The deed episode 13 – 14

THE DEED……

EPISODE 13

When they left the prophet, Dayo became worse. He started talking loudly to himself. Fila refused to be left alone with him. The prophet told them to keep praying and searching for whom he offended.

In a dramatic twist, Dayo’s mother turned to Fila went on her knees and begged her to forgive Dayo. It was so dramatic and annoying. Fila felt insulted. She wanted to answer her but changed her mind. Her anger was very obvious. Her joy as she saw the mother begging was that Dayo was reaping what he had sown.

As if that was not bad enough, she dragged Fila’s family into it. She couldn’t hold her peace anymore. She told her straight up without blinking an eyelid,

“It is now you realize that Dayo offended my father. It is now you are begging for forgiveness. Stop wasting your time here begging me or my family, we did nothing to him. My father won’t waste his time dealing with Dayo when he had such health challenges. Right now he is not in Nigeria; he has travelled for further treatment and he is getting better. So please, leave my family and I out of your son’s misbehaviour.”

“Fila, is it me you are talking to like that?” his mother asked.

“Yes ma. You have accused me and then my father. Who will be next? Instead of you to ask him which girl he broke her heart you are accusing me.”

“Is that what you have to say Fila?” she asked quite surprised.

‘Yes ma. You know what your son has been up to so ask him. He will tell you who he offended. After all, the prophet saw me and didn’t point accusing fingers at me or my family.”

“Your mouth is sharp abi. I hope you are not behind this; if you are, you will hear it from me. I will so dea….”

“Hold it there. Since you are throwing threats around, stay back and care for your son and find a solution. I, Fila, am leaving. When he finds a solution to his impotence, then he should call me.”

“My daughter, please don’t listen to her. She is just a worried mother. Ignore her and stay with your husband.” Her father-in-law appealed to her.

“Fila, if you leave me I will die. Please, stay with me. I need a solution.” Dayo begged while holding her by the knees.

“If you want me to stay, then begin to confess all your deeds so we can trace where the problem is from.”

Dayo shocked them by his tales. He had committed atrocities against women mainly. He had slept with a mother, then her first daughter and later her second daughter. He had paid money had s–x with two sisters together and then dumped them. He had gone after most of his business associates’ wives and children. Those that were not enticed by his charm; he used “means” to get them interested and he had evidence of their rendezvous which he uses to get them to do his bidding. He recruited young teenage boys and girls for his and the pleasure of some politicians. Some of them didn’t know what they were getting themselves into. They were forced to have s–xual intercourse with them. He spoke as though he was in a trance. Fila opened her mouth from the beginning of the conversation and couldn’t close it. His mother was in shock. By the time her husband was through, you could hear a pin drop. Dayo broke the silence.

“I am so sorry. I know I have hurt you Fila. I ask for your forgiveness. I don’t know who would do this to me. I really can’t tell. If I start searching for all those I offended, I will not finish in the next three years.”

“Oluwa mi. I have been living with a monster. You committed all these atrocities? How could you? What was it you wanted? Power? Wealth? Where are you now? Chai, I was killing myself for someone like you. I am leaving. I can’t stay here.”

“Ah Fila, you promised to stay with me. Why are you doing this?” Dayo said to her.

“What am I staying for? You are no more a man, so of what use are you? Is it child you can give me now or is it the s–x you were using to make shakara for me? I will just be caring for a man who bit the fingers that fed him. Please, I can’t stay.” She responded sharply to him.

“Fila, you are behaving like a child right now. He has revealed to us a major issue. Do not abandon him now when he needs you the most.” His mother reprimanded her.

“He doesn’t need me. Where were you when I had to beg Dayo to have s–x with me during my ovulation? Where were you when I had a miscarriage? I called you, Dayo, and you said you were coming but never came. I had to go to the hospital myself. You came home much later in the day’ I saw that you had been in the arms of another woman. You, Dayo, slept with Maureen and made me a mockery amongst my friends. I reported him severally but there was no improvement. I could forgive all these but what you did to my father; I will never forgive you for it.”

