🚨Boy🚨 Junior Pete (Chapters 4- 6)https://authoropeyemipeterodeseyi.blogspot.com/2024/10/blog-post.html

 

CHAPTER FOUR

Nurse Gbenro kept spying on Junior Pete, who was now seven years old and in Basic Class II. At noon on that fateful day, Junior had been mistaken for eight years old, as guessed by Gbenro the spy, who had been on Pete’s family after the boy’s operation at Nicolai hospital. Gbenro was feeding the team details about the couple and their son. He must have been reporting to Maalo, his ‘new-boss’, who later stole Junior from the street at noon on his way back from school. He had dragged Junior into a moving car as the child strolled with a cup full of ice cream in his hands. 

Junior didn’t know that somebody had followed him neither was he a target to any person or a group. Maalo had dragged him down to Bouler dunghill, where Junior had never known about before.

While Maalo forced him down, Junior had lost his money notes of 100naira to the scary, disguised lunatic.

Once they had arrived, Maalo brought Junior over to join other captives inside their cage in the dilapidated warehouse there at the Bouler dunghill. The other captives were three in number; Junior was number four. There were three boys and a girl who was six years old. Her name was Sessy, and she had been raped by the kidnapper right inside their cage. Her experience with them was very traumatic as they had no mercy on her while they took turns abusing her sexually.

The sound of Junior being thrown inside the cage had awakened Sessy from her unconscious state while on the same spot where she was raped. She had hunkered down into a corner of the cage right inside the blood flow.

The family of Mr. Pete went searching for Junior Pete all over. The police force could have been of great help to trace the team out, but Mr. Pete, Junior’s father, couldn’t finance the extra search options. They waited to receive help of all kinds so that Junior would be returned to them. They also thought it could be a spread of the popular Boko Haram activities in their nation, but they knew that the group’s activity was limited to the north and the northeast of the country.  

His features and unique eyeball colour seemed noticeable, and one could easily use them to describe Junior.

On the noon of the second day, the disguised Maalo lay down on a short bench hidden beside those dirty-looking sacks heaped on the side of a cracked wall to prevent reptiles from crawling into the spaces he had occupied in the whole rough warehouse.

Junior knew that the man was a lunatic and as a result, the child could be killed in his sleep by Maalo slamming a pot on his head. Junior watched the other three. As he carried the biggest of the pots, Junior heard a sound. He choked but continued tiptoeing towards him.

Maalo was asleep. Even though his eyes were closed, he felt the movement like something rose and would soon force down on him at a short speed. He opened his eyes and jumped up, raising his hands to weigh the object. Maalo got angry. He rose from his bench, suspending his hand up there with the pot. He picked up his own dirty slippers and began to flog Junior. Maalo whipped him, tied his limbs, and hung him suspended on one hanger assembled for his punishment. 

A part of the child’s head was swollen; it ached. Also, his temperature had risen as a result. Junior had almost given up because of the torture. He tried to regain his balance, but he couldn’t regain his balance, or his strength. He also couldn’t see anything before him. Junior groaned in pain; his head ached as he became unconscious.

In his unconscious state, he found himself in a realm where he kept calling and chasing after his dad, who wouldn’t just wait around and talk to him. He wondered why Pete was running farther when just a touch was all that he needed of him; 'Just a touch… Just a touucch… Just once', he screamed in his subconscious. 

At that moment came a change in the clouds. The beautiful white had now turned dark, and the sky began to rumble and depict fury.

Junior's Dad, who had been running away from him, stopped. He began to grow in his fury, like one who had come to avenge him. 

Junior turned to face him, but he couldn’t look into Pete’s eyes because they had protruded in anger. Yet a tear rolled down his cheek, followed by a noisy thunder strike. The rumbling cloud, together with the noisy thunder, sounded harsh in his ears. 

In great fear, he began to fidget, Junior shook his body twice to revive and found himself still bounded in plastic ropes tied to Maalo’s bench. He realised that he had been unconscious during the torment. He burst into tears again, calling so that his dad might appear to help. 

While being tortured, the other lads who were together would have preferred that they died, though they wanted to see their mothers before they did. They slumped down one after the other to wake later.. 

Junior screamed for his daddy instead; his cry tore this man apart as he couldn’t bear what the kids longed for. Junior wanted death, yet he wanted his dad before he died. 

Junior, together with other captives, wept bitterly. He screamed louder for help but, ‘She’ was wicked to those younger children. ‘She’ never came, even though she knew she knew them all. 'She’ hid herself from the innocent children, from the sunrise to the sunset, rendered them hopeless, and suffered them to the hand of a dark mind that wouldn’t just listen to the cry of children… Oh! Help would not come today, not even tomorrow!

Although Maalo was touched by the children’s plea, he remained adamant. He would only relieve them a bit; he felt that they could kill him to gain their freedom. The disguised madman stood in front. He didn’t trust his captives not to escape. Therefore, he was set to keep them tied up all the time. 

One day, Maalo forced young Junior to write for him. He wanted Junior help him write a letter to his wife informing her about his recent employment as a security man somewhere in Lagos.

Maalo had also asked Junior to help with the laundry and the cooking. Junior couldn’t refuse. Rather, the lad imagined causing Maalo harm. He wanted to rip his useless clothes into rags. And, for the rice he cooked, he wanted to add caustic soda rather than salt then pour it in dirty water, avoiding the soapy part, because the lather would make it very obvious.

Unaware of the fact that Maalo was watching him, Junior questioned his actions in his thoughts. He asked himself what would happen if the man asked him to eat the food alone or, worse, if other captives were to join him. Junior further reasoned what would happen if Maalo caught him with the poisonous materials (caustic soda and dirty water) that he wanted to use on him; Maalo would kill Junior and other captives. Junior hated him and couldn’t wait to report his evil deeds to Pete, his father, when they met.

Maalo had been on a long call; he assured the person on the other end of the phone that he would get paid as soon as his chairman had return. He bound Junior again with a plastic rope, tying up the same limbs with Cello-tape, Junior’s mouth filled with white foam to prevent his voice from being heard, which also made his throat dry.

The child would be moved to meet his buyer at the hideout in a lonely duplex, along the Ifo deep bush path leading to Coker Village of Ogun state. The kidnapper had gotten by some police posts on their way to reach there; they hid Junior inside the Van's booth throughout the long hour's drive to the destination. 

Maalo's team was disappointed when they got there and that raised another chaos in their midst. An argument that came up among them led to a shootout among the four culprits. 

Anekan, a team member at a time, threatened the team leader by dashing in a rage towards the van's boot. He opened it and released Junior as he brought out small pocket-sized scissors to cut out the gum tapes that bound his limbs, loosed the plastic ropes, and dragged him down, leading him into a dark room inside a building.

Once inside, he forced Junior to sit on the floor to confuse his partners. The more Junior screamed, the tougher he got pressed, as if Anekan wanted to strangle him inside the blind, covering his head to his neck. Anekan’s abuses left Junior shattered as he pressed the lad’s neck to a short table inside the room. 

After the abuse, Junior’s face continued to bleed inside his blind; he got worked out. 

Anekan laid his palms on the collar of Junior’s shirt to drag him on the floor into the passage.

Junior wrestled to get himself free, but his strength was overpowered as Anekan slammed him to the bare concrete floor of the room, injuring his back. Anekan then continued towards the half-closed door of the shaded room. 

Junior had struggled for his life all that moment inside that dark room. The little boy groaned in pain under the blindfold that he wore on his head. The blind had almost left him strangled during the abuse, and he couldn’t see who was doing all this to him! 

At the sound of steps, Anekan hastened up, dragging Junior out of the house; he pushed him towards the van that had brought them all. This time, the weakened Junior knew that he was being pushed to return into the van’s booth. 

As he staggered on one push, his right arm flung up to hit Anekan’s breast pocket, though it hurt his chest because inside it was his cell phone. The slam from Junior’s wrist left him strained. All the pain of abuse, the strained wrist, and the blindfold that had also strained his neck almost to the point of strangulation only left the little child tired, and disappointed by his ordeal.

Anekan raised him up and dumped him inside the booth in his rage. He removed the blindfold on Junior’s head so that the little boy might see the faces of all involved. 

The team leader got so infuriated over that, he told Anekan not to do so; he wouldn’t create a nuisance in that place. Maalo was extremely furious with Anekan, more than he could bear. Maalo reached for his AK47 gun, knowing that the blindfold had been removed from the little chap. 'It’s of no need to stress over just an inexperienced boy like this showing him how he ought to die and sent on his way into the world beyond', Anekan said, trying to defend himself.

Maalo returned his AK47 and reached for the 'baby'; only one aim at Anekan and his heart got torn into pieces like a rag, gushing out like a slaughtered animal. The shootout had left Anekan dead on the spot because Maalo was angered at his recounts of failed attempts by the team many times and some outstanding balances in that scene. 

Gado, (the driver) who knew how unprotected he was at the moment, took off and headed into the thick forest to escape the stray bullets. 

The kidnapped Junior saw Anekan falling to the floor. He made an effort to stand up and attempt escape, but his limbs were hurt, and they wouldn’t let him flee. He saw the unpainted building but he could not describe how it looked. Junior only remembered the van of silver colour, which he could describe well. 

The lad attempted reaching for Anekans’ cell phone to make use of it anyway that he could. He leaped from the unlocked booth to the ground as he landed on his arms, rolling towards the dead man before anyone else might come close. 

Maalo, being a smart crook, waited a moment to study any further movements. He watched Junior struggle with his limbs, pushing forward to take something from Anekan’s breast pocket. Maalo counted steps closer, allowing the chap to suffer a bit before dragging him up, and throwing him into the van’s booth for the second time. The child banged his head. 

The shots were down, and the dead one was on the ground, Maalo waited for the other driver to return. 

One moment later, Gado stepped out of his hiding place to observe the aftermath of the incident that had chased him into the den of wild animals. Step by step, he walked closer to Maalo to receive his orders.

‘Come drag the ‘goat’ into the hole over there’, Maalo commanded.

Gado came closer and began to drag the corpse through the narrow part into the woods to dump inside a hole which was covered with dry planks and leaves. He then returned to the car to spy on Maalo, knowing how unpredictable the boss might be to act against any other erring follower. 

Maalo got his phone out of one of his lower pockets and made a call, speaking in a manner that neither of the two that were with him could pick the point of his code. He then switched the discussion as Gado wheeled out at about fifteen hours GMT to further escape checkpoints along the routes and return to the cage. 

On that same night, other captives inside the cage heard the sounds and movement towards the hidden entrance, which left them feeling despaired. Maalo pushed Junior, holding on his shirt collar. He flung him as he screamed his life out of his sealed mouth. 

At a step into the cage, Maalo brought out a sharp, sparkling short knife and sliced the gum tapes over Junior’s mouth. He did that to slice open a part of his lips, extending the knife towards his neck as if he also meant to slit his throat open. The foam inside Junior’s mouth was already wet and heavy, leaving him very thirsty and sick. 

Maalo flung him back into the cage and he landed on the three other pupils who were already asleep. 

All the three woke up together in the darkness, and cried for help that would never come. 

Junior was already tired out and weary, almost unconscious. The fear of death grew in the four, and they began to scream again. 

