Episode 1

Thirteen years old Toke walked with her widowed mother to the community secondary school in their town where Toke had been sent home by her teacher because she had failed to pay her school fees. She was an only child and her mother who had lost her husband shortly after the birth of her daughter was left with almost nothing by her husband to take care of herself and her daughter.

Her husband, Martins had been a successful merchant when he was alive and he had built a name for himself among the local traders in that town for he was one of those men who could lend out huge sums of money for months without asking for interest. He was a tall man with broad shoulders and a husky voice that complimented his looks. People wondered how he had fallen in love with Toke’s mother who was of a small frame and average height.

The combination of her father’s height and her mother’s small stature had given Toke her average frame. Her father who was a very strong man used to travel to different remote villages and buy goods and farm produce from local farmers and sell in wholesale and retail to his numerous customers.
It was from one of such trips that he had returned shortly after Toke’s birth only to start complaining of headache few hours after his return. He had dismissed the headache as the handiwork of fatigue and had gone to sleep, a sleep he had never waken up from. His wife who was busy making his dinner then had gone to alert him that his dinner was ready and that was when she discovered that her husband was dead.

After his burial, his family had branded her and her few months old daughter witches who had killed their brother and so they were sent out of the house without any of the properties and money Mr. Martins left behind. Mama Toke had to work hard to feed herself and her daughter who was all she had. As they drew near to the school compound, Toke’s mother began to rant.
Mama Toke “I don’t know why my own daughter should be sent out of school simply because I cannot afford to pay her fees. Don’t they know that I am a poor widow? Where do they expect me to get the school fees from when the term just commenced not long ago? I don’t blame them, I blame God who took your father away from us this soon” she asked rhetorically.

Toke watched her mother from the side of her eyes. She was used to her mother’s endless soliloquizing and so she was not surprised at this outburst.
Her mother continued.
Mama Toke “What kind of life is this? Even if I beg for them to take you back to class today, will I plead with them forever? Where will I see money to pay your fees? And all those your stupid and wicked uncles and aunties will never help us, shameless pigs! God will punish them for sharing all my husband’s properties, in fact it shall never be well with them. Crazy witches and wizards! Nonsense. Shebi it is me and that your uncle and his crazy wife in this village, I will deal with them one after the other. A’won weeres! (Mad people)”
Toke knew that at this juncture, she had to intervene if she didn’t want her mother to break into tears right there at the middle of the road.

“Mama!” she screamed.
Mama Toke “Kini eh? (What is it?)”
Toke “Thou shall not curse, learn to forgive and forget” she advised.
Toke “Forgive and forget oshi won ni yeh? (What kind of a stupid forgive and forget is that?) Am I God?”
Toke “Mama don’t worry, when I finish school, I will become an engineer and I will give you plenty money” she said innocently.
She was just thirteen but she was way sharper and sensitive for her age.
Mama Toke “Look at what you are saying. Anyway, I don’t blame you. You are just a little girl who doesn’t know how difficult this world is” she said to her daughter who tagged along, sometimes running to catch up with her mother.

Toke “No mama, our teacher told us that engineers create things out of nothing and then sell it off and make plenty money, that is what I will do when I finish school so that I will give you the money”
Mama Toke “That is where the problem is. Where will I get the money to pay for your school fees until you finish school? You can never become an engineer unless you go to higher institution and going to higher institution is plenty money” she said.
Toke “Our teacher told us that God is good and that He is the father of the fatherless and the husband of the widow. She said He will provide all our needs and make a way where there is no way” she said, trying hard to remember the exact words that her teacher had used to explain the good and compassionate God that Toke had come to love so dearly.

Mama Toke “Which God? Which God is that your teacher talking about? The same God that was on His throne in heaven watching while your father’s people accused me of killing your father and then chased you and I out even though you were just few months old? If God is the father of the fatherless, why hasn’t he provided your fees? If He is the husband of the widow, why do I have to struggle to provide for you and myself?”
Toke “Mama, my teacher said God sometimes allows us to go through difficulties so that He can test our faith and love for Him” she replied as they took the last turn that led to her school.
Mama Toke “Okay, your form teacher that is busy teaching you about God, why did she then chase you away from school even though I have explained to her several times that your father is dead? Is that how people who know God suppose to behave?”
Her daughter became quiet, unable to answer the question that her mother was asking her.
“Maybe God is not as good as they say He is”, Toke thought and that sank deeply into her memory.

Form teacher: “Madam, I have told you that it is not my fault that I had to chase your daughter away from school. The order came from the government. Remember that this school is owned by the government” she explained. “Which government? You and I know that President Buhari and Prof Osinbajo have better things to do than to give order for students to be sent out of school”

Form teacher: “That is the general misconception in this village. You see, President Buhari and Prof. Osinbajo are not the only government in Nigerian. This school is managed by our local government here and we receive orders from them”
Mama Toke “Okay, help me tell the government that they should allow my daughter stay in school this week. I will look for money and pay her fees next week” she pleaded.

Form teacher: “I am sorry madam but I cannot do that. Your daughter here is not the only one who was sent away from school, there are several others. If I allow your daughter in, the others would come to plead too and I have to allow them in and I would have no choice but to accept them else I will be seen as being very partial”
Mama Toke “My daughter must go back to class today o. This girl is the only thing I have and I want her to get education so that she can become successful in life and shame all those my witches and wizards in-laws who killed their own brother with their witchcraft and then turned around to accuse me. I want my daughter to be so successful that they will come to me crawling on their knees and begging for mercy, that is when I will also take back my pound of flesh. I am not leaving here until you allow her into the class”

Form teacher: “I am sorry madam but I have to go back to class now, my students are waiting” she said and turned to go but stopped when she heard someone scream behind her. She turned and saw that mama Toke had slumped and was lying on the floor while her daughter was beside her, shaking her and screaming.
Toke “Mama, wake up. Don’t leave me alone in this world, I cannot survive without you” she said sorrowfully.
The pain a woman goes through after the death of her husband is just unimaginable. What kind of a widow is mama Toke? Has she joined the mother earth? Will Toke make it in life with the so-called witches and wizards her mother believe exists in her father’s family? Let's get on with it.

Episode 2

The form teacher alerted her other colleagues who came running out from their various classes. They all knew Toke and most of them were very fond of her because she was a very intelligent and respectful student. When they saw Toke crying beside the woman she was trying so hard to wake, they came close.

Teachers: “What is happening here, Toke. Are you okay?” They chorused simultaneously.
Toke “My mother just fell down and she is not talking again. Help me wake her” she said with teary eyes.
In a twinkle of an eye, one of the teachers ran back to her desk in the class and returned with a sachet of water that she always drank at intervals and soon, they were all sprinkling mama Toke with water.
The women stirred and opened her eyes gently.
Toke “Mama!” she exclaimed excitedly and hugged her mother.
Mama Toke “What happened to me? Why are you not in your class?” she asked looking around.
Toke “Mama, you fell down just like that” she said looking down on her old and undersized brown sandals.
Mama Toke “Please, my daughter has to go back to the class even if I die. That is my dying wish, I want her to get the best of education” she said and made to faint again but the teachers held her.

Teachers: “Madam, madam. It is okay. You will not die and leave such a brilliant daughter behind in this world”
Mama Toke “No, I want to die. Allow me die. What am I doing in this world if I cannot afford to send my daughter to school. I want to die, allow me die so that I can join my husband in the land of the dead and ask him why he died and left me all alone to take care of our daughter” she said.
The teachers conferred together for few minutes and they agreed that Toke be allowed to attend classes pending when her mother would be able to pay her fees.
Mama Toke marched out of the school premises triumphant, after she had watched her daughter return back to class and take her seat on the front roll.
Mama Toke “Wow, I didn’t know that this fainting trick will work o. See how they just allowed my daughter enter the class without them asking me when I will pay her fees” she soliloquized as she made her way to her shaft stall in the market where she sold pepper and tomatoes.
Gift was Toke’s cousin on her paternal side but because of the problems Toke’s family had with her mother concerning the death of her father, Gift’s father who was Toke’s uncle had forbidden his daughter from having any form of contact with Toke even though they were in the same school.
Gift was three years older and two years ahead of Toke in school but she was a dull student who was always coming last in her class.
At sixteen, Gift was bigger than her age with big boobs and robust buttocks. Her parents were disciplinarians who were over protective of her for fear of her frolicking with boys should they give her the freedom that she desired.
Her parents were also envious of Toke’s academic powerless and had gone ahead to accuse Toke’s mother of using her witchcraft to convert and transfer their daughter’s intelligence.
Gift was all excited as she returned home after school that day to meet her parents watching a broadcast on NTA about President Buhari who had returned from his more than 3 months’ medical trip in London.

Gift: “Papa, mama, good afternoon” she greeted.

Papa Gift: “Welcome, how was school today? Hope you listened attentively to all that your teacher taught you?” He asked without taking his eyes from the television screen.

Gift: “Yes, I listened sir” she said.

Papa Gift: “Good, make sure you come first this term, I want you to be as intelligent as that useless Toke” he said, hatred engraved in his voice.

Mama Gift: “Ah, my daughter must be more intelligent than that Toke. Since Toke’s mother has taken my daughter’s brain to their coven, my God will help me fight her and return my daughter’s intelligence. I call on the God of Elijah, the God that answered by fire to consume mama Toke and her daughter and all the witches and wizards in this community” she said and father and daughter chorused “Amen!”

Mama Gift: “My dear, go and carry your food and when you finish eating, wash your uniform and wait for your lesson teacher to come”

Gift: “Okay, ma” she said and made for the kitchen door but turned halfway.

Gift: “Ehen mama, if I tell you what happened in my school today ehn, you will laugh very well” she grinned.

Mama Gift: “Really? So what happened? Were some witches and wizards caught and disgraced in public?”

Gift: “Mama, it is Toke’s mother o, hmmm” she said and paused, enjoying the attention that her mother was giving her.

Papa Gift: “That witch came to your school?” He asked, taking his eyes away from the television. There was no news that pleased his ears as much as that of any misfortune that befalls Toke and her mother.

Gift: “Yes o, she came to our school and fainted there”

Mama and Papa Gift: “What!” They shouted simultaneously and gave each other a knowing look.

Mama Gift: “Don’t tell me that my God, the mighty one in battle disgraced her there” she said anxiously.

Papa Gift: “What was she even looking for in your school in the first place?”

Gift: “From the things we heard the teachers discussing, they said that Toke went and brought her mother to plead with her class teacher to allow her stay in school until her mother is able to pay her fees. While they were discussing with the class teacher, mama Toke started shaking like fish that had been taken out of the water and the next thing she fainted and I know why she fainted. It is because our CRS teacher was in our class praying which is something that she normally does before she starts her classes every day. You know that witches and wizards don’t like prayers, that was what affected Toke’s mother. I don’t know why that Toke didn’t faint too, I don’t like seeing her in school” she said, squeezing her face.

Mama Gift: “I said it, my God is a consuming fire. He has disgraced my enemy in the presence of little children” she said excitedly.

Papa Gift: “She has not seen anything yet. No woman lives to enjoy her life after killing her husband. It is coming, let her wait for it” he said.

