The Dreams Of My Mother – Episode 38

Episode 38

“He has a son, remember, and now that you are gone, he is focusing on his son” the voice inside would say, and it would bring tears, he would wish that his absence had created a vacuum in their lives, but in his heart, he believed that no one cared that much for him.

If only he knew, that not only was Gberan looking for him, but his grandmothers and his biological father had paused their life looking for the son that Khadijat gave birth to.

It happened that, the gateman while talking to Dayo had seen his face when he pointed a torch in his face, while talking to him. So, he had described Dayo to the police and the police artist had sketched Dayo’s face. It wasn’t long that someone recognized Dayo as the boy who was in an accident and ran away from the hospital, throwing his family into confusion.

Skyby had also seen the news and had gone to the place of the robbery, he combed the area around the place, but there was no sign of Dayo. He saw the uncompleted building opposite the lemon coloured house where the robbery had taken place, and went there, hoping that he would find Dayo. He found signs of inhabitation, but didn’t see Dayo. There was no way he could have found Dayo because he did not come out in the day, and only came out at night, and only on nights when the gang had an assignment. He was always cooped up in the house, with the gang. Skyby began to hunt the places where the gang struck. He stayed close to his television set, and whenever he heard that the gang had struck a place, he would rush there, but he never found any clues. One day he sat down and asked himself why he was chasing after Dayo, did he plan to kill the boy when he found him, just because Tania asked him to?

“Are you really going to be a child killer because you want to save your reputation?” he questioned himself. It is time to pull out of Tania’s web, he told himself. But still Skyby was not ready to have his career ruined so he made a gamble. He called Tania and offered her a deal.

Bella, since her encounter with Tania had been living in fear. She decided to reveal everything to her husband, in a bid to get protected. She hoped that her husband would forgive her part in the disaster, and protect her, for the sake of their son. So, she asked to talk to her husband, one evening, after dinner. Since Dayo went missing, Gberan had become less of a happy man, but however, he became closer to his son, Ken. Ken reciprocated the attention, by doing everything to please his father. He loved all the sports his father loved and learnt all the skills his father was good in. He even decided to study engineering, like his father had done. Seeing the way Ken had turned out, Bella did not regret her actions. After all, they pushed Dayo out of the house, and gave Ken room to be all he wanted to be, without sharing the affection of his father.

Bella: “Gberan, Tania is a killer, she tried to kill me” she dropped the bombshell.

Gberan bolted out of the reclining seat where he was, lounging on the patio.

Gberan: “I know you did not have any liquor this evening, so, what nonsense is this you are saying? Are you trying to tarnish the image of your friend? This is a new low, even for you” he said vehemently.

Bella: “Will you just keep quiet and let me talk. She tried to kill me, and if she had not fainted then, you would have seen my dead body somewhere. When she thought I was going to die, she confessed to me that the accident was deliberate, she had meant to kill Dayo because I told her Dayo is Damilola’s son” she said and watched as her husband’s eyes got darker and darker.

Gberan: “You told her that Dayo is Damilola’s son, how did you know that? Even Damilola didn’t know that, until after the accident” he said unbelievably.

Bella: “Remember when I told you I was going to see my mother, I actually went to Oshogbo. I watched Dayo and Damilola together at the lunch we had, and noticed similarities in their looks. I was not sure so I went to Oshogbo. Khadijat’s father had just died…” she explained to her husband, whose eyebrow shot up the more she talked.

Gberan: “I am scared of you, Bella. I cannot believe that you would go this far to

fight against an innocent boy whom life had dealt enough blows. My mother was

right, I should never have married you” he said. He walked back and forth,

thinking hard. The more he thought about it, the more he could not believe that

Bella could do all she did. Then he thought of Tania, the innocent faced woman

was even deadlier than Bella.