Little Junior felt broken, without any strength to walk. He had lain cold, feeling maltreated. He felt the pain of the torture, even though they would sell him to anyone, as they must have planned. The dizziness and helplessness surrounded by wilder oppression; the wickedness had dominated their dark minds. In the helplessness, Junior had tried to recompose, but the dust of hatred, anger and groan had risen above his thin, wavering sight.

After the torture, Maalo strolled out into the neighbourhood in a rage, disguised as a madman, as usual, He was wandering in fury, thinking of the next move to make concerning those captives being held in his cage. He stepped into a very sharp broken bottle, which gave him deep cut on the leg and injured him so bad that blood dripped off his leg, and he couldn’t walk, or utter a word to ask for help.

A ‘Good Samaritan’ driving in his car sighted the wounded madman in a pool of blood and had pity on him. He offered to help by taking him to a pharmacy for treatment, but the cut was so deep that the pharmacy couldn’t handle it. He was then referred to a specialist hospital which unknown to Maalo, happened to be at the Nicolai Hospital.

At the pharmacy entrance, a passerby named Nwudo saw the scene where the ‘Good Samaritan’ carried Maalo in struggle to get him into the car and offered to be of help. 

Nwudo was am off-duty police officer. He joined the ‘Good Samaritan’ in his quest to rescue the madman.

As they hurriedly drove into Nicolai Hospital, Maalo, who had been so weak and silent all the while, suddenly took up courage and revolted at their efforts to get him out of the car, thinking that it was a secret plot to rope him in a second time. 

The two were surprised at his actions, though they persisted to save his life.

Maalo struggled further in a bid to escape the scene before nemesis could catch up with him.

The scene caught the attention of some security officials at the hospital, who rushed to take care of the situation but, to their surprise, they discovered that it was Maalo again. He was recognized at once, but a lunatic this time. They whispered to themselves and drew the attention of the management, who almost instructed that Maalo be rejected. But, on a second thought, they considered that he be treated upon obtaining a police report which would help them further their investigation about his true identity. The previous charge against him was unsatisfactory at that time because all efforts to prove him beyond reasonable doubt yielded nothing. 

One of the security officers together with Nwudo and the ‘Good Samaritan’ drove straight ahead in a hurry to Lion Building’s Police Station where the previous case was lodged to obtain the requested police report.

The few police officers at that division also identified him as one of the suspects who were involved in the case of Lasan’s death at Nicolai Hospital. The CSO of Nicolai Hospital had called the DPO before their arrival, following the instructions given by the hospital management regarding the need for close investigation prior to, and after, Maalo’s medical treatment in Nicolai Hospital.

Quickly, they opened up a case file, took a statement from the ‘Good Samaritan’ who picked him along the route close to the Bouler dung. Then, they prepared police report alongside and took him on hostage to the hospital for treatment.

Gado had his own worries concerning the delay in cash reimbursement for the deal, but he understood that it could be due to the delay from the contractor, ‘The Oga at-the-top’.At another time, Galo was uncomfortable not to have been called to pick a token of his settlement; this got him to pay a visit to ‘the-boss, Maalo’. 

Gado knew that Junior and other children caged inside the warehouse where Maalo had hidden himself were there. He piped at them one time before beckoning on ‘the-boss’. He did not want to suffer the same fate as Anekan.

In his efforts to enter the territory, Gado tiptoed and piped left and right to ensure no one was in sight within the neighbourhood. As he did, he didn’t know that a woman in the neighbourhood noticed his actions from afar while he moved around. 

She watched him through her window facing that dung property, which was always locked because of the smell of the heat and the burning of dumped rubbers. The breeze blew towards the direction of her window. It made her lock the window most times, except for on that fateful day. She had opened that same window because there had not been such burnt and terrible smell for two days. There was no usual madman parading around the dung. 

In Gado’s effort, he tried to tiptoe and hop around the dung, but he missed his way and fell into the swamp. 

Madam K., for the first time, observed the man’s moves. He disappeared only to reappear again almost an hour later, so she got alerted to something! It was something unknown to her, but it looked almost real, a man tiptoeing into the depth of the dung.

Gado came out again, went away for about twenty minutes, and then returned with a white nylon pack containing fast food in his hand. Not tiptoeing inside again with the pack, he took a longer time returning up the hill. He dusted himself up with a white handkerchief, adjusted his cloth to look good, and then walked away.

Gado found that Maalo, ‘the boss’, wasn’t in the warehouse hideout, so he gave the children some food to sustain them because they were close to starving already. It had already been two days since Maalo left, and he hadn’t returned to the cage. 

On Gado's way to the street, he walked straight to the stand that he kept beside the last electric pole that was near the end of the street, closer to Bouler dunghill. Gado left a sign. He did so by adjusting it to the actual position that his disguised colleague would understand that he called. He delayed there for a while, adjusting his Sancho's slim shoes to fit upon not been able to see him, he stepped out for his own way.

Madam K. thoroughly observed the suspected movement around the place; she felt that the swampy area could have been dangerous for anyone to walk around because the dung extended down the hill. 

It was the same weekend that the United Streets Landlords gathered together for their general community meeting on development of the area.

Madam K. on the ground of a tenant in the street who had observed a thing, attended to report to the Community Development Association (CDA) Chairman of the area. In that meeting, she gave her opinion that the unusual movement on the Bouler dung hill needed to be checked and that there should be symbols and signposts of caution to serve as proper directive to people who went there from time to time to dispose of their waste.

The swamps down the hill would trap a 'novice’. One who didn’t know his or her way around could miss and fall into the wrong place. 

The meeting officials noted her points and promised to go with some boys in the neighbourhood to check the place. Then, they would return with feedback to the ‘house' and proffer a-way-forward.

They further requested suggestions as to what they could do to secure the users of the place. 

The meeting was dispersed, and the task force team headed to the Bouler dung. The boys that knew that there had been a madman began to talk about his sudden disappearance, guessing whether or not he had died somewhere else. Their guess was as good as what many other persons had on mind in the area.

The chairman obliged that they opened the big gate which led into the old and demolished warehouse structure that was on a part of the Ministry of Agriculture and Quarantine's landmark; it had a short link road to the dung.

The boys went up to that part that was demolished and that’s when their ears met with the pained cry of children. Once they made their way inside to investigate, they were surprised to find four young children up there. They were dying of starvation, bound with plastic ropes, taped and chained with blindfolds on. 

Only Junior was strong enough to utter a sound to respond to their inquiries. Two of the remaining three were boys. The only girl in the group was six years old. The children were sick, dying.

 The chairman beckoned on the masses to come all up the hill and help the children whom they found inside the warehouse cave, close to the swamps. 

Many people in the area responded to the urgent call. 

The police force took over the findings to further rectify the situation. It had been news sometime in the past that a madman was coming into the dung to live. They discovered that he was in disguise, and the younger children who were missing in the community were traceable to him. Little Sessy was interrogated, and she recounted her experiences of the rape, abuse, and torture that she’d endured in the kidnapper’s cage. 

Junior explained, in his own way, all that had happened between when he was caught and, now that he was rescued with other captives, he explained that it was another man who was one of the four who drove him out in a silver-coloured van to a bush that visited again. He fed them fast food snacks, which had sustained all of them until the moment that they got rescued. 

The explanation conformed with what Madam K. recounted to the CDA chairman who during his statement to the police wrote that there was a woman in the house closest to the last light pole. She had brought about the awareness of unusual movement that she had discovered on the dung to the swamp. She was glad that she contacted members of the CDA members to do a search. The check on the dunghill to the swampy side exposed all of them to the atrocities going on inside the place. 

The kidnapper had never been engaged by anyone. He had secured the use of the old warehouse and kept their dark secret from both the CDA and the executives who were landlords of the streets. Maalo would never have rented from anyone; he must have sneaked into that place and found how isolated it was to suit his secret agenda. No one had ever noticed his movement in and out of the place as a notorious kidnapper as opposed to the ‘pitied madman’ on the dung. 

The angry mob spoke of setting the cage ablaze, a part of the agricultural and quarantines warehouse located close to the cage would be gutted by fire, along with Maalo’s hideout. 

The policemen tried to prevent the angry mob, but they couldn't, as they were booed, stoned, and had the hoses turned on them. The people just didn’t want to educate their minds on how the system could benefit them even more with the presence of the police force in their community. They didn’t realize that the force needed their help in order to get things under control; cooperation from the community dwellers was necessary, so much more than they could ever imagine. 

The people of the community ignored their own side of the lesson, which was the purpose of the police force to serve them. They attacked to express rejection of the style of them delivering their service at that moment. The force needed the members of the community that the police could stabilise the situation much more than any one person could. 

After some hours, they withdrew from Bouler area to the nearest station by order without having shot at anyone in the area. They took the dying children away.

People in the area came out to look at them as they were taken away. The office of the commissioner instructed that the surviving children be given medical attention. Thereafter, they would be taken to the state’s orphanage, where their parents, or guardians, could show up with proofs of claim. 

Two days after the police visit, the youngest of the rescued children gave up at the general hospital; he wasn’t responding to treatment. He died of a high fever. 

The agony of that loss enraged most of the residents of the area up; they wished that the disguised madman be found and killed right in front of them, but the policemen could never allow anyone ‘take law into his own hands’. The people of the CDA wept for the children, as did the residents of the whole area. Despite what the police had told them, everyone promised to kill the madman should they find him alive anywhere else around their community. 

The police station in the area began work on the matter. Investigation was carried out on most of the young people within that neighbourhood, arrests were made on all miscreants and wayward persons mentioned and found around the vicinity. Only the madman had not been found; they couldn’t locate his corpse anywhere within the community! 

Maalo had undergone full treatment. He was then discharged from the hospital and detained by the Lion building police station for further investigation about his questionable identity, whether he was sane, or insane, during that short period of time. They needed to know when and how he had suddenly become mad.

The DPO of the station where Maalo was detained in Lion building insisted that there needed to a thorough investigation of the madman this time. Nwudo and some policemen of the Lion building division, together with the ‘Good Samaritan’ rode with Maalo, who was already cleaned up. His rags were traded for clean clothes, his hair was neat, and beard was shaved.

They all headed to the point where he was picked up for rescue; it was the Bouler dung area! Nwudo advised his men to show Maalo for five minutes, to see if any passerby would cheer at him, which never happened. After asking the CDA officers in the area, they proceeded to the chairman’s house to ask if he knew Maalo.

'No, no, no’, the CDA chairman replied saying that he didn’t know the madman from Adam. 

Inspector Nwudo: 'But he was rescued as a mad man around Bouler close to the last electric pole'. 

Chairman: 'That must be along the dung!’ 

Nwudo: 'I guess as much, chairman. Thank you for your time. We shall get back to you, sir'. 

Chairman: “Wait! Could this be the madman? I am not sure”, he replied and beckoned on one of his boys.

'Could one of you help me call Madam K., or what's that woman’s name?’ 

Madam Karounwi: (as she approached) “Good afternoon, sir. You sent for me. How can I help you sir?” she asked. 

Observing the settings, Madam K. ignored the fact that the chairman had invited her. Her eyes were drawn on the man with the handcuffs on and she raised her voice to Maalo, ‘Madman, so you are not dead; it is just a disguise?’

