Old Sins
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Dec 31, 2018
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December 31, 2001
He lived on campus
He rarely came home
They were very poor at the time
His mother was shouldering the burden of five children alone
His father had strayed beyond the hunter’s whistle
He had married another wife in another city and fathered two children with her
It was a relief to have somewhere to go apart from home
He had taken up odd jobs to support himself in school
Sometimes when he collects his pay, he would come home with foodstuff to support the family
At other times, he believed staying away from home is equal to giving his mother one less mouth to feed
His mother understood
A child that died in the dry season is begging to be buried close to the river
That day he needed some money badly
He had a project to execute in school
He had exhausted all the money he had on him
He decided to go home
Perhaps he could get some money with which he could travel to see some relatives and get the money as soon as possible
He walked all the way home from school
His school was about three kilometers from home
He was studying Linguistics at the time
He got home around 8pm
He saw the gate ajar
The whole compound was in darkness
He pushed open the pedestrian gate
As soon as he stepped into the compound
He heard a voice
Voice: Hands up, shut up and walk towards the house
He paused and looked back, he saw a boy, a teenager armed with a double barrel pointed right at him
It dawned on him
He had walked into the middle of an armed robbery exercise
He turned around and walked towards his mother’s flat
When he got into the flat
He saw all sorts of people
Apparently, the robbers were diverting people from the streets into the flat to rob them
He caught on straight to the advantage of this
The robbers didn’t know he was related to those in the house
Darkness was everywhere
He kept his head low
The operation lasted almost four hours
The Armed robbers took off around 11pm
By the time the crowd in the flat summoned the courage to leave
It was way past midnight
It was his first experience with armed robbers
It was extremely terrifying!
December 31, 2002
His elder sister had gotten a job in the city
He was in his final year in the university
The elder sister’s employment was a big relief for the family
She was able to support their mother and the two youngest children who were still in secondary school
She came home from the city to spend the holidays with them
She was a guarantee of a jollof rice and chicken Christmas and perhaps pounded yam and chicken for the new year celebrations
Nothing extraordinary but something different from the Akpu and dried Frog they usually eat once a day
They were preparing to go to a nearby church for the watchnight service
When they heard a BANG!
They weren’t sure if it was the usual fireworks frenzy of the Christmas season
A few minutes later, they heard another bang!
The gate of the compound was locked
What could be happening?
Their sister, the one from the big city was city smart
She said they should lock both the front and the rear exit doors
She was uncomfortable with the deafening silence that seemed to trail both Bangs!
They were all nervous for a few minutes
When there were no further bangs, they relaxed
Ten minutes later, they heard a knock on the door
“Who is there?”
It was the housemaid of the landlord whose flat was directly above their own
She sounded as if she was in distress
She was a very good person
She would often spare the time to sit with their mother and sometimes plait their mother’s hair
They opened the door for her
She ran straight into the room
She was a trojan horse
The Armed robbers were moving from flat to flat
She was the one they used to gain access into their house
The armed robbers held blinding torches in one hand and a gun in another
They instructed everybody to keep quiet and cooperate
Everybody became spineless
The armed robbers raided from room to room
Eventually they walked into their mother’s room
The robbers were disappointed they couldn’t get much money
The money their sister brought from the city had been used to buy food for Christmas and new year celebrations
All they got from her was her transport fare back to the city
Their mother also didn’t have any money
One of the armed robbers couldn’t believe they had gone through all the trouble for nothing
He hit their mother with the butt of the gun on the face
Blood flowed freely
He went berserk
He didn’t know what he was doing
He charged at the armed robber
Head butt!
Knee
Blow to the face
It became a scuffle
The other armed robber was in a room somewhere
He was wild
He had the armed robber’s gun after a scuffle
He pulled the trigger
The gun had no bullet
What!
The other armed robber rushed in
He saw that his partner had been over powered, pointed his gun and shot
Bang! Was all he heard
He died!
he woke up thirty minutes later
his mother was running mad in one corner of the room
People were trying to hold her
He opened one eye
He opened the other
He head was woozy
He tried to lift a finger
Then the hand
Somebody noticed
Somebody shouted
He is alive!
His mother calmed down
The bullet grazed his jaw on its way out of the window
Nobody could explain how he could stand face to face with a bullet and the bullet would only scrape his jaw!
He was rushed to the hospital
The jaw was stitched and he was observed till morning
He was back home on January 1st
December 31, 2003
He ran to church at 6pm
He decided he needed to break the cycle by doing something about where he was
There was no incident
Since that year, like a ritual
On every December 31
He would go to church early
He was tired of things happening to him on the last day of the year
December 31, 2010
Lagos
He met this babe at the church
He got to the church around 6pm as usual
She came in around 8
He had never seen her before
He tried as much as possible to dissuade himself from pursuing
He simply couldn’t help it
Another lady he was familiar with arrived in church and sat next to the lady
They obviously knew each other
He approached them and got himself introduced
That was how it kicked off
They fell in love within six months
He heard wedding bells ringing
The lady was posted to Lagos for service
She grew up in the army barracks very close to the community he grew up in
They had a lot of things in common
They even know many people in common from that community
The difference was the timing
He knew them years before she knew them
It was a match made in heaven!
December 2011
He went to her house to meet her folks informally
It was his first time in her house
He wanted to test the waters before he would make it formal
He spent the 26th with her and her folks
Evening came, the guys started rolling
Palm wine, marijuana, cigarette, beer, fried meat
He was not much of a drinker but h was a very good listener
Around 9pm, just as he was about to take his leave
They started talking about their youthful exuberant adventures
They mentioned taking their parent’s weapons and using them to rob in communities
They talked about their nicknames
Tiger, acid, actor, Jordan, finisher, gogoman, kinki
They mentioned the first raid on his house
They mentioned the second raid on his house
Their final operation
They killed a boy who fought and injured one of them
He didn’t say a word!
He took his leave at 10pm
She followed him to his car
They kissed, necked and snuggled
She told him she would come and see him in his g=hotel room the next day
Early the next morning, he took off
He never told her why or officially broke it off
He just blanked her out
Like she never existed
She called and called
She came to Lagos to look for him
He refused to say a word to her
December 31, 2012
He sent her a text
“Old sins cast long shadows"
She didn't understand it
He didn't explain
PS: He said he knew he could never overlook it
those people would be a part of his life
they would come to their home for naming ceremony
He would be required to treat them as in-laws
If he told her, she would mention it and they could harm him
he felt it was wise to just walk away from her
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