Episode 3
It is such a great hell for my dad while he was at home those two weeks. The man loves to go to work. If
possible, he will make his workplace a permanent
abode, just to avoid what he calls a sick home.
John tells my mother to allow me remain at home with him, but the woman rejects blatantly.
What is my fatherâs motive for demanding such thing? I
am just eleven, so what do I know?
At school, I begin the question again:
âIs there any reason for God creating us like this?â I ask my clasateacher. She was rash at saying yes, yet
she couldnât state a reason.
âRose, you ask too much. Stop thinking of what you canât do; think of what you can do.â
âWhat can I do?â
âYou can see, walk andâŠâ
âThatâs normal,â I say. âEverybody else can do those
things too.â
âBut Joshua and Gbade canât do any of those things,â she says.
My hands drop. To raise them, no vigour. Each time I remember the case of Joshua and Gbade, I always feel like climbing a ladder to heaven to pull God down and
fight him.
Joshua is paralysed and at the same time blind. Gbadeâs case is the worse; he is deaf and dumb as well as blind
and lame. If John is Gbadeâs father he would have thrown him inside the Oke Afa canal.
Some sweat pour down my neck and soaked my school uniform.
Now I begin to imagine how Gbade has been
able to survive the hardship he is into.
It is just two days left for my fatherâs suspension to be
over when something strange happens. That day, mother carries me home in fatherâs blue volkswagen car.
We open the door of the house and to our surprise,
daddy and another lady were kissing each other in the parlour.
They see us but did as if they didnât.
I began to see many mouths moving. I began to imagine the conversation they were making:
âWhat is happening?â my mother cries out.
âIs she your wife?â the woman says. It seems she has
just come out of her senses.
âEmâŠyou are my real wife, not her,â daddy says without
any humane feeling.
âJohn!â my mother cries. The man just looks away
lackadaisically and hissed.
âEmâŠToyosi, leave that scallywag alone and letâs continue our love.â
Right before my eyes my mother is being denied of her marital right.
This is not right. I made a shrilled sound.
At least I can shout even though I am dumb.
Daddy gets irritated and comes for me at once.
Mother stands in his way. The wicked man pushes his wife out of the way. She loses balance and falls. I guess mother
must have broken some bones in the process.
Now I remain still, harden myself so I can be prepared for daddyâs beating. He looks on at me and I donât know
why he didnât pounce on me as his manner is.
He stands gazing at me for a while, then he carries my mother up.
She canât stand on her own anymore.
I have to check on my mother in the hospital the next day.
I have missed school that day. She is on
wheelchair, her hands and legs on bandage. We look on at each other. She canât communicate with me right
now because she canât move her hands.
âGet well soon mummy,â I say, kneels before her and went down on her laps, weeping.
âMummy, what is the matter with daddy?â I ask in tears.
My mother canât move her hands so there is no way she
will signal her response to me.
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Episode 1 Episode 2 Episode 3 Episode 4 Episode 5 Episode 6 Episode 7 Episode 8 Episode 9 Episode 10 Episode 11 Episode 12 Episode 13 Episode 14 Episode 15 Episode 16 Episode 17 Episode 18 Episode 19 Episode 20 Episode 21 Episode 22 Episode 23 Episode 24 Episode 25 Episode 26 Episode 27 Episode 28 Episode 29 Episode 30 Episode 31 Episode 32 Episode 33 Episode 34 Episode 35 Episode 36 Episode 37 Episode 38 Episode 39 Episode 40 Episode 41 Episode 42 Episode 43 Episode 44 Episode 45 Episode 46 Episode 47 Episode 48 Episode 49 Episode 50 Episode 51 Episode 52 Episode 53 Episode 54 Episode 55 Episode 56 Episode 57 Episode 58 Episode 59 Episode 60 Episode 61 Episode 62 Episode 63 Episode 64 Episode 65 Episode 66
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