All Chapters of Travails of Oluwole: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

Dressed in a plain white sleeve, with a cobalt blue coat draped over a smart pair of trousers of the same tone, and an attractive pair of cufflinks holding on to his cuffs was Oluwole. With the properly knotted polka dot tie on his neck, he looked exquisitely dashing!It was his 64th birthday. At 64 years of age, Professor Oluwole Ajayimore looked more youthful than his age foretold of him. He looked at his eyes in the mirror as he adjusted his glasses. It still bore the scars of a past bruise. He lifted his eyes to his old but treasured collection on his bedroom shelf and smiled. He took a picture frame of himself off the shelf; stared at it, and beamed with smiles and light laughter in between.Those type of smiles that arose from the joy and happiness gotten from an accomplished aim. He held the picture to his chest. So was the mid-morning of the old professor. Again, looking at the picture in his slightly wrinkled hands, he led himself in a blur back to his past. T

Tunde bought a lot of toys for Wole as a young lad. He wanted to use his wealth to ensure that his dear son was very comfortable. He felt that comfort was the best way he could share his love, especially since his birth mother was not there to give it to him. Few years into their marriage, Kate began to grow and nurture hatred towards Wole. She felt Tunde showed him so much love and care and she became very bitter towards Wole; such that even his mere presence irritated her. She became so jealous of Wole because she wanted all of Tunde’s attention to herself.She never really married Tunde out of love. She married him because of his fat wallet. More so, he was rich, hardworking and much more successful than all her other suitors. As a result of this, their love life was dead. Hell broke loose for Wole when Kate gave birth to her first child,Mirabel. She made sure he was beaten at every slightest offence, even when it wasn’t his fault.She began to derive pl

After closing from work early and on his way back home, Tunde was attacked by armed robbers.They made away with his car and all the valuable assets in it, bundled him into a nearby farmland and gang beat him. They left him almost lifeless.About half an hour after they left, the owner of the farmland came by his farm to round up for the day and found Tunde almost unconscious. He reached out to him and tried to get out any information that would be relevant in assisting him. "DI-VIN-E HOSP-IITA-LL”, were the only words that Tunde could manage to utter in his terribly bruised state. Knowing the place as it wasn’t too far from his farmland, he carefully lifted Tunde unto the back seat of his truck and with the little petrol he had left in it, he drove down to the hospital.When the young farmer brought Tunde in, the nurses and medical personnel easily identified him as the Doctor-in-charge and attended to him immediately.“I’m sorry Madam. Y

When Kate had come to pick Wole up from school, his teachers made several complaints to her.She casted a nasty look at Wole and his tears began to flow again. Wole knew that now that his father was paralyzed, Kate would deal with him mercilessly and there would be nothing his father can do about it.“Why were you sleeping while your teachers were teaching today, Wole?” Kate asked.“I-I-I-I…” Wole stammered.“You don’t want to answer me, right? Don’t worry, we would see about that when we get home” she said visibly pissed now.Wole impulsively ran and hid behind Mrs. Sharon. He didn’t want to be beaten up by anyone anymore. Kate however dragged him forcefully to the car and drove off roughly. Mrs. Sharon only looked on with sad eyes.“She is his mother anyways, my hands are tied” , she thought to herself.That evening, Wole received the beating of his life. Tunde

He heard the horn of Kate’s Toyota Camry car.“That should be her, right?”, Mrs. Sharon asked.Wole nodded affirmatively to her question.“Take care dear”Wole stood up and embraced Mrs. Sharon tightly.“Thank you so much for always being there for me Ma. You’re like the mother I never had”, Wole said amidst stifled tears.Mrs. Sharon returned the embrace warmly after which Wole ran off to meet his step-mother at the reception. He didn’t need a prophet to tell him that she wasn’t in a good mood. He stepped into the car without saying a word to Kate or even sparing her a glance. On their way back home, Wole noticed that Kate took a different route this time, not the usual one that leads to their house.After a short while, she pulled up at the front of a big house.“Stay here”, she said.Wole looked at her curiously as she stepped out of the car and m

