her off the phone
and hung up. He put the phone down and
heaved a sigh, his mother’s call
always put him in a bad mood. He
held his head in his hands and for
the first time since everything
happened, he cried, so much that it woke his wife, Tania. Tania: “Baby, what is going on,
you are crying” she said
surprised because, she had never
seen Damilola in this state. Damilola: “Just hold me” he
replied and hugged her tightly. Bella stayed at the motel for days
but couldn’t get the manager; she
angrily checked out and was on
her way to the airport to catch a
flight back to Lagos. She was in
the taxi, and like most chatty taxi drivers, the driver began to
narrate a story no one asked him. Taxi driver: “This life eh, it is good
to have a good heart. A good
heart will always do the right
thing at every given situation, no
matter how hard the
circumstances are.” He said and paused for effect. Bella shifted
uncomfortably in her seat,
wondering if her conscience had
suddenly found a mouth piece,
she wanted to shut him up, but
later she would praise herself for not shutting him up. Taxi driver: “An Imam just died,
he was a great man for most of
his lifetime, but he made a wicked
decision that drove his daughter
to her death, and the town has
not forgotten. His daughter got pregnant and the only decision
his wicked heart could come to
was killing her. I don’t know
what the Quran teaches them.
Fine, she really messed up the
family’s reputation, but she didn’t stop being their daughter, did
she?” he turned back to the
passenger side to ask for Bella’s
opinion, but the latter just
nodded her head. Taxi driver: “Hmmn, Khadijat, she
was such a sweet girl, who would
have thought” he said and Bella
thought that it was possible he
only heard the story and did not
know the family personally. But then the name hit home, and she
jerked upright in her seat. “That name, I have heard that
name before” she muttered
under her breath. Taxi driver: “The wife even left
the Imam’s house, and all his
children deserted him, but now
they are back to bury him. This
life eh, chai” he said, gingered by
Bella’s sudden interest in his story. He had not missed the way
she sat upright, and he knew
soon she would ask him
questions. Of course she did. Bella: “Please, tell me about this
Imam, where does he live?” she
inquired. Taxi driver: “I can take you there”
he said and without hesitation, he
swung his car around. This was
the fifth passenger he was telling
this story, and even though they
all showed interest, only this one had requested to see the
residence of the family whom this
tragedy had happened to. It was
a curious thing to him though. When they got to the block of
flats where Khadijat lived, the
driver was the first out of the car,
this was his opportunity to get
the full gist and still get paid for
time wasted. There was a crowd in front of the house, and he
could see the Imam being laid in
state. Bella moved closer and then
walked to a woman who was
sitting by herself, she looked
every sorrowful. Bella: “Madam, what happened to
this man, why is everyone so
sorrowful” she asked the woman
who turned out to be Damilola’s
mother, but she didn’t know this. Damilola’s mother: “When we
look at this man, it is not him we
see but the girl whose life was cut
off even before she had reached
her prime all because, this man in
his anger had made her run to her death” she said and narrated
in details the whole story, and
how she had lost the grandchild
that her son never wanted. She
told Bella that she had called her
son severally after hearing about the news, to convince him to own
up to the child, but he had
refused. She had taken it upon
herself to care for the mother of
the child, but unfortunately, death
had snatched her away. It was while she was talking that
Bella realized that she was
Damilola’s mother and that the
Khadijat she was talking about,
was the same one that Madam
Lagos, her mother-in-law had told them about. Bella: “I was right, Dayo is
Damilola’s son. Oh my world,
what have I stumbled on” she
didn’t know when she said it out
loud. Damilola’s mother: “What did you
say my daughter?” she asked
straining her ears to hear. Bella: “Oh nothing” she snapped,
and hurried away. The driver ran
after her into the car and they
drove away from the place. While the plane flew on its way to
Lagos, Bella thought of all she
found out in Oshogbo. She had
known the story of Khadijat, but
she didn’t know how many lives
it had affected. She was touched, but still she told herself that she
had to move on with her plans,
after all Damilola did not want the
child, he wouldn’t want him now. “Who wouldn’t want Dayo for a
son, is it a man who has no
child?” the little voice that was her
conscience said. “Would have loved to see the
look on Tania’s face when I bring
Dayo to their house and tell
Damilola everything, but that
would only give me temporary
pleasure. The utmost pleasure is in having Dayo faraway from my
son, and also hurt Gberan for
daring to slap me” she thought. At the Murtala Mohammed airport
in Lagos, she took Uber straight
to Tania and Damilola’s house.
Tania was surprised to see her
and her small luggage.
Fortunately for Bella’s evil plans, Damilola was not around. Bella: “My friend, this life is not
worth it anymore. How do people
betray us so, after all the love we
give to them. Men are not worth
it” she said with a drawn face like
she was really heartbroken. Tania couldn’t wait for the juicy details,
as she suspected that Bella
wanted to tell her that her
marriage with Gberan had
crashed. Tania: “Which one is not worth it,
your husband or life because I
can tell this is about Gberan and
his love child” she said, trying
hard to hide her smile. Bella: “No, actually it is about
Damilola and his betrayal of your
trust. Gberan slapped me, but that
is little compared to what I have
found out” she said and watched
the lurking smirk vanish from Tania’s face. The mention of
Damilola and betrayal in one
sentence had sparked her senses.
Tania stood up and moved away
from Bella. Tania: “Bella, you know I don’t
joke with Dami, we can taunt
ourselves with anything, but
please don’t joke with my
husband” Bella: “I know how much you
love that man, I was there na. To
think that he would have a son
and be pretending like he
doesn’t, waiting for the right time
to push you away is what I cannot fathom. The son you
thought belongs to my husband
is actually Damilola’s son” she
dropped the bombshell. Tania stared at Bella in surprise,
her eyes were pushing out of
their sockets. Tania: “You are joking right, tell
me you are joking. You are
joking, Bella” she shook Bella
vigorously. Bella: “No matter how much we
fight, you are my friend. I couldn’t
joke with something like this. I
am so sorry my friend” she said
and forced Tania into a hug. The
latter pushed her away and wiped the tears kissing her
cheeks. Then she snapped back and
smiled. Bella knew that truly her
plans were going to work
because, she knew her friend
Tania, more than anyone else.
.
.
.
.
.
What step would Tania
take, would she tell her husband
about Dayo, or would she concea l
it? How would she feature in
Bella’s plans to push Dayo out of
her house? Who can guess correctly?
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