Mama Gift: “But wait, I know that woman very well and I know that she can do anything to see that her daughter goes to school. I am sure that fainting is fake. Yes, she did it so that they will accept her daughter back and the teachers foolishly fell for it. Are we not the ones being cheated here? We will pay our children’s school fees and another person’s child will be allowed to stay in school without paying. It won’t work. I am going to that your school to complain tomorrow, Toke must not be allowed to stay until she has paid her fees” She said and her husband nodded in agreement.
Here is another family that do not understand the merciful nature of God. Will their daughter ever make them proud with the way they are training her?

Episode 3

After the fight with Gift’s mother, most of her customers deserted her and refused to buy wares from her based on what they had heard mama Gift say about her.
Tired of sitting in the shop without making any sales, mama Toke opted to taking her wares to her customers in their houses with the promise of giving them at discounted rates but that still wasn’t enough to get them to buy from her. Many of them who were bold enough called her a witch who was using their money against them.
Toke was at home reading with the old kerosene lamp that was one of her mother’s most prized possessions since they could not afford to have electricity in their house.
She heard her mother’s footstep at the door and she ran to welcome her. Her countenance changed when she saw that her mother had returned with her wares the way she went out with them.
Toke “Welcome, mama” she said, helping her bring her wares which were displayed in an old and rusted tray that had seen the better days from her head.
Mama Toke “How are you?” She managed to say.
Toke “I am fine, ma. No sales again today? This one that you returned the way you left”
Mama Toke “No sales o, my daughter. What about you, did you make any sale today?”
Toke “Mama, the villagers have refused to buy from me o, anywhere I go, they call me the daughter of a witch and then send me away. I had to go to the neighbouring village before I could make any sales” she said.
Mama Village: “You went where? The neighboring village? Haven’t I told you that you should never go that far just to hawk? Don’t you know that the king of the neighbouring village died and that some heads will be used to bury him? Please don’t do that again” she said entering the room.
Toke “But mama, if we do not go to the neighbouring village to hawk, how do we survive now that people have refused to patronize us in this village?” She asked thoughtfully.
Mama Toke “I don’t know again o my daughter. Maybe death should just come and carry me because I don’t know what I am doing in this world. Ordinary to feed you and myself, I am finding it very difficult” she lamented.
Toke “Don’t worry mama …” “Don’t tell me not to worry”, her mother interjected. “Why won’t I worry? Everywhere I go people call me a witch and accuse me of killing my husband all thanks to that your stupid and God forsaken aunt. In fact ehn, God will punish her, she will never know peace in her life and nothing good will ever come her way” she cursed.
Toke "Mama! Stop cursing her. Leave vengeance for God, let Him fight our battles for us” she said.
Mama Toke “You are too young to understand what I am saying” she said, wiping the tears in her eyes with the edge of wrapper.

Mama Gift: “Gift, Gifty, where are you o” mama Gift called out from the sitting room.
Gift ran out, cleaning her hands from which had detergent foam on it.

Gift: “I am here, ma” she said.

Mama Gift: “Oh, I see that you were washing your uniform. Anyway, I am going out for our women’s meeting. Take care of the house and make sure that you serve your father his food as soon as he returns later in the evening. Is that okay?” She asked her daughter who nodded in the affirmative.
As soon as her mother stepped out, Gift went into her parents’ bedroom and lifted one of the pillows on the bed. There, her mother’s Nokia phone was hidden under the pillow. Her mother never went out with her phone whenever she was going for women’s meeting and this was because the use of cell phones during meetings attracted a fine.
“Since I cannot use the phone at the meeting, what is the use of taking it there?” Her mother would always say.
Gift switched on the phone and dialed her boyfriend - Francis' number which she had memorized in her head. Francis was her boyfriend but theirs was a hide and seek relationship because she was afraid of her over protective parents.
She dialed his number and he picked.

Francis: “Hello baby, this one that you are calling, I am sure that your parents have gone out. Are you coming?” He asked.

Gift: “I cannot come because I need to wash my clothes and do some other things before my parents come back. I want to see you, can you come?” She asked twitching her finger.

Francis: “No problem, I am on my way already” he said and ended the call.
Gift quickly deleted the number from the phone’s call log and returned the phone to the way her mother had left it.
Few minutes later, she heard a knock and without checking to see who it was, she opened the door and ran into the waiting arms of Francis.

Francis: “I have missed you so much even though we saw yesterday night when you lied to your parents’ that you were going to get notes from one of your friend” he said holding her hands.

Gift: “I miss you too and that is why I called you as soon as my mother went out” she said leading him by hand into the sitting room.

Francis: “Why don’t we just run away baby. Let us run away to a place where we can do our love without anybody interfering” he said.

Gift: “Hmmn, I am also tired of this hide and seek love. I am 16 and yet my parents don’t want to see me with any man. But we cannot elope because you are still in secondary school and so am I. if we run away, how will we survive?”

Francis: “I told you not to worry about that. I am strong enough to do any sort of menial job just to put food on your table and besides love conquers all so you have nothing to worry about” he assured her.

Episode 4

Gift: “Hmmn, that sounds like a brilliant idea. Anyway, I have something to show you. Wait for me” she said and ran into the bedroom without waiting for his reply.
She came out and handed Francis ten thousand naira.

Francis: “Baby, where did you get this from?” He asked feigning surprise.

Gift: “My father and my mum. I lied to my mother that I needed money for craft and that if she can give me five thousand naira, I will make a craft that will make me take first position in my class. You know that my mother is obsessed with me coming first now, that is how she gave me the money” she said.

Francis: “And your father? How were you able to squeeze extra money from him?”

Gift: “I lied to him that we were going on excursion and that the excursion fees is five thousand naira. He gave me and I am giving you”

Francis: “Oh baby, I love you so much. In fact, you are so smart and that is the kind of wife I want to marry” he teased her.

Gift: “Just sit back and relax, let me get you something to eat. My mother just made banga soup and pounded yam, I am sure you will love it” and ran off to the kitchen.
Saving Gift from being preyed by men but …. Her parents think they are wise without knowing that their daughter is something else. What do you think will be her father’s reaction when he meets Francis in his sitting room?

Episode 5

Gift went into the kitchen and dished out a bowl full of pounded yam and banga soup with enough meat and fish for her student boyfriend.
Francis sat upright when he saw her carrying the dishes.

Francis: “All these for only me?” He asked rubbing his palms together.

Gift: “You deserve even more. You are my boyfriend and I wish that you would be able to eat all that I eat in this house” she said setting the food before him.
He washed his hands and attacked the meal immediately, devouring the sumptuous dried fish in the soup. Gift went back and returned with a chilled bottle of maltina.

Francis: “Shuuo! Maltina even follow join? This one na king’s lunch o, who dey follow drink maltina for this recession?”

Gift: “My mother kept that maltina for my father in the fridge, she kept it for her husband and I am giving it to my boyfriend”

Francis: “Ah! What if your father returns and asks of it? I hope he will not beat you o”

Gift: “Don’t worry, the only time my parents beat me is when they see me with a man. Just drink, if my father comes, I will tell him that my mother drank the maltina before going for her meeting. I am sure that he will not even remember to ask her about it when she returns from her meeting” she said. “Okay” Francis said amidst mouthful of food. Few minutes later and the dishes were empty. Gift carried the empty dishes away while Francis gulped the remaining content of the maltina.

Francis: “Mehn, my eye don come down. That time wey you call me ehn, I know say better dey here dey wait for me, that is why I no waste time when you say make I come”

Gift: “lt's nothing my love. I will do even more for you. If not that my parents don’t allow me go out ehn, I would have been smuggling food to you anytime we cook”

Francis: “I trust you. But baby, I want your own food too” he said moving closer to her.

Gift: “My own food? Which one is my own food again?”
“The food here now” he said touching her laps and moving his hands inbetween her legs. Gift removed his hands quickly.

Gift: “I told you that I cannot do it. My mother said that if I allow any man into my pant, I will get pregnant and that will be the end of my life because they will disown me and chase me away from their house” she said.

Francis: “They are lying jor. A girl must have sex for like fifty times before she gets pregnant” he lied.

Gift: “Hmmn, how do you know?” She asked looking at him suspiciously.

Francis: “Our biology teacher used to teach us about reproduction now. I know you will not know because you are always thinking about me anytime they are teaching in class” They both chuckled.

Francis: “Baby please now” she pleaded with him.

Gift: “No, I don’t want to get pregnant” she repeated.

Francis: “How can you get pregnant now? Okay, shebi we don agree say we go elope, if you get pregnant, we go just run go get our own house”

Gift: “No, I can’t do it, I am sorry”
Francis stood up.

Francis: “Make I come dey go my house now, since you no want give me my right”

Gift: “Ah-ah, why this soon? Are you angry?” She said standing up to him.

Francis: “I no vex, I just want go my house” he said and stepped out but she held him on his arm.

Francis: “Wetin? You don gree make we do the thing now” he asked.

Gift: “No o, ah!” She said scratching her head.

Francis: “Tor, I want go my house”
“Wait!” Gift said and ran into the kitchen. After few minutes, she returned carrying a black nylon bag popularly called “backo” in local Nigerian parlance.

Francis: “Wetin be this?”

Gift: “Foodstuff, I got you some foodstuff from our kitchen” she said excitedly.

Francis: “What exactly do you mean by foodstuff?”

Gift: “Rice, beans, oil, seasoning, yam, dry fish, cry fish etc. My mother will not know that I took them from our kitchen.

Francis: “Okay, you try o. This one na bribe abi na wetin? Anyways, thank you” he said and collected it and Gift saw him to the gate.
At the gate she held on to him in a tight hug. They were engrossed in savoring the warmth of their body that they did not notice when her father approached the compound.

Baba Gift: “What! What is happening here? My daughter outside with a man?”

Gift: “Ah, I have been caught. I am in trouble!” She exclaimed and eased her way out of his embrace as if he was a serpent.

Baba Gift: “Gift! What are you doing with this tout?” He barked and Francis took to his heels, holding tight to the nylon bag containing the goodies that Gift had showered on him.
Toke returned home looking sad and dejected. Her mother was in the house peeling melon when she saw her daughter.
Mama Toke “What is it again my daughter? Why are you back by this time?”
Toke “Mama, they have sent me away from school, they said we should bring money for our Junior WAEC examination. Everybody in my school have paid, except me” she said.
Mama Toke “Ah, I know this kind of a thing would soon happen. What do I do now ehn, where do I get the money from now? How much are we talking about?”
Toke “Seven thousand five hundred naira” she said as if she was afraid to say the words.
Mama Toke “Seven thousand five hundred naira! Ah, where do we get that kind of big money from? All I have on me is two hundred and seventy naira”
Toke “Mama, maybe we should go back to hawking. I could help with the hawking until we get enough money to pay my fees” she suggested.
Mama Toke “Who will buy from us? All the villagers have sworn that they will not buy anything from us. The last perishable goods I bought for sale got spoilt the other time because nobody bought them”
Toke “Let us go to the neighbouring village, no one knows us there. They will buy from us”
Mama Toke “They are still hunting for human heads and strangers are mostly the ones who fall victims, I don’t want us to go and get killed because we want to sell tomatoes and pepper” she said.
Toke “So what do we do? Is this the end of the road for my education?”
Mama Toke “Don’t worry. I will make sure I get you the money even if it means my … you know what, just stay here, I will be back” she said and dashed out of the house.
Spoilt girl is fast running to ruin. Francis run leave Gift to face her father after eating her food and collecting goodies from her. What would be Gift mother's reaction?

