I swayed to the right and to the left with each turn the truck took until my body ached to no end. The smell of vegetables remained with me throughout the journey and the planks under me creaked with every movement and bit my buttocks occasionally. The moon came out later that night and kept me company to the early morning hours. I looked at my hand in the darkness. I couldn't see it, but I felt the throbbing pain like the pain from a bad toothache. I fell asleep again a couple of times but the pain and the bites from the planks forced me awake to discover we had reached Lokoja. I couldn't tell what the time was, but I guessed it was around three in the morning. Sani parked amidst the other trucks, lined up beside the expressway. I stood up and stretched, feeling the cramps biting my legs. Voices came from the front of the truck, and I walked to the back to find out what was going on. The town was awake, and people moved about as if it wasn't the middle of the night. I saw Sani walk
I lifted the foot mat in front of the house and found only grains of sand under it. I held the door's knob and twisted; the door did not bulge. I held it with my left hand and leaned against the door, exhausted and wondering what to do. Mom would be at work and my brothers would have gone to school. No one knew I was coming, and no one left the spare key under the foot mat.I remained this way with my head pressed against the door. Then I heard a faint sound inside the house, and I listened. The sound turned into footsteps, and they drew nearer to the door. I heard the turn of the key on the door, and it swung opened.Jasper's eyes widened and a huge smile spread over his face.'Big Brother,' he cried, and hugged me. 'Welcome back.''Thanks,' I said, stretching my hand away from his body. 'Are you alone?''Yeah,' he said, pulling back. 'You didn't call to say you were coming. How was Lagos?''Fine,' I said, following him into the house. 'I lost my phone.''No wonder,' Jasper said, dra
Mom was waiting in the emergency room when we got to the hospital. She stood between two doctors, speaking to them, her back turned to us. I saw a hospital card in her hand and knew—the way you know you had stepped on a nail barefooted—that she had gotten the card for me as if I was a baby that couldn't do it himself. 'Mom,' Jasper called, and she turned.She walked to us, and I could see her face crowded with worry. She stopped two steps away, her eyes searching my face. I don't know what she saw—maybe the anger and the frustrations—but she came no further. The doctors she was speaking with walked past her and came to me. One of them, a man in his late fifties or early sixties, held my and lifted it up. 'Your mom told us what happened,' he said, peering at my hand. 'Come with me,' and he pulled my arm to follow him the way a teacher would pull a naughty student to the principal's office. 'Let me take a look,' he added. The second doctor, obviously a junior to the first, followed
It was Mr. Potter's face on the front page of the New Standard newspaper that caught my attention. It was the second day of my stay in the hospital, and I read the heading with a skipping heart. Four kidnappers killed, a Briton freed, it heralded. Mr. Potter's pink face covered a quarter of the front page while the picture of four corpses was inserted below his chest. The face of a police man was the fourth picture on the front page. 'Excuse me sir,' I said to the nurse holding the newspaper. 'Please can I see your paper? I just want to read the heading.''Sure,' he said, coming toward my bed. 'But it's stale; keep it if you want to.''Thank you, sir,' I said, and stretched my hand to collect the newspaper. The infusion set drew my hand back, but I manage to pull the paper back to me. My heart pounded and my throat felt dry.'Be careful,' the nurse said.He came over and pushed the metal pole holding the infusion set back to its legs. Then he dropped the newspaper on my lab. 'Like I
I heard a knock on the door one Tuesday evening six months after I left the hospital. I looked at the time and knew mom was at the door; it was the time she got home from work every working day except some emergencies kept her. I opened the door and mom walked into the house with Maria trailing behind her. I gaped at Maria for many seconds while my heart ran a hundred meters race.‘Hello, Paul,’ Maria said, standing by the door, a big bag strapped around her shoulder. She wore a tighter Jeans than the ones I had seen her in and the T shirt hugged her closer and tighter, as if it was another layer of her skin. I opened my mouth to speak, but the thoughts of all the things that happened in Lagos flooded my mind and cut off the words from my throat.‘Do you know her?’ mom asked. She stood in the middle of the living room, her eyes searching my face.I nodded. ‘Well, ask her to come in and sit down.’ I moved away from the door. ‘Come in,’ I said.‘Thank you,’ Maria said and walked into
The next morning, Maria and I left the house for the park. Mom lingered for close an hour, waiting for us to leave the house before she set out for the office. Maria told me—as we walked to the road to take a taxi—that she had changed her mind about going back to Port Harcourt. She will go to Abuja instead and stay with a cousin for a day or two. 'I will take you to where Abuja vehicles are,' I said, looking out for a taxi to take us to the Plateau Riders Park.'Okay,' she said. She was dressed in another hugging jean and another hugging blouse. 'But I want us to talk before I leave. Can we get a place to sit and talk?'I thought for a while. 'It's early,' I said. 'Let's check if Mr. Biggs at Terminus is opened. We can walk to the park from there.''Okay.' We took a cab and got to Terminus about fifteen minutes later. Mr. Biggs wasn't opened, but we could see the staff mopping the floor through the windows. I asked the guard standing by the entrance when the doors will be opened.'B
I got my phone number back two months after Maria's visitation. I figured there was no point hiding away anymore; if the police wanted me, they would have gone to the phone company to get my address and they would have arrested me by now. Joseph probably threw my phone away before the police got to them and that's why they have not come after me. But, in retrospect, I think the reason I got the line back was because of the call I received the next day after I got the line back if you believe in fate.'Hello,' the person on the other end said when I picked the call. 'Is this Mr. Paul?''Yeah?''My name is Patrick.'I was silent for a couple of seconds trying to remember which Patrick it was. 'Yeah?''I am...was Tolu's friend.''Tolu?''Yes. He gave me your number. He asked me to call you.''Yeah? What does he want?'The voice on the other end hesitated. 'He asked me to give you a letter,' the voice said. 'I am at Jibowu Park in Lagos trying to send it to you. Do you know Bonnyway trans
I went back to the nursery school, this time as an admin officer. The salary was lower than what I received working in a crèche.When I pointed it out to the proprietress, she said if it wasn't good enough for me, I could leave, because hundred other applicants would be glad to replace me.She said the reason I got the job in the first place was because mom came and solicited for me. I apologized and told her I was grateful to have the job. I would have stayed on that job for eternity if not for the chess competition we had at Hilltop School the next year. I played with one of their staff, a white guy, Stephen. He had beaten me twice, but this time I played with all the frustrations and anger I felt inside. I won the game. Stephen was surprised. He asked for a rematch after the game, and I beat him again. The third game convinced and humbled him, and we became friends. He suggested we meet periodically to play, and I agreed. He asked about my hand in what of the games we played, a