Chapter one
'Banjoko!' 'Banjoko!' the voice of an elderly woman shouted for her son who seemed lost in thoughts. A small sized radio played beside him and it's volume was at a moderate, yet he didn't seem to hear her call for him. The woman, dissatisfied that he was thinking again, moved closer and yelled louder 'Banjokoooo!' The strength in her voice brought him back to reality.
'Mama mi! you are back from the market?' The son asked, seeing his mother stand in the same room with him. He had not heard her come in but for her noise which shouted for his name. Immediately, he stood up from the worn-out armchair he was sitting on and moved rapidly towards his mother to collect a black polythene bag from her hand, going to submit the bag in the kitchen segment of the house.
'You are thinking again? I have told you that too much thought won't solve anything. You will only harm yourself.' This son, a man who seemed to be in his middle thirties appeared ruffled and she knew it and even himself knew but he wasn't ready to do anything about it. His beards ran untidyly on the sides of his cheeks and under his chin. Hair superfluously covered his head, further promoting the dull haggard look on his face. Coming out of the kitchen, he returned to the same chair and made a gesture to open his mouth to inform his mother about a thing but he was immediately hushed by her hand being raised mid-way into the air. 'Please stop it. If it's anything about Ajike, I don't want to hear.' The woman who was now sitting adjacent to him announced in a commanding tone as she had sensed the topic of his forth-coming words. It was easy for her to guess the content of his mind, because for weeks, it had been the only interest on his mind, brain and mouth. If it was not complaining, it was regretting and if it was neither of the two, it was simply admonishing Ajike but mostly of the former. Being that he was the fruit of her womb, she inwardly felt sorry for him more than anything in the world but that sorriness had matured into a mild fraustration at the frequent mention of that name; Ajike. Ajike this, Ajike that, Ajike was, Ajike is. When will it ever stop? After all, he is a man. He ought to know how to snap out of it. Even the most important thing had become affected, he didn't go for his job hunting anymore. He just surrendered himself to fate all because of this same person, Ajike. And this was bad fate for them. The woman, popularly known as Yeye believed her boy understood her sign of disapproval, so she made to say something of benefit. 'I talked to a friend of mine about your inability to get a job and she promised to work out a slot for you in the bakery she works in, because of your education, she can secure a managerial post'. She said, searching for a hope to appear on his face. It didn't.
'In a week from now, it will be certain you will work there'. She reassured him.
'Mama mi, leave this bread thing. At the least won't she call to know whether her deed has affected my faring, good or bad?' He responded, drifting back to his mother's disapproved topic. She saw that the news she had just announced didn't brighten him up and she had expected that it wouldn't but she still became surprised and disappointed altogether. 'What could she say to sooth him or rather do to appeal him?'She inwardly questioned herself. There was only only one thing possible and seemingly impossible; the return of Ajike. Would it happen? Could it happen?
No! No! She jolt herself out of a possibility.
'See my son, you are not the first man to marry a wife neither will you be the first and the last man to be abadoned by his wife'. She spoke to him again, knowing fully well that her just spoken words would not do any progress in him but she had to talk anyways. ' Your father would be greatly ashamed if he could see you in this state; the son of a lion behaving like a goat over a woman'. That last sentence created a surge within him.
'You cannot compare us mama mi. Father was just a wicked man. I am nothing like him'.
His father's face came into rememberance as he referred to his mother but he brushed it asides, almost immediately. He did not want to discuss his father, not in his current state of mind. Then when was the right time to discuss about the man who had brought him into the world? he questioned his own self as it dawned on him that sadness and weariness were gradually becoming his normal state of mind. He couldn't bring himself to joy. Even when Yeye told a joke around him, he couldn't afford a smile.
To be accurate, it had been five weeks and two days since he had seen any of his friends; he did not necessarily want to see them, not for hatred or dislike. Infact his two jolly friends could be likened to be his left hands but what could he do when the likeness of his right hand had gone away from him? His lips lust to curse at that woman but his heart shielded her with love. While she lived with him, his affection for her even affected his own feeding.