Episode 6

Gift shivered as her father approached her, pointing his index finger at her. She stood still for a while and then took to her heels and ran into the house.

Baba Gift: “Will you come back here now, come back here” he said and ran after her to the room.

Gift: “I am sorry, sir” she pleaded as soon as her father came in.

Baba Gift: “What the hell were you doing with a man? Haven’t I warned you several times to stay away from men? So this is what you do right?”
Gift shook her head fearfully.

Baba Gift: “It is what you do. As soon as we step out of the house, you bring in different men. My own daughter whom I trust so much is getting spoilt under my own roof” he said and brought out his belt.
He raised his hands up and brought down the belt heavily on his daughter who was cowed in one corner of the sitting room. She let out a yell and leapt up but her father held her down and pinned her to the floor as he flogged her mercilessly.

Baba Gift: “You say you are stubborn right? It is me that will kill you. Look at you, I am trying so hard to see that you become as intelligent as that useless cousin of yours called Toke but you are here gallivanting with men, area boys with no future ambition for that matter. Olodo like you” he cursed as he was struggling to catch his breadth from flogging her and talking on top of his voice at the same time.

Gift: “Baba, please. My eyes o, yaay, I am finished today” she screamed attracting the attention of the neighbours.

Neighbours: “Baba Gift, what has your daughter done this time around again? Please take it easy on her o, children of nowadays, only God can help us train them. If you over beat her, she will get used to the beating and that is it o” they called out to him because baba Gift had locked the entrance door and so they could not gain access to the room.
Gift’s father ignored them and continued to beat her. When they saw that their pleas were not yielding any positive results, they returned to their rooms leaving Gift at the mercy of her father and his belt. Gift was all messy with red marks on her body when her mother returned.

Mama Gift: “What happened here”, she asked dropping her bag on the floor as soon as she saw her daughter.

Baba Gift: “Ask your prostitute of a daughter. While her mates are busy trying to come top in their class, this one is here perfecting her act of going out with touts” he said shaking his feet.

Mama Gift: “Ehn! Egba mi o (somebody save me). Gift with a man? How? When? Where? Why?” she asked rhetorically, adjusting the end of her wrapper.

Gift: “I am sorry, mama” she said wiping the phlegm that was finding its way from her nose into her mouth.
“That doesn’t answer my question, start talking now before I start my own here. You know the kind of mother that you have” she said removing her shoes and advancing towards Gift who knew that another round of beating was coming.

Gift: “I…I…”

Baba Gift: “I returned home from work not long ago and guess who I saw at the gate hugging a tout? Our own daughter. This stupid girl that I am spending so much on her education including paying for a lesson teacher so that she can meet up with my late brother’s daughter” he said.

Mama Gift: “Ah Gift, you are a wicked child. So you want to give our enemies the opportunity to laugh at us right? You want mama Toke to laugh at us when you get pregnant right? Why can’t you just be like Toke for once in your life? You want to get pregnant and then people will say I am the one who didn’t give you the right home training right? No problem, just come and kneel down here” she said and pointed to the floor right below her.

Gift: “Mama please, I will not do it again” she pleaded.

Mama Gift: “That is if you will survive the beating that I will give to you. Just come and kneel down here o, if you allow me come and meet you there, I will make sure I pieces this shoe on your head. I am your mother, I will kill you with my hands and bury you and nobody will ask me anything”
Gift knew better than to take her mother’s words for granted and so she approached her mother gently and knelt down. With all the pent up anger in her, her mother gave her a slap that sent her crashing on the floor. The next thing that followed were series of beatings and slaps that was so serious that Gift thought she was going to die. After her mother had beaten her to her satisfaction, she commanded her to kneel down in the sitting room, with hands raised high above her head and eyes closed. Her mother went into the room and brought out a heavy log of firewood and placed it on her outstretched arms.

Mama Gift: “This is where you will remain till the end of today. If you dare to bring your hands down, we will repeat that beating all over again” she threatened.
Mama Toke knocked on the door but even though she could hear voices in the sitting room, there was no response. She knocked again and again.

Mama Gift: “Who is that at the door? I am sure it is all these our aproko neighbours who cannot mind their businesses”
Mama Toke “lt is me”, she said her heart beating wild.

Mama Gift: “You who? Anyway, come in” she said and mama Toke entered. She was surprised to see Gift kneeling down with all bruises.
Mama Toke “Ah, what happened to you, my daughter” she said and drew near to touch Gift but baba Gift’s baritone voice stopped her in her track.

Baba Gift: “Don’t you dare touch my daughter with your hands. I don’t even know why my wife allowed you to come in” he said.

Mama Gift: “Yes, what can we do for you? I am sure you didn’t come here to ask after our daughter so mind the business that brought you here, get done with it and get out!”
Mama Toke “Oh no, this is not right now. How can you do this to your own daughter. I mean this girl is about 16 years old and there are better ways to correct her than flogging and giving her such punishment” she said out of mother sympathy.

Mama Gift: “Oh you know what she has done? What is your own business with how I treat my daughter? This woman you are looking for my trouble again o. That thing you are looking for in my house, you will see it o … ehn”
Mama Toke “My sister, they are better ways of correcting the children of this generation if we don’t want them to start seeing us as their enemy. Even my daughter that is not as old as yours, I sit her down and talk to her rather than beating her all the time and then pampering her afterwards the way you pamper Gift. If not, she will get so used to the beating that it will not make the impact anymore”

Mama Gift: “I knew it. I knew that you must rub in your daughter in everything. Have you not read the portion of the holy Bible that says spare the rod and spoil the child? In fact, come and leave my house” she said and got up to push her out but….
The concern of others shouldn't be termed "aproko" but gift of love. Parents, lets rise up to the challenge of bringing up our children as God wants.

Episode 7

Mama Gift was just about chasing mama Toke away when her husband told her to stop.
Baba Gift: “You don’t have to stress yourself asking her to leave. When she is tired, she will leave by herself” he said and got up and returned to his bedroom.

Mama Gift: “You don’t know this woman, she can so poke nose into what is not her business” she said.
Mama Toke “Thank you, sir. Please, I am here to plead with you to lend me some money to register my daughter for her Junior WAEC, I promise to return it back as soon as possible” she said to mama Gift.
Mama Gift laughed out loud and long.

Mama Gift: “See me see trouble o, I should lend you money so that you can use it to pay for your daughter’s exams, you are very funny”
Mama Toke “I know that we have not been the best of friends and that we have one or two issues but please let us at this juncture bury the hatchet. I come in peace, please help my daughter” she said.

Mama Gift: “Well, I don’t have any money. The little I have is for my business and I cannot lend out my business money. So sorry o, carry your plea for peace to another place” she mocked.
Mama Toke “Please help me talk to your husband, I am sure he can assist. I promise to return the money as soon as possible. The closing date for the registration is this week and if I don’t pay, my daughter cannot sit for the exams” she said.

Mama Gift: “My husband doesn’t have as well. You can try another place o, you want us to lend you our money so that you can take it to your coven and strike us with poverty abi, your plans will not work. You are here looking innocent when your heart is wicked” she said.
Mama Toke “You have to help me o, after all, you caused all these for me in the first place. You put me in the condition that I am in right now”

Mama Gift: “Ta! Me put you in the condition that you are in, did I ask you to kill your husband? If you had not killed your husband, he would have been here to pay for your daughter’s education. In your next world, think twice before you kill your husband”
Mama Toke “This is so unfair. I was on my own selling my wares in the market and making some little money for myself before you went around the market telling people that I am a witch and that they should not patronize me again. Since then, nobody has bought anything from me and that is how I have come to find myself in this situation. If you refuse to help me, what do you want me to do?” she said with shaking voice.
Mama Toke “How is that my business? When you were busy running your mouth in the market and calling me all sort of names, what were you thinking? That you are the only one who can insult people or what? Please, leave my house” she said and pointed at the door.
Mama Toke “God will punish you and punish your generation unborn. I hate you!” She said and left the house.

Mama Gift: “Good riddance to bad rubbish. And you, what are you still doing kneeling down there, will you get up and go and get your father’s food? Silly girl” she said and Gift scampered along, glad that her punishment was finally over.
Mama Toke took to the streets, begging for alms without her daughter’s knowledge and even at that those who knew her would not give her a dime. At the end of each day, she would return back home with barely enough to feed herself and her daughter.
Each time she returned and saw her daughter sitting before the kerosene lamp reading, her heart will break for the umpteenth time because she saw in her daughter the desire to acquire western education.
Mama Toke “No, I cannot just fold my arms and watch my daughter drop out of school at this age. What kind of a mother will I be if I allow this girl’s dream of becoming an engineer die because I cannot afford to pay her fees? The only daughter that I have in the world, is she not the one that will take care of me in my old age? How can she take care of me if I don’t give her the best of education? No, I have to do something no matter what it is to get her back to school” she soliloquized.
Toke “Mama, are you back? She asked cutting through her mother’s chain of thoughts.
Mama Toke “I am back my dear. How are you and your studies?”
Toke “Fine, mama. You are looking very bright today, I like that. Don’t worry yourself about my education, if we cannot afford the exams fees this year, we will wait till next year when we must have saved up enough money for me to sit for the exams”
Mama Toke “Thank you, my daughter. You speak with so much wisdom that is not common to your age. But not to worry, you must write the exams this year. If your father is dead, your mother is not dead. I will get the money for you”
“Thank you, ma” she said and hugged her mother.

Chief Oko: “So you want me to lend you money for your daughter’s fees?” He asked mama Toke who had come to his provision store, very close to the village square.
Chief Oko was one of the dogged businessmen of their time and while her husband was alive, he and chief Oko had been best of friends and because of how close they were, her husband would give him goods on credit and then he would pay the money after selling the goods. That was how he was able to set up his own store after a long period of taking goods on credit from her husband.
Mama Toke “I promise that I will pay back soon. My daughter has been sent away from school and if we don’t pay up, they won’t allow her sit for the exams. You are our only hope, if you don’t help me, I have no other place to go to for help. Please, just do it for me for the sake of my late husband who was your good friend” she pleaded.

Chief Oko: “Chere! (wait) I know that the late father of the girl in question was my best friend but this is business and I don’t mix emotion with business because the money you want me to give you is my business money and if I use it to buy goods, I know how much I would make. So, I will advise that you borrow from your husband’s people or even your own people” he suggested.
Mama Toke “They have all refused to help me. None of them will even give me a dime and you know that my parents are dead and I am their only child. My uncles didn’t want me to marry the man I ended up marrying and so they have all abandoned me. In fact I have not seen them for years after I got married and left the village” she said.

Chief Oko: “In that case, how do you intend to pay back the money if I lend you?”
Mama Toke “I don’t know how but what I know is that I will pay back” she said sincerely.