When Wole woke up, he could neither find Kate nor the car. He was lost. All four cardinal points around him was covered with thick vegetation and was pitch black. Some many questions ran through his poor mind. It was far into the night and he had no idea where he was or what had happened to him. The several bites and perches of mosquitoes on his arms and legs only heightened his confusion and agitation.Bad thoughts began to run through his mind.“What if this isn’t a mistake?”“What if she actually dumped me here on purpose with no intention of coming back?” hethought.Tears began to well in his eyes as the apparent condition of his situation began to dawn on him and he was gripped by great fear and uncertainty. He remembered the picture of him and his Dad from last Christmas that he always kept in his bag pack. He reached for it and though he could barely see the images on the picture, the thought of his dear father

Wole said a quick prayer in his mind. He tried to look at the picture of him and his father in his hand but the thick, tight ropes denied him access to it. He laid there helpless on the backseat even as the car continued to move. He finally succumbed to the intensity of the pains. Turning himself to the opposite direction, he bowed his head to sleep.Ambrose and Emeka put the cars’ stereo on the highest volume initially to drown out his incessant cries and sobs. Even though Wole had stopped crying for several minutes now, they still continued to blast the loud music through the speakers. This woke Wole up several times from sleep and only compounded the headache and pains he already had.“Wake up boy”, came an unfamiliar smooth voice startling Wole out of his sleep. Wole was having a bad dream where he saw his Dad been tossed into a river by two men dressed up in black.“NOOO!!!!”,Wole screamed.He was drenched in sweat and h

“I would ask you again for the last time boy. What is your name?”“First tell me yours,” Wole said. “You tell me your name and I’d tell you mine”Wole knew that the man was not a Nigerian. His skin had a far lighter tone compared to those he sees every day in school, church and in his neighborhood. He looked like one of those actors in the action movies daddy usually watches. He put his hands into his pockets and surprisingly found the picture of him and his dad in one of them. He was a bit curious as to how it got there.The last thing he remembered was holding on to it tightly when he got kidnapped.“Why don’t we say our names together?”, Charles suggested.“Okay”, Wole said.“Oluwole David!”“Charles!”They both said in unison.“Wow! I like the name Oluwole. What a nice name for a handsome boy like you.” Charles

Trembling like a hen about to be slaughtered, she ran out of the room in fear and tears. She hated seeing his face. If not for the order he had given that every single one of Wole’s needs should be catered for, she wouldn’t have come. Charles had recruited both her and her younger sister when they were teenagers. She watched as he raped her 16 year-old sister. About 3 weeks later, her sister was confirmed pregnant. Charles was so furious and he ordered that the pregnancy be terminated immediately. Her sister died in the process of trying to terminate the pregnancy.That was one experience she would never forget in her life. She could have avenged her sister’s death but she dared not. Anyone who crossed the path of Mr. Charles Rowland or attempted to report him to the authorities died mysteriously and dreadfully.Wole seeing that the maid wasn’t successful in her venture stormed into the room with incessant shouts of- “I don’t like it

Wole spent the remaining part of the week crying in his luxurious room. Now that his father was gone, the thought of going back home was far from him. Home without his father would be nightmare. The people that killed his father probably also sought to kill him too. He therefore decided to stay with Charles.He needed him now more than ever. He had nowhere else to go. The love and care Charles had shown him since he arrived was far preferred to that which he would receive back home.“I love you daddy. I do and I always will”, Wole said holding the photograph of him and his father to his chest. Right now, that was his most treasured and valued item. It was the only tangible memory of his late father that he had.He had no other family relations that he knew of. No uncles or aunts.He was still staring at the photograph when he had an asthma attack. He looked around his room frantically for his inhaler which was in his bag pack. The struggled to get it