On a normal basis, when he still yet a bachelor, he could comfortably afford the normal 1-1-1 ratio of eating per each day for himself and his aging mother, so they normally lived like that; food not being a bother of everyday's want and need. But since his wife had joined his family, on some days, he sacrificed his for hers; on those days he would eat once just to ensure she ate three times in a day and he was happy starving himself to fill her. Well, initially, it wasn't normally like that, not when they newly got married. It was all joy and gay. His previous Job as a clerical officer showered him with grace and favour especially when as he was one of the paper-mill company's favorite, owed to his gentle composure and the humblest form of serving. His earn was not much but with the frequent bonuses he was bestowed with, he was able to quickly save up to wife a woman and more, he could also complete the three bedroom flat his father was near to completing before his demise; that which they lived in. And wifing that woman was the best choice of his life, at the least, he had always thought it was the best decision he ever made.
During the last two years of possessing Ajike as his own, everyday seemed like he was being reborn, only waking up with her next to him, he counted a blessing. What of the delicious meals she prepared? Secretly he admonished that they were better than his mother's; as if Ajike's hand had been created for the sole purpose of cooking.
He rarely got angry with her and if he did in the slightest, her food miraculously worked a treaty of understanding, peace and desire back into his heart. Or was it how she cared? They could hardly be away from each other, if he was not at home and phone calls didn't seem realistic enough, she would take it upon herself to visit him at his working place. At first the high-ups at the paper-mill company were against her coming too much, for reasons that it would disturb his office concentration but they let them be when they realized their cords were strong ropes and since it didn't affect his diligent duties, she was allowed to visit as often as she desired. An outsider might just think she was a member of the organization; how she was always in the premises, raised avenue for a thought like that. And to cap it all, when it was bed time, Ajike was a vixen who captained him into paradise.
To him, their joining rope never became frail. It just suddenly happen that the company was cutting down on it's staff and the lot casted, fell on him together with five others at the working place. Something he had never seen coming, his expectation had been to grow with the company, age with it and show the biggest form of fidelity to them but he had to be betrayed like that. 'The Creator knows best' became his motto anytime his mind pondered on how the paper-mill company did him. But not on Ajike, he couldn't proclaim that motto about her, it was more of he didn't believe she had left him and it was due to the manner in which she left.
There was no major argument, no form of hatred between both parties, she and his mother also got along well. Nothing except for the reason that he had lost his job was the only logic he could apply for her leaving and still, it didn't seem like proper logic to him. It had only been three months since losing his job when on an evening he came home from searching for another job only to find no trace of her or her belongings. The room had become scanty with only his few clothes, shoes and their mattress. He could have said she travelled and would return but for the disconnection of her phone; he could not reach her through air waves. All search for her by her family also proved abortive. They tried to involve the police but the best they did was declare Ajike a missing person. With hours turning into days and days turning into weeks, it dawned on everyone around Banjoko that his precious wife wanted out of their intimacy.
But it ought not to have been like that, they could have talked things out; if they had, he would have tried his possible best to pick the thorn away from her flesh but how could he, when he didn't know that anything pricked her. He took a heavy sigh and turned to look at Yeye, the gray hair on her head caught his eyes.
As the days manifested, she was growing past her middle sixties and it pained his soul that he hadn't done anything tangible for her for being his mother; the best he had done was put food in her stomach. Even the food was not going to be certain as it used to be, owing to his present financial status. He had to do something; something to become a man again. Weighing in the bakery option Yeye had mentioned earlier, angered him the more and he put his mind never to consider it an option. He increased the volume of that radio he was listening to, raising it's antenna to hear properly a broadcaster who was lamenting, more than reporting herders grazing on people's farmland without permission.
