RAYS OF HOPE, LAST PART.

My classmates and I at MaryHill High School, Washington DC, USA.

........So I took it up after that and got visa for you and I. I have been in US a week before I came to pick you.”
“You came to kidnap me!” I retorted

“Call it what you want” she said nonchalantly.

“So how did you make me sleep and how were you able to smuggle me out of US with all those security at the airport?”

“I gave you a sleeping pill that made you sleep for twenty four hours and lifted you in my arms- you weigh so much now- anyways, I took a cab to the airport and showed all my documents and told everyone who asked that you are on medication and not to be weaken and I showed them hospital papers to convince them- of course the papers were fake but they believed them!  It would have been tougher but I made settlement here and there and I was cleared through the customs. There is corruption even in the so called America” mum said scornfully. “So the rest of the story is simple” she said as she did other things. The more she talked, the angrier I became. And the more I hated her.”  This is our new house; your father just bought it. You can take a look around, we have a very big compound and there is a garden at the back and an orchard at the front. There’s a swimming pool as well as Jacuzzi. There’s nothing you want here that you won’t get.” we are no longer in the ghetto. God has blessed your dad finally. Even that proud judge will be proud of us now”

“Mum, this isn’t about money. I don’t care if we are rich or poor but all I care about is to be loved. I want a dad and a mum that will treat me like a areal human being and not some strangers who don’t care about me.  I want love and affection and not just a roof over my head and food in my stomach. It’s a lot deeper than you are thinking!” I said angrily. What right does mum think she has to be treating my life this way?

“Well, listen up this silly girl…look at me when I’m talking to yo! You are staying and that is final, there is nothing you can do about it!”

“I am not staying! I am going back to the states!” I sprang up ran to the door but my mum was faster. She caught me roughly before I could get to the door and dragged me back to the couch and flung me on it.

“Sit down and don’t you dare move a limb again!”

“No!” I cried hysterically “You better kill me else, I won’t stay and there is nothing you could do to stop me!”

“Shout all you want but the door is sound proofed, I will just lock you in and won’t let you out until you regain your common sense back. I can’t imagine I went to the trouble of bringing you back, risking my life, wasting my time and millions of naira to get you back and this is how you repay me this ungrateful child?” she asked angrily. I could tell that she was deeply hurt and another person would have cried because of it but not mum, she would rather let the tears turn to rage and hatred. “If you disturb me too much, I’ll beat the hell out of you and there’s no one that will rescue you from me. God knows that I am not in a very good mood right now”

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MY REAL DAD.

It’s been three months since I was forcefully brought back to Nigeria, all thanks to my mum. I couldn’t call the smiths because I didn’t have a phone and I didn’t know their phone numbers off hand and mum did not allow me to take anything along when she abducted me from their residence. I was filed with worries sand apprehension that the day mum came to abduct me, Nelson could have turned on the gas in the house and set the whole house and himself on fire. That single thought almost killed me. I refused to eat for two days, praying silently to God that nothing bad had happened to Nelson or other people I left behind in the US.

I couldn’t keep on fighting my mum because even if really wanted to run way, id didn’t know the place where we were because our new house was locate in an estate with optimum security. NO one enters or leaves the estate without his or her ID card. Few times that I sneaked away from the house, I couldn’t make it past the main gates at the entrance of the estate and the walls were too tall for me to climb, besides, they were topped with electric wires. Despite all these, I knew that we were still in Lagos but I couldn’t say exactly the part of Lagos we were living at. All the houses in the estate were new, beautiful and unbelievably big.

Mum enrolled me in a school nearby with strict warning that should my grades slip; she would beat nonsense out of my big head. I began to accept the fact that the Smiths and I were not destined to live together so I decided to let go of them and live my life with my parents, though I was sad that I couldn’t fulfill my promise to Kate. I began to associate with the kids in the estate. All the students in my class were younger than I and they were what we used to call butty when we were still living in the ghetto. Their parents ride posh cars and live in mansions. Even my dad bought the latest BMW car that he and mum rode the car to arties and places.

Mum opened a boutique and that’s where she used to be most times. Dad used to travel a lot on ‘business trips’ and sometimes he would go for as long as a month at a time before he comes back with but he usually comes back with many things. He was the one who used to bring all the things that mum was selling at the boutique.