Chief Oko: “Ah, it cannot work that way. This is how we will do it, you will rub my back and then I will rub yours by giving you the money free of charge because the truth is that you don’t have a means of paying back” he said.
Mama Toke “Rub you back as how?”
Mama Oko: “I will sleep with you and give you the money free of charge. You don’t have to pay back”
Mama Toke thought about it and nodded.
Mama Toke “I agree, I will do it, I will do anything for my daughter’s education” she said wiping tears from her eyes.
Paying in kind for what is worth it? O ga o. Man is inherently wicked but posterity will surely judge.

Episode 8

Chief Oko: “Okay, erm, let me just tidy up this account so that we can go to the guest inn across the main road” he said, flipping through his stock book.
Mama Toke thought about it again and began to have a rethink.
Mama Toke “But why are human beings this wicked? How can this man that used to be my husband’s friend insist on sleeping with me before helping me? Is that how this world has gone bad? And me too, what came over me that I agreed to sleep with him. Will my husband be happy with me wherever he is? But what can I do? All the people that I know have refused to help me. Will it be fair for me to fold my hands and watch my daughter drop out of school? If she does not sit for the exams this year, what is the guarantee that she will write it next year? God help me and forgive me” she thought.

Chief Oko: “Hello!” he said waving his hands before her face.
Mama Toke “Did you say something?” She asked because her attention was carried away.

Chief Oko: “I said we can go now” he said.
Mama Toke “Please have mercy on me and borrow me the money. I promise to return it as soon as possible. I am your best friend’s widow and you know how he helped you set up this business while he was alive. It is his daughter that we are talking about now, don’t do this to me” she went on her knees and pleaded.

Chief Oko: “Where is this one coming from again? I thought you already agreed to us doing it? By the way, your late husband didn’t set up my business for me. The only thing he did was to give me goods on credit and after that, I worked my way to where I am today so don’t even go there”
Mama Toke “Okay, at least for the sake of the friendship that you once shared, can you give me the loan? I promise to do whatever it takes to pay back”
“Woman, why are you this inconsistent? If you can do whatever it takes to pay back, why can’t you do whatever it takes to get the loan? Listen, time is money and you are wasting mine. If you are not interested, just leave my shop now. You should even be happy that I am willing to do you this favour. How many men pay before they sleep with women these days?”
Mama Toke “But I am not just any woman. I am a widow, your late friend’s widow for that matter”

Chief Oko: “And so? Is it not better that you give it to your late husband’s friend than to go and give it to an outsider? I am sure that you will end up giving it to an outsider so that you can pay me the money if you don’t give it to me”
Mama Toke “O ga o ….”

Chief Oko: “Ehn-ehn, it is enough like that. Leave my shop, I need to attend to customers, my boys cannot do that all alone” he said.
Mama Toke “Okay, fine. I am ready, let us go”

Chief Oko: “Now you are talking” he said rubbing his stomach and smacking his lips.
Chief Oko paid and led mama Toke into one of the rooms in the local guest house that he often patronised when he didn’t want to go home. As soon as he shut the door, he wrapped his hands round her buttocks. Mama Toke shrank from his touch; it was strange having a man’s arms around her after several years of celibacy since the death of her husband.

Chief Oko: “What is it now? Just relax” he said unbuttoning his shirt.
Chief Oko laid her down on the bed and got into the bed himself. He brought his lips to her mouth and kissed her but she did not respond. He kissed her again and ran his hands through her skin that would have felt better had she the money to use a good moisturising lotion. She lay there, still and waiting for him to get done and give her the money so that she could go and pay her daughter’s examination fees.

Chief Oko: “Why are you just lying down like that? Am I making love to a dead body or what? Touch me now, kiss me, romance me so that we can enjoy it together” he said pushing her hand down to his groin.
Mama Tope did not say a word after she withdrew her hand from his groin. Chief Oko peeped closely and saw that she was shedding tears. He ignored her and got down to business. He spread her legs and entered after wearing a condom, she winced a little because she felt pain as a result of not having sex for several years. He grinded her for some minutes and after he came, he withdrew and lay back on the bed, obviously disappointed. The sex was nothing close to what he had expected.
She got up and began to adjust her blouse but he held her down and mounted her again, this time around thrusting in and out of her with anger. When he was done, he withdrew and fell back on the bed with a thud and fell asleep immediately. Mama Toke tapped him after she had finished cleaning up herself and instead of an answer, what she got was his loud snoring.
Mama Toke “Please give me the money let me go, you can sleep all you want after I am gone” she said.
There was no response.
Mama Toke “Chief wake up now, I cannot stay here and wait for you until you wake up”
Chief Oko turned and went back to sleep, snoring loudly to the consternation of mama Toke. Chief slept on for almost an hour before he woke up.
Mama Toke “Thank God you are awake. Please give me the money now” she said stretching forth her hands.
Chief dipped his hands in his pocket and brought out three thousand naira and handed it over to her.
Mama Toke “How much are you giving me?” She asked with alarm in her voice.

Chief Oko: “Go ahead and count it yourself” she said to him.
Mama Toke “I have counted it and it is just three thousand naira. It is not complete” she complained.

Chief Oko: “lt is three thousand naira and so?”
Mama Toke “I told you I needed seven thousand five hundred naira for the exams fees when I went to your shop”

Chief Oko: “You should be thanking me for given you that amount self. You think three thousand naira is easy to come by?”
Mama Toke “Three thousand naira after sleeping with me? Haba, that is wicked” she said.

Chief Oko: “No, you don’t know the meaning of wickedness. Wickedness is when a woman will lie on the bed like a corpse while a man makes love to her. There are several prostitutes around looking for customers for as little as two thousand naira. If I give them this three thousand, they will give me different styles including blow job but what did you do, you refused to even kiss me, ordinary kiss, mbanu”
Mama Toke “Ah Chief. Don’t do this please. I need seven thousand five hundred naira for my daughter’s fees” she said, with tears pouring from her eyes.

Chief Oko: “lf you are through, please get out and shut the door behind you” he said and pretended to be asleep.
Hmmn, sex for money to pay exams fees despite plea, this world is wicked. Remember that tomorrow never dies.

Episode 9

Mama Toke tried to talk him into completing the money for her but he refused and turned deaf ears. When she saw that he wouldn’t change his mind, she left the room and shut the door behind her.
At the entrance of the door, while she was going away, she ran into mama Gift who owned a soft drink and snacks shop opposite the hotel. Mama Toke tried to avoid her but it was too late as mama Gift had already seen her from the vintage position that she was occupying in her shop.

Mama Gift: “Ah, so you are not only a witch, you are also a prostitute as well. Tufia!” She spat out.
Mama Toke “I don’t have time for your rants this afternoon”

Mama Gift: “Shame on you, shame on you o. What kind of a woman are you? You killed your husband so that you can have the opportunity to flirt with other men and yet you call yourself a mother, God forbid”
Mama Toke “I don’t blame you. You have a roof over your head, a shop you can call your own and a husband to take care of your needs that is why your mouth is running like tap without control. I don’t blame you”

Mama Gift: “Yes o, I have my own husband, go and die if it is paining you. Was I the one who said you should kill your husband? Useless harlot, prostitute”
Mama Toke shook her head and walked away while mama Gift went on raining insults at her. Down the street and few meters from the hotel, mama Toke stopped a bike to take her to her daughter’s school. She wanted to go and deposit the three thousand naira she had with her pending when she would get the balance.
It was past school hours and so the school premises was deserted but she was sure to meet the principal and other academic staff who stayed behind in school even after school hours. She alighted from the bike and brought out her purse to pay the bike man.
Mama Toke “You get one thousand naira change?” She asked the bike man who shook his head.

Bike: “I no get change o madam, you for tell me before I carry you say you no get change now. Where you want make I go get change from now?” He asked with anger, typical of all the bike men in that community.
Mama Toke “Ehn ehn, don’t fill my ears with too much talk. I should have fifty naira in my purse, let me check for it” she said and began to search her purse. The bike man looked at her and when he saw that she was carried away, he snatched her purse and zoomed off.
It happened so fast that mama Toke didn’t see it coming. When she raised her head, the bike man was zooming off. She let out a scream and fell on the floor. “My money, my purse, my daughter’s examination fees” she shouted, rolling on the floor.
Then she gathered herself together and ran after the bike man but she could not meet up. She ran to the gate of the school and pounded on the door. The gate man who was dozing jerked up and ran to the gate.

Gate man: “What happened, madam. Are you okay?” He asked looking around to see what it was that was chasing her.
Mama Toke “My purse, my money, my daughter’s examination fees” she said incoherently.

Gate man: “Calm down, madam. What happened to you? What are you talking about?”
Mama Toke “I was coming here to pay for my daughter’s examination fees and the bike man I took snatched my purse and drove away. Help me catch him”
Before she had finished talking, the gate man dashed out and ran towards the direction that she was pointing at. He came back afterwards, exhausted.

Gate man: “I didn’t see any bike man anywhere. I am sure he has gone far away from this street” he said, bending down to catch his breadth.
Mama Toke “Yay! Mogbe, mo ku, mo daran. After all I went through to get that money? No, you have to find him”, she said and began to roll on the ground again.

Gate man: “Madam, please put yourself together. We have so many pick pockets around these days, you have to be very careful when dealing with people”
Mama Toke “I am not leaving here without that money o. I came here to pay my daughter’s examination fees and I will not leave here without paying it”

Gate man: “Madam, get up and go to your house now, what kind of a wahala is this?”
Mama Toke ignored him and continued to scream at the top of her voice and soon she attracted the attention of the principal and other admin staff.
“Security, what is going on there” the principal screamed when he came out.

Gate man: “Sir, this woman said she was coming to pay for her daughter’s fees and then the bike man she took snatched the purse containing the money” he said.

Principal: “And so? Isn’t that what is happening around here these days?” he asked.

Gate man: “That was what I told her”

Principal: “So why is she screaming here? This is a school environment and we don’t make noise anyhow. She can go to her house and cry” he said to the gate man.

Principal: “Madam, sorry about your money and your purse but you have to go now, you are distracting us with your noise and that is why we had to come out” he said to mama Toke.
Mama Toke “I went through hell to get that money and now somebody from nowhere has taken it away. I am not leaving here until you help me find the person”

Principal: “Well, I am sorry but there is nothing we can do. Like you know, this is a school and only the police can help you find the culprit. You should go and make an official report to them” he said and returned to his office.
One of the admin staff recognized mama Toke as the woman who had once fainted because her daughter was sent out of class.

Admin staff: “ls this not the woman who came here and fainted the other time because we sent her daughter away during the school fees drive? I am sure she is just pulling this stunt again so that we can allow her daughter sit for the exams without her paying. I can swear that nothing was stolen from her. Madam, when you finish acting your drama, you can leave and allow us to work in peace” she said and walked away.
Several days after that incidence, mama Toke who was determined to raise money for her daughter’s fees started going to the next village to hawk despite warnings that strangers should stay away from the village because they were looking for human heads to bury their king with. She was going there without her daughter’s knowledge and soon she began to make some money. However, things fell apart when she decided to go and hawk for the last time to complete the money for the payment.
From bad to worse. When will mama Toke's miserable life end? Or could it be that she was the architectural of happenings in life? Deciding to go to where death is looming for the sake of her daughter. Does she meet favour?