The next morning, the preaching sound of a man and his bell pierced his ears to wake him up, he wished one could close one's ear if one didn't want to listen to a thing. He would have considered it so lovely if humans were wired to shut their ears so that they won't listen, like the way they are built to shut theirs eyes and mouth when they do not wish to see or speak. Sleep had not totally left him, neither did he want to leave sleep yet but for the messager who enthusiastically did his work. 'Give your life to Christ now! Tomorrow will be too late.' Sequencing this statement with a noisy-rythm ringing of the bell, he would go on to issue another statement; 'you will die if you don't know Christ. The latter statement seemed funny to him. It sounded threatening rather appealing. This messager, ought to beg his listeners rather than threaten them with Christ so as to be inviting to the neighborhood and for that reason only, he didn't want to listen. This threatening tone would not win the preacher-man any soul, he was so certain of this. Checking the time, he found it to be six in the morning and from the tiny window of his matrimonial room, he could see the crescent moon slightly illuminating the earth.
He missed going to work everyday that he had become accustomed to waking up at that particular time. But for what? He glanced blankly into the ceiling, thinking or not knowing what to think about. There was somewhere to check for the day, someone had tipped him about a plastic factory where a clerk was currently needed but he didn't feel any enthusiasm to go because of all the rejections in the past. Anyways, he must try his luck at that rather than just being pessimistic without even seeing what the company looked like.
At about half past seven, he was ready. He had to get there early to leave a good impression but the bad impression was there; his high top hair and rough beards. He checked all the pockets that belonged to his trousers but there wasn't even enough money to get a clean cut. He resulted to using a shaving stick for only his beards and in few minutes, he was ready to take chances.
'You are going out today?' Yeye asked, seeing him in a well pressed white and black polka dots shirt, tucked into a black pair of trousers, accustomed with matching shoes.
'Yes mama mi, I can't continue to stay home like this'. He replied her as he reached for the door that led the way out of the house.
'Osun be praised!... don't worry much about it...May my mothers go out before you and be with you'. She dashed him with words of prayers. He didn't wait or reply as if there was not enough time to say ase, he just sprung out hurriedly into the street.
The atmosphere outside was chilly, a gentle breeze blowing across his face, he looked up to the heavens and saw that the sun was showing it's shadow behind the clouds from the east and in another one to two hours, it would remain like that before the sun began to come out in it's radiance.
He had to hurry before the scorching sun descended upon every head. Upon getting there, he had been ordered by the security man of the plastic company to drop his resume and if he were to be the company's choice, he would be called upon via his contact details. He did as ordered but his heart sunk, he couldn't trust the man in a gray khaki short sleeve shirt with one pocket at each breast and uniformed trousers, tucked in hefty boots. What if the security man didn't let his resume go through? Because it looked like that. The man had carelessly flung the document on a table in the small security post almost adjoined to the gate and it didn't impress the job seeking man. Banjoko pleaded with him to allow him a small time with the manager but he was denied and assured that his resume was what was needed to represent him. He left the front of the building, concluding with himself that he wouldn't be given the job. Well that was that, he forced a little positivity into himself.
Checking the time on his phone, it was twenty minutes past ten, he intended to go home but from where he stood, to the location of his house was a long distance, he decided to walk due to the hole in his pocket. What else could he do? As he walked, he observed carefully the people, the commerce activities and the rush in which motorists roamed the streets but he was more interested in the people's faces. He didn't see anyone spread joy across their faces like they usually did many times in the past.
His town used to be a very joyful and lively town; everyone had problems but they never showed them, instead when they came around together, they used the moment to while away their pains and sorrows; smiling amidst suffering. They were in modern times now and modernity seemed to teach everybody to mind thier business or learn to carry their own problems on thier own. He realized almost everybody that went past him wore a sour face, looking tired, angry or fraustrated, himself wearing all those expressions at the same time. And why was this? it was clear; it was the economy.
In the past years, the new administration had worsened everything and that was the anthem on everybody's lips but Banjoko knew it wasn't the government administration, although they had a hand in it but it had mostly been the fault of everybody at large.
Greediness had become the order of the day, everybody wanted bigger profits from thier little inputs, husbands had began to care for money more than loving thier wives, children obeyed money's instructions more than their parent's, the government agencies only governed in a way that favoured their already big fat pockets and if you weren't in government then you had to be 3x or more productive and profit oriented to meet up with everyday's costing, churches no longer preached salvation, mosques were changing their doctrines, traditionalists had started selling their trade, even the little children; the ones supposedly to be the most innocent on the humam pyramid were becoming unsatisfied.