Though I didn’t want to live with them before, but when I discovered that they had and gotten decent jobs, I accepted them and ceased trying to run away. But I didn’t know dad’s so called ‘business trips’ were fake to hide what he was really doing and that mum knew about it all but didn’t tell me. I didn’t know until almost two years after I began living with them; then I was in JSS2.

One day, mum and I were going to Yaba Market to buy our monthly foodstuff. It was one of those days that I enjoyed because in the market, I used to enjoy the attention that is showered on mum and I by the market women who were selling their goods. I also enjoyed the part where we have to haggle over the price of every item though we could afford them.  Mum said haggling is one the things that make going to market interesting.

 That day, dada had travelled as usual but he left the car behind for us.  We were in the car when we saw him. We were about to turn at a roundabout when a car suddenly hit us from behind. I screamed and mum cursed loudly as she fought valiantly to control the wheel from driving off the road. She managed to slow the car and parked it. She alighted angrily and began to walk towards the car that hit us from behind. The man that hit us too had alighted and he was walking towards our car, he looked worried and concerned.  He met mum halfway.

“Are you okay madam?” he asked

“Like hell we are okay but why did you do that? Do you even have a driver’s license” my mu shot at him but the man remained calm and unruffled.

“I am so sorry…”

“Wait, is this not Adams?” mum asked and I peered through the side mirror to see who it was.

“Yeah, Sola, is this really you?! My God, it’s a very small world.” The man said and took mum into a crushing embrace. I chuckled and said out loud to myself. 

“Wait till my dad sees you hugging another man” I said inside the car, looking at the two of them from the side mirror.

“Shola, why did you don it like that?” the man asked. All the while, I had not gotten a good view of him because I was seeing mum’s back from the mirror and not the man’s full face.

“Did what?” mum asked angrily. “I should be the one asking this question! You messed up my life and ran away. Don’t you start pretending on me”

“Shoal please lower your voice, we are in public…”

“I don’t care if we are in the middle of tornado!” mum shot back angrily. I began to wonder the terrible thing that man has done that warrants such anger and outburst from mum when mum herself said it “You impregnated me and ran away and you think that’s okay? My parents forsook me and stopped me from furthering my education just because I was pregnant for you and what did you do then, you ran away and I never heard from you for twelve good years!”

“Shola, it is not really like that. You have to trust me. Well, can we talk about this later? Here is my card, you can call me any time you want and we can talk….”

“No, I don’t need your card and I don’t want to see you again forever. We’re done. Don’t bother to look for me anymore…”
“You can’t just do that. Okay, where is my child? Was it a boy or a girl? Is she the one in the car…” he said and began to walk towards the car, mum ran after him to stop him from seeing me. I was curious and anxious to see the man so I alighted and saw him. He was tall, dark and very good looking in an academic sort of way. He looked like the senior stylish lecturers that you see in top universities. I later knew that I was right; he was really a lecturer at UNILAG. He extended his hand to me and I placed my hand in his we shook hands firmly, looking at each other without flinching. A kind of knowing look passed between us and I felt at ease in his presence.

“I am Rose, nice to meet you sir” I said, remembering my manners.

“The pleasure is mine, beautiful Rose; my name is Adams, your fa…”

“Adams stop, you don’t know what you are talking about” mum said sharply  “She is not your child, it was a boy that I gave birth to then but he died after two months so Rose belongs to my husband and not you”

But dad himself had told me once that he was not my BD!  Therefore, this man is my real dad. How could mum be doing this and won’t let my real dad know that I am his daughter? I had to do something!

“Mum, but dad said that I am not his daughter that you…”

Mum slapped me very hard across the face and my ears rang and I saw colours in my vision “Shut up!” she screamed at me. The slap hurt so bad that I couldn’t help crying. I was almost thirteen and mum still beats me.  My friends in the US considered themselves grownups already at thirteen and their parents treat them like adults but here I am, still being beaten by my mum.  I began to walk way form the place. Some aprokos   were already gaping at us and enjoying the drama. I kept walking away and mum brought the car up beside me.

“Rose, come back here and get inside!” she shouted but I didn’t answer.