Episode 10

That day, mama Toke woke up early and decided to go and hawk in the neighbouring village like she had been doing for the past two days. So far, she had been able to save N5,500 from the sales and all she needed to make up the money for her daughter’s examination was N2,000. She woke up early and packed her wares in a basket and then walked out of the house gently, careful not to wake her daughter who was still fast asleep. The village where she was going to sell was several kilometers away and she had to trek the long distance, this was the reason why she had to wake up early and leave even before her daughter woke up.
Toke was in the small shaft kitchen outside the compound trying to warm the leftover food from yesterday. That was to serve as her breakfast and even lunch until her mother returned from wherever she was going to very early in the mornings.
Toke wondered where her mother had gone to that early in the morning. She banished the thought from her mind and bent on her knees to adjust the firewood which was giving her a tough time because they had been beaten by the heavy rain that fell all night. She was still on her knees trying to make the fire come up when she heard a wail like sound, few meters away from their compound.
She ignored it and continued with what she was doing but the wailings grew louder and louder and Toke thought she heard the wailers making their way into her compound.
Toke “What is happening this morning and how are people wailing?” She asked rhetorically and raised her head to peep outside. She saw that the wailers who were on a straight line were coming into her compound, one after the other, in a mournful procession.
Toke “Ah, what are they coming to do here? Is the king of our village dead? Even at that, why should they come into our own compound? I wish my mother was around” she said, going out of the kitchen and standing at a distance away from the wailers who were now in the compound.
If Toke thought it was just a procession of wailers, she was wrong as she saw many villagers including youth and children troupe into her compound after the wailers had marched in.
She saw her uncle’s wife and her cousin, Gift among those who had trouped in. When they all got to the entrance of the room where she and her mother occupied, they stopped and the tempo of their cry increased.
Toke could not afford to keep quiet anymore as she had never witnessed such a thing before.
Toke “What is going on here? Who are you looking for? My mother is not at home. What have we done again this time around?” She summoned all the courage in her and asked.
At the sound of Toke’s voice, the wailings rose up to the sky as if her voice had been petrol added to a flame. Some shook their heads and shrieked; others beat their chest and bit their fingers.
Toke saw her aunty rolling on the ground and crying uncontrollably. Then she looked well and saw that some of the youths who were carrying a pitcher wrapped with a wrapper had let it on the ground and people moved away from it. Toke knew that only dead bodies were carried that way. Her heart flew to her mouth.
Toke “Could it be …?” “No, it can’t be”. She couldn’t even bring herself to complete the sentence. She moved close and surprisingly enough, people made way for her. When she was few meters away from the body on the floor, she stopped, fear suddenly taking over her.

Wailers: “O ma shey o (what a pity). How can people be this cruel, wasting human life like that? This is the height of wickedness” they chorused simultaneously.
Toke ran to the pitcher and yanked the cloth off it. She froze, when she saw her mother lying dead with a deep machete cut on her forehead.
Toke “Noooooo!” She screamed with all the strength in her and woke up.
She looked around her and she was alone on the bed and in the room, her mother had gone out even before she woke up as usual. Toke was sweating profusely and her body was shivering from the horror she had just seen in the dream.
Toke “lt was a dream, what a terrible one. Where is my mother? She has been going out very early before I wake up these days. Where could she be going to so early?” She asked.
Toke “My mother, the only parent I have in the world die? How will I survive without her? No, I have to go and search for her” she said.
In her heart, she heard a quiet and still voice whisper to her to get on her knees and pray but she ignored it. That was not important. What was important was for her to go and search for her mother and return home with her, that was the only way she could prevent the dream from coming through.
Hurriedly she brushed her teeth with the dogon yaro chewing stick that her mother had brought home the previous day. Her mother could not afford to buy toothpaste and so they opted for its alternative.
After brushing, she wore a faded floral dress that had seen better days and ran out.
Her first port of call was the market and after walking around aimlessly for hours and asking traders if they had seen her mother, she left when all of them said they had not seen her mother in the market for days.
Toke “But my mother has been going out consistently these past days. How come they are saying they have not seen her in the market for days? Where could she have been going to then? Or has she gotten a job that she did not tell me about?” She soliloquized.
She moved around to all the building sites that offered daily jobs to women but her mother was not there. She proceeded to the few people she knew were friends with her mother but they all told her that they had not seen her mother in days.
To satisfy her conscience, she decided to check for her mother in her uncle’s house even though she knew that the probability of her mother being there was less than one out of hundred.

Mama Gift: “You don’t even have respect at all. You come here, greet and then open your mouth to ask if we have seen your mother, are you alright at all? Are we your mother’s keeper? What have we got to do with your mother?”
Toke “I am sorry, ma. I just thought she may be here since nobody in the village seems to have seen or heard from her” she said respectfully.

Mama Gift: “Well, she is not here. The last time I saw her was few days ago when she went to the guest house close to my shop to sleep with a man, which is what she has been doing recently. You can go to the guest house and check on her, maybe she has decided to move in there permanently” she derided.
Toke “My mother with a man in the guest in? Could that be the meaning of my dream? No, that is not possible. My mother will never do such a thing” she said and ran out and went back home to weep.

Mama Gift: “See her, like mother, like daughter. You will soon start your own very soon. Nonsense! Come here and ask for your mother again and I will make sure I poison your heart against your mother” she said.
Miserable dream from Toke again, this is serious! And here is mama Gift's hatred waxing stronger against them. Who could be of sincere benefactor to them?

Episode 11

Mama Toke had a great sale in the neighbouring village that day and she was super excited as she counted the money and discovered that she had made enough to pay for her daughter’s fees and even had enough to spare for their feeding.
She decided to visit the market of that village to buy ingredients that she would take home and prepare dinner for herself and her daughter.
At the neighbouring village, she recognized one woman who had returned back to her parents house after the death of her husband in baba Toke’s village.

Woman: “Is this your face, mama Toke. It has been ages o” she said hugging her affectionately.
Mama Toke “My sister, how have you been? Ever since your husband died and you left, you haven’t returned, not even to come and see us. Is that fair? Ehn?”

Woman: “My sister, I am very sorry. I have been here trying to make ends meet and you know that my parents are old now so I have to fend for myself, my children and them but it has not been easy. I will make out time to come and greet your people these days, especially those who stood by me during my mourning period. What about you, what are you doing here?”
Mama Toke “I came to this village to sell o, hmmn”

Woman: “Sell kwa. How can you come all the way from your village to sell here at this time? Don’t you have buyers in your village anymore?”
Mama Toke “They have all refused to patronise me. One she devil in fact, Jezebel of a woman told the villagers that I am a witch and since then they have all refused to buy from me” she said sadly.

Woman: “Eyyahh, that is very painful o. Anyway, how is your daughter? She must be a very big girl now” she said trying to change the topic because she saw how that trend of discussion discomforted mama Toke.
Mama Toke “ln fact, she is the reason why I am coming here to hawk. I need money to pay for her examination fees and since the villagers would not patronise or help a poor widow, I have decided to take my destiny into my hands” she explained.

Woman: “I have always known you to be a very brave woman but I don’t think it is a wise idea to come to our village at this time when human hunters are out there looking for strangers to kill and use their heads to bury our dead king. Or are you not aware that our king has not been buried?”
Mama Toke “I know, as a matter of fact, the town crier went round all our village informing us that none of us must come here until your king has been buried because of the human hunters but what can I do? Do I fold my eyes and watch my daughter drop out of school? She is all I have and she will be the one to take care of me in the future” she said.

Woman: “But your daughter can only take care of you only if you are alive. Putting your life at risk is not worth it at all. One would have understood with you if you were not aware but coming here even though you know what may befall you is wrong. Have you thought of what your daughter will go through if God forbid you die? Will she be able to forgive herself knowing that you died because you wanted to save enough money for her exams?”
Mama Toke “I don’t have a choice, I expect you to understand that as a mother and as a widow too”

Woman: “I understand but there are other ways to go about looking for the money. For instance, you can go to the palace and ask for a chance to speak with the king. I am sure he would have assisted and even if he doesn’t, you could have gone to the Roman Catholic Church that we used to attend while I was living there. Talk to the priest and he will help you with your daughter’s fees even if it means talking to some parishioners to help you raise the money”
Mama Toke “I stopped going to the Church long ago. What is the use of going to the Church to worship God when He is sitting on His throne, watching me suffer without doing anything to help me?” She asked her bewildered friend.

Woman: “You know, God’s ways are not our ways. Most times, He allows us go through difficulties because he has something better and bigger in stock for us. Anyway, I will not allow you go home today o. You will have to remain in this village until we bury our king, that will be the safe time to go back”
Mama Toke “I have to go back to my daughter, if she doesn’t see me today, she would be very worried. Besides, the deadline for her registration is tomorrow, I have to go back and pay”

Woman: “Don’t worry about your daughter. We will send some youths from this village to go and bring her here so that you two can stay with me until it is safe to go back” she suggested.
Mama Toke “And her registration?”

Woman: “That will have to wait. I know how all these schools operate, they will still extend the registration after the closing date. They all do that”
“And what if they don’t? Does that mean that all my efforts would have been an exercise in futility?” Mama Toke asked again to the irritation of her friend.

Woman: “There you go again. We are talking about your safety here and you are talking about exams as if the exams can only be written this year. Some people who would not have the opportunity to sit for the exams this year will still write it next year. Have you thought of what a double tragedy and loss it will be if you leave and then something happens to you before you get to the village? That means that your daughter would have lost you and yet she won’t sit for the exams since the money is here with you”
Mama Toke “God forbid” she said, snapping her finger over her head.

Woman: “God will not come down from heaven and forbid it. You have to prevent it from happening. Who knows if God is even the one asking me to talk to you because I cannot even control what I am telling you. Remember that it is not everybody that will sit for the examination this year that will pass. Some people will have to resit next year and who knows if your daughter is among those people so please don’t risk your life for uncertainties”
Mama Toke “My daughter must pass in flying colours. She has been preparing so hard for it and I cannot imagine her disappointment if she doesn’t sit for the exams this year”

Woman: “Mama Toke …”
Mama Toke “Wo, my sister, let me just be going. I can see dark clouds gathering in the sky. Thank you for your advice and offer of hospitality. I really appreciate it. It feels so good to know that someone still cares for me and my daughter this much” she said and left before the woman could say another thing.
It was getting dark because of the cloud and the rain was threatening to fall. Mama Toke increased her pace as she walked along on the lonely path. She was alone and she was a little bit afraid. She thought of her daughter and knew that she was missing her, she couldn’t wait to inform her that she had made enough money for her registration.
Suddenly, it began to rain heavily. Mama Toke ignored the rain and walked on but soon walking became difficult as the rain was accompanied by strong wind. When it became obvious that she was doing herself more harm than good by walking in the rain, she sought shelter under a big bamboo tree off the road. She stood under the tree shivering and clutching on to her basket when a hand touched her. She turned around and saw some men in mask with green palm branches in their mouth and chalk decorations on their faces. They were the human hunters. “If only I had listened to my friend!” She thought as her heart flew to her mouth.
She tried to open her mouth to speak but one of them dealt her a blow with his cutlass.
“Oh my daughter”, she screamed and fell on the floor with a thud.
Hmmn, what a pity. Sometimes, God uses people to talk to us and we should learn to listen. End of mama Toke journey's on earth? If yes, what fate lies ahead of her daughter after now?