Every hand, wallet and tongue just spoke money, it became as if any other language was prohibited. When you speak about peace, they tell you it cannot survive without money, whenever you suggested togetherness, they tell you it is difficult without money and when you crave for love, they spell it out to you that it cannot strive without the currency.
This diety had come to forcefully take the worship of everybody and there seemed like no other, to battle with it. Banjoko hated that he was also in this cycle and especially failing at it, within him he knew he didn't necessarily need all the money in the world but just enough, to not lack any necessity for himself, his mother and children. The thought of caring for his unborn children scared him, it was hard already and the wish for having children would just make it more difficult. For the first time he saw that maybe Ajike did him a favour, a child was not what he needed yet though it was also a necessity but it will have to wait till he got his life around. He thanked Ajike insincerely for this.
'Omo Fagbamila!' Someone called. He heard right but continued to walk. 'Omo Fagbamila!'. He heard the call again, louder than the first time. He became sure it was him that was being called so he stopped and turned in a 180° trying to catch the sight of the caller. He did. It was a man old enough to birth him, his father's friend, Pa.Ogunniyi. The man rushed towards him.
'You made me run'. The man said jokingly amidst a serious look on his face. 'I am sorry sir.' He responded, not entirely meaning it and prostrated flat on the ground, as a sign of greeting. The man patted his back to acknowledge his greetings, which made him stand up back at the height of a feet taller than the man.
He was a man Banjoko had grown up to fear and respect. As a kid and at adolescence, he had followed his father severally to this man's house and as far as he knew, their discussion was always about his father reporting and complaining about somebody while this man, Pa.Ogunniyi would always advise and plead on that person's behalf. His father would then raise his voice and display angry traits but Pa.Ogunniyi who Banjoko knew to be an epitome of calmness, would succeed in calming his father down.
He always spoke gently about everything that it even made Banjoko think of him as a man incapable of anger. There didn't seem like anything to fear about him but a small kind of fear and a big class of respect had naturally been instilled into Banjoko for him, being a man that his father respected above his own self.
'How are you doing and is your mother fine?'. He asked looking directly into Banjoko's eyes. Banjoko lowered his and responded that they did okay. Pa.Ogunniyi, appearing satisfied with his answer continued talking.
'My cassava is due for harvest, i am not as strong as i used to be so i need an additional hand and I saw you now and thought yours should do'. He paused and searched for something in his red and brown spotted ankara trouser, it was not there. He stopped and continued talking.
'Come meet me at home tomorrow morning before seven and earnestly greet your mother for me'. He did an about turn and continued on his way just like that leaving Banjoko fixed to the ground.
'What was that?' Banjoko asked himself, him going to the farm for what? he continued the questioning. Couldn't the man see that he was dressed in an official clothing? That should have sent him a direct message that he was only concerned with office duties. Maybe he knew that he had lost his job; anyone close to them knew this, so it wasn't going to be a difficult thing for Pa.Ogunniyi to become aware of but even at that, he should have waited for an answer instead of speaking in a command and concluding that he had agreed. Banjoko thought of his gesture as rude but who was he to say what was what? He also continued on his way realizing he had gotten close to the house.
Yeye was pouring a schnapp drink on a wooden figure when he came in, he waited till she finished before coming to sit close to her, both of them facing the feminine-like wooden figure, who seemed to smile and at the same time frown. He unbuttoned two buttons from his shirt as the place was stuffy, short of enough ventilation.
'Pa.Ogunniyi wants me to assist on his farm tomorrow morning.' Yeye looked at him intently, then to the wooden figure and back to him. 'I trust my mother, I was just praying before you came in. That's a sign of something good to come.' Sh said bowing in appreciation to the figure. Banjoko looked at her irritably and lost. 'How's that anything good? A whole me going to the farm with all my education?' Yeye chuckled and said within herself that he was only being childish.