Maalo was dumb found. He began to wet his trousers, and they became soaked. It amazed the other two policemen who were standing with him. 

Madam K. raised her voice higher to scream at Maalo. She ran towards him and hit his back with her handbag. 'Disguise, mad, 419’. In her rage, she shouted even more to create another scene.

 'You are mad! You must be mad! You must mad…ooo”, thief’! Madam. K kept repeating the same thing over and over again. 

They asked Maalo to speak, but he couldn’t. All the people, including the CDA chairman, his twelve executives, Nwudo, other policemen, the Good Samaritan, Madam K. and two other boys who were arrested upon the police’s discovery all got annoyed at Maalo on that spot! 

The CDA chairman began to explain the incident, stating that he and his people in the area had suffered at the hands of the disguised madman, whom they had just discovered to be a kidnapper and that 'The Agric Police Station has been on the lookout for this criminal, madman, thief, kidnapper, inflicting pain on my people and this area’!  

Inspector Nwudo instructed everyone to come along with them to the Agric Police Station and inform them of the matter again. As usual, the policemen planned to hand the case over to the station while other policemen return to their base. 

There at the Agric Station, the DPO received them all and asked that Inspector Nwudo and his men get a salute. 

Their colleagues in the station hailed them, commending them for apprehending such an elusive criminal suspect and made sure that he didn't escape until they delivered him to the area police station.  

The DPO requested that all the people who came in with them make new statements. He handed them each the police statement form to fill out. 

Madam K. wrote her points against Maalo, all that she had noticed, and she ended her story by stating that he was disguised. 

Maalo couldn’t write a letter. 

The policemen got very upset that the senior officer had asked Maalo to come into his own office to answer his questions concerning the allegation. He started shivering and, so, he couldn’t explain himself. 

Madam. K had collected Inspector Nwudo’s phone number to communicate or alert him as soon as she noticed any other person around the dung next time. ‘Let him remain in the police custody. Otherwise, let him be killed by angry mobs', she said. ‘The place needed to be monitored day and night’.

Nwudo made it known to Madam K. also adding that she might have to make herself available if they needed her to help, if the station needed any more information. 

Madam K. disagreed with him on that point, as she knew someone who had been called to the police station for questioning. The same policeman had leaked the news to the suspect that his neighbour had come to confirm how he involved in both the crime and the aftermath. She heard that the witness had been shot dead eight months after that police case.

At that point, no one could raise an eyebrow again because they could understand the threat involved, so the family, friends, and neighbours left the matter to the police alone to resolve; no one gave any further vital information. 

Nwudo said, 'Well, Madam K., we are sorry about that, but we might still need you to help to identify any other suspect, if caught”. The policeman wanted someone who could help identify Maalo’s partner in crime because he wouldn’t have operated alone. He must have been within a network, which Maalo would be pressured to mention. Besides, Madam K. had already proved her points by speaking out.

Madam K. returned home to inform all her neighbours, including Betty that they might monitor the visitors who had sneaked into the dung again. Thereafter, she went to her work since they found the missing madman.

Maalo had been traced to the kidnapping incident, and more statements were received in addition to one that was given by the people of the area. They wanted to provide more evidence to help them with their investigation.

After everyone had gone, Maalo was left alone at the station with the policemen. He was deceived by them, as they said that they would help him out only on the condition that he cooperated with them.

Maalo complied. He told them that he did lose his sanity at times and gained it at other times within a short period, hence his dual identity of being a madman and a shoe coupler. Though he denied some points during the interrogation, he claimed that the warehouse was not his cage. Rather, it was his coupling workshop. 

The officer in charge was the IPO of the case, obtained permission from their DPO to go together with more of his men and take the Maalo on another tour to his operation site for a final inventory to prove, or disprove, his argument. 

In a convoy, the police took Maalo on a ride to the perpetration point. The CDA chairman and all his Exco’s were aware of the tour to their domain, as the inspector had informed them about it. The CDA chairman had also gone a step further by informing Madam Karounwi of the expected police visit.

Upon hearing that, Madam K. rushed down to her office in the morning and received permission to leave. She returned home and alerted her neighbours. At the sight of the police convoy on their street, she stepped aside to make just one call ‘that broke the camel’s back’ against the so-called madman. 

A great number of people stepped out, for they had waited in the area to receive the visiting policemen from the Agric Police Station who were on investigation. 

A few people from the mob echoed a reply, ‘Eehn!’ It was followed by a great murmur.

The mob angry unleashed itself on the policemen, making a very furious attempt to drag Maalo out of their hands. They wanted to execute frontier justice and beat him to death, as many of them had promised. They murmured against the policemen because the masses didn't believe in their authority for justice. 

The mob insisted again that a search exercise carried out, and the police found some children in Maalo’s cage inside the abandoned warehouse, four dying children who were not fed for almost two full days because Maalo had neglected them. 

His captive’s hands were tied with plastic ropes that had marked several line inscriptions on their skin, as tender as it was. They were all locked up inside the dirty looking cage and were traced to the madman who had been their kidnapper, yet Maalo had received no punishment, even though the rescued children identified him as their kidnapper.

Madam K. harassed him further. 

The mob listened to her short story about the accosted man.  

Madam K: 'He has pretended to be mad for years. In our area, some kids are traced to the warehouse where he called his workshop in the dung'!

Maalo began to shout on top of his voice, 'No be me…oo, no be me, I noh know anything, I swear oo'.  

The woman insisted and challenged. She confronted Maalo. The women in the area were ready for anyone else in the area that would come and counter them. 

Maalo led the policemen to his cage where he said that he resided, and there was no proof that it was a shoe-coupling workshop. He was then taken back to the police station while the entire area sang songs to shame him until the police van which drove out of sight. 

The police prepared Maalo’s case file for arraignment in court, being the due process of the law. 

Gbenro, who was Maalo’s gang member, secretly hired Maalo his lawyer friend to defend him. 

The lawyer drove to the police station, stepped out of his car and headed to the counter to ask of him. He introduced himself as Barrister Martins and told them that he was there concerning Maalo.

The DPO took his seat after everyone inside the office sat down; he listened to his IPO’s collated findings.

It was in the charge, it stated that Maalo had accompanied the late Lassan on the assassination attempt on Mr. Divine, the IT manager of Nicolai Hospital. Maalo was also charged with kidnapping, false pretences, and murder of one of his kidnapped victims. 

It was as if something came over Maalo after they read the charges against him. He countered them all, claiming that they were false. Maalo argued like the madman that he was. 

The inspector unleashed his anger on him at that point; he punched Maalo’s mouth with his knuckle. 

Mr. Martins ranted, ‘Never in my presence will you do that to my client, I will sue you’. Since charges 2, 3, and 4 were never known to Barr Martins prior to his visit to the police station, he was only prepared for the first charge, but he continued defending Maalo because he didn’t want his client to have to endure any more police brutality before arraigning him at the City Court for trial. 

Inspector Effiok Yöm didn’t pay any attention to Barr Martins; he went ahead writing his recommendation that the case file might be moved to his next boss’s table for endorsement. 

When Gbenro heard of the incident that loomed, he quivered because he sensed big trouble for Maalo so he was more careful not to be roped in the case. Maalo‘s situation was worsening, all efforts to bribe their way through to get him bailed out wasn’t fruitful. So far, the money they offered to get him out of his troubles had been turned down at unexpected points. Gbenro imagined how nature had taken Maalo so far in the abyss. At that moment, nature was tossing him into the hands of fate, leading him to what he might call misfortune. Gbenro pondered on that. 

It was almost frustrating for Barr Martins to have involved himself in a client with such charges because anyone who would get himself free from such a list would have to provide evidence to prove his innocence.

Martins pressed further by requesting to speak to the inspector alone. He asked if they could talk before any further action because he knew that, if there was no compromise, Maalo would appear in city court! 

Inspector Effiok Yöm walked out of his sight, he knew that such a ‘monster-like-Maalo’ must be arraigned to face the penalty of the law so as to serve as warning to anyone that might indulge in such incriminating acts.

Martins inquired whether they could resolve the matter in the station rather than court, but the DPO heard all that Maalo had done to the innocent children, and the people of Agric Area insisted that he be arraigned in court. The DPO then advised Mr. Martins to go and prepare himself to defend his client in the city law court and never return back to him again.

The next day, Maalo was arraigned in court. His lawyer pleaded with the court to grant him bail while his trial continued, but the court didn’t grant that. Instead, they remanded Maalo in prison while the trial continued.

Pete family, Junior’s parents were joyfully relieved that their son was found. They showed up with proof and got him out of the state’s orphanage to their family home and they restored him to a good state of being.

Sessy was handed to her parents. Because of the horrible incident, the rape stigma was spreading fast. As a result, Sessy’s Uncle, Nima a former ASP of the force who had resigned his appointment and moved to Edinburgh with his family, took her over to live with them in the UK.

Days turned into weeks, and weeks into months.

Junior had recovered fully and returned to school. His mother, Lanle, had become pregnant again and gave birth to a girl. Junior was happy that he had gotten a little sister, who he grew to be very fond of. Junior returned to school and was performing well in his academic term after term with promotions and prizes until he graduated from primary school into a secondary school with boarding facilities. 

Before Junior left home for boarding school, Lanle had shown him and his sister an ancient acrylic wooden-box treasure that she inherited from her grandfather, who was sailor in the olden days. She kept the acrylic wooden-box treasure to show to her own children what the items contained in the box looked like, just to encourage them both to work and study hard. 

It was unknown to her that Junior could ever make do with any of those items. It didn’t have any meaning to her if either of her children threw one of the items away. She has never sought for any of them at any time. Even Junior needed not seek her permission to take one, but he had hid the binoculars in the bag and brought them to school with him. 

Junior lay on his bed in his school one day. He thought about his encounter with one of his seniors in his hostel named Gana, who would engage them in incessant activities. In turn, he would also impose undue punishment on him and his two friends, who were also his roommates. 

Gana had instructed the three to go out in the night to spy on the school’s watchman who was employed to watch over the building where the principal’s office is situated. He wanted them to monitor when the man left his duty post daily to eat his dinner on the street. 

Gana had wanted to break into the Principal's office long ago, but he needed a team to achieve that. His secret agenda was unknown to them, but he promised to teach the boys mathematics in return.

The offer was good for them, so they obliged; each and every one of them recounted their own experience of their night watches on the security man. 

One week after their reports, Gana gathered the boys in a classroom with two other female senior students to teach them inside a set-aside ‘library bold-off’ extension one hour after school. Gana’s tutor and study coordinator had met them on one occasion and encouraged them all to remain studious. 

Another afternoon, Junior relaxed on his bed, and he imagined how his binocular lens, a scientific gadget, could have helped when targeted at the security man’s sitting point to monitor rather than being forced out of their hostel at nights by Senior Gana. 

He mounted a camcorder that could record a scene unusually. He set it up with the old binocular lens he found inside the ancient, graven wooden-box treasure that his mother had. Junior connected the cable to his laptop, like a local-mini CCTV camera; it was time to use it on that security man. 