Episode 12

Principal: “Really? That sounds so unbelievable. The girl in question was such a good girl and I don’t see her as such a person that can run away from home” he said shaking his head in disbelief.

Baba Gift: “That is how we saw it too o, children of nowadays are something else” he said, corroborating his wife’s lies.

Principal: “ln that case, I should be on my way then” he said getting up.
“Thanks for having me in your house” he said and extended his hand to baba Gift for a hand shake after getting up.

Baba Gift: “But our daughter Gift is in the house and she is also your student, whatever good news you brought for Toke can be transferred to our daughter, you know” he said laughing.

Principal: “Oh, it doesn’t work that way” he said.

Mama Gift: “Principal, if you have something for her, you can keep it here and I will ensure that it gets to her” she suggested.
Principal stopped and turned around.

Principal: “I thought you said she ran away from home without your knowledge. How then can you ensure that it gets to her?” He asked getting suspicious.
Mama Gift who didn’t see that coming was caught unawares and she remained quiet for few seconds, cooking up a lie in her head.

Mama Gift: “Oh, you don’t understand what I mean”

Principal: “No, I don’t madam. Kindly make me understand”

Mama Gift: “What I am saying is that she may decide to return home after hunger has finished dealing with her wherever she ran away to” she lied.

Principal: “Oh, I see. In that case, you can ask her to see me in school when she returns that is if at all she returns on time before what we have for her expires”
When Toke heard that, she knew that she had to act fast by taking her destiny in her hands. She knew that after the principal leaves, her foster parents will make sure they keep an eye on her and lock her up in the house so that she would not go anywhere close to the school. Having made this resolve, she stepped into the sitting room and as all eyes turned to look at her, mama Gift froze. “Good afternoon, sir” Toke greeted the principal respectfully.

Principal: “Well, well, well, look who we have here” he said with delight when he saw her.

Mama Gift: “What are you doing here?” She heard herself ask.
Toke “I came to inform you that I have finished washing the …” she started to say before her foster father interrupted her.

Baba Gift: “Will you shut up your gutter of a mouth there; haven’t I warned you never to talk in the presence of elders?”

Principal: “Toke, I heard you ran away from home? How comes you are back and why did you have to do that? Is that what we have been teaching you? Where did you run to?”

Mama Gift: “I guess she is hungry and that is why she had returned home, don’t mind her. Now get in and continue your domestic chores” she said eager to cover up her lies.

Principal: “Not yet. I have good news for you. The school management has decided to help you pay your examination fees and school fees so that you can return back to school.

Principal: This decision was taken after taking into consideration the misfortune that befell you at the death of your mother and the fact that she died while going to get money to pay your fees. You are to return to school tomorrow morning. Like I told your foster parents earlier, you are our most intelligent student in the Junior Secondary session and we cannot afford to let you drop out of school because of a misfortune that was obviously not your fault. Accept my heartfelt congratulations” he said and handed her the letter.
Toke “Thank you very much sir. God bless you and all the people who took this decision” she said falling on her knees in gratitude. The principal tapped out and walked out because he could not stand the tears that she was shedding.
Toke knelt before her foster parents.
Toke “Thank you daddy and mummy. Help me appreciate God for this miracle” she said.

Mama Gift: “Who is your mummy? I said who is your mother? You this small witch, why didn’t you wait till the principal had gone before you came out? I will kill you with my hands today since your mother was not nice enough to go with you to the land of the dead” she said and began to beat the girl.

Baba Gift: “See how this little rat embarrassed me and my wife before the principal. Now, the principal will see us as liars and that may affect our daughter’s grade in school” he said ignorantly.
He stood up and took the letter that Toke had dropped when she could no longer hold on to it as a result of the beating she was receiving. He opened the letter, read it and tore it, shredding it into irretrievable pieces.
Toke went to bed hungry that night as part of the punishment her foster parents gave her for coming out of the kitchen as at the time she did.
The next day, she woke up early and began to prepare for school but again, mama Gift stopped her and after giving her the beating of her life sent her to the shop.
From the shop, she was sent to hawk after mama Gift returned from the market.

Mama Gift: “Make sure you finish selling all these pepper and tomatoes before you come back here o. Do you hear me?”
Toke “Yes ma” she answered anxiously because she knew that delaying her reply could earn her a slap.

Mama Gift: “Good. And make sure that you don’t go anywhere close to your school. Have I made myself clear?” “Yes” Toke answered again, trying hard to suppress the tears that were threatening to take over.

Mama Gift: “You this girl, I don’t trust you. You are as stubborn as your mother and I know that you will go there. So, swear that you will not go anywhere close to the school premises” she told the girl who was already in tears.
Toke “Ma?” She asked with teary eyes.

Mama Gift: “I said swear, which one is ma?”
Toke “My mother said swearing is wrong and that I should never cultivate the habit of swearing”
Mama Gift slapped her hard across the face.

Mama Gift: “You must be very stupid for saying that. I am asking you to do something and you are here telling me that your mother said you shouldn’t do it. Where is that your mother now? Is she here? Is she the one feeding you. My friend will you swear that something terrible should happen to you if you go near the school premises or do you want me to beat the devil out of you?” She threatened and the girl was cowed.
Toke “I swear that I won’t go to the school to see the principal, I swear!” she said intelligently.

Mama Gift: “Good, now you may leave”
Toke carried the heavy ware on her head and left the house.
Parents/Guardians should see to the progress of their wards and never be an obstruction. Reverse is the case of Gift's parents. Only God can see Toke through.

Episode 13

Toke walked around the village for hours without making sales. She knew that she couldn’t return the wares to her foster mother because she had been warned against doing that. She thought of trekking the long distance to the next village to sell since their king had been buried and it was now safe for strangers to go there but the fear of what happened to her mother was enough to discourage her. She preferred to return home with the wares and be starved all night than to go to the same place where her mother’s life had been wasted. She was just about taking the turn that led home when she saw a car stop beside her. She increased her pace but the car still caught up with her.

Chief Oko: “Hello pretty girl, how are you?” He asked after winding down.
Toke ignored him and moved on without answering.

Chief Oko: “Hey, I don’t bite okay. I just want to patronize you” he said and Toke stopped abruptly.
Toke “You want to buy what I am selling?”

Chief Oko: “Yes, all of it. It is not good for a pretty girl like you to be hawking around the street by this time”
Toke “Okay, it is not expensive. The pepper is fifty naira per bowl and the tomatoes are …” she started to say.

Chief Oko: “Hey, calm down. The money is not a problem. I will even give you extra money to take care of your other needs” he said enticingly.
Toke “I don’t need extra money. Just pay for the goods if you really want to buy and allow me leave”

Chief Oko: “I will do just that but first all, you have to hop into the car and follow me to my house so that I can carry the money and give you. I actually do not have cash on me”
Toke “I am sorry sir. I don’t know you and I cannot follow a stranger home”

Chief Oko: “I am not a stranger and I live down this street and I am sure that your mother must have told you that your father and I were friends while he was alive so I cannot harm you. We will just go into my compound and you will remain in the car while I go in and get the money” he said.
Toke ignored him and began to walk away from him as quickly as her legs could carry her. Then, Chief Oko drove after her, caught up with her and stopped beside her.
Toke “Can you please just leave me alone? I said I don’t want to follow you to your house”
She said and just then, she saw her foster mother coming in from the opposite direction.

Mama Gift: “ls that not Toke that I am seeing? So this girl has started following men about like her mother did?” She said and began to walk quickly towards them but Toke ran to her even before she got close to the car.

Mama Gift: “Toke, what are you doing there with Chief Oko? So, you have started going out with Chief Oko right?”
Toke “No, mama. Chief Oko said he wanted to buy all the pepper and tomatoes that I am carrying and I stopped. Then he said I have to follow him to his house to drop the goods and collect the money but I refused and I started to walk away then he began to follow me”

Mama Gift: “You what! Okay, how much sales have you made today?” She said extending her hand to collect the money.
Toke “I have not made any sales. All the people I went to said they still have and that I should check back tomorrow”

Mama Gift: “Can you see how very foolish you are? You have not made any sales today and you saw someone who wants to buy everything from you and you are saying you cannot follow him to his house. So, you want to return the goods home so that they will get spoilt over the night right? And then you expect me to feed you tonight when you cannot sell ordinary tomatoes and pepper? If you like yourself, you will follow that man to his house to sell off everything”
Toke “My mother told me not to ever follow a man to his house. She said men can be dangerous and I could get harmed”

Mama Gift: “I will squeeze that your mouth there for you now, my mother said this, my mother said that. Which mother are we talking about? The same one who died without leaving a dime for you to live on? And so what if men harm you, will you be the first person to be harmed? Weren’t your own mother harmed? Go to that man before he changes his mind and drive away”
Toke walked reluctantly to the man who had parked and was pretending to make a call. She entered the car without saying a word and the man drove off after acknowledging mama Gift’s presence with a wave of his hand. As soon as they got into the house, Chief Oko left Toke in the car, went into his room and returned with a bowl and some money. Toke transferred the goods in her tray into his bowl, collected the money, counted it, removed the exact amount that was the goods worth and returned the remaining money to him.

Chief Oko: “You can keep the rest, I deliberately gave you that much so that you can use the remaining to get some toiletries for yourself. Like I said, I was your late father’s friend” he said.
Toke “I didn’t do anything for you that you will give me money. I have taken enough for what I sold” she said and turned to leave.

Chief Oko: “Let me give you a lift back home then” he suggested.
Toke “Don’t worry, I am already used to walking” she said and left the compound.

Chief Oko: “You can always bring tomatoes and pepper for me every weekend” he called after her.
Toke heaved a sigh of relief as soon as she got out. “I was just afraid for nothing, this man is a very good man” she said. As soon as she stepped out of the compound, she ran into her school’s principal who was driving his old and rickety Volkswagen. He stopped Toke and after several attempts, she opened up and told him that she didn’t resume school because her foster parents had torn the letter he gave her and had forbade her from going close to the school compound.
The principal assured her that he would do something about it and told  her not to tell her foster parents that she had spoken with him. That evening, the principal visited their home and after several pleas and threat to report Gift’s parents to the local government officials if they refused to allow her go to the school, they reluctantly agreed. That night, even though Toke was beaten and denied dinner, she slept well, knowing that she was going to resume her education.
Toke stayed behind after school hours to copy notes and study for the days she had missed out. When it was getting dark in the classroom, she picked her nylon bag, containing her books and left for the house.
When she got home, she entered the house through the backyard door and went to the room she shared with Gift to change her school uniform. She had just finished doing that when she began to hear funny noise coming from the sitting room. Knowing that her foster parents were yet to return from work, she went into the sitting room and screamed aloud at what she saw.
You can ask if truly mama Gift is indeed a mother? Why is she this mean to Toke? And why did Toke scream? Let's unveil our inquisitiveness in episode 14. See you later.

Episode 14

In the sitting room to the surprise of Toke was Gift, kneeling before her lesson teacher and giving him a blow job.
The duo disengaged as soon as they saw her, Gift using the back of her hand to clean the semen that had dripped from the lesson's teacher’s manhood into her mouth.

Gift: “What are you doing here? I left you in school copying notes” she said charging at her.
Toke “Gift! Teacher Sam! This is just unbelievable!” She managed to say.