'Well, that education is what you will eat tonight as there's not a single food item in this house'. She stood up and wrapped her chest properly with a white wrapper that was becoming loose.
'Look on the brighter side, your head will do something rather than rendering them useless to think of a woman that's lost and gone. If a diety wants to help one, he would start from a small point and lead you to bigger things'. She said, wanting to sit down again but changing her mind.
'I want to go get some leaves. I will be back shortly'. She announced and went straight for the door, a little flame of hope kindled in her heart as she went. Him on the other hand, pitched himself against himself, agreeing and mostly disagreeing that it was an okay thing to do. He strongly wanted nothing to do with a farm.
As a young child of the town, farming was not a stranger to his hands, legs and back. He did a lot of it when younger with his father and he hated it a lot, his spirit was never in accordance with the farm implements. He just did it because he never had the audacity to stand against his father and if his father were to be out of the picture, he would never want to hear the F in farm and that alone had been his encouragment to go to school so that he could comfortably sit in a chair for hours and operate with pens and papers. But here he was, invited to be on a farm again. Well it was only for a day, nothing more. He would just see it as assisting a paternal's friend for a day. Ultimately agreeing, his mind went back to reminisce on the times he used to have a job and a wife, he gravely missed those times.
On the farm, he felt an urge to go back but he was already there, plus he knew the factor that had prompted him the most to come was that he and his mother had taken hunger as their food for the previous day. He secretly wished that Pa.Ogunniyi could give him money without him doing anything. He watched the old man who was changing into work clothes. They had come with his wife, she was almost seasoned too. The piece of land on which they stood on, could be measured to be an acre of land and it appeared too big for just the three of them to do all the work alone. This further discouraged him and Pa.Ogunniyi saw that discouragement spread boldly at his forehead but he acted as if he didn't.
'Are you not going to join us?' The older man inquired, inviting the younger to a meal of yam and palm oil. Before putting any into his mouth, he cut out a piece of yam and threw it on the ground for Ogun to eat first.
Banjoko would have said no but for the bellowing in his stomach. He obliged and moved closer to them, sitting on the ground like they did. Pa.Ogunniyi's wife poured him some, he watched her interestingly, she was about the middle fifties of age, yet one could not easily tell because of the formation of her face. Her oval-face shone brightly, the thick eyebrows added to her facials made her beautiful. She was Pa.Ogunniyi's second wife and the more Banjoko looked at her, the more he concluded that he had married her because of her beauty and maybe she was an hardworker but it had to be mainly because of her beauty.
'You know! I grow my own yam' Pa.Ogunniyi said suddenly and it disturbed Banjoko's concentration on the woman. He wasn't yet tired of looking at her. 'I have heard two or more people say that your tubers are among the biggest in our town.' Banjoko replied looking at the food set before him, it was just yam and palm-oil but it appeared too decoratively on the ceramic plate. It must be because he was hungry, he thought to himself. He closed his eyes, rubbed them and opened them again. The food appeared the same; very palatable.
'I must say that's a compliment but i agree, me myself don't know how they appear so big'. He humbly boasted making his wife laugh, Banjoko wished he laughed too but he didn't hear the joke in it.
'Alright, let's do a lot of work before the sun comes out.' Pa.Ogunniyi said, before bringing out a medium sized radio, pulling out it's antenna in search for a clear frequency. He found one, where the broadcasted energetically aired the morning news, so he left it to accompany their ears while they work. They started with Pa.Ogunniyi and Banjoko uprooting the cassavas away from the ground, while his wife cut the stems away from them. It continued like that until the fifteenth hour of the day when Pa.Ogunniyi advice that they stopped for the day. Banjoko wasn't tired except for the sun beating him a few strokes. It wasn't as bad as he had expected. Preparing to close, he helped the couple pack up, when suddenly, a highlife music from Orlando Owoh's hit blarred out of the radio. Pa.Ogunniyi unexpectedly moved closer to his wife, held her and forced her into a dance.