 I continued walking away, holding my burning cheeks in my hands until she was forced to park the car  and dragged me in and locked the door then she continued to drive.

A week after that incidence, dada came back from the journey. He looked haggard and thin. I was the one who saw him first because I was in the living room, working on my school works when he pulled the doorbell. So he was waiting on the porch as I opened the door and let him in. “Dad!” I shouted and hugged him but he didn’t hug me back, he never did anyways. He smelled so bad that I almost puke and his cloths were so tattered that he looked like a madman. “Mum. Dad is back and he is veeerrry sick!” I hollered as I ran to the kitchen to fetch mum who was cooking supper.

Mum ran into the living room with the kitchen apron still tied to her neck and she was holding a napkin. She dumped napkin carelessly on the floor and ran towards her husband.

“Jesus, what happened to you? Joseph, talk to me!” she began to cry as she fussed over him and wet his raggy cloths with her tears.

“Here, lie down on the couch and let me bring you coffee…”

“No, I can’t eat or drink anything” he said weakly “all the boys are dead. The operation went badly.” He said and coughed blood “Last week Monday, we got to the place but we were ambushed by the security guards in the place, we were given wrong information. We were gunned down and all the boys died but I managed to escape with a bullet in my chest. I couldn’t go to any hospital because the police are on the lookout for me and I couldn’t board any public vehicles so I had to hitch rides all the way from Kaduna to Lagos…”

“Joseph, it’s okay now, don’t say anything again, save your breath for me…”mum pleaded amid sobs and tears.

“Shola, it hurts so much…” her said, he was already drifting in and out of consciousness.

“I know but you must lie down and rest. I will call a doctor now and he will attend to you…” mum said and she lay his head on throw pillows that she had piled up under his head. His eyes closed slowly but his breath was coming in quick bursts.

“No don’t call anyone; he will report me to the police…”

“No, I trust him, he won’t give us out”

“Okay do it then” he said weakly. He was getting weaker and faint by the minute.

“I will do that but you must rest fist” mums aid and dashed across the room to the telephone, she furiously dialed a number, cursing impatiently as she waited for the burr…burr..burr sound until the call was picked from the other side of the line. She spoke urgently into it for some moments then she hung up. When she was done, he ran to the first aid box in at the corner of the room, emptying it and bringing all its contents to the couch where dad lay in a comatose. “Come here to help and stop looking like a zombie!” she snapped at me as I was looking unbelievably at what was happening. I was heartbroken that my dad was a thief. Somehow, a part of me was saying that it serves him right but another part was weeping for him.

I ran to her side and tore off a huge chunk of cotton wool and handed it to her as she asked me to do then she began to clean his wound. Milky substance began to stream out of the whole in his chest. It reminded me so much of rotten milk but it smelled worse, it stank to the high heavens and I almost gagged. The doctor came some five minutes later and took over the treatment.

 I slept very late that night; I was unable to sleep because of dad’s condition. The doctor assured us to rest and that he would be fine by the money yet, neither mum nor I was able to sleep. When I woke up the following morning, mum was in the living room with dad’s head cradled in her arms and she was crying bitterly as she rocked back and forth on her heels. I walked slowly into the room and the reality hit me as I stared at dad’s lifeless body on the couch, much sitting on the floor and crying bitterly and the doc, standing over them with his stethoscope around his neck. He was shaking his head sadly. He was saying something but mum was too distraught to listen to him “I am so sorry ma. He passed on in the middle of the nigh. I will tell the nurses to come and take the remains away to the mortuary if you don’t mind?”

“Aaaaah, yeeeh!” mum wailed nonstop.

Dad was dead.

I ran to my room and cried. Though he was not good to me when he was alive but thinking about him brought back memories of all the years that we have spent together and some special moments when he chose to be kind and generous to me. At least he was the only father I knew until recently. I cried bitterly. I know he was not good to me when he was alive but thinking about him and the way he always sat smoking and remembering the years that we have spent together, I couldn’t stop crying.

In our new house, we had no friends and we rarely socialize so there was no outsider to mourn his death with us. Mum arranged the burial with a company that specializes in such matters and he was buried at a public cemetery in the estate. Only my mum and I were the funeral train except a pastor that we borrowed to preside over the graveside stuff and who had obliged unwillingly because we were not church goers.

