Sprung

He was fourteen years old when he 
suddenly veered off course
He remembered the exact day vividly 
It was after school hours, he had spent 
the transport money his mother gave him 
to take a bus and was walking from 
Challenge to Molete where his parent lived 
Somewhere close to Molete bridge
A random guy came to meet him 
He didn’t know the name of the guy but 
the guy was a known face! 
The guy was a cobbler whose main shop 
was located under the Molete bridge 
The guy walked up to him and said 
“Hey, Carey that bucket of water by the road 
and follow me” What! 
He didn’t even consider that he might be 
the one the guy was talking to! 
What could have brought about such a 
conversation between them? 
He walked on The guy saw that he didn’t 
obey the instruction The guy turned and 
charged straight at him Wow! 
He didn’t know what came over him 
He stood his ground and a fight ensued! 
He had never been involved in a real fight 
before but that afternoon he understood 
what instinct and gift meant! 
He had clarity! He know instinctively what to 
do and when Within three minutes the bully 
was lying on his back by the roadside crying
Other boys on the street whom the bully 
had been taking for a ride all day ran out 
from under the bridge where they had 
been on their knees at the command of the 
bully and carried him on their shoulders! 
He was their Voltron, the defender of the 
universe! 
That was what changed his life forever 
That fight! 
From that day, e became a street champion!
He loved it He would leave home in the 
morning pretending to be going off to school 
only to walk to the Molete Bridge and mingle 
with his boys! 
They went swimming, fighting, challenging 
other bullies from other streets and eventually 
started visiting prostitute houses 
(There were many many in this area), smoking 
cigarettes and marijuana and joining the 
transporters and other gangs causing trouble 
for the day!
 Somehow he felt at home along with the 
company of riffraff and found a purpose 
with them
His parents couldn’t believe it! 
His father especially did everything to set him 
back on course He was his father’s first son 
One of the two male children his father had 
from five marriages His other wives all gave 
him daughters and he kept acquiring wives 
in the name of having a son! 
Eventually, after fifteen girls, his father 
met his mother at a beer parkour joint 
His mother was a waitress and would sleep 
with any man willing to meet her needs and 
keep her away from a life of struggle 
That was how he came about Child 
number sixteen 
The boy 
Hurray!!
One of the other wives gave birth to another 
son months later! 
He was supposed to become a doctor or a 
lawyer His father ha high hopes for him and 
he opted to become a street fighter, tout, 
urchin, disgrace without a future ambition! 
His mother insisted it was a spiritual attack
They went everywhere 
They did everything that was within their power 
to do to get him back on track 
He was lost! 
He eventually became a political thug for a very 
prominent politician in the area and stopped 
associating with his family or going home at all 
He was a heart ache and a curse to his father! 
His father was in his late fifties when he was 
born His father was a rich man 
He was supposed to be the one to whom his 
father would hand over all his properties and 
wealth to He was the scion of the family! 
But somehow his mind was turned away 
from his Inheritance! 
Two years later, the second son also left 
home and didn’t return 
He just disappeared 
Their father was flabbergasted 
How? 
Why? 
For what?
 Who did he offend? 
He took the matter like a mission 
He went to many spiritualists 
There was no solution to the puzzle
 There was no hope! 
Eventually, his father handed everything 
over to the first wife and died soon after! 
The family lawyer called a meeting right 
after his father died 
It was for the reading of the will 
All the properties were shared 
According to the will, he and his mother 
got a parcel of land somewhere along the 
Lagos-Ibadan expressway! 
And his mother got to keep the house 
she was living in 
That was all! When they got to the land, 
they found a huge rock seated on it! 
It was useless to do anything reasonable 
She was the gold digger who came to 
prospect for gold and has found herself 
empty-handed after several years of digging 
and washing and hoping 
It was a crushing blow! 
He practically got nothing! 
At least his mother got to keep the house 
He went back to his thuggery and forgot all 
about the inheritance 
He laid his bed and he was fine with the 
consequences! 
His younger brother found himself in Lagos 
tending garden for the rich 
He had no idea who he was or where he 
came from 
He was normal but for the fact that he 
suddenly didn’t have any recollection of 
his past or family or home! 
He started working on building sites and 
eventually settled for gardening! 
Somehow he met the Brother in Jeans and 
T-shirt 
They met at a building in Magodo Phase 2 
The Brother in Jeans and T-shirt was making 
inquiries about a property which garden he 
was tending! 
He told the brother in Jeans and T-shirt his
Story! 
“I just found myself in Lagos, I don’t know 
how and I don’t know how to go back home 
or where home is”
 The Brother in Jeans and T-shirt asked 
him if they could pray together! 
He said yes! 
They prayed and they became friends afterward 
The following Monday, he got a phone
Call! It was from some real estate dealers! 
They found his name and phone number on 
a property and were wondering if he wanted 
to sell off the property! 
The dealers met with him in Magodo and 
they had a lengthy talk 
The property was located on the Lagos-Ibadan 
expressway!
They wanted to buy the rock and break it 
down to execute a contract! 
He told them he was not the owner of the 
property, the names were just similar! 
The dealers went off to Ibadan! 
They had a deal with his brother and he sold 
the rock to them for a huge sum of money! 
They then told him about a young man with 
a striking resemblance to him whom they 
met in Lagos! 
What! 
He got in a vehicle and traveled to Lagos 
He found his brother and something good 
happened! 
The veil over their faces was lifted! 
Suddenly they were free from the fog 
clouding their minds
He took his brother home and they set up a 
company together 
His brother introduced him to the Brother in 
Jeans and T-shirt 
They shared experiences and prayed together 
He stopped thuggery after almost twenty years 
of near-death experiences and injuries, 
They both became believers

Ps: The heart of man is very wicked 
The fog that came over the two male children 
was as a result of the strive for relevance in 
a polygamous setting! 
The culprit confessed and was forgiven