While Junior was looking through the lens-to-recorder, he at once grew inclined in mystical inspiration. He never knew before that such a thing could come upon him at that time. The inclination such a practice must have been considered heretical in his mother’s linage. 

Junior had turned his mind focus and awakens his sixth sense. He discovered his mystical ability on the spot, he could by this act see through the bricks in his front. 

The lens was only a boost for his newly discovered mystic ability, which Junior was very much scared of. He became afraid of himself for a while because he had never expected to unleash such a heightened ability for any reason. Besides, he had never even known about it. 

He left the camera and ran out of his lonely hostel. The thoughts of the mystics then pervaded his mind. He ran straight into the passage and found that he couldn’t see through the same bricks again.

Junior then regained his confidence and understood that only through that binocular camera lens could he see beyond the bricks. His mindset had been activated in an unusual manner to a level of imagination which, in turn, brought forth an inclination that he couldn’t fathom at a time. 

Getting back into the room, he packed up the gadgets and returned them to their boxes. Then, he opened the dormitory’s underground cupboard and hid them again. He came out of the room, looking innocent, and he did not tell anyone about his new ability, not even his parents.

CHAPTER FIVE

It was harmattan (North trade wind) season. Most people wore their thick cotton clothes of all kind to prevent themselves from getting cold. Some even bathed warm, or hot, water to keep them warm during the morning.

It was another long holiday which would mean up to five weeks off from school. Dododawa had joined his siblings in their work on his parents’ large farmland. 

Because of a distraction one day, he fell from the tractor-side’s hand-grip and sustained some injuries. They rushed him on stretchers to the nearest hospital for treatment. After cleaning his wound, Dodo’s skin had become more swollen, but the doctor applied Ampicillin ointments on the surface. He also added other syrups to his medication and said that Dodo could return home. 

The doctor noted and advised the family on how they needed to take good care of his skin that had been exposed some time ago. He emphasized that Dodo must not be exposed to injury of any kind as he was growing. 

The holiday was over, and Dodo and his classmates returned to school, senior secondary school class-one. The class year tutor made him his new class captain. 

One day, the principal announced on the assembly ground that the governor of the state would visit their school, Ngazagamu College. There were selected places to be put in place should the commissioner, education chairman and any other notable officials like the health and sanitation officer, amongst others, came with them. He selected Dododawa among the five students to work in the library. 

Mr. Charles, their teacher, was to lead them.

First, they needed to rearrange the books on the shelves and sweep the floor.  

While arranging the books, Gbade who was one of the students passed a big book to Dododawa imagining the largeness in terms of width and quantity of the leaves of the old book; an Encyclopedia Britannica. Dododawa flipped some pages of it open. ‘Ha’! He exclaimed ’Some pages are eaten up’.

Wild wood worm gushed out of a part of the book; some dropped on the floor in fleets and spread towards his sandals. He got attracted to the looks of the worms; their looks were unusual, until a fleet crept unto his fingers and pierced into him.

His pierced fingers bled. It was unexpected how the first fleet clinched on him; they swelled at once, like a species of worm injected with developer to inflate in their sizes. His blood enhanced a multiple of them, strengthened the species to be active and dangerous all the more. Their attack was fierce, and consuming! 

Chiemeriem, a fellow student, screamed out for help and, before the other three guys could reach them, the worms were more on Dododawa. The four junior students cried out for help, running into the library’s corridor. 

The teacher, who had left them to continue the work while he returned to the school’s science laboratory, which was a bit of a distance from the general library in isolation, he heard voices as the children screamed and ran for their help towards the science lab where he was. 

They needed him to come and help Dododawa out.

Mr. Charles and the four went back into the library. At the entrance, they heard Dodo groan and tried to scream. They were frightened at the sight of his wild, scary appearance. 

Dododawa has been deformed by the wild wood worms that came out of the Encyclopedia book, looking creepy while some were already attacking his neck, more seemed to have been inside his throat, the wild worms crept out of that big book that had been inside the school library for over ten years.

Dododawa tried hard to move his attacked limbs, some other sensitive parts of his body that were painful. Walking out into the library passage, he groaned out loud, taking his steps one at a time as the pain was relieved. 

Mr. Charles flipped his Android phone and called on the vice-principal to rush down in his car to look the horror of the wild wood worm on Dododawa.

On passing the news, the vice-principal couldn’t pick it word for word because the network was poor, he responded by stuttering....‘enh,... ninja,.. enh -hen, ho  ma...masquerade?’ he blabbed.

The misunderstood news of a masquerade present inside the school premises spread instead of wild wood worms’ attack on a student. The senior officers of the school gathered, sobbing, confused on which action to take to rescue Dodo; they needed to be careful in their rescue action to prevent the wild worm from inflicting on them. They assembled to arrange how he might be evacuated from the premises to prevent a further hazard.

The Health and Sanitation Ministry was informed of the development at once. In a very short time came into the compound in a convoy of Health Ministry vehicles together with officials representing the office to take care of the matter on hand. 

An hour later, they evacuated the attacked boy, his parents who had been informed of what befall their baby drove in to see and help him. Having packed inside the garage, Dododawa’s father ran towards the principal’s office, where he met the vice principal and inquired about his son's condition. 

‘Please, sir, calm down’, the vice principal replied and burst out in tears on trying to speak further. Dodo’s father saw that and shed tears, too. Even though he had not known the gravity of the incident, he understood that it must have been a serious situation against his baby. The gloomy look on the school secretary also expressed a lot. He held the VP’s shirt, crying out in agony. 

His wife appeared at the door, already broken; she walked up to her husband to release the VP from him. The VP, adjusting his shirt, pointed towards the staff car park to direct them to the place where they might understand what happened to their boy. Thereafter, he vanished into one of the offices.

When he arrived at the car park, there was only one car left, and two people of the health ministry. There, they explained to Dodo’s parents what had befallen their son and, together, they shed bitter tears until they returned into their cars, drove out of the parking lot, and headed to the quarantine office of the health ministry.

Dododawa’s parents eventually lost their son to the wild wood worm attack. It didn’t go down well with them. Hence, they called on the government to look into their plight and vindicate them. They logged their complaints with the health ministry, seeking help to restore their son, or question his school on the incident that led to his attack. 

His father lamented, luring out his mind through a letter to the commissioner of health and the education board. 

The commissioner received his letter and acted by calling on the family to plead and sympathise with them on the horrible incident. Thereafter, he offered them a token of cash as compensation for the tragedy of their son’s death. 

They were silenced by the sympathetic grant they received and remained in their bereaved state. This regrettable nightmare of Dodo’s parents started from the day Dododawa had the surgery at Nicolai Hospital; the adulterated drip administered on him gradually caused damage to his skin by making it vulnerable, hence the fast attack and penetration of the wild wood worm that led to his quick death. It was difficult for his parents to suspect this in the first place, as they didn’t carry out any inquiry on the two incidences that pointed that Dodo’s skin was vulnerable.  

The school library was quarantined to prevent students from entering while thorough fumigation exercise was carried out on the entire building. This was the reason the principal announced one-week emergency break for all students of Ngazagamu College. It was a stay-at-home-break to prevent the students being attacked by the creatures. 

It took the use of high fumigant, concentrated chemical solutions, almost acidic, to fight the scary creatures. The worms jumped out during the fumigation exercise to clinch on the fumigation experts who were well protected by their poly-overall coverings which couldn’t be pierced. The terminators didn't find it easy to terminate them; they employed all their expertise to combat them in their outpouring fleets. 

Terminators shot the chemicals at them from a range of space between them. The poly overall, together with the head-wear that has transparent glass opening in the upper covering, shaped for human head allowed users to see well in his surrounding through the transparent glasses; it helped them see the attacking creatures clearer and subdue them. 

It took days of active combat before they could eradicate the wild wood worms. Large containers of the chemical got emptied on the Encyclopedia Britannica book that housed their eggs in its thousands. 

After the eradication exercises by the expert, they left a report with the health ministry that there should be a routine inspection and surveillance on the location as it would prevent a sudden growth and breakout of any form of epidemic from the location. 

****

Junior kept his experience a secret from everyone because it would have sounded odd to hear about his mystic endowment verses stories by every normal being around him.

He visited an optical store in town. In the store, he selected a concave lens mirror, approached the optician and bargained to cut out the center part of the mirror, lower it as if unto the base to be larger than the normal size so as to fit into the binocular lens he had on him. 

The optician agreed and did a very good job of fixing the lens on the mirror, all inserted between the wood-peck-coloured frames that matched many cloth colours. The optician did a tactical fixing of the special lens without dents and scratches on any other. 

Junior returned the next day to collect his job from the optician. Upon receiving it, the man asked if he might test it on Junior’s sight. He opened it to study Junior’s eyeball and discovered that it gradually transformed in it colour; he further engaged Junior with questions about the development.

The optician’s curiosity made him probe more into the unusual transformation in Junior’s eyeball; to see a dark green-coloured eyeball on a black man! Junior had noted no changes in himself. Even on the day he looked through the camera lens to see beyond the surrounding walls, he didn’t realise. 

The optician advised, ‘It could be a gradual damage of your eye lens, but this step enables you to advance on the treatment’. The optician’s discovery got Junior more troubled as his mind panted. He told the optician the reasons behind his experiment and what he hoped to achieve; he wanted to control situations around himself in the school and hostel precisely. 

The man advised him further to discuss with his dad about his sight issue before he lost his eye to colour transformation, as any further deterioration might leave him colour blind. The optician encouraged Junior to return visiting his store for care services every quarter of the year and, if Junior has any emergency, he could dive in to see him. The man had treated him well enough as a customer, so he resorted to do as advised. 

Junior took his short sports bag and went to the chaplain in his hostel to be excused so he could return home to see his parents. 

He walked up to the session's year tutor the next morning in school to tell him about his immediate need to travel home and have a talk with his father. 

Pete, upon seeing his son, called his wife and made her sit in to be a part of the discussion. 

Lanle opened her mouth.

Their mouths were agape as they both looked into Junior’s eyes and saw them transform into a green colour, like a cat’s. They couldn’t believe what had happened to their baby.

‘I’m very sorry to have you live with this, whether it's an impediment, or terminal illness, I don’t know yet’, Pete replied.  

Lanle wept. 

After the discussion, Lanle’s mind flashed back on several encounters she had during the time past with her baby. 

Days after, in a long thoughtful night, she was taken back to the operation at Nicolai Hospital, but not an eye surgery case came up though, not even after the surgery was my son diagnosed of further illnesses. Perhaps such a coloured eye-related issue hasn’t been mentioned by any party. Could it be all the tests and medication before the need for operation that degenerated to deforming her son’s eyes? She pondered that alone. 

Pete by his own decision had requested to meet one of his church’s pastors, as he claimed that it must have been a spiritual attack on him and against his entire family. Pete had gone a step further to visit his old mother in the village to tell her about his observation on his son and left a word with her that she should also help find out what could have caused it on his boy. The two continued to defend their son anywhere it was called-for. Pete also wanted a specialist who would assure him and his family that their son's eye would not go bad, or blind, in the future. He discussed it further with his sister, who worked as a nurse at Zuker B.G. Optical Specialist Hospital in Manchester, United Kingdom.

