A Story Of Deceit

Episode 12

Nobody was able to give Mr. Soji a straight
answer, Mr. Shola was also with him, trying
to provoke him more by saying, ‘na so dem
dey do’. ‘So, I will dey my house, dey think
sey una are working, but na fight una dey
fight abi?’, he asked looking annoyed, ‘no
vex sir, abeg sir’, the boys begged, ‘and you’,
he said looking at me sternly, ‘why you no
tell me sey dem day always fight for here
that day when you come my house?’, hue
questioned looking very disappointed, I didn’t
say anything, I just stared at him, then he
said, ‘you no even fit pity yourself sey you
be the only girl, if to sey you tell me, I for
don comot you for here as you be the only
girl for here’, ‘I’m sorry sir, if I leave here,
there is no other place to work, no vex sir,
they won’t fight again’, I pleaded, ‘no, I go
commit you for here, afterall, if I look well
well, I no think sey you dey do any tying for
here’, he said, the boys I worked with
started pleading.

I looked at them with contempt, they were
the ones that might cost me my job, ‘ah,ah
Uwa na so you like here reach?, I think sey
you tell Yemisi say you go dey work for our
house’, he said, I looked at him perplexed, I
didn’t tell Yemisi that I wanted to work in
their house, she offered to talk to her father
but it didn’t matter, the most important
thing was, if I said, ‘yes’, I would leave that
farm. ‘Yes, sir’, I replied, ‘na wetin you for
talk since’, he said, I gave a forced smile,
opened my mouth but words did not come
out of it because, I was void of what to say.
‘If this kind tin happun again, all of una go
commot for this farm’, he threatened the
boys, ‘e no go happen again sir’, they
begged, of course, it’d never happen again,
the reason, ‘me’ for their disputes would
leave soon. ‘Oya, dey go’, Mr. Sojj ordered, I
almost asked, ‘dey go where?’, but it would
be the most stupid question ever, the most
important thing was working, getting enough
money and leaving Boma.

Going to Mr. Soji’s house was to work so, it
was fine for me, besides, it was more
comfortable than the farm, but there were
also odds, the distance from my house to
their house was farther than the farm’s,
which meant, I’d have to wake up early to
avoid lateness or I’d have to start taking a
motorcycle if I woke up late, I’d also have to
stay with Yemisi all day, listening to all her
rants about Dayo, I had no plans on how I’d
avoid lying to her face, that I didn’t know
who Dayo was. I was thankful that Mr. Soji
and Shola didn’t follow me,I wouldn’t have
to answer any awkward questions.

I got to Yemisi’s house, she opened the
gate, ‘wow,Uwa!, are you here already?’, ‘no,
it’s my twin’, I said in my thoughts, ‘yes, I
am’, I replied, ‘oya come in, come in’, she
said excitedly, I informed her of her father’s
instructions in regards to direct me on how
to go about the duties of the house, ‘no joor,
you will not start now, it’s just to sweep,
wash plates and the dirty clothes will have
to wait till weekend’, she said. I was still
staring and without my consent, she dragged
me to her room, she opened the drawer by
the bed, ‘tada’, she yelled, it was the phone
she promised to give me, ‘how did you get
the sim so fast?’, I asked, ‘I found a sim in
my dad’s room, he said he’s not gonna need
it’, she replied. It was a small phone as she
said, it could only be used for making phone
calls which I was contented with. The phone
seemed like magic to me, it was my first
time operating a phone, I handled the phone
with care and endlessly thanked her.

Before I left their house, I did a few chores,
collected my money from Mr. Shola when he
returned, I thanked Yemisi again and went
home.

I loved my new job, though the food tasted
horrible, I was still eating free meals at Mr.
Soji’s house, I didn’t have to work under the
sun and I was free to leave anytime I
pleased. I was worried though, about Bola, I
didn’t know what went on after I left but I
felt it was good that I’d no longer go to the
farm, my presence would no longer insight a
scurry. I had almost gotten home, when I
met Dayo, he looked so cute that evening in
plain white shorts and a black vest , he
smiled at me, I wanted to frown but I
couldn’t resist his smile so, I smiled back. I
thanked him for his kind gesture that
morning, then I asked, ‘Dayo, what made you
treat me like that when you returned from
school?’ , the question seemed to upset him
and as naive as I was, I refused to question
him any further, must you ask me about
that?, I’m sorry, I said it already’, he said,
‘okay, you have said sorry, fine, we can be
friends’, I assured him, as we got to my
house.

‘Goodnight, see you tomorrow’, I said
smiling, ‘goodnight?, just like that?’, he
asked, he brought out his phone, checked
the time and said, ‘it’s just 7:00pm, if my
memory serves me well, your mum doesn’t
come back till 11:00pm, sometimes,
12:00am, you’ll be alone, so let me just stay
with you for a while’, I almost reminded him
that when he left for the city, I stayed alone
but I didn’t want to upset him. I consented
to him staying for a while. I tried to move
the wood plank away from the door, I
suddenly remembered I had a phone, Yemisi
had put me through on how to make use of
the phone, I could make phone calls,use the
torch and do a few things with the phone.
I had never used a torch for a better view to
move the wood plank before at night, I’d just
move it and go into my house, turn on the
candle or lantern but I wanted him to know I
had a phone, I brought it out from my purse
to use the torch, ‘wow!’, he exclaimed, ‘you
have a phone?’, he asked, ‘Yes, I do’, I
replied, ‘I didn’t bother to go into details of
how I got the phone and he didn’t ask. I
ushered him into my house and asked him
to sit on the only bench we had, I would
have had dinner, freshened up and explored
things on my new phone but he was there
so I had to wait. We didn’t do anything apart
from laugh at unfunny jokes and by 9:12pm,
he got up to leave, ‘alright, goodnight na’, I
said, ‘goodnight’, he replied, ‘ehen, give me
your number or just give me your phone’, he
said, I gave it to him, he collected the
number, after which, he left.

I heard a knock on the door, few minutes
after Dayo left. I knew it couldn’t be my
mum and I had never had a visitor in my
house before, except Dayo and he just left.

Who could be looking for me?, ‘Who is that?’,
I asked with fright, ‘it’s me Dayo’, he
answered, various questions ran through my
mind, ‘why’d be come back, did he forget
anything?’. I allowed him again as I did
before but this time, we did a whole lot
more than talking and staring at each other.