Chapter 6. Papa!

I covered myself with a grey wrapper which I saw on the canoe. The man who had rescued me seemed to be in his mid seventies. He was quite kind to me – a character which seemed rare to come by these days.

He seemed to be a fisherman. He was quite very optimistic though he had made no catch yet since, he’d just keep on being in high spirits.

“Are you a runaway?” he asked. He had a very weird voice. 

“No” I replied with a gesticulation.

“Did you want to drown yourself?” he queried again “You can just dive back and I will act like am not here” sense of humor, huh. I crossed a smile across my face “I want to get my sick brother some drugs in the city” I tried to defend myself from his peering, inquisitive gaze fixated on me. He nodded his head for some time, he seemed to be digesting my story, probably to discover the fallacity in my tales. “The town is on my” he said. I found relief in his words, he seemed to be an angel in disguise. He threw me a piece of bread which I caught swiftly.

“Your stomach been running.” I thanked him and tore the bread into shreds, devouring with all my might, I recalled that I had not even prayed before going on this food rampage, my parents would have scolded me if only they were here.

It wasn’t easy to be in one piece after being torn to shreds by the fragments of the war, a futile war, a fight we had been sure to lose right from the start. The man fixed his eyes on me, probably trying to study my motives. I finished eating the piece of bread, thanked him and stared on for any sight of the city. “Yes!” smiled the man “Get me the net beside you” he said to me, blazing with delight in his eyes.

I unfolded the net, passed it to him as he did some things I couldn’t really depict then cast the net into the river. The delight on his face died when he noticed that all the fishes in the net were dead – bellies up, killed by the poison of our wealth excavated by the government, excavated by companies that didn’t give any concern to the sufferings of our people.

A national wealth that seemed to create destruction in the lands of those who owned such massive wealth. We were the richest producers of the national wealth, we supported the federal and state budget but still we were brandished as the poorest area in the state.

We enriched the government and these “so called companies" with the spoils of our land while they left our land porous, they only cared about the juice and not the paper which contains the juice.

Our juice minerals was a contradiction to the devastated state of our land, how could we survive? How would we thrive or progress?

We were like a woman who had been rejected by the husband after enjoying the brief moments of ectasy in bed. People who had no compass, no direction just moving the point at which we had been pushed. Who would save us when all our heroes were actually Nero’s. scumbags who just cared about enriching their pockets and the affliction inflicted on those who the constitution is expected to protect.

Would constitution contradict with the huge sum of money sent onto their private accounts just to keep their mouths shut. But the nation is rising, the people are no more ignorant and one day, these goons and cockroaches would attest for their sins.

The big question though is when will this nation learn to shun avarice. The fisherman cursed aloud knowing that all he had journeyed was futile. I understood his affliction, our people were suffering, no providence to agriculture and now our livestock were either dying or going off to extinction. Who would be here in the next century. If we last the century. The government might decide to wipe us out from eternity forever, it’s not the first time such has happened in the black race. When will the black race learn from their mistakes?

The fisherman flashed his light into the river as we saw a horrifying scene. Fishes were floating above the water with their bellies scattered around the river. These fishes seemed to share a close affliction with our people. A group of people who had been forced out from their hiding place, poisoned and left to die. 

The fisherman switched off his torchlight. “Well I guess we’ll either be killed by a bullet or die out of hunger” he said with a serious tone. He was right, how much more time do we have before we go out of extinction. How much more before the colour of our waters become reddened by blood just like the river nile but just one difference – “Peoples real blood”

***

The fishermen was quite generous to stop me in the city. The city was nothing as I had anticipated it to be. The markets were almost vacant, the soldiers were trouping around the streets in their large numbers.

A beggar was lying on the ground, his palm open to arms but no one could aid him. I was totally dismayed, this had been our hope our desperate panacea to defeating this desolation. They had taken our city, stained our city with their armed forces…

We were poisons, our only antidote was brutality. This was no more than the skeleton of a dead city. 

I tried to recall what this deserted streets looked like before everything went to dust. Papa had taken me to the city last year. The streets were bubbling with people busy streets and street lights which reflected the city at night.

It was filled with so much noise, the running of motor vehicles to the shouting of commercial man and women haggling the prices of varying goods. It was quite a “wonder world.” It may not have been beautiful but was a sure reflection that we’d soon conquer.

I surveyed the streets, it was almost totally vacant. A man was being bullied, beaten by two soldiers, he continued pleading that they spare his life but they just intensified their beating.

“Wetin you dey look?" asked one of the soldiers rudely staring me. 

I took off immediately, I had made it this far, I needed some medication for my brother. A little boy lost in the dark shallows of a city seemed normalcy in this stage. I saw a drugstore just in front of me but I had no money. I trudged in smartly avoiding the preying eyes of the owner. I went in and in, just doing anything unsuspicious to avoid the owner smelling a rat, I was tensed, my breathing was intensified, I hadn’t done this before. I was filled with so much anxiety as I watched each label of the drugs then at the man through the corner of the shelves protecting me from his goggling eyes. Its quite ironic how things had changed lately, how I’ve been forced to redefine ethics in such a short span of time, this may not be right but it was something that needed to be done.

I came in contact with the first drug on my list, I took it, I acted like I wanted to weigh its content then pushed it into my shirt. I made a quick glance at the man who seemed to be lost in his world of “busy”. I breathed with relief. “three more to go” I thought to myself. I seemed to be a professional novice in this game, I ducked them all into my shirt, the problem was “how do I make it out of here?” I studied the man, his gaze had been fixated on me. Probably, he was pondering on what such a little boy was really doing at his drug store. 

One thing was certain, I had been caught since I could sense that he wouldn’t just take his gaze off me. I should have kept back the hidden pills but seemed to recall everything that I had been through, all I had conquered just to get to this moment, I couldn’t say no – at least not yet.

I walked over to the counter as rummaging images disrupted my sanity, I tried to keep steady but my body trembled with such velocity and brute force. The man continued staring at me blankly, I just trudged gently then made my way near the door, it would help to avoid his raving eyes.

“Hey boy!” he called out “What are you hiding in that shirt?”

Okay – this was a sure time for plan “B”. I stood fixated to the point then crossed a smile on my face, his face looked resiliently mean, he would never understand me, he was just going to take back his drugs and push me off the street. Worse – he was going to tell on me, call the soldiers who only needed a medium to victimize and crush one’s spirits. I broke into a run while he chased after me, I pulled the table down distancing my space with him.

“Thief!” he screamed. I continued running down the streets. I expected to hear huge steps marching towards me, people had more on their plates to worry about a petty thief. 

I came to a halt after I had put a measurable distance, I smiled at my victory. All I had to do was get home. A lorry went past me, it seemed to convey prisoners, it was guarded safely by soldiers. I stared closely at the back of the lorry as an image metamorphosed in my memory. I ran after the lorry screaming aloud like a boy who had lost his lucidity. 

“Papa, Papa!” I exclaimed as I went down the street, he seemed to be deafened to my words, blind to my presence but I knew for sure that it was my Papa.

I shouted after the vehicle, running after it with my tiring legs and feeble mind. I wouldn’t give up, I just continued my quick steps after the line of motor vehicles. The van seemed to distance the space between us though I followed behind unceasingly. 

Papa stared at my direction with surprise on his face, I knew he had seen me. He made a wave for me to go back but I wouldn’t heed him. Wherever that van went to was my destination. I just ran after it with continuous shouts.

“Papa! Papa!” I repeated unceasingly people would have wondered. “Who is this mad boy on the street?” but madness was a normal state of mind in the current situation.