Junior returned to school that weekend so that he might attend class on the Monday morning. He was now confident of the support he would receive from home, as well as that of the optician. 

On Sunday night, he needed to leave his room and ambush on the watchman, as senior Gana had always made him and the two other boys do. 

Junior sat at his window, focused with his local TV camera on the building that was the principal’s office. He saw the security man walking towards the main entrance, going out on daily routine for dinner on the street with Aboki the tea and noodles vendor. 

Through his local TV camera, Junior noticed another man crouch beside the wall of the fence. He suspected the move to have been masterminded by Gana, who had always made Junior and his colleagues spy on the security man; he must have been the one launching attack on the principal’s office tonight.

Junior thought of what he could do to help the security man not to be attacked by the man hiding beside that wall if the object sighted with him was a gun, or Lebe.There was need for the security man to be at his duty post before the attack. And then, he has to take to his heels by the time he noticed the attackers, or else he would be a clear victim of the horrible plan. 

Junior planned on violating one rule of the hostel occupants. He brought out three items of his old clothes and set it ablaze in front of the hostel’s main entrance. 

The fire burned so bright that, by the time the security man ran out to look what had happened, he observed first the man who crouched beside the walls. He walked backward, in the fear that he would ask him what he was doing there because he was coming close to him as the night got dark.

The man pretended to be attending to his tracksuits that looked rough, like a lunatic’s. 

Junior jumped up.

The watchman caught the signal, even though he wasn’t notified. Now that he had found that a person was around his domain acting like a lunatic, he had gotten alerted to remain conscious throughout that night. And, by doing so, he didn’t go out to the street to eat again on that evening nor lie down to sleep the usual flat manner.

The plan to burgle the office on that night failed, but the question as to who must have been behind it didn’t leave Junior, he wanted to find out through his friends. Since asking senior Gana would not sound reasonable, he wanted no one of them to suspect or have him traceable to such an evil act.

Junior would not just ignore observing if any strange faces would come around visiting, or take instruction from the senior. 

Junior’s consistent visit to the dormitory after the third day raised a question in Sheto, senior Ganas’ roommate who was, most of the time, calling his friend ‘Junior’s school-father’. 

One day, Sheto had asked Junior whether Gana knew that he had come to look for him. It was then when Junior got prompted to think; if the attack on the watchman had succeeded, it would implicate Senior Gana in a big way and would have rubbed on him and his two other friends.

Junior thought, Gana’s moves must be curtailed in order not to rub off on me and my friends, Justice and Face. He stayed off the seniors’ Dormitory and sensitized his friends to what would soon befall them while he narrated the scene of the attempted attack on that watchman. 

Junior had done all possible to expose Senior Gana’s plots to an older person in the school system; Junior was very disturbed that, by Gana’s odd act, he would soon implicate innocent guys to be spotted as his evil team. 

It was annoying that senior Gana had used them all for a while to obtain vital information about the watchman and made other senior students who are his friends and classmate know them all as “his boys”. All the while, they are doing things together such as studying in a team that got some other students and teacher’s admiration while he still has this ‘black side’. 

In his thoughts, he spoke, Is it that Gana wanted his unidentified friends to carry out an evil plot for him while his study team left in the blue? What for? I must stop him, Junior concluded. 

His friends and roommates, Justice and Face, pondered what Junior had discussed with them at another time. None of them could understand the way forward, whether to beg the senior not to burgle, or to team up with Junior on whatever plan he had to stop the ‘evil’ senior.

All the steps taken to arrange against that night’s looming attack was weird, Junior couldn’t fathom how any of the TV camera and the telephone gadgets can be most useful. No one must be found with things like that in the dormitory, everyone knew that being caught with any sophisticated gadgets inside their hostel room attracted dismissal and no doubt such students would be rusticated from the school, reported to parent, or guardian.

Junior and Face were on scholarship already because of their outstanding academic performances. Because of this, Junior was spotted by the teachers in his school to be endowed, and it was clear that in his senior secondary in the science department, he may become the head prefect, or at least the science laboratory prefect.

Junior showed Justice and Face his security gadgets, and it was mystical to his friends that he could lay a hand on security gadgets and convert them to useful machineries after spending so much time fiddling with them. His creative nature was something that impressed everyone around him.

It was just that his parents couldn’t go extra-mile protecting him enough, besides the news of his outstanding deeds. His father had allowed him to spend his holiday in the school that he might not turn a playful nerd around the house. Pete understood that he has more advanced skills of doing above normal in his approach to situation around him. He had spent the whole holidays in the technical lab while he attended school holiday lesson. 

Boys who stayed back during the holiday were regarded as intelligent and would show interest in working with others in the lab, as presumed by the intro-tech teacher. They might be tipped off with stipends to compensate them for their time. 

After his junior secondary school certificate examination, Junior (JSSCE) had stayed back in the hostel for two months. His parents visited him at school twice during the nine weeks. 

The intro-tech teacher had shown interest in adopting Junior as his PA, though unofficial, but for his attitude and pro-activeness. He had promised to enroll Junior for another scholarship program, a scheme that would help him run his senior secondary school on scholarship as a brilliant science student. Junior would do that by the first week into his senior class. Resumption into the new senior class-one has been a long-awaited expectation that Junior was counting the months to come true. 

Junior had, at a time during that unofficial internship, hinted to Mr. Gbolahan of an attempted attack on the security man who watched the school premises. Though the attack failed, it might be repeated on the man since he was left alone at most times of the long holiday. He repeated the incident in detail to Mr. Gbolahan that some time ago, a man looking like a madman encroached; he suspected an attack, but it didn’t turn out to be one. He explained that it could have been averted, or arrested, if there was the presence of able men on guard that night, but Mr. Gbola didn’t see it imminent, as the boy mentioned to him that it had already happened. 

One month before the senior secondary school third term examination, there was a brutal attack that left the security man almost dead, though the attackers thought he was dead after their operation. He was rescued because of the fast intervention of Junior, Justice, and Face, the three boys from Prof. Wole Soyinka Hall, Dormitory C, which was the hostel almost opposite the school administration's office.

Junior, Justice, and Face had set an alarm that woke up all the boys within their dormitories at the same time; it caused movements that scared the attackers off after they had injured the young man who looked to be in his mid-fifties. They had tied him up and dumped him inside a drum positioned for a water reservoir for the principal’s restroom.

Junior, being able to see through the walls when he wore his so-called recommended glass, could notice bobbles coming out inside the drum-water. He led his team straight towards the extreme of the building to bring the man out of the water drum half dead. The man had become weak inside the water and had a side of his head opened with a sharp object. The bleeding was profuse, as the water turned red, and the man’s sight was fainting. 

As soon as they lifted him out of the water, Junior called Mr. Gbola on his phone to drive over to the location and take him to any nearby hospital for treatment. 

Mr. Gbola drove down immediately to attend to the boys. On his way, he called to report the incident to the principal, who first drove to the nearest police station to the school to make a report about the incident before driving down to the school premises. 

Some policemen would have accompanied the principal to the scene of the incident, but it wasn’t dawn yet. Only one policeman was on the canter. There was no good number of men on ground to follow him, so the policeman advised him to go while they find their way to catch up with him. 

The security man had been rescued and taken to the nearby hospital. The doctor asked for police report before he could commence treatment. First aid was applied, and the man laid down flat on the stretchers until the police van drove into the compound. 

One policeman, who was an inspector by rank asked to see the victim of the attack.

A few minutes later, they were out to the school premises to see what had happened and take inventory of the incident for further investigation. The private hospital attended to the security man the best way they could and referred him to a general hospital for further treatment.

Junior, Justice, and Faces’ names were heard around the whole school and the city as the ‘Good Samaritans’ that found and rescued the innocent security man who was left to die inside a water storage drum beside the school principal’s toilet. The news went viral and was also featured on the daily publication media. The news had caught the attention of the state’s commissioner of education. 

The commissioner invited the school principal to his office to speak with him regarding the need to honour the resourceful children who saved a man’s life and prevented other students from being attacked at the same time. The commissioner invited the students and their parents through the school principal to the state governor’s office, where the honour was accorded to them. They were awarded scholarship scheme that would run throughout senior secondary school education. 

The commissioner went ahead and encouraging them that, if they maintained their good marks in their individual studies, they would proceed to the state university without delay. 

It had been five years since Maalo’s court trial. The court’s judgment was set to be delivered on Maalo and the judgment was read for everyone to hear. He was found guilty of the charges against him and therefore sentenced to ten years imprisonment.

Nurse Gbenro put another call through to Consultant Bridge. Having found that the case had gone undercover many years after, Nurse Gbenro began to trace Consultant Bridge from where he lived with his family five years back before Lasan’s death, which brought about the consultant’s disappearance from Nicolai Hospital. 

Gbenro discovered Bridges’ family in Tisha Estate of a neighbouring state, at the boundary between Lagos and Ota. He met the consultant’s wife, introduced himself, and mentioned the hospital’s name where they both worked.

Dr. Bridge’s wife became afraid that this man might have come to spy on them, leading to a revisit on her husband’s case, which might cause their arrest!

Gbenro pacified her to trust his word and gave him the phone contact that her husband used to communicate with her.

Two days later, Gbenro placed a call through to Consultant Bridge, who took the call and listened carefully without uttering a word to be convinced that the caller’s true identity was Gbenro.

During the call, Gbenro introduced himself and asked to find out if he still had the project from the cabals on his hand running or crashed?

Bridge replied, ‘Running’, he explained further, “Hmm-mm. Besides, it’s a government secret sponsored programme sooo… oh!’ 

Here, it was obvious that Nurse Gbenro wanted to return into the kidnapping business for the former consultant doctor with Nicolai Hospital. He wanted Mr. Bridge to re-engage him so as to continue to deliver captives to him.

The consultant invited him over to his secret lab at the old museum; it was just what Gbenro wanted. Both of them met on Thursday evening at about 21hours GMT. Among the points of their discussion were the outstanding balances to Maalo, price per captive jacked to $290, together with other conditions to the delivery tactics. Both parties agreed to the terms of agreement and business continued between them.

Junior returned home from school; it was the first term holiday. He was fond of staying alone inside his room and surfing the Internet. His interest in isolated places and acting busy with his phone raised a question in his mother, though she couldn’t trace his attitude to be harmful. Besides, it was too early to exhibit any unwholesome attitude. Pete would not bother much to monitor his son because, to him, the records of his recent academic performance had shown that he knew what he was doing and so would always act right anywhere, anytime.

Lilian, Junior’s younger sister, discovered that he borrowed her phone Internet data without informing her and Junior’s activities on the Internet had almost exhausted her data. This prevented her from writing her lesson assignment, which was supposed to be done online in order to get points that would help in compiling answers for her assignment. 

Lilian was infuriated; she searched for Junior inside the house to express her anger as to why he encroached on her privacy, which she would not have allowed him to do, but she couldn’t find him. She saw his phone on his table and seized it till whenever he showed up for dinner. 

During the very short time at the table, Lilian flipped through Junior’s phone and found that the browsing history was all pornographic sites. On the list were ten different websites, many downloaded nude pictures of both single females and couples. Lilian couldn’t believe her eyes. She reported him to their parents since Junior would be furious at her attempts to caution him, he would shield himself against it. He picked on her most times and claimed that the little girl was rude to him.