Hmm, I am moving very close to the end of this story. About three months after the burial (exactly six months ago), our school went on an excursion to Silverbird Cinema and I met Mr. and Mrs. Smith and Nelson! I was happy beyond description. I ran towards them and took them into warm embraces in turns. We stood like that for a very long time, holding one another. Nelson had now grown up and he was tall and no longer saying stupid things he used to say some years back. He looked and smiled at and said “Hi Katie!”.

I took permission from the teachers who led us to the Cinema to be exempted from the other students after I had explained to them how important the Smiths were to me. The permission was granted and the rest of my school mates moved on while I stayed back with the Smiths.

Quickly, I told them what happened to me about three years back and how mum abducted and drugged me. They told me that they thought I voluntarily ran away because I was not happy with the. They said nevertheless, they filed a missing person report for months in the US but no sign. They said they came down to Nigeria and went to the house where we used to live so they could ask my parents if they’d seen me but they were told that we had moved away from there.  They said they were afraid that something bad had happened to me but there was no one they could ask. After all these, I told them how much I missed them and they told me how much they’ve missed me too. I asked if I could come to live with them again. They said no problem if my mum would not come suddenly again to take me away. I knew that they were right that my mum could spoil everything. I gave them our house address and phone number and they promised to visit during the weekend.

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We met on Tuesday and they came on Saturday morning. I was in the kitchen, washing the dishes when they arrived.  Mum was on phone in the living room, talking to the man that bumped our car from behind many months ago, the man who said he is my dad (though mum didn’t know that I knew).

“”Yes, who is there?” mum asked as the doorbell rang and I ran quickly ran form the kitchen where I was to the door. I knew it was the Smiths because they have told me that they would come and that morning too, they’d called me that they were already on the road. If mum had been the one to open the door for them, she would have closed it back without allowing them to enter so I had to rush and get to the door before mum could get there. I opened the door wide to let them in. I hugged them in turn as they walked past me into the foyer and I led them into our living room where mum was still speaking quietly to the man who said he was my father.

They looked appreciatively at our living rooms they took their seats and I could red their surprised and satisfied expressions. They greeted mum warmly but her responses were terse and unfriendly.

“What do you want again?” mum asked immediately they greeted her.

“”We are here again because of Rose. We met at Silverbird Cinema on Tuesday and she told us she wants to come with us….”

“Rose, why didn’t you tell me you saw them at Silverbird?” she asked sternly. I could feel her anger building slowly.

“Mum, you would have reacted very badly. Besides, you are always with Mr. Adams nowadays and have little or no time for me!” I protested angrily.

“How dare you say such things in front strangers?! What I do with my time is none of your business!” She snapped “Now answer my questions, why did you invite them here and give them our address?”

“No ma, we came on our own…..Please allow her to come with us if that is what she wants”

“No way. She stays here and that is final. If there is nothing else you have to say, you may now leave….”

The doorbell rang shrilly, cutting mum off what she was saying. She stopped mid-sentence and went to get the door. She came back a few moments later hand-in-hand with Mr. Adams. Mr. Adams greeted the Smiths who were already departing warmly and said hi to me. Though he was very nice and kind to me but             I didn’t want to like him because he was the reason why mum stays out late and the reason I used to be alone most times. Mum quickly did the introductions.

“Adams, meet the people that I told you about who want to take Rose away by force form me” she said. Contrary to mum’s damaging introduction, Mr. Adam greeted them very well.

“We will like to leave now, thank you for having us in your house…”

Mr. Smith but I cut in quickly, falling down on my knees in front of her and tugging at her cloth.

“Please mum, let me go. I don’t want to stay here anymore because I am not happy here. You don’t have time for me and I am not happy here, pleeaassse!!!”

Mr. Adams intervened.

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“Please sit down Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Nelson, you too should sit” he said as he sat on the nearest couch to him. Mum sat beside him while the Smiths sat on the other couches in the room tentatively. If it was my late dad that told them to sit, they would have thought twice about it but Mr. Adams looked so responsible, so distinguished and booked that it was hard not to listen to whatever he has to say. “I am Rose’ dad” he continued and I could see the surprise and amazement on the faces of the Smiths.  “I have been told everything that happened between you and this family from Rose’s mother and I am really impressed that good people like you are still in this world that is full of bad people.  As much as I want my daughter and I to live together as a family, after not seeing each other since she was born till some months back, yet I cannot keep her away from you because she really wants to be with you. 