She stormed out of the sitting room up the stairs to her bedroom. Dayo stood up and went to the kitchen leaving his sobbing mother and confused father behind. He came back and rushed upstairs. It was so suspicious that his parents ran after him. He rushed at Fila and held out a knife at her,

“You want to leave me? You want to make a fool of me? You want to tell everyone I am no longer a man? I will kill you and kill myself. If you try it; I will haunt you down, kill you and kill myself. Are you hearing me?”

“Dayo, give me the knife. Dayo, I am talking to you, give me the knife. You are my son and you will not take another person’s life, give me the knife.” His father tried to cajole him.

There was some distraction and Fila was able to escape from the room. Dayo ran after her but she had the advantage; she was more co-ordinated than he was. She ran out to the street shouting for help. People gathered and helped to hold Dayo down. He was now ranting and raving and they couldn’t make sense of what he was saying. The people who came to help requested for a rope to tie him till he was calmer. Fila quickly got one for them.

When they had left, Fila had a conversation with her in-laws.

“As it is now, this is a psychiatrist’s case, we need to take him to Yaba urgently.”

“What do you mean? My son is not mad.”

“I am not ready to argue with you. If you are not ready to do what I am suggesting then I have to run for my life,. You can see he wants to kill me. This is someone I didn’t enjoy marriage with wanting to kill me. I won’t stay oh. Sort yourselves out.”

Since he was safely tied up, she used the opportunity to pack most of her things. They were surprised when a driver with an SUV came to pick her up. She packed her things into the vehicle and left.

“She is a terrible person. How can she abandon her husband and leave?”

“How did the husband treat her when he was ok? She asked very valid questions. I told him severally; even though you have other girls, the woman in the house should be well taken care of. What she said is right, he needs to be admitted in the psychiatric hospital.”

“Who are you talking about? Whose child?”

“Dayo of course.”

“I am taking him right now to Ede. If I find out she or her family is behind his misfortune; I will return it them a thousand fold.”

“And if they are not? Have you considered that possibility?”

“Get the driver, let us go to Ede first. I will call baba now.”

“Hmmmm. The only way I know is church. This one, I don’t know. I never knew you worsh¡pped idols.”

“Leave that one for now. We will get solution.” She spoke on the phone for a while and said, “Ehen, he said we should bring him immediately.”

The ride to Ede was not an easy one. Dayo was so restless and was muttering to himself. At some point, he speaks loudly and off point. His mother wept as they drove down. This was beyond him being impotent; there was more and she had her suspicion.

Baba received them. He asked his boys to untie Dayo. He drew a mark in the centre of his head and he became very calm. His father was very surprised at the manner in which this short skinny man in white cloth could handle Dayo all on his own. He watched as Dayo was asked to eat and he calmly obeyed. They were taken into the sitting room of a modern house. This Ifa priest must either be from a wealthy home or his trade has done a lot for him.

Dayo’s father was not interested in knowing which one. He came with his wife because he could see that this was beyond church or hospital matter. He still wondered how the wife knew this place. They sat down on a very comfortable cushion and the baba took a seat on an animal hide mat on the floor. He placed a calabash beside him and from there brought out a white piece of cloth. He spread the cloth in front of him. Baba opened another white cloth in,side the calabash and brought out some cowries. He threw the white cowries on the white cloth in front of him, made some incantations and arranged them in a peculiar way. He gathered the cowries in his hand and threw them on the white cloth again. He made the peculiar pattern and then stood up and went into a room walking in with his back.

“What is going on now?” Dayo’s father asked his wife.

“He has gone to consult Ifa.”

“Let me check Dayo while he is there.”

“Dayo is fine; let us concentrate on this. He will be out soon.”

They waited and after about thirty minutes which seemed like hours, he came out with this his back and sat on his mat.

“Your son offended someone. The person he offended has refused to show her face but it is a lady. She said this is just the beginning. She is very angry with him.”

“Is she a young person or an old person? Is she fat or slim? Dark or light?”

“I don’t know but your son knows. She said your son did something terrible against her and therefore she will never forgive him.”

“Mo gbe. Dayo ti pa mi. What do we do now?”