During most occasions, Junior acted conscious of his position in the family as the first child, and attitude became worse when his younger sibling was around; it also became his habit. 

Most of the time, Junior acted serious, putting on a false front that his parents would believe was real, but now that Lilian had hinted them of the acts he was indulging in, Lanle kept a close eye on him so that he would be caught in the act. 

Pete called the family together from that time so that he could hear about their achievements and tell them his expectations for the future. Junior was the one who had interpreted most of the passages of the Bible and moral books in his own understanding before their father would further explain, fixing the illustrations into present life situations and into a case study for better understanding. Pete did this thrice a week so that he might provide his family some tools on how to forge ahead in life.

Lanle had tried as much as possible not to spite Junior. As an alternative, she kept him busy by engaging him in household chores to prevent him from isolation. She also beckoned him to be close by her side so that she might keep a better eye on him. 

In her thoughts, Lanle concluded that Junior might have learned about pornography at school, where no one monitored him, except a teacher. Placing him under the strict surveillance of a teacher might have hardened Junior, but that would not work. After all, teachers cannot have the same direct influence on a child that parents would. Lanle tried hard to manage her son so that she could help him overcome his addiction.

One day, Lanle dropped her phone on the centre table in the sitting room for several hours. She went to do some cooking in the kitchen.

Before long, Junior went inside the sitting room. Upon on seeing his mother’s phone, he picked it up, converted her credit into browsing data, and surf the Internet for pornography.

There came an incoming call at the same time, and Lanle heard the phone ring. She dashed inside to pick her call.

At once, Junior dropped her phone and pretended not to have touched it; he left the sitting room as soon as he heard her footsteps. 

Lanle picked her phone and found that it had just been used by someone. However, she did not need to make any guesses as to who was on there. ‘Junior, Junior, Junior’, she beckoned at the top of her voice because her phone’s browsing history showed that he had just exited a porno site; she saw six pornographic sites that he had visited within the last hour. 

Junior then fled from that room into the compound, far from his mother because she might lose her temper with him.

Lanle thought, Now that I have caught him red-handed, he has no explanation for doing wrong and going against his parents’ instruction. His mother, having seen the matter as it were, knew that she needed to exercise serious caution or else she might lose her baby to this immoral addiction. 

An hour later, Junior returned home, wearing an innocent face, prepared to deny any allegation against him, so long as he was not caught in the act.

Having thought along the same direction, Lanle too wanted her hubby, Junior’s father to hear of Junior’s misdeed before he metered out discipline on him; she had kept her temper. 

That night, when Pete arrived home from work, Lanle called her spouse into their room and told him that she was concerned about their son. She also told him about Lilian’s report of what she had discovered on Junior’s phone the day he used up her phone’s Internet bundle.

Upon hearing that, Pete became enraged. He left the room and slammed the door.

His wife opened the door after him and followed him up to prevent him from hitting his son in his fury until he could calm down and think of another tactic to approach the matter. 

Pete walked to Junior’s room and started beating him up. He was just about to utter some words in anger, but Lanle held his hands from behind, imploring him to be calm and not to hit their son.

Junior understood all that was happening, but he had little fear, or none.

Lanle understood, too, that Junior’s remorseful look had not changed his mind, so she needed to get closer to him with strict follow up. The atmosphere of the reception had changed compared to the usual cheerful manner it was on most nights.

After one hour of the fierce anger, Lanle called him into her room.

Junior noticed his mother wipe her face with the edge of her tissue. She raised her head to talk, and more tears rolled down. She then asked him why he would indulge in the act of watching porno and what he expected to gain from such an act.

‘The porno comics are seductive and have the very wild tendency of derailing and dumping you below your targeted expectations in life. Besides, it is a mirage. It is not handy at all to give you the life that you want for yourself’, she emphasized. 

She then began to relate to Junior how long he had displayed the manner and what she had done so far to lift him out of the habit. She also mentioned how his father reiterated his stance to ensure that his children would achieve greatness.

Lanle reminded him of the promises made by the state governor on the current scholarship scheme involving him and his friends, how the governor had further promised to ensure that they will get into any higher institution of their choice if they keep up their outstanding performances which have brought them and their families so much pride. 

At that point, Junior burst into tears and began to beg, promising his mother that he would change and stop the erroneous habit that he had taken up.

Upon hearing this, Lanle felt for him, seeing that he was forgetting his drive, which had gotten him into several excellent positions in the past years. She thought that it could have also been as a result of lack of intimacy between them and their son been that he was a boarding student who had spent most of his holiday in school; that allowed him the freedom to mix up with wrong company amongst his fellow students. 

This time, she took him by his wrist and led him to his father. 

In Pete’s front, they both stood, looking remorseful. 

Junior pleaded with his dad to forgive him, and he promised he would not return to the habit. 

After some time, Lanle went back to her husband to plead on their son’s behalf that his father might forgive him. He was let go.

On the same night, around bedtime, Pete walked into the boy’s room, shut the door behind him, and stood still, looking straight into Junior’s eyes.

Junior began to shiver, lost in the thought that his dad must have returned to beat him up when no one could come to rescue him. 

Pete thought of his love for his boy, how he wanted Junior, how far he had gone to achieve it and how his efforts were now been shattered by the naughty habit.

At that point, Pete couldn’t scold Junior further. Rather, he got closer, sat beside the bed with him, and counseled him, narrating to his boy the story of the prodigal son. He went ahead telling him more about how he expected him to behave. 

It was an encouraging scene for Junior, who had previously looked at his dad as one who was not too interested in his social life. Pete told it straight to his son that he needed to focus, get serious and responsible to grab all the opportunities ahead of him.

Junior agreed and promised his father, again, that he would desist from watching pornography and engaging in other negative youth activities capable of wrecking his career. He confessed that it was his friends in school who had gotten him into watching pornography. Junior further explained that his friends usually gathered to watch on a fellow student’s phone. The student’s name was Thames, and his parents ran up to four different lucrative businesses that yielded millions, so the fame was there. Thames would show his friends from his phone every day.

There was the need for a home private teacher for Junior, so as to keep him engaged with his studies for better academic performance. His mum discussed this with his dad, and they set out to look out for one.

They got him a home teacher who also tutored a family friend’s children. The teacher taught him while at home on holiday. The tutor was also placed on standby to teach Junior during every other school holiday. Hence, it was needless for Junior to tarry in the school during holidays for whatever reason. Junior returned to school after the holiday with constant check-up on him by his parents till the end of the term.

It was second term holiday, and Junior returned home from school. The neighbour’s children had also returned home to spend the holiday with their loved ones. 

On one occasion, Junior removed his spectacles from his eyes as he tried to fix a faulty part on his bicycle.

One child in the neighbourhood observed the way he examined the damaged part of his bicycle. He noticed that Junior’s eyeball was greenish dark.

The little boy seeing Junior’s eyeball poured out, saying, “Your eye is as that of a cat”, he laughed out loud, and the other children around the premises were attracted to the scene; they joined into laugh. 

Junior was annoyed with them, and he attacked. 

The three confronted him, unleashed their attack, and beat him up so that he sustained injuries. 

He refused to let go of one of the boys till Junior overpowered him. 

The boy fell. 

Junior sat on him and fed him a handful of sand.

Then, the remaining two boys took to their heels. 

Having finished with the boy who was lying on the ground, crying, Junior stood up, dusted himself off and ran after the others.

The two kept insulting as they ran away shouting, “Cat eyes, cat eyes”!

He couldn’t catch up with them because he got tired.

On the same evening, Uncle Sylvester came to have a private class with him, tutoring Junior in science, physics and chemistry. Uncle Sly was an experienced science teacher in two different secondary schools on different occasions. He taught advance mathematics in a grammar school within the community that Pete’s family lived in. Uncle Sly understood the skill of fine-tuning a teenager into proper learning mood. He applied that skill on Junior and found his pupil unresponsive on the first day of teaching him. 

Junior was just covering up for his pains, so his mood was not coordinated. 

To a certain extent, Uncle Sly felt that Junior didn’t appreciate having him as his teacher. He asked him some questions after the two-hour class they had. 

Upon answering the questions as to why he was moody, Junior lifted his knickers and Uncle noticed a light bleeding.

Uncle felt for him. He went ahead and asked him what caused him such injury? 

Junior explained himself and how he fought back before returning home, rolling his damaged cycle along. 

As Junior explained, Uncle Sly saw his eyeball, too, and wondered how on earth a black boy would have such an eye color; there were no artificial lenses on his eyes.

The class was over, Uncle Sly left to return on Wednesday for the next class.

It was Wednesday, and Junior had expected Uncle Sly to tutor him again. It was unknown to Sly that the man who sat behind him on the bike he had boarded intended on picking his pocket, which would happen when he was about to get up from the bike to pay the bike man. 

Junior, with his spectacles had a foresight of what was about to happen out there. He rushed up to the road outside his compound and waited on the bike man that carried Uncle Sly. Junior distracted the actions by shouting at them, ‘Stop, stop! Uncle Sly, check for your phone, do you have your wallet?’

As he asked about each of the items, the man behind Sly began to downgrade him.

Junior, in return, rolled his eyeballs at him and, as the man saw the unique eyeball colours that scared him, he was dumbfounded. 

Uncle Sly adjusted himself to ensure he had all his items intact.

The bike man, with his accomplice, became shocked and sped off on the bike.

Junior was helpful to Sly, as he had alerted him that he might lose at least one of his items to the pickpockets. 

The bike man sped off louder and zoomed off before anyone could catch them. 

Sly became self-conscious because of what had almost happened to him. He patted Junior on his back as a gesture of appreciation for what he had done for him. 

Uncle Sylvester’s fondness for Junior grew over time, and his improvement on the lad’s studies exploded. He better responded to his tutoring sessions.

CHAPTER SIX

Junior was growing very popular for his intelligence and had been of great help to some people around him who could have endangered themselves. As a teenager, his opportunity to survive among his equals wasn’t threatened; the ability to resist any impeding hazard had put him a step ahead. As such, he won a scholarship. Junior had earned himself and his two friends’ fame. 

The holiday ended, and Junior returned to school for the third term of his first year in the senior secondary school under the state’s senior secondary school board of education scholarship scheme. 

One week after resumption, the school principal announced the date of the school’s annual science competition that would spot the best student of the year who would further represent the school in the city’s intra-school science competition. The notice was also placed on the general notice board that hung between the school’s science laboratory and the teachers' common room for the science students’ view and willingness to partake in the competition. 

Mr. Gbola, the intro-tech teacher, had the opportunity of discussing the competition with his boss, the principal. He mentioned Junior Pete as a suitable participant he had noticed and he advised that the principal look out for Junior to make a large impact in putting materials together in a manner that would yield great performance. 

Mr. Gbola told Junior to do a bit of the required research, pen it down, and carry out findings, and conclusions to help arrive at some deductions. The principal was impressed in Junior’s results, as well as the lad being one of the three on scholarship from the state government. ‘The boy has even been doing us proud from time’, he remarked. 

