We Are Able

Episode 62

James got fed up with his life in Nigeria. He got fed up with the
injustice which had just stared at his face, so he decided to
return to South Africa permanently. Mrs. Omotayo didn’t want
him to leave because he had impacted a lot into the life of her
children. During the short duration of time he spent coming to
our house, the children of my guardian felt as if they had a
father, though they were already matured—la!de sixteen and
Biodun eighteen.

“I will return to my students in South Africa and keep on
helping them,” James said, weeping. It was then I knew that all
he was doing in South Africa was teaching—teaching the deaf
and dumb as well as the blind.
When my uncle was leaving me, he hugged me and said,
“Rose, you earned me a living. You Are Able! WE ARE ABLE!”
“How did I earn you a living, sir?” I asked him because I was
surprised.

“Because what you taught me many years back was exactly
what I was using to earn a living in South Africa. I got to South
Africa in search of a job—I couldn’t get any for six months. The
only job available was a teaching job in the special school. I
looked at myself and felt pity for myself because I thought I
was abased, but then I remembered how you taught me the
sign language. I put in for the job and got it. Of recent I became
a principal in the school, earning much money. I left all to come
to Nigeria just to see you—not even Toyosi, but, but…” my
uncle began to weep again.

When James was leaving, Biodun and la!de held tight to him
and didn’t want him to leave.
“Stay with us, sir,” the cried. “Why do you want to leave us?”
“Leave him alone, let him go,” Mrs Omotayo said, trying to
caution her children.

“No, we won’t!” they kept on saying. “Where are you going
to?”

“I am returning to South Africa?” he told them.

“You can’t leave!” they protested. “What are you going there to
do?”

“To get myself another wife,” he said and my aunty nodded in
support. I shook my head. My aunty is compromising, I
thought. Why is she supporting him in this when actually she
was the one trumpeting up and down that it is one-man, one-
wife till death do them part?
Biodun and la!de asked him to get married to their mother. It
was shocking to everyone, including Mrs Omotayo who burst
into laughter. Eventually, James had his way and began to take
his leave. I wept as I watched James leave.
Later in the day, my aunty came up with a funny news. She
said that a plane travelling to South Africa from Nigeria was
grounded halfway due to a fight in the plane. The three people
involved in the fight, according to the news, had been sent back
to Nigeria. Not long, we discovered that it was a fight between
James and his elder brother, John who was fleeing Nigeria to
South Africa in order to seek refuge. Little did my father know
that his younger brother would catch up with him in there.

As soon as Mr. Joe the justice heard the news, he swung into
action immediately, taking Moses with him anywhere he went.
My father had already been imprisoned with Toyosi who were
both fleeing Nigeria together. Now all that was left of us was to
know who exactly they connived with to get my mother out of
the prison earlier and ultimately where she was presently.