we are able episode 40
CHAPTER FORTY
It was on a Sunday, I had the chance to play with my friends,
Biodun and Laide, all because Mrs Omotayo their mother had
been to the fellowship. She even invited Toyosi and John that
day and they had all gone.
Bode didn’t go with them. He had a friend, Obinna, who often
come home with him from school. Obinna came that day to
play with Bode. They would scatter the whole house and
expect me to tidy things up. Obinna was a bit older than Bode.
He was also a troublesome type. I wondered why Obinna
didn’t see things the way I see it. He would also join hands with
Bode to make fun of us, calling us several names which I
couldn’t hear.
Obinna cut many different species of leaves and stuck them
into his mouth all at once to mock me. I sounded my gibberish
to him as a warning and he laughed. I didn’t know where the
suggestion was coming from—I just felt like going in to take a
metallic object with which I would bash his head. I controlled
the urge, because the sermon we heard in church just in the
morning that Sunday spoke about endurance.
Obinna came to Biodun and knocked him on the head. Biodun
lost balance and fell. I rushed to the scene and pushed Obinna
aside as I began to raise Biodun up, but then, Bode had tied
Laide’s wheelchair to a pole. He was laughing.
I was fed up.
Taiba was inside the house, sleeping. She was the type one
would wake for an hour without success. How was I even
going to tell her that Bode and Obinna were dealing with her
mistress’ children? Even if I wrote it down, she would not be
able to read it because she was a stark illiterate.
I challenged them to a fight, but they beat me easily. Obinna’s
bone was stronger than I had expected. Sometimes back, my
mother told me that the Ibo people were strong because of the
Akpu they eat frequently. Back then, I didn’t believe her, but
now no one taught me to do so. Even Obinna alone would
have beaten me up, let alone the two of them.
As Obinna sat on me and kept punching me, Bode came with a
pack of sand, which he had gathered at the backyard with a
packer. They were going to pack them into my mouth. I held
my mouth tight as Bode came close. My two hands were
behind my back, being held strongly by Obinna. Bode tried to
force my mouth opened, but it was very tight for him.
I turned my face around and saw Biodun approaching. He
must have been hearing my groans and he thought he could
come and suffer with me. Laide was shaking like an epileptic
patient on the wheelchair where she was fixed. If only she
could move now, she would have wheeled herself to me also,
to avenge me. I was cold with self-pity. What wrong have I
done to merit this? I thought silently as Bode eventually made it
and put some sand into my mouth. I thought I was going to
die.
I stared into the sun which was already at the west. Who
would help now? Help does not come from the west or east or
south, I thought. Then I remembered God. If only he could
save me once more, just the way he did me three days back in
the hands of the kidnappers.
To my shock, Obinna rose swiftly and rushed away, as well as
Bode. They collided with Biodun who was standing by. They
were off to the gate. Shockingly, Taiba fluttered out of the
apartment too and went after them. Maybe they saw her
rushing out, that was why they took to their heels so that she
wouldn’t beat them up, but no, I was wrong. Biodun too was
trying to flee. Why was he trying to flee when he had no eyes
to see that the others had fled? I coughed out sand and began
to rise. I had managed not to let the sand get into my throat.
I turned my eyes backward and saw Laide. She seemed to
have died on her wheelchair. I was shocked. What could have
happened? Why was she not able to move her body again? I
asked myself. I was confused about which of them I should
first attend to—Biodun on the floor or Laide who seemed to
have collapsed on her wheelchair. I rushed for Laide first,
believing that Biodun would get up from the floor soon.
I shook her but she didn’t respond at all. I rushed into the room
to get salt which I poured into a bowl of water. I poured some
water into her throat and sprinkled some on her body and she
coughed back to life. I loosed her wheelchair from the pole she
was tied unto and pushed it close to Biodun. I tapped him to life
too. He raised his head and I let him lay it on Laide’s lap. They
were restless.
I thought Taiba would return from the chase of Bode and
Obinna which I thought she was out doing, but twenty
minutes had come and gone, yet she couldn’t. I rushed into
Biodun’s apartment and made a lukewarm tea. I sat before
them and began to spoonfeed them one after the other. Just
then, the gate opened and three people entered in a rush—my
father, Toyosi and Mrs Omotayo.
They fastened their eyes on me as they looked towards us. Just
then, I felt a vibration and they scattered different direction.
Even Biodun’s head fell from Laide’s lap. I was the only one
who didn’t have a clue.
The whole world had turned upside down. Some people
rushed into our compound and rushed out again. Toyosi had
signed to me to ask where Bode was and I told her that he
rushed out some moments back. Toyosi didn’t think twice
before jumping into the street herself. Mrs Omotayo was in
tears as she saw her restless children. She somehow managed
to ask me where Taiba was and I rolled my index fingers before
her. She understood what I meant—that she had run away too.