Teacher Sam: “Ah, it is not what you think. I was teaching biology and the topic is reproduction, we have to do that practical so that she can learn faster, you know she is a slow learner”

Gift: “Why are you explaining to her? She is not supposed to return home by this time. I left her in school copying plenty notes”
Teacher Sam made to come close to Toke to plead with her to keep what she had seen between them but Toke stepped back.
Toke “Don’t you dare come close to me. I am disappointed in the both of you. Mama and baba must hear this when they come back” she said and left the sitting room.

Teacher Sam: “Yaay! I am in trouble, if she tells your parents, they will stop me from coming to teach you and my image will be tarnished in school. What do we do?”

Gift: “Relax, she is just a silly girl whom my parents hate so much. I will capitalize on that to set her up if she ever thinks of talking to them about this” she assured him.

Teacher Sam: “Are you sure?”

Gift: “Just trust me”

Teacher Sam: “I should be on my way. I think you should go in and plead with her. It is better than taking chances” she said.

Gift: “No, come let us continue with what we were doing, I was enjoying it” she said holding him.

Teacher Sam: “Continue what? Certainly not today” he said and hurried out of the sitting room.
Gift walked to where Toke was washing dishes that she and teacher Sam had used to eat and tapped her.

Gift: “lf you dare say a word about what happened to my parents, I will make sure I set you up in this house, that is if I don’t poison your food. You have been warned”
Toke “You will be doing me a great favour if you poison my food. At least I will go to meet my mother and leave this wicked world behind” she replied.

Gift: “You didn’t see anything today. Better get that into your coconut head” she insulted.
Toke “I saw many things. In fact, I saw more than enough and you know what? This time around I have to speak up because I have been keeping quiet and I know that God will not be happy with me if I continue to shield sinners.
Several times I have seen you with that school tout and bully called Francis but you denied and said he is just your friend. Many times, I will return home from hawking and meet him here eating and touching you, when he is leaving, you will steal money and foodstuff from your parents and give to him. Now, it is teacher Sam, a man your parents pay to teach you. You are older than me and as such I expect that you should be wiser. What if you get pregnant? How can you be sucking a man’s manhood, what if you contact diseases from him?”

Gift: “How is it your business? Why don’t you face what your mates do and leave big girls like me to do what we want? Is it your mouth that I was using to suck him? No tell me, is it your money and your foodstuff that I have been giving away?” She fired.
Toke “lt is not mine but at the end of it all, I get to suffer for it. I cannot remember how many times I have been accused of stealing your parents money which you and I know that you took. I cannot also remember the number of times your mother has accused me of getting up to cook and eat while you all are asleep in the night because of the way foodstuff and ingredients keep disappearing from the kitchen. I have been beaten, punished, starved and stripped naked all because of you but this time around, I will talk because I am tired of taking panadol for another person’s headache” she reaffirmed.

Gift: “lf you are tired, go to your house now. Why are you still here? Did we invite you to come and live with us? Just go away and let me have my freedom”
Toke “I would have gladly done so if I had a choice, trust me”
Gift pushed her and when she saw her crashing into the water she was using to wash plates, she left the kitchen.
“Yes, what is it? You said you wanted to tell us something” baba Gift said to Toke who had suddenly lost her voice.

Mama Gift: “Have you gone deaf? You told us while we were having dinner that you wanted to tell us something and now you cannot talk anymore?”
Toke “I … I saw …” she started to say but Gift barged into the room.

Baba Gift: ”Are you okay? Why did you come in as if someone is chasing you?”

Gift: “Baba, mama, if I tell you what I saw today ehn, hmmn” she said and paused to study her parents reaction.
“What did you see” the couple asked simultaneously.

Gift: “After we closed from school, Toke told me that she wanted to stay behind and copy notes so I left her in her class. On my way, I remembered that I had forgotten one of my books in class so I went back to pick it. That was when I saw Toke and one dull boy touching themselves and kissing. The boy was about removing Toke’s skirt when I came in. I don’t know what he wanted to do with her skirt. When I told her that I will tell you people, she said she will lie and set me up if I dare to talk”

Mama Gift: “Ehn, you! Tokes, is that why you couldn’t wait to resume school? You want to get pregnant so that people will say I didn’t train you well the way I am training my own daughter” she said and slapped her hard across the face.
Toke “She is lying, it is not true. I came back here and met her …”

Gift: “Shut up, you innocent faced liar. Baba, mama, if you think I am lying, then go to my school tomorrow and ask teacher Sam, he will confirm it”

Baba Gift: “How did teacher Sam get to know what happened?”

Gift: “Erm, the thing is, when I saw Toke and the boy kissing, I screamed out of shock and that attracted the attention of teacher Sam who was coming out of the staff room”
Toke “Ah, Gift, fear God. You know you are lying. Was it not you and teacher Sam that I met in this sitting room doing …”

Gift: “Doing what? Talk now if you know that you are not lying”
Toke “Doing … I mean you were giving teacher Sam a …” she stammered, because she didn’t know how to describe the abomination that she had seen to her parents.

Mama Gift: “Talk now. Oh, you are thinking of the lie to come up with right? Stupid liar, before you allow boys get you pregnant, I will kill you with my hands” she said and descended on the girl.
That night, Toke was beaten to a pulp and denied dinner. While she was lying down on the floor beside Gift’s bed, Gift whispered into her ears.

Gift: “I told you that I will set you up didn’t I? Well, you have not seen anything yet. Just wait for it” she said and went back to bed.
Gift's rod is spared and she is spoilt. She has grown to be wayward girl as trained by her mother. What a lost dog!

Episode 15

The same incidence of beatings and starvation continued all through that year until Toke sat for her examination and the school went on vacation. After the vacation, she resumed her roles as the domestic help and hawker. She was already used to it and as such it did not take too much toil on her. Her foster mother would give her goods and when there were no sales, she would ask her to deliver to Chief Oko who was one of their biggest customers. As usual, Chief Oko would ask her to follow him to his house and there he would pay her after collecting the goods.
On this fateful day, Chief Oko drove her to his house under the pretence of going to pay her there like he always did. When he got into the compound, he went into his room and then called her to bring the goods inside. She reluctantly went in since Chief Oko had over the time won her trust. When she got in, Chief Oko asked her to take the things to his kitchen. She did and when she saw how dirty and unkept his kitchen was, she wondered why he was not married at that his age.
Toke “I have kept them in the kitchen. Let me have the money now so that I can leave” she said to him.

Chief Oko: “Oh common, you have been coming to my house for a number of times now and I have never entertained you. I think today is the right day to do so after all, the day is still young” he said to her.
Toke “I am not interested in any entertainment. Let me just have my money, my mother must be waiting for me by now”

Chief Oko: “Which mother? We all know that your mother is dead. How can you call another woman who doesn’t treat you like her own daughter your mother?” He asked her.
Toke “I will still call her my mother no matter what because they took me in after the death of my mother and they gave me a roof over my head and food, that is more than enough” she said thoughtfully.

Chief Oko: “Oh please, as if you don’t work for the food you eat. Anyway, as you can see, I am not married and that is because I am not ready to be imprisoned by the walls of marriage. I love my freedom a lot and I know that getting married is like relinquishing my freedom to a woman who would begin to lord it over my life and monitor my every move”
Toke “But sir, what do you do with all the ingredients you buy from us since you are not married?” She summoned courage and asked the question that had been on her lips since she started selling to him.

Chief Oko: “I have female friends who come around to cook for me over the weekend. They make different pots of soup for me and I keep them in the freezer until the next weekend when you will bring other ingredients”
Toke “Okay, sir. Can I have the money now, I have lots of things to do at home” “Ohh, we are relaxing and having a cool gist and you are saying you want to go home and work. Is it that you love suffering or what? Anyway, none of my friends will come around this weekend so why don’t you go into the kitchen and prepare something delicious for you and I? we can take it up from there” he said.
Toke “No, sir. I cannot”
Chief Oko got up and went to her where she was standing beside the door.

Chief Oko: “You don’t have anything to worry about. I have enough money and I will take care of all your needs, all you have to do is become my girlfriend and I will take you away from that house of suffering. If you allow me enter you like this, I will just marry you as soon as you get pregnant and you know what it is to be the wife of Chief Oko, the biggest merchant in this village” he said attempting to fondle her breasts but she pushed his hands away.
Toke “I am not interested!” She said and made to step out but Chief Oko held her by the hand and dragged her back into the room.

Chief Oko: “Come back here now, we have not finished talking baby. Your father was my very good friend and it is my duty to take care of your needs if you will allow me” he said and brought his beard surrounded lips to kiss her.
Toke pushed him with all her strength and he fell on the floor. She seized the opportunity and bolted out of the room but he followed her and caught up with her.

Chief Oko: “Where do you think you are running to” he said holding on to her.
Toke “Leave me alone, you are hurting me” she said trying to ease from his embrace.
He held on to her and pushed her back into the room. She fell down and smashed her head against the center table and she began to scream. Chief Oko placed his hands over her mouth. She kicked and scratched with her hands and legs but he was not deterred. With one hand, he pulled up her dress and dragged down her pants. With another hand he removed her pants and unzipped his trousers with the same hand.
Despite her pleas and cry, Chief Oko entered her and deflowered her. It was a very painful experience for her as he forced his way into her tight vagina, tearing into her most cherished depths. After few minutes of thrusting in and out of her, he released his semen outside and rolled away from her leaving her to nurse the pain in-between her thighs and the pain in her heart.

Chief Oko: “I am sorry, I didn’t mean to take it by force but you pushed me” he said to her.
Toke stayed behind and cried her eyes out. When she was tired of crying, she picked her tray and got up to leave.

Chief Oko: “You cannot go back home like this. You look all messed up. Go to the bathroom and freshen up before you leave” he said but she ignored him. She wanted to go far away from him as possible before he molested her again.

Chief Oko: “You don’t want to talk to me? Well, I am only trying to be nice. Here, five thousand naira, remove the money for what I bought and then use the remaining balance to take care of yourself” he said throwing the money at her.
She bent down, picked the exact amount of the goods that she had sold to him and kept the rest on the floor.
Toke “God knows that if not for my step mother’s goods, I will not collect a dime from this man” she thought and left the house.

Mama Gift: “So what you telling me now is that Chief Oko raped you?” she asked when Toke returned back to the shop crying.
Toke “Yes, he raped me when he asked me to follow him to the house and collect the money for what I sold to him” she said crying.

Mama Gift: “Will you clean those crocodile tears and speak audibly? How can Chief Oko rape you when he has more than enough money to pay for the services of prostitutes?”
Toke “He raped me in his house, I swear”

Mama Gift: “I don’t believe you. I am sure it is that your school boyfriend that my daughter talked about that raped you and you are here shedding some crocodile tears. What is my own if you are raped seff? All I know is that the day you get pregnant is the day you will leave my house. Now go home and prepare dinner for us” she said and dismissed her.
Toke went home as she was ordered but she had another plan, this was just about the right time to use the rat poison that they had in the house.
Man is not to be trusted because of their evil plans. That exactly is what Chief Oko has done and mama Gift never help her predicament. Will life continue to be unfair to Toke in Episode 16?