The Monday morning of the new week seemed inconclusive. There was a short meeting with the teachers regarding issues on hand in the school’s administration pursuits. The administration thought it would be a receptive platform to acknowledge the performances of some teachers who had cooperated to enable smooth administration within the academic period under review. 

In his speech, the principal mentioned the further need for science course teachers to come up with names of more serious students under their mentorship to be encouraged to take up the challenge of enrolling in the science competition thrown before them, as the winner would be honoured together with his/her mentor. 

The physics teacher, Mr. Pan, nicknamed ‘Mr. Pankere’, sat beside the intro-tech teacher.

Mr. Gbola spoke up that it would interest Junior if he would be encouraged to participate in such a thing. He also delighted in his colleague’s remark because they had the same opinion.

The principal concluded the meeting and dispersed the staff. 

Mr.Gbola engaged Pan in a long discussion to see how they could work on Junior that he might come up with fantastic scientific innovation that would be above other contestants. 

During break period, Mr. Pan sent for Junior Pete to join him in the physics section of the science laboratory. He engaged the student in a discussion and encouraged him to take up a challenge of innovations. 

Upon telling hearing about the motivating incentives for winning participants, Junior began to give it a thought. In order for Mr. Pan to boost Junior into trying, he offered to help get Junior a machine manual that would guide his brilliant innovations. Mr. Pan brought him a production manual of a water pumping machine, which he required for Junior to read and digest. 

It took Junior some time to decide if he wanted to participate in the competition. His lack of interest at this initial stage made him leave the manual given to him inside a drawer of the table that they both sat at during the discussion. 

It was the last day of school before mid-term. Junior packed his bag and returned home to join his family. A student named Iskil remained in the technology laboratory during the three-day mid-term holiday to study and test-run the diffusion process in plants using the most secure method of collecting vapour so that no drop of the liquid evaporated. He was also one of the best mathematics students in the senior classes. 

After Iskil had finished reading his books whilst on the mid-term holiday, he left the technology laboratory with a screwdriver and headed for the science laboratory, which was locked. He loosened the screws on the air conditional condenser, drew it aside, and managed to force himself into the science laboratory through the hole. Iskil went straight to the glass jar and took the three plastic test tubes that were kept aside to carry out his test plan.

On his way out, he opened the drawer of the table to search if he could find a hose, only to stumble on the machine manual that Junior Pete left there during the long discussion with Mr. Pankere. He took it and wrapped it inside his handkerchief and placed it in his pocket. Iskil lifted it in case he wanted to look at it a second time. 

He sneaked out of the place through the hole, repositioned the air conditioner condenser and screwed all the parts he had loosened so that no one might suspect that he sneaked in at any time.

Iskil made away with the three plastic test tubes to combine with the other equipment he had assembled. Due to his fears, he didn’t remember the manual which he took from the drawer. It had fallen out the moment he brought out his handkerchief to wipe away his sweat when he was stalk at peak of his efforts to perfect his skills. He never remembered to look at it again. He later converted the tubes to his own property by inscribing similar marks on them for easy identification and claims.

During the mid-term holiday, Junior at one time wanted to look into the manual handed to him by Mr. Pankere, only to discover that he had misplaced it, he checked his bag several times but couldn’t find it inside, he began to react hostile claiming that it wouldn’t have been taken by anyone else other than Lilian who once in a while went searching his bag without his permission. Junior’s claims when anyone asked him what he yelled about provoked Lilian to hurt. She summoned courage and declared that Junior should go to hell with whatever he searched for. 

It was the resumption date. As usual, Junior got prepared to go back to school. He has returned to the hostel before going to join other students on the assembly ground. 

Just as Junior Pete entered his hostel room, he found a box with wine coloured Formica and guessed that it must have been for Justice, his roommate; he had guessed wrong. The box was for Face, who was one of the three students on scholarship scheme also exploited by Gana. Face had been encouraged and, as such, he came up with plans to take part in the science competition. This plan made him rehearse, and he arrived at a reasonable outcome that needed the chemistry teacher to tutor him to perfection.

When Junior entered his hostel, he noticed that the cleaners had swept, and the entire place looked clean. Only the small basket behind the door close to his bed had yet to be emptied. Inside it were papers that looked dirty, the basket looked dusty too, with a part of its surface stuck with dry groundnut shell. Inside the basket was the machine manual. Junior moved closer in his observation, despite the smell, and found it. He was happy, so picked it up and walked towards the assembly ground to join the others. Having found the manual, he began study of it. His thoughts were how he would take up the challenge to participate in the science competition. 

After the assembly, he walked up into the physics laboratory to pen-down his discoveries in a new notebook he had gotten for his brainstorming exercise.

 

This list is as stated below:

THESIS:

Number of the motors to be assembled =two; Materials such as cable, metre reader, metal plate, and the like concluded assembled motors to run and enable barricade walls from two different locations to move at a velocity ratio of 10.05: 10.05mm/bit roll up on each other and, upon closing up, it becomes electrocuted, as a current is released by the circuit breaker of the prepared electrical connections through the regulators connected for that purpose. 

Economic benefit: - This will be the very new technological discovery to help secure individuals if adopted by anyone at all for personal use. It will strengthen their provisions to an extent by supporting the human security resources.

Test: - It has the qualities of good security that can shock, or electrocute, to a property barricaded or a location under watch, as a secondary security.

Means of applying the alternative means: It could further reduce power through the lighter plating and solar energy, but larger battery circuit consumption.

 Cover range: The barricades operation upon usage would further be simplified by being on a remote control to enable the operations at a circumference range of 360degrees or 90-foot round the barricades. Every interested household can afford to gain for use.

Limitations: - Lack of constant power supply within the city. 

Cost of building it as a full residential project. 

There is the need for permission from authority to own such a security device. 

There is exposure to hazards in case of forgetfulness, or breaches, in connecting wires of the house in examination.

It is prone to fire outbreak because of constant circuit flow generating heat when it is uninterrupted, etc.

Project designed and assembled by:

-------------------------       -----------------------------------

JUNIOR PETE MR.GBOLAHAN(Supervisor) 

------------------------                  --------------------------------------

MR. PAN (Mentor)    Signed by Principal

The planning took Junior quite a long time to organise because of financial constraints but, with the support of the principal after she had seen his experiment proposal, she reimbursed them through Mr. Gbola and Mr. Pankere. She continued to mentor and fix the gadgets with him, unlike with the other participants. The repairs weren’t very easy for him, so Mr. Pan hired several tools to enable him bring Junior’s work alive. 

Two weeks after they constructed the gadgets, and the estimates were almost accurate, Mr. Pan invited Mr. Gbola the intro-tech teacher to be present at the stage one test run. 

Mr. Gbola, Mr.  Pan, Junior, and two other younger students who walked into the laboratory as at the time of test running, witnessed the event. The two students marveled at what they saw. The teachers were being technical about their observations. The intro-tech teacher clapped for the two for bringing up such an amazing idea and remarked that it would be one of its kind innovative ideas. He also advised that the motors were better, stronger, and forceful to lift all the weights of the barricade materials, be it metal or any other material. 

It was four weeks to the innovation day; the second and final test run was scheduled to take place in two weeks’ time when the principal would be on seat to examine what they have done so far.

The principal arrived on the day, as scheduled, and the team gathered to present the test run before her.

They attached the connection to a socket inside the laboratory, and Mr. Pan fixed it. Both Mr. Pan and Junior arranged the materials.

The remote control was handed to the principal, who was told to apply when instructed. She giggled and collected it.

They also handed the typed manual to her. 

She read through it and nodded her head, approving what she had seen. 

They arranged the plates on the roller with the cable plugged into the lighting socket.

Mr. Pan alerted her of the expectations. The circuit breaker was ignited. At that moment, the principal was told to press down the red colour-coated knob, which she did.

A second later, the movements were facilitated, and action was ongoing as the barricades rolled, sliding into each other with a red-light indicator on the board set aside for it to indicate a danger signal. The electrical connection board set for the gadgets sparked up suddenly.

The principal turned off the power using the remote control in her hand as she panicked. 

They all understood that the current involved must have been too much for the connection cables. The test run ended. 

The principal remarked and encouraged them; she hailed Junior for his wealth of knowledge and promised incentives to the Mentor Mr. Pankere and the supervisor, Mr. Gbola, the Intro-tech teacher. 

Only four of the science students have submitted their application forms with their proposals attached to the receiving officer within the specified date of submission.

The Innovation Day was here. Present there were Mrs. Bamgboye the principal, Mr. McGracious, the principal of school two, all staff, Mr. Heritage, the moderator, the panel of judges made up of science teachers invited from all the schools within the local government area, the four presenters and the students who attended in their magnitude. The presentation went on as moderated, and Pete Junior was declared overall winner of the competition; he was awarded.

There came hailing among his peers. They all began toecho louder; 

while some hailed, ‘winner’!

Others, ‘Junior, Junior’.

A few others, ‘Green eyes, green eyes’.

The echo overwhelmed Junior to the extent that he burst into tears over his eye colour issue. From that day, it began to upset him.

According to the principal’s promises to the mentors, Mr. Pan was invited for his present. The hailing was as loud as that of a football match. All the elders inside the auditorium understood the reason why many of the students held long sticks (Pankere) in their hands for the occasion, at the mention of his name, Pan!

The crowed hailed, ‘Pan...ke....re, Pan..ke...re....’, swinging the sticks in their hands to whistle loud, cheering both the winner and his mentor all together. Most of the people of the crowd wanted to see Mr. Pankere decorated on such as an occasion like this.

Mr. Pankere was already popular, as well as Junior Pete. In the school Junior, was appalled with a new name, “PAN-KERE-JUNIOR”.

Junior won the competition. He returned home on the third term holiday with his award plaque and certificate of honour by his school. 

Junior returned home with a different attitude. He had put on the real teenage habit of a ‘good’, quiet teen who liked to read. He would have a few extras-curricular exercises, like a debate, or a random study. Junior enjoyed reading and learning from taped lectures. He shared with his friends and group having similar interests in the church. He spent a lot of time at the state library, where they went to read three times of a week, some classified science books in the curriculum for schools and students. Along with several other fictional research, Junior read to improve himself. 

A popular kid like him could have had diverse play groups, interested in sports, enjoy hanging out with friends and so on  though he knew he should be engaged in these, he didn’t live by them. 

Lanle was delighted in Junior this time, and she assured herself that her son would have a bright future. She felt consoled that a better tomorrow would come for her family. 

The “green eyes” cheers of some of his peers have become a matter of concern to Junior. He thought that his parents would have to do something to help him out and save him the embarrassments faced among his peers.  Something had to be done to make him look better, like all other children that had normal eye colour. 

He gazed at his mum; beneath was that expression of depression all because of the booing that went along with him winning on innovation day. Junior also experienced a hysterical blindness for the first time when he recalled the traumatic event at Nicolai hospital. At one point, it caused him a psychosomatic shut down of his visual processing right in the front of that crowd that booed him to sadness when many others cheered him more upon his victory. 

At different times, Junior had tried to figure out what must have given him green-coloured eyeballs. He was traumatised for the first time in an occasion that was meant to applaud him. He could remember that it was in the course of having been operated on that he had his first… pain, like an abuse that was visited upon him, now growing into emotion which he couldn’t defend. A sharp throbbing ache ran through his mind; such a horrifying feeling that stabbed his heart, making him afraid that he might go blind. It was becoming uncomfortable to bear. At least, it would be unbearable in future; the trauma came back to him in a flashback.