John was just roaming around the house. He was confused. It
was as though he would run mad if Bode wouldn’t return to
the house. I thought the end of the world had come, going by
what I saw; cracks on our walls. A window pane had even
fallen from our own apartment.
Mrs Omotayo was scared to go inside her apartment, so also
was John. They feared that the building could collapse on their
heads.
Toyosi returned late into the evening, around 10pm and asked
my father where Bode was. As a matter of fact, the two of
them asked each other same question at the same time. They
put their hands on their heads and wept.
I didn’t know if my deaf and dumb status was a plus or a
minus. Till late in the night, I still couldn’t get a clue of what was
really happening. For the rest of them, it seemed they now
understood, having sat round their rechargeable radio, listening
to the breaking news there.
Biodun and Laide had also fully regained their consciousness.
He was the one who wrote a note to me to tell me what
actually was going on, yet there were three able people in the
house unable to do that.
That night, Biodun just walked up to where I was standing and
gave it to me. Then immediately, he turned back and began to
go to where her mother was sitting. Mrs Omotayo must have
seen him come to me, but she had nothing to say now.
Afterall, I was the one who fed her dying children with tea a
while ago, something Taiba was not around to do. Who knows
if they would have died if I hadn’t done that? I thought.
I opened Biodun’s note and began to read; writing in Braille was
such a wonderful type of writing that you wouldn’t need light
for while reading. I traced the letters with my fingers and got
the message in the dark.
A news from the radio says that the armies in the cantonment
were only testing their bombs. So, all is well! Thanks so much
for saving our lives.
“What!” I thought hard in my heart. Testing bomb! How come
they were doing such things within the city? I thought mother
said the intense sound of bomb could deafen someone. Does
that mean that everybody in Lagos right now are deaf and
dumb? Of course no, because till this moment I still saw Toyosi
and John speaking to each other with their lips and rolling on
the floor, crying for Bode’s absence. Mrs Omotayo was trying
to console them. I guessed she hadn’t heard what Bode was
doing to her children when the bomb blast occurred. If she
knew, she wouldn’t have taken it lightly with them.
I reached for my poem book in the middle of the night. Then I
wrote the date, January 27, 2002.
BOMB BLAST!
It was on a Sunday, I had the chance to play with my friends,
Biodun and Laide, all because Mrs Omotayo their mother had
been to the fellowship. She even invited Toyosi and John that
day and they had all gone.
Bode didn’t go with them. He had a friend, Obinna, who often
come home with him from school. Obinna came that day to
play with Bode. They would scatter the whole house and
expect me to tidy things up. Obinna was a bit older than Bode.
He was also a troublesome type. I wondered why Obinna
didn’t see things the way I see it. He would also join hands with
Bode to make fun of us, calling us several names which I
couldn’t hear.
Obinna cut many different species of leaves and stuck them
into his mouth all at once to mock me. I sounded my gibberish
to him as a warning and he laughed. I didn’t know where the
suggestion was coming from—I just felt like going in to take a
metallic object with which I would bash his head. I controlled
the urge, because the sermon we heard in church just in the
morning that Sunday spoke about endurance.
Obinna came to Biodun and knocked him on the head. Biodun
lost balance and fell. I rushed to the scene and pushed Obinna
aside as I began to raise Biodun up, but then, Bode had tied
Laide’s wheelchair to a pole. He was laughing.
I was fed up.
Taiba was inside the house, sleeping. She was the type one
would wake for an hour without success. How was I even
going to tell her that Bode and Obinna were dealing with her
mistress’ children? Even if I wrote it down, she would not be
able to read it because she was a stark illiterate.
I challenged them to a fight, but they beat me easily. Obinna’s
bone was stronger than I had expected. Sometimes back, my
mother told me that the Ibo people were strong because of the
Akpu they eat frequently. Back then, I didn’t believe her, but
now no one taught me to do so. Even Obinna alone would
have beaten me up, let alone the two of them.
As Obinna sat on me and kept punching me, Bode came with a
pack of sand, which he had gathered at the backyard with a
packer. They were going to pack them into my mouth. I held
my mouth tight as Bode came close. My two hands were
behind my back, being held strongly by Obinna. Bode tried to
force my mouth opened, but it was very tight for him.
I turned my face around and saw Biodun approaching. He
must have been hearing my groans and he thought he could
come and suffer with me. Laide was shaking like an epileptic
patient on the wheelchair where she was fixed. If only she
could move now, she would have wheeled herself to me also,
to avenge me. I was cold with self-pity. What wrong have I
done to merit this? I thought silently as Bode eventually made it
and put some sand into my mouth. I thought I was going to
die.