'Stop it, the young man is here.' his wife said shying away but Pa.Ogunniyi pulled her to himself more enthusiastically and like a pro, engaged her into his dance. She herself swam into her husband's energy, throwing her shy veil away, she swirled her body uniformly with the beat of the record until Banjoko became lovingly jealous. He clapped and cheered them on almost joining in on their dance but as though the radio had eyes and had seen his readiness to move himself to the tune, It cut the song to render an advert. Pa.Ogunniyi and his woman laughed happily with themselves, hugging for a brief moment.
Banjoko couldn't be sure if this happiness was because of the farm's yield; the cassava were interesting ones or the mood just happened to switch on them but he was grateful he saw the scene. He had never seen his own parents like that; dancing together, so it became a blissful sight to behold. Who could have thought gentle Pa.Ogunniyi had dance moves up in his sleeve? When they arrived at Pa.Ogunniyi's home, his wife sat Banjoko down to another meal and when he had finished, the old man called him away from the sight of his wife and presssed naira notes into his hands.
'Thank you for today but come again tomorrow'. He thanked the younger man and ordered for his service again before sending him away. Banjoko prostrated himself before the man, then stood up to leave. Away from their house, he counted the money before moving to go home; it was ten thousand naira. He didn't know whether the money was worth the work he had done or not but he was glad his mother could eat properly today and the next. He lamented within his heart at the value of the naira notes with him. He remembered that about some five years ago, that ten thousand naira could sustain one for about six days, then about ten years ago, the same amount could sustain one for about 10 days or more.
Travelling deeper into his memory, about twenty years ago, someone with ten thousand naira could live comfortably for one month and if he went hypothetically deeper into what his parents had told him and stories older men and women boasted about, beyond the time of his birth, that same amount was big money, money good enough to buy a motorcar. Now all that the amount could do was feed himself and his mother for at the most, three days. How did we get to this? he pondered and pondered and what was the way forward for our currency to patriotically rise again? He wondered and wondered.
He wanted to be ashamed of the country but he was in no shoe to be, he shouldn't be since he wasn't the exact cause of the currency's problem. He let it slide, promising himself to betray Pa.Ogunniyi and not show up at the farm again as expected of him.
On waking up away from the night, to the dawn of a new day, he remembered his promise and was especially glad that Pa.Ogunniyi didn't particularly have his phone number to disturb him with calls, he and his wife would sort theirselves, he assured his own self but his mind would not stop pricking him that his action was inappropriate. He shut that manipulative mind up but it kept coming back to bite him and about noon, he decided to go join them even when he knew it was late.
'Mama mi, I should go be on Pa.Ogunniyi' s farm. He said to Yeye finding her in another room of the house wringing liquid out of leaves.
'You see! It's better than nothing' . She raised up her eyes to look at her son, he was dressed in mufti suitable for farm work, she was not entirely happy about it too but she believed strongly in him.
'This is for Iya Toyin. They said a maize sheller machine landed on her big toe and bruised away the flesh and it's nail.' She said catching his eyes looking at what she did. He knew the leave and it's effectiveness; that it would help her heal faster and naturally. On getting to the farm, he had found the couple working as if they had not expected him to come, it was expected because of his timing.
'We were just discussing you before now that you will not make it but my wife insisted that you will be here' Pa.Ogunniyi said, welcoming him and handing him a cutlass, they did not seem to be annoyed with him. Before he began work, he looked casually at the woman and found her smiling at him, she was beautiful yet again but it was strange to him why she believed he was going to come. Joining in, the three continued with the work until another four hours later.
And at their home again, Pa.Ogunniyi sat him down to discuss something with him. It made his heart race, he could never guess what was in the man's mind especially now that it might be about him, he was certain he had done nothing wrong for them to sit down to a discussion but it might be good.