“I have consulted and there is a solution. Dayo’s son will carry a sacrifice for him. Once he does that, she will be appeased and all will be well.”

“Son? But Dayo has no son.”

“Dayo has a son. I saw it clearly that he has a son.”

“He doesn’t have a son. We are sure of that.”

“If he doesn’t have a son, there is nothing else we can do. Take him home. He will deteriorate in a short time. He is calm because he is here but it will not last long. He will begin to attack people; he will use weapons to stab and maim anyone he sees. Then he will strip naked and enter the street. Once that happens, in less than ten days, he will begin to eat his flesh. He will eat it till he dies. It is a horrible death. So, I will advise you, find his son. It is possible he denied the pregnancy and the mother never came back to him. Find him.”

“Baba, help us check. Is the child in Nigeria or abroad? If he is in Nigeria, where in Nigeria?”

“The child is currently in Nigeria. He is in Lagos. You have no time. Search for him. I will give you something to put in your eye and another to put under your pillow before you sleep. It will open your eyes to where the boy might be.”

“Can we leave him here for some days while we search for the boy?”

“I can only hold him for five days. After that, he will begin what has been bestowed on him.”

On their way back to Lagos, Dayo’s mother confided in her husband about what Funmi told her. “She said the boy’s name is Remi and he looked so much like Dayo.”

“But Dayo said he didn’t father a child. So, where is the child from?”

“I don’t know but I am thinking we should go back to where Funmi saw him some years back and search from there.”

“But baba gave you something to use. Use it so we can find him.”

That night, she used the ointment as instructed by baba on her eyes and put the carved figure he had given her under her pillow. She slept and had a dream.

 

THE DEED…..

EPISODE 14

Remi had finished high school and had chosen the university he wanted to attend. It would have cost Labake a handsome sum but her darling son had decided he wanted to start being a man at sixteen. He got a scholarsh¡p to his school of choice. There was excitement over this great achievement. His mother especially was very happy that her son could attend that particular university as she was willing to sell all she had for him to attend the school.

He was in Nigeria with his mother and grandmother whom he called Big mummy. He was to stay and start school in January. This was enough time for him to stay here in Nigeria and get to know his family and the country. It was exciting for him. Everything was going well until…..

She saw him clearly. He looked just like Dayo. It was confusing but at the same time clear. He had two women with him. They held on to him.

“Don’t go there Remi.” They cried out in the darkness pulling him back. Why were they stopping? Who were they?

He released himself from their grip and moved forward. They wailed as he took further steps away from them to the direction they were scared of. Then suddenly, he stopped. He looked back at the two women and smiled at them then he moved forward once again, got to the thing they were scared of and after a few minutes, he came back and walked over to the women who rejoiced when they saw him return. Their tears had turned to tears of joy. She woke up.

Her husband woke up too. She was lost in thought that he had to shake her to have her attention. “What is the problem?”

“I saw him. I saw him clearly. His name is Remi.”

“Where is he?”

“I don’t know. He was with two women. I don’t understand it.”

“I thought baba said you will see where he is. Why couldn’t you see him?”

“I don’t know. I am worried.”

“Go back to sleep.”

She dreamt some more. She met him at the ATM. He came with some other youngsters. He stood out; he had a foreign accent. He was confident. She stared at him. He looked so much like Dayo; he couldn’t have denied him at all. He brought out his ATM card and a name on it stood out. Peters. The name sounded very familiar. She knew that name from somewhere. She woke up.

They pondered about the name for days. Who did they know that bore that name? It was a puzzle that was proving difficult to solve. They went back to baba.

“The person with the name is the mother of the boy. Look for the person with that name and you will find the boy.”

“We have little or no information. How do we find it?”

“You are not desperate enough. Dayo can only stay here for three more days. I can’t keep him for longer.”

“Is it this Peters people that did this to Dayo? I want the person to be punished seriously. If it is that his wife….”

“That can wait. Find the son or we will be discussing something else.”

They tried looking for him on their own but it was to no avail. Finally, Dayo’s mother called Funmi and asked her about the boy again.