I stared into the sun which was already at the west. Who
would help now? Help does not come from the west or east or
south, I thought. Then I remembered God. If only he could
save me once more, just the way he did me three days back in
the hands of the kidnappers.
To my shock, Obinna rose swiftly and rushed away, as well as
Bode. They collided with Biodun who was standing by. They
were off to the gate. Shockingly, Taiba fluttered out of the
apartment too and went after them. Maybe they saw her
rushing out, that was why they took to their heels so that she
wouldn’t beat them up, but no, I was wrong. Biodun too was
trying to flee. Why was he trying to flee when he had no eyes
to see that the others had fled? I coughed out sand and began
to rise. I had managed not to let the sand get into my throat.
I turned my eyes backward and saw Laide. She seemed to
have died on her wheelchair. I was shocked. What could have
happened? Why was she not able to move her body again? I
asked myself. I was confused about which of them I should
first attend to—Biodun on the floor or Laide who seemed to
have collapsed on her wheelchair. I rushed for Laide first,
believing that Biodun would get up from the floor soon.
I shook her but she didn’t respond at all. I rushed into the room
to get salt which I poured into a bowl of water. I poured some
water into her throat and sprinkled some on her body and she
coughed back to life. I loosed her wheelchair from the pole she
was tied unto and pushed it close to Biodun. I tapped him to life
too. He raised his head and I let him lay it on Laide’s lap. They
were restless.
I thought Taiba would return from the chase of Bode and
Obinna which I thought she was out doing, but twenty
minutes had come and gone, yet she couldn’t. I rushed into
Biodun’s apartment and made a lukewarm tea. I sat before
them and began to spoonfeed them one after the other. Just
then, the gate opened and three people entered in a rush—my
father, Toyosi and Mrs Omotayo.
They fastened their eyes on me as they looked towards us. Just
then, I felt a vibration and they scattered different direction.
Even Biodun’s head fell from Laide’s lap. I was the only one
who didn’t have a clue.
The whole world had turned upside down. Some people
rushed into our compound and rushed out again. Toyosi had
signed to me to ask where Bode was and I told her that he
rushed out some moments back. Toyosi didn’t think twice
before jumping into the street herself. Mrs Omotayo was in
tears as she saw her restless children. She somehow managed
to ask me where Taiba was and I rolled my index fingers before
her. She understood what I meant—that she had run away too.
John was just roaming around the house. He was confused. It
was as though he would run mad if Bode wouldn’t return to
the house. I thought the end of the world had come, going by
what I saw; cracks on our walls. A window pane had even
fallen from our own apartment.
Mrs Omotayo was scared to go inside her apartment, so also
was John. They feared that the building could collapse on their
heads.
Toyosi returned late into the evening, around 10pm and asked
my father where Bode was. As a matter of fact, the two of
them asked each other same question at the same time. They
put their hands on their heads and wept.
I didn’t know if my deaf and dumb status was a plus or a
minus. Till late in the night, I still couldn’t get a clue of what was
really happening. For the rest of them, it seemed they now
understood, having sat round their rechargeable radio, listening
to the breaking news there.
Biodun and Laide had also fully regained their consciousness.
He was the one who wrote a note to me to tell me what
actually was going on, yet there were three able people in the
house unable to do that.
That night, Biodun just walked up to where I was standing and
gave it to me. Then immediately, he turned back and began to
go to where her mother was sitting. Mrs Omotayo must have
seen him come to me, but she had nothing to say now.
Afterall, I was the one who fed her dying children with tea a
while ago, something Taiba was not around to do. Who knows
if they would have died if I hadn’t done that? I thought.
I opened Biodun’s note and began to read; writing in Braille was
such a wonderful type of writing that you wouldn’t need light
for while reading. I traced the letters with my fingers and got
the message in the dark.
A news from the radio says that the armies in the cantonment
were only testing their bombs. So, all is well! Thanks so much
for saving our lives.
“What!” I thought hard in my heart. Testing bomb! How come
they were doing such things within the city? I thought mother
said the intense sound of bomb could deafen someone. Does
that mean that everybody in Lagos right now are deaf and
dumb? Of course no, because till this moment I still saw Toyosi
and John speaking to each other with their lips and rolling on
the floor, crying for Bode’s absence. Mrs Omotayo was trying
to console them. I guessed she hadn’t heard what Bode was
doing to her children when the bomb blast occurred. If she
knew, she wouldn’t have taken it lightly with them.
I reached for my poem book in the middle of the night. Then I
wrote the date, January 27, 2002.
BOMB BLAST!
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