We’ll let her go with you since it is what she really wants and for years now, she had been adamant in living with you despite the obstacles and the challenges. I won’t tell you to take care of her because I know that you will take care of her even more than we her parents. But please do not spare the rod to spoil her. Wherever you go to from here, don’t spoil the rod. The Nigerian culture supports moderate corporal punishment for a child when he or she has done something that warrants it. Please treat her like your own daughter, deal with her when necessary. May the God Almighty be with us all” he said. 

“Thank you!” the Smiths chorused happily. I could see the smiles and happiness on their faces.

I ran to where Mr. Adams sat and hugged him very tightly. He hugged me back.

“Thank you so much Mr. Adams, you saved my life and I will never forget your kindness…”

“Dad, Rose, I am your dad” he corrected and I blushed.

How could I be calling someone that I just I knew some months back dad?

“I am not used to that yet but thanks anyway. You are awesome and I love that. Take good care of mum, the two of you can go out all you want now, I approve it hundred percent!”

Everyone laughed.

“That’s enough Rose. Go get drinks for our visitors before I prepare breakfast for everyone” Mum said and I sped away to the kitchen. Nelson followed me to help out.

We all had breakfast together an hour later and I left with the Smiths in the evening when they left our house, all my cloths, books and dolls were packed full inside my traveling trunks in the booth of the Smith’s car. Before we left Nigeria two days later, The Smiths, mum, Mr. Adams and I visited the public cemetery where dad was buried and we prayed to God to forgive all the sins he committed while he was alive and that God should grant him eternal  rest.

                       After that, mum told us that he had some amount of money in the bank before he died and that she doesn’t want it, she said she had already employed a young lady who has the names of about fifty children who were orphans and were living on the streets and that the money would be used to send them to school and to provide for all their needs from feeding to accommodation, uniform, school fees and textbooks. Mr. and Mrs. Smith said that it was a good idea and that they would be contributing money to it every month to support the foundation that was just formed.

THE END.

Life is a gift. Don’t waste it mourning the things you don’t have, getting mad at people or complaining about the things you are not taking any step to change…..

Oromidayo (The author).

Rays Of Hope Dictionary.

Some words and expressions are used in this book which are not in the English dictionary; they are based on popular slangs and words from the writer’s imagination. Below are some of these words and their meanings as used in the book:

1. BF- Best Friend.
2. Butty – A rich (and sometimes spoilt) child, especial one from a rich family.
3. Booked – Educated or intelligent. The word was first used by Rose to describe Mr. Adams.
4. Jump – to rape. Rose used this word in places where she was almost raped.
5. Kicked the bucket – died.
6. Stealer- A stealer is a thief, someone who steals from other people.
7. Missiles- stones. The children from the neighbourhood used stones to fight the kids from the other neighbourhoods.
8. Suckers – babies, because they suck their mothers’ breasts.
9. BM- Biological mom, the woman who gave birth to someone.
10. HM- Head master.
11. BD – Biological dad.
12. Deader – a ghost, a dead person or a walking dead.
13. Most cashy- the richest.
14. Go girly, gurly, rase, rasey – Nelson’s rubbish talks.
15. Gone – dead.
16. Raggy- Especially cloths that are old and are almost rags. She used the world when her dad came back with a gun wound.
17. Passed out – fainted.
18. Speech hole – Mouth.
19. Peep holes – eyes
20. Ruggedest – the most rugged.
21. Streetlessness – It means when a street or what ought to be a street has not definite shape. The word is used to describe the disorganized state of her street.
22. Cashy- very rich and influential
23. Stinkly rich – extremely rich.
24. Sleephole – the room where Rose and her parents were living, it was very small and not conducive.
25. VI- Victoria Island – a beautiful island in Lagos where rich people live.
26. Goliaths- Rose’ dad’s four friends that came to stay with them for two days when they were still living in the ghetto.
27. Aprokos – Busybodies, gossipers who always pay more attention to other people’s problems and matters, deriving fun from it.