“I only know that his name is Remi. I told you that before.”

“Is it possible his name is Remi Peters?”

“You got a surname? That makes it easier. Let us google him. If we don’t find anything, we will search social media.”

“We don’t understand what you are saying but please go ahead. We need to find him urgently.”

She searched for him on google but his picture and details didn’t show as there were a lot of Remi Peters. So, she tried Facebook and Instagram. She found him eventually on Instagram. Dayo’s father almost passed out when he saw his grandson; he was a carbon copy of his son Dayo. He blurted out,

“Who gave birth to him? I really want to know.”

“Let me check his pictures. We will definitely find something.” She went through his pictures and found a picture of his graduation. He stood between two women. Funmi showed it to her aunt and her husband. The picture left them completely speechless. They recognized his mother first because Labake had changed. She looked more mature and a lot more sophisticated. They were confused.

“I thought she said the baby died due to the stress? How come she has a child that looks exactly like Dayo?” his mother asked in astonishment.

“Honestly, this is very shocking. We have found Dayo’s son but they look like they do not live here.”

“Baba said he is here in Lagos. He has been right so far so we will try and locate him.” Dayo’s mother whispered to her husband.

“I know how we can find him. I will use a young and beautiful girl as bait. He will answer her direct message (dm) fast fast. Once he is Dayo’s son, he will like women.”

While Funmi worked on an opportunity to lure Remi for a meeting, Dayo’s days with Baba were over. They had been busy looking for Labake and her mother. Her mother had sold her house some years back and the new owners didn’t have any information except that she lived abroad.

Baba asked them to take Dayo home while they looked for the son. Dayo had become more violent than before. His father and mother were worried staying in the same vicinity alone with him. They asked Baba if they could take him to a psychiatric hospital and said they could but only for a short time. They got him admitted. He was sedated but he couldn’t be calmed. They increased the dosage but it had no effect on him.

“Is he on drugs?”

“No he is not.”

“Since when has he been like this?”

“It has been about two weeks now.”

“He has to be tied down as he is hysterical and violent.” He was tied down to the bed at the emergency. They met the entire requirements for the admission into the hospital and had him admitted. He was still tied to the bed.

His parents left the hospital and met Fila in the house. She came to pick up more of her things.

“Fila, you are a bad person oh. You left your husband because he was ill. What if something terrible had happened to him or he had died, what would you have done?”

“I am doing exactly what he would have done if the situation was reversed. He would never have supported me. But I can’t stay with a child molester. He was even raping both boys and girls. What does that make him?”

“Is it not because he told you? You would never have known. Help your husband recover. Stay back and tend to him.”

“I wish I could but I am very busy now. I took over my father’s company and I am running it. I don’t need this type of distraction. Only God knows who he offended.”

“I think we have found whom he offended.” Dayo’s father said to her which attracted her attention.

“Don’t tell her anything. She is not a part of our family anymore. She should go.”

Dayo’s father asked his wife, “Have you found him? She could have information that could be helpful.” He turned back to Fila and said, “My daughter, do you remember the lady that took in for Dayo about the same time you were pregnant?”

“Yes sir. The one that eventually aborted the pregnancy.”

“I don’t think she aborted the child, I believe they deceived us. She has a son.”

“How did you find out? How are you sure he is Dayo’s son?”

Her father-in-law showed her a picture of Remi. Fila was dumbfounded when she saw it. “How is this possible? Why did she do this?”

“So many things happened then. It is a long story.”

“Well, we don’t know the half of it. It is when we find him that we can hear the entire story.”

“This is unbelievable. All these years, Dayo had a son. Are sure he didn’t know hence his attitude towards me?

“He is not aware. I am very sure of that. They lied to us. Let Dayo get better, everything will be revealed and explained. That is why you should stay and tend to your husband.”

Fila was perplexed by the whole drama playing out now. How could she have had the child? Dayo told her Labake had an abortion. Did he plan it with her? Was his attitude towards her because he had a son? Was it because he knew his future was secure? She would be the loser after all.

“I wish Dayo well. When you find the son let me know.” She walked away.