Episode 16

Toke contemplated poisoning herself with the rat poison in the kitchen but after some thoughts, she thought of her mother and how disappointed she would be watching her commit suicide from the spiritual realm. She thought of her mother’s dream of getting her educated and she decided to give life a chance just perhaps there may be light at the end of the tunnel for her.
Toke “No matter what life throws at me, I will be successful and make it in this world. At least if not for anything, to make my mother proud even though I dont know why I find it difficult to believe that my mother is dead” she said.
Mama Gift closed her shop and went to Chief Oko’s shop after she had sent Toke back home. His sales assistant told her that Chief Oko had gone out and was yet to return and she sat on the desk to wait for him.
He returned less than 30 minutes later and mama Gift imagined how such a huge man could force his way into a girl like Toke when he could pay and have any girl that he wanted.
Chief Oko’s heart skipped a beat when he saw mama Gift waiting for him at the entrance of the shop.

Chief Oko: “This one that you are waiting for me outside like this, do you want to buy soft drinks?”
Chief Oko was one of the most popular wholesalers in the community and mama Gift bought the things she sold in her shop from him.

Mama Gift: “I didn’t come to buy anything from you. I have not finished selling the ones I bought the last time I was here” she said.
Her tone revealed to Chief Oko that all was not well because she never spoke that way to him since he sold crates and cartons of soft drinks to her at affordable prices.

Chief Oko: “Hope there is no problem, madam” he said stepping into the shop and acknowledging greetings from his sales assistants.

Mama Gift: “There is problem o, Toke said …”

Chief Oko: “Ah ah, come into my office and let us talk” he said shutting her down because he didn’t want his sales assistants to hear what it was that she had to say about Toke.
Mama Gift followed him into the office and he instructed his sales assistant to get her a can of chilled Maltina and biscuits.

Chief Oko: “So, what brought you here?” he said shutting the door after the sales assistant had served her the drink and biscuits.

Mama Gift: “Toke came back to the shop not too long ago looking all messed up with blood stains on her dress. When I asked her what happened, she said that you raped her when she went to collect money for what she sold to you in your house. I said let me come here and find out the truth from you” she said without opening the drink. She had the intention of taking it away to her shop and selling it to her customers.

Chief Oko: “Me, rape Toke? Am I mad or something? How can I do such a thing? A girl whose father was my best friend is the person you believe I can rape?”

Mama Gift: “lt is not like I believe her but I know that she would not lie about a thing like that and the evidence of the blood on her dress and the way she was walking, I don’t know what to say”

Chief Oko: “That girl must be a very pathetic liar. How have you been coping with her? She came to me and started telling me tales of how you have been maltreating her, beating her and allowing her to do all the domestic chores after hawking for you and that you will not allow you own daughter do anything in the house. I told her you were only trying to bring her up in the right way a girl should be brought up so that she would be able to take care of her home in the future. The next thing, this girl said was that she wanted me to be sleeping with her and be giving her money so that she could use it to take care of herself since you were not giving her any money to buy the things she needed. I refused and when she insisted, I chased her out of the house after threatening to report to you if she ever did that again”

Mama Gift: “Are you serious?” She asked falling for his lies because of the hatred that she was harbouring in her heart against Toke.

Chief Oko: “I am very serious. After I chased her out of my house, I drove off to see one of my clients who was owing me. Do you know that I saw this girl with one criminal looking boy going into the bush? I called her and told her that I will report her to you if she didn’t return home immediately. This girl behaved as if I wasn’t talking to her and followed the boy to the uncompleted building in the bush. I didn’t know that she will come to you and implicate me”

Mama Gift: “I said it that she is up to no good. That is how she lied against my daughter, if not that my daughter was smart enough to defend herself, only God knows what I would have done to my daughter because of her that day”

Chief Oko: “I am shocked at her lies myself. Look at me now, can't I afford to get any woman that I want myself? What do I need a girl like Toke for?”
Mama Gift thanked him and apologized for accusing him unjustly.
Chief ordered his boys to pack up a nylon full of provisions and they gave it to mama Gift with a thousand naira that he asked her to use to take a cab back to her shop even though they bought knew that the distance was not far.
Somewhere deep in her heart, mama Gift knew that the man was lying but she didn’t care. It was not her daughter that was raped and besides she couldn’t afford to make Chief Oko an enemy because of Toke.
Toke had no option than to drop out of school after her junior secondary school because her foster parents refused to pay her fees. The principal who could not adopt her because of his wife had tabled her file to the chairman of their local government for scholarship consideration but the request had had been turned down because there was friction between the state government and the local government and as such they were not receiving allocation thereby finding it difficult to pay staff and carry out other projects.
Toke was subjected to all sorts of humiliation by Gift and her parents and several times she contemplated running out of the house but for fear of what lied out there.
Five years after staying with her foster parents, Toke was lost, broken and crushed but determined to make it in life no matter the thorns that life threw on flesh. She knew that nothing good ever came easy and that even gold goes through fire to come out good. Although she had developed into a pretty and matured girl, her face bore marks of years of abuse and sorrow. Her life was shattered and everyday she went to bed with tears, hoping that she would not wake up to see the next day.
Everyday brought different sorrows and the innocent girl wondered if she could ever find succor. Less than a year after she had lost her virginity to Chief Oko, she became her uncle’s sex slave and each time she wanted to report him to his wife, he would come around and threaten to kill her if she dared to do a thing like that.
On this particular day, she was in the kitchen when baba Gift came and tickled her from behind like he always did before forcing himself on her.  Toke turned sharply and shrank away from him like she had touched a snake.

Baba Gift: “My baby, my baby, come and give it to me”
Toke “Don’t you dare come close to me again” she said with fear in her eyes.

Baba Gift: “You do not have a choice. I have always forced you to have my way with you and I will continue to do so for as long as I want. My wife is not around and I am in the mood” he said touching his groin.
Toke “For more than three years, you have been assaulting and raping me because you know that I have no one to defend me and because you know that I have nowhere to go but right now if you come close to me, I will do something that the both of us will regret”
Baba Gift dismissed her threat as mere bluff and moved close to her. She raised the pestle she was using and gave him a blow on the head. Baba Gift yelled and fell on the ground.
Toke “Oh my God, I am in trouble. What have I done? What do I do?” She panicked.
Isn't it better to fight for ones life than to be molested by all and sundry? If a lamb is pushed to the wall, it will have no option but to fight back. Baba Gift again? This life is wicked!

Episode 17

Toke went close to her foster father and shook him violently.
Toke “Please wake up, don’t die like this. Wake up please!” She kept on saying as she shook him.
She felt his pulse and saw that he was still alive and so she took cold water and sprinkled on him and he jerked up holding on to his forehead where she had hit him with the pestle.

Baba Gift: “You wanted to kill me right? I brought you into this house, I feed and clothe you and yet you want to kill me simply because I want ordinary sex from you. Don’t you know that if not for me, my wife would have you thrown out of the house long ago? You will see what I will do to you today” he said and descended on her and began to beat her. She ran out of the house and he followed her outside and gave her the beating of her life. Outside, neighbours intervened and tried to stop him but he refused and chased them all away.
So serious was the beating that mama Gift had to come out to intervene but her husband stopped her.

Baba Gift: “Don’t come closer, let me teach this girl the lesson of her life I think I am being too lenient with her” he said.

Mama Gift: “lt is enough, don’t come and kill this girl o, I told you that we should send her off long ago but you refused”

Neighbours: “Baba Gift, it is okay now, you have injured her so much, if she were your own daughter, would you do this to her?”

Baba Gift: “I have told you people to mind your business. She is my brother’s daughter and I can do whatever I want to her”

Neighbour: “But what exactly is her offence?” the curious neighbours asked”

Baba Gift: “I don’t have to tell you people what she did, you all should mind your businesses” he fired back at them.
That night, Toke went to the bed as the saddest girl in the universe.
While she was weeping and nursing her pain in the middle of the night at the store where her foster parents had forced her to pass the night, she felt the door open gently and someone sneak in. She got up immediately and strained her eyes to see who it was but the darkness in that room was so thick that she could not make out anyone. When her eyes were used to the darkness, she saw though faintly the image of her uncle who had always been her assaulter. She sat up.
Toke “What are you doing here?” she dared to ask.

Baba Gift: “I am here to take what is mine”
Toke “God knows that I will never allow you rape me again. Today you gave me the beating of my life and by that you unleashed the demon in me, I will do everything to ensure that I don’t get raped by you again. You have been warned, don’t you dare come closer” she threatened.

Baba Gift: “You are just bluffing; you are too weak to do anything”
Toke “Don’t you dare touch me, I will scream” she said.

Baba Gift: “I will stifle down that scream down your neck like I have always done. Besides, nobody will ever believe you, my family members will think you want to set me up because I gave you a beating this afternoon” he boasted and drew close to her with the intention of placing his hands over her mouth thereby shutting down her scream but she was faster. She let out a loud shrill and when he came close to her, she grabbed the kitchen knife in the store and stabbed him several times.
Her husband’s scream woke up mama Gift who jumped up from her sleep and ran towards the direction where she had heard the scream come from.
She was shocked when she saw her husband lying in the pool of his own blood and Toke kneeling beside him and pleading with him to wake up.

Mama Gift: “Ah, mo gbe, what is happening here?” she screamed as she drew close.
Toke “I ... I ... err” she stuttered, terribly frightened by the blood on her hands.

Mama Gift: “Will you open your mouth and talk? What happened to my husband? What is he doing here in the first place? When did he leave the bed that I didn’t know?”
Toke “I think we should take him to the hospital first, please ma” she said shivering.

Mama Gift: “What happened to him?” she screamed so loudly that Toke startled.
Toke “I was sleeping here when baba came to rape me like he had always done that I have been telling you. I didn’t know when I grabbed the knife, I didn’t want to harm him, I only wanted to frighten him but he kept coming close and I didn’t know when I stabbed him with the knife” she explained fearfully.

Mama Gift: “What! What is this girl saying? You stabbed my husband and you are here saying he wanted to rape you? What do you have that my husband will want to have sex with you? Why do you like lying so much?” she said and charged at the girl but her husband’s grunts stopped her.

Baba Gift: “Ta … tak … take me to the hospital, I don’t want to die” he said and went limp.

Mama Gift: “Yaay! Egba mi o, my husband, somebody help me, you will rot in jail Toke, I have always known that you are witch. So, this is your mission in this house right?
Neighbours come o, Toke has killed my husband” she screamed.
Toke’s heart began to beat wildly when she saw that baba Gift had stopped breathing.
Afraid of what may happen to her if he dies and she gets arrested for murder, she took a step backwards, and another and another and so she bolted out of the house and out of the village forever.
Toke thanked the lady who had helped bring her to Abuja from the neighbouring village where she had run on foot the previous night after she had ran away from home. She expressed her appreciation to the lady whom she had never met until that day and made to alight from her car but the lady stopped her.

Lady B: “What exactly happened that you ran away from home? I have been asking you that question ever since you asked me for a ride and all that you have been doing is crying. What exactly happened?”
Toke “I killed someone and ran away from home. I am a murderer” she said.

Lady B: “What! You killed someone and ran away from home?” She asked with alarm.
Toke “Yes, I killed my father, no my uncle, I stabbed him with a knife yesterday and I have no regrets” she said.

Lady B: “But when I saw you