What Goes Around (Complete Story)

Episode 10

Seeing the love between Jason and Becky even in the face of what life has served them, no one would think they have a huge challenge in their marriage.

If not for the loss of their baby, they seem very fine.

So were the officers’ thoughts before meeting Jason’s mum.

“I told my son not to marry that girl but he wouldn’t listen. He went against our will and tradition to do so. I knew that marriage was dooomed. Now see the outcome”

” You mean you never supported their marriage from the onset?”

“Yes, I never did. He insisted and married her anyways. Children of this generation think they know it all. They probably also think old age is a change of hair colour and development of feable bones, they don’t see it as a sign of wisdom”

” Ma, why exactly didn’t you want him to marry her? Didn’t she strike as a good wife?”

” Hmmmm, to be honest, I can’t say so. As an individual, I actually think she’s a good person but tradition is tradition. We don’t inter-marry and I told him this. I never wanted him to marry her. If only he listened to me and married the other one, what’s her name again, Doris, this wouldn’t have happened. He didn’t even consider the fact that she was pregnant for him. He vehemently refused, saying she wasn’t his type. What’s the type thing when it comes to marriage? In our days we got married to who we barely knew but grew to love me respect them. Our marriages even lasted longer than what they have now even after marrying their type”

“Whoa! This is deep. So what did you do after he insisted and married her?”

” Nothing, there was nothing I could do, there’s still nothing I can do. I just stay away from them to avoid the wrath of our long held tradition but I’m sure it can fight for itself. I won’t go doing so.”

” About Doris, where’s she now? And the baby too”

” The last I heard saw of her was when she was a few months gone. I’ve tried reaching her since then but the number I have isn’t connecting. Truth is, I don’t think she was ready for marriage. If not, both of us would have been a force to reckon with. She seemed all tied by the pregnancy and didn’t want to entangle her perfectly pictured life more”

“Do you have an idea where we can find her?”

” No I don’t. I don’t really know much about her. The first time she visited was when she came to tell me she was pregnant for my son. I did all I could for Jason to marry her to no success. She came over a few more times and that was the last I heard of her. I’ve asked Jason severally but he doesn’t say anything meaningful. I made a mistake not tracing her roots then. If I had known.”

” So if I understand you right, the only reservation you have about Becky is her tribe right?”

” Mmmmm”

Jason’s father walks in. He’s a fine middle aged man, looks quite young to be a father to Jason. He seems not to have a problem with the marriage. In his words ” if god’s and traditions are strong and powerful enough to exude the obeisance from us, they should be that powerful to defend themselves.”

It’s his thought that segregation isn’t right and humans should be judged by who they are as individuals, not where they come from.

” That is the problem I’ve always had with you. You never see wrong in anything. If you had stood firmly by me all the while, he probably wouldn’t have succeeded” she protests.

“I am more concerned about these traditions than you are but some of them are archaic and of no good. Men made tradition and same way we run after updated technology, we should update those traditions as well.” He retorts.

Tersoo clears his throat to bring everyone back to the issue at hand.

“We gathered your son lived here practically all his childhood and part of his youth, he only relocated shortly before his marriage.”

“That’s correct.”

“Do you know any of his friends around?”

“Not exactly, he isn’t someone who keeps a lot of friends. He has always had two that we know but both of them are presently in the states.”

“Okay, thank you so much sir, thank you ma. We will be on our way now. ”

“Officers, please try your best to find out who killed my grandson and bring justice to their doorstep”

“Sir, we are doing our best”

“Thank you.”

They say goodbyes and leave for their hotel room.

Back in the hotel, the two men sit in the lounge to cool off and have a some cold beer.

They intend leaving tomorrow. Secretly, Tersoo wishes he could cease the opportunity of this journey and travel home to see his people but time isn’t on their side. Going over the events of the day, they note some points of focus and mark out a plan on what next to do.

Finding Doris will be a very big challenge but it’s good to have a picture of her painted on the case.

They plan to have a talk with Stella on their return and hope to also meet Sewe’s father.

They believe that if there is anything she withheld from them, she will probably tell a trusted family member, her father could be that person.

One of these youngsters seem to be celebrating her birthday at the hotel they are lodged. A handful of them are at the VIP bar not so far from where Tersoo and Godwin are sitting.

Unwinding isn’t such a bad idea, the two men intend to join the party but not in an intrusive way so they ask the barman to give the celebrant two bottles of flirt and tell her it’s from their table.

They watch as she turns and looks at them while the barman delivers their message.

As expected, she comes over a few minutes later to extend her gratitude and asks them to join.

The party goes on for a while and a few minutes before midnight, the two officers take a bow.

That’s much fun for a day. They need to catch some sleep and wake up early enough to hit the road at dawn.

It’s sad they can’t get a plane straight to their destination because the airport isn’t functional. They will have to board a bus to Abuja which is about four hours on the road then get a flight to Lagos.

A few hours of sleep and they are up. With already packed bags, they check out of the hotel and head to the car park.

The road trip to Abuja isn’t bad at all. The driver is a lover of good music. From the start, he plays a collection of blues then switches to old school. The songs remind Tersoo of his childhood and he doesn’t hesitate to tell his friend stories.

A stop over at Lafia gives them some time to eat. Both men are farmished, they had just tea and two slices of bread each before leaving Makurdi.

The bush meat here is something that will stick to one’s buds for a long time. They order for plates of pounded yam. After eating, both men buy the meat in takeaway packs and off they go to the bus where the driver is waiting.

With two police men in the vehicle, the driver spends little or no time at the tens of checkpoints on their way. A few hours later, they are in Abuja, making arrangements for a flight to Lagos.