'Forgive me for meddling in your matters but I can equally call you my son, so it should be my business'. Pa.Ogunniyi said making him start to feel uncomfortable with himself. He would have preferred if the man had cut directly at the chase but it was no new thing that Pa.Ogunniyi was a man of patience who liked to pick his words carefully. He didn't immediately continue talking, instead he reached out for a schnapp bottle behind the low stool on which he sat on and put some into the bottle's shot glass, pouring a small quantity unto the ground before stretching it towards Banjoko who kindly refused. He pestered him further until Banjoko thought refusing him was inappropriate.
He took the small cup from his hand, amazed at how little the glass cup was, he could literally squash it with only his hand if he wanted to. He gulped the liquid in one go, turning his face into an ugly expression at the vinegar taste of the drink.
'That's good, you don't reject a gift from from an elder'. Pa.Ogunniyi said, signalling for the cup to also pour himself a shot. After one of it, he drowned three more shots of the bottle into his belly to show expertise.
'It has gotten to my ears that your wife...ermmm, I cannot recollect her name'. He closed his eyes searching his memory for the woman's name. He didn't seem to get a hold of it. 'Ajike' Banjoko helped him, pronouncing her name carefully.
'Yes, I heard she left you' .He posed the statement at Banjoko who stared blankly at him.
'I have heard that you don't show any regard for your family's gods and I choose to believe that you have your reasons but this that I hear is very shameful, that you cannot keep a woman'. Banjoko grew angry and bitter but he hid it well, he wanted to talk, hoping to defend himself but he didn't. He had not expected to be sat down for a talk like this but he was somewhat glad; that someone wanted to talk to him about his wife. 'Couldn't you control her to fall under your authority? In our town, we leave women, they are not allowed to leave us'. His words further pierced Banjoko who couldn't hold his peace any longer.
'If you have heard well, you would have also heard that I did not give her the permission to leave, she just bailed out on me unknowingly. I mean everything was peaceful, she just bailed like that'. Banjoko hoped that the man saw that he had no fault in the matter but it didn't work. Pa.Ogunniyi was more interested in blaming him. 'And what measures have you taken?' he pressed on, looking quizzically at Banjoko who was getting interested in going home rather than staying there.
'We asked her family if they received her but they know nothing of it and with their help we reached out to her friends too but they also have no idea. We had no choice but to reach out to the police, but still nobody knows her whereabout'. There was half of a long silence between them, each of them thinking of their next questions or answers.
'But why involve the police? was she kidnapped?' Pa.Ogunniyi asked with a new interest.
'No! it doesn't appear so! For security purpose so that her family don't tag me for a crime if something unjustly happens to her'. Pa.Ogunniyi reasoned on the same page with him but he still wanted to drive at something. He cleared his throat in preparation for another turn. 'I want to help you but i must know if she's the one you truly want as your woman'. He offered, suddenly appearing like a saviour.
It was getting dark and the heaven's light was fading away. It provided the best atmosphere for this kind of conversation. Banjoko wanted to be glad but first, he was confused at the fact that Pa.Ogunniyi doubted his feelings towards his wife. Well, no harm done, the man himself had said that his question was only for clarity purpose. Within few seconds, Banjoko tried to predict what kind of help the man had in stock for him and if that help were to really help, he might as well cherish this old man for the rest of his life.
'I care much about her. It is why I married her.' Banjoko answered, proclaiming rightfully. Pa.Ogunniyi was satisfied with the answer, so he stood up to go into another area of the house and as if his wife had been waiting for her husband to stand up from his stool, she appeared in front of Banjoko, asking for his help to axe into smaller pieces a big log of wood which was at the back of the house. He was glad to help. There, adjacent where he was to do the quick work, various instruments of iron were stuck together into the ground including the rim of a vehicle's tyre. Their collectiveness served as an altar to what Pa.Ogunniyi believed in.
There were evidence of libations poured on them as they appeared greasy. His family had a similar one but the many instrument's formation of this one, began to create irksomeness in him. Anyways he chopped the wood until Pa.Ogunniyi shouted for his name, prompting him to go back inside. He presented it to Banjoko; an item puffed up and adjourned with three bird feathers before tied up with black and white thread. Banjoko looked at him quizzically, then down at his hand with the item in it and up again to look at his face. He knew well what it was, what he did not know was why the man thought he would take it from him. He let the item remain in Pa.Ogunniyi's hand having no intention of collecting it.