CHAPTER SEVEN

One day, Lanle called her husband and mentioned the changes that occurred with Junior’s eyeballs, which was traceable to the period during which Junior went through medical treatment at Nicolai Hospital. Her baby’s eyes didn’t have any defect from birth up till the period before operation. ‘Every development after the surgery had ended us in the sudden change of eyeball colour’, she lamented, sobbing.

There was the need for her to travel to the village, as her mother-in-law had sent for her when Pete Junior visited to inform her of the suspected, unusual attack inflicted upon their son’s eyeballs. Junior, being the first grandson of his grandmother, Mama would not look away regarding this matter. 

On a Sunday morning, Lanle, having discussed it with her hubby, left for the village to meet Mama. Five hours later, she arrived at Isokan Village in ila-orangun, ila.

Upon seeing her mother-in-law, Lanle knelt to salute in the traditional manner.

Mama stretched her arms towards her to raise her up to depict her satisfaction in receiving her. She began to sing her prodigy, ‘Omobola Omo mi, Anaa mi, Iyawo mi ogaan, omo onibe titun, omo olookan para-kaja, o wa ndidun fi ra je, omo oloun jo, akowonsile taigbon, taigbon’.

Lanle, overwhelmed by her eulogy, knelt down again to appreciate Mama.

  ‘Let’s proceed inside’, she advised as they both walked into the Agbalaa.

Each of them sat on ijoko-amo to begin their discussion.

Mama:‘l have sent for you to come and see me because of my grandson, Peteru. Uni-or, owun-mo nwi.

‘Whatever has come upon us, I know that the elders will shed more light on it and explain all to us when I consult them, let’s just be patient’.

Lanle: ‘Thank you, Mama, that is how we found it, but I believe that Almighty God would help us out of it all’. 

Mama: ‘We shall visit the Yeye Agbomola-Yeye Osun together tomorrow morning’.

Lanle, though skeptical about the idea of involving a traditional mystic for findings, nodded in acceptance to the suggestion. 

On the Monday morning, they both ate Amala meal for breakfast before heading to the interior part of the village, as if on a way to the village market.

As usual, Lanle followed but, deep down in her, was a very strong rejection of the proposed move by Grandma.

As they reached the front of a building, Mama switched her small purse to Lanle and walked up to the three women sitting outside the compound of the house.

The women rose to their feet and saluted. ‘E kaaro IYA wa, e ku abo’.

Grandma replied in a deeper accent of their dialect, asking if Yeye was at home. 

‘Yes, Ma, she is’, the eldest of the three women replied.

Grandma and left them all outside the compound to inform Yeye of her visitors, who were already waiting. 

Lanle, in her sentiment, disliked all the fetish looking costumes arranged all around the compound. The larger species of cowries fixed on some parts of the walls and the walkway into the Yeye-osun Agb-omola’s palace scared her the most. Lanle shivered as she stepped into the house, light on her toes, watching if any harmful infliction might come against them from the rear. 

The three women led them inside to the Agbala Yeye-osun.

They met other traditional officers who dwelt inside the large compound, all assembled in their place to salute Yeye on her way out to see her visitors. All the servants wore white materials of various qualities and descriptions, some on laces, some on aso-ofi,some on ihun.All the male servants were on buba and Sokoto. The females wore long gowns, some on buba and iro. This was used to identify all the officers in that palace. The lower female servants on the long white irowith white beads on their necks and the few male junior servants on Agbada-jampepe. On their heads was fila-abeti-aja.

****

Lanle got freaked out as it seemed to her like she was summoned before ilu-u.

It seemed, as if at the count of three, they harmonized in their greetings at once. ’Yee-ye o, yee-ye o, Yee-ye –Osun iiba ‘. They all hailed even though the personality hailed was not yet out into the large parlour. One of them must have informed others of her imminent presence. 

Lanle began to get irritated by all the paparazzi. Grandma would have been used to it as a typical village woman but, as for Lanle, it was all rubbish and worthless.

The Yeye-osun came out, and all her servants bowed to salute again shaking Ishato sound loud for all to know that Yeye-Osun was in the parlour. 

Only Grandma and Lanle didn’t go do as the servants did. Yeye-Osun was well-known to be a mystical child rescuer. She sat with them to hear from Grandma, who began to narrate her purpose of visit and how it concerned Lanle. 

Yeye picked up her fetish purse and brought out a handful of owo-eeyo-opele-ifa. She began to eulogize, after which she did some incarnations, upon pouring out the opele-ifa unto the white presumed handkerchief spread on top of what Lanle regarded as a fetish decorated table.

Yeye-osun proceeded with the analysis; she described their son to them and the incident that exposed him to the attack. Having convinced them of the ability to discern the incident, she mentioned further that they could have a joint view of that day’s incident in the spiritual realm. 

Yeye-osun dipped her left fingertips inside the water reserved in a calabash which was kept beside the door of an inner room into which she directed them.

They entered to see more mystery.

Yeye-osun sprinkled the water on a white linen material which was about a yard in measurement. 

To their great surprise came the visual display of the event at Nicolai Hospital. In the display, one hospital attendant (Lasan) started the move by asking another nurse to bring some items. 

The nurse went inside an inner chamber, opened a large box refrigerant, and brought out the items in a fidgeting mood. She swapped four articles; injection solution, syringe and two grip water packs and replaced the label on each pack of the grip water swapped. The mystical vision was clear enough for all to have understood. 

After the display, Yeye looked at Grandma and Lanle as they were in disillusion. Yeye waved the white handkerchief in her right hand with hand bands decorated with small-sized cowries. 

Lanle, viewing all that was happening inside the palace marveled. Her fear grew; the fear of those fetish activities made her tremble. 

The consultation was concluded and they headed out of the room.

Yeye, like one who remembered something brought out a small white stone out of her fetish wallet, tied it inside a white piece of cloth and slotted it into Lanle’s palm. Yeye instructed Lanle to go and drop the stone in the centre of the village market while they all held their peace and watched the Osun goddess fight for them.

Yeye: ‘You may return to your location after you have dropped it in the market square’. 

Grandma saluted her uncountable times together with all others that were with them. ‘E shiun mi, ehunle, eku…ee, eeku…ee ….

She waited a bit to hear the Isha bearer shake it very well to depict Yeye Osun’s exit from the parlour. 

On their way out, Grandma greeted at the exit point and dropped an amount of cash inside the white calabash tied to the doorpost as they walked out into gbangba.

On their way home, Grandma felt relieved; she expressed her joy that Yeye had settled the whole matter, but Lanle wasn’t satisfied. She wished her son could regain his normal eyeball colour while they sought vengeance against the perpetrators.

The next morning, which was a Sunday, Lanle went to the village market as instructed by Yeye Osun. She went to drop the stone in the centre of the village’s market before returning to her location to be with her husband and the children.

During her trip home, she was skeptical and got more confused. She didn’t know whether to approach the management of Nicolai Hospital, or await vindication from Osun the deity as the consultation would produce expected results in a short time.

Lanle got home and relayed everything to her husband, who marveled at the findings. He also visited his pastor of his church to tell her about the trouble that has come upon his son and family. He wanted her to pray for Junior’s eyes to be corrected. He knew, at that point, he needed a miracle, and divine intervention would be the only way his eyes would be healed. 

He wanted a pastor with a strong anointing, one who came with fire from God, a pastor who would declare punishment upon the person who cursed his family. 

Out of his anguish and frustration, he wanted the problem to be reversed to the culprit; he wanted the person(s) to pay! Pete wanted Pastor Taiwo to make use of her anointing to decree, declare, bind, and cast. Then, he would feel assured that the woman of God’s declaration had settled the matter of the supernatural. He wanted many things.

When he got to his pastor, she began in her response by requesting that they both close their eyes to pray. While they prayed, she began to recount what has befallen Pete, describing the scene of that day of the operation at Nicolai Hospital. 

Pastor Taiwo ministered to him; she guided him with some Bible passages and illustrated how God worked in the lives of His children, who had faith and trust in Him alone. She further advised that the culprits would be committed to God Almighty, Who would, in due time, recompense. She made Mr. Pete understand that the people would either have to repent their evil ways and reconcile with God or face judgment in no time. 

At the counseling session, she made Pete understand that, as long as the little boy felt the inflicted pain, God Almighty was already notified and had risen to visit judgment upon the culprit who had attacked his innocent son, who couldn’t defend himself from his enemies. She advised that Pete and his family continue their prayers to tell God, as they wanted Him take care of their situation. 

After consulting the woman of God, he almost got discouraged, but the pastor requested that he exercise some faith by focusing on his Creator for the help he desired. She assured him that none of the perpetuators would escape, though it looked as if it was not going to ever happen.

Pete was chatting with his younger sibling, Ariike, who was based in Manchester, UK. He pleaded with her that Junior and Lilian might travel over to the UK to attend their university education. Pete had discussed the idea with his wife at one time, but the time to look into that had not yet come. 

This time around, the spouse got to discuss it again for consideration. The raging fear of the future had made the need for such an offer considerable by the parents, who have always carried her along on all the development in the family. 

Since she knew about Junior’s eye colour problem, she was feeling bad and thinking about what to do to help her brother and his son out on the predicament. She had considered that they went over with her to Manchester but, after she got the news that Junior had been on a state scholarship scheme for his senior secondary school and that he might have another stage of the scheme applicable to his admission in that same state university, not even as an indigene, but a favour from the state government, travelling out of the country to study couldn’t have been a matter of serious concern to Junior. 

The matter now on hand for the family was his eye colour and that he might grow blind in the near future. There was a need for intervention from any person who could rise to help to the boy at that stage of his life. 

Junior’s trauma made Aunty Ariike sorry. It troubled her emotions towards her nephew. She wanted a way out; the time for Junior to come to be with her in Manchester was not yet here. He had one term and one more session to go, like four more terms to run up his senior secondary school education in Nigeria. He had to round it up before he would be able to proceed abroad for further studies.

The term had ended again and Junior had to be prepared for his final class in the senior class. He had two terms more to have concluded his Secondary Certificate Examination SSCE. 

The journey to meeting Aunty Ariike was planned in a gradual process. Aunty advised that they applied to the University whilst in Nigeria and that it could be done online. She wanted Junior to be with her in the UK. Aunty had released all the details that she had to support the application in terms of the university inquiry concerning the guardian if applicable to the applicant; she would be the guardian. She had long a waited for this opportunity like this. She had been nice to Pete her brother’s family. She had been helpful to them all. She also entered the UK on a student’s visa, which was advanced when she concluded her education with applauded grades, and she used to work on the embassy’s work permission procedure. 

Junior passed out of secondary school with good grades and registered for IELTS exams in a private consortium. He attended both private and public coaching in preparation for his exams, which he took very seriously. After some months, he sat for the exams and had an outstanding result in the category of band nine. He had also gone ahead to enhance his education in computer study with special attention on website design in order to develop a vocation.

  

CHAPTER EIGHT

To Be Continued 🚩

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