'Right before you sleep, call her full names on to this and immediately you wake up in the morning, do the same...You must do this for three days and you will see it's effect, no matter where she is, she will never have peace of mind until she sees you'. Pa.Ogunniyi acclaimed, his hand still been stretched. Banjoko seemed disappointed, he had not expected this from him but he wasn't surprised either.
He saw Pa.Ogunniyi withdraw back his hand in a frenzy because of his unreadiness to collect the odious item and he was not sorry. It crossed his mind to stand up and leave; his respect for Pa.Ogunniyi prevented him and he was sure something about that respect would change from there henceforth. Pa.Ogunniyi, sensing Banjoko's disapproval edged him further to persuade again. 'There is no free charm around here; I am only giving it to you because of my relationship with your father and like I said don't reject an elder's gift.' Banjoko thought about the offer and it tore his thinking apart, if he had wanted to tread down this road, it would have been easier done than said; his mother who learnt the healing abilities of leaves and tree barks had matched up with his father; a hardened disciple of both Ogun and Esu to create a family resulting to his birth. His mother after his birth went on to become an affiliate for the water goddess of the town.
He was aware of how people thought his family to be powerful in the terms of healings, witchery and sorcery but to those people, he seemed to be the only black stained spot on a white linen. Everybody that had come out from the Fagbamila's family, either by blood or water were deeply rooted in the town's traditional religious practices and if they weren't, they still showed a part of an allegiance. One of the current seven kingmakers also emerged from his paternal side; all this accorded fear whenever his family's name was being mentioned. Only him wasn't mesmerized in their doctrines. His education to civilization and knowledge brainwashed him to another belief, making him see so much defects in his root.
'Sir, I will humbly reject it. I do not belong to this train anymore.' He confidently said in the calmest way possible. Pa Ogunniyi burst into laughter, he wasn't annoyed at his answer, only simply bothered. 'Don't tell me you have joined the sect of Jisos most of our townsmen have now joined' Bajoko also laughed his own part at how the man had pronounced the reverend name.
'It is Jesus; Jesus Christ! not jisos.' Pa.Ogunniyi learned it, he had heard it many times but never for once had he had the need to pronounce the name or explore the personality of the reverend name. He was satisfied with what he had and knew.
'Hear this moment! You lost your father, your job and your wife within a space of a year. Ogun is angry with you and Yeye must know this too. This Jisos or Christ ought to have rescued you from his vicious hands. Don't lose your life before you realize the truth.' Pa.Ogunniyi spoke, hoping that his visitor saw the truth for the truth and if he didn't, he had said enough to find himself blameless. On the other hand, Pa.Ogunniyi suddenly appeared unintelligent to Banjoko; especially at his last statement, a stern warning which sounded like nothing but pure gibberish. Banjoko grew impatient; he wanted to leave but he couldn't, he hoped Pa.Ogunniyi would give him his pay for the work he had done on his farm.
Just then, Pa.Ogunniyi's second wife walked past them carrying the axe she had given him earlier, tiredly in her hand as she had chopped all the wood by herself. And as she walked past them, in a composed gait, it occured to Banjoko that she couldn't have willingly agreed to husband Pa.Ogunniyi because she was too attractive for him; he must have used a hallucinogen on her to compel her into doing all his wish. It was silly concluding like that but it seemed appropriate that way. Pa.Ogunniyi stood up, ending their discussion and reaching for the inside of his buba. He counted money from the bundle he had reached in for and paid Banjoko who left in a hurry. At counting the money, it was a far lesser amount, unlike the fee for the day and this was because of his big lateness to the farm with the very minimal work he had done compared to the previous day. It was nothing to be glad especially after that man had promoted his already ruined mood.
As he went back home, all their discussions began to go up and down in his mind that it disturbed, comforted and heavy him all at the same time. For most of the remaining night, he agreed with Pa.Ogunniyi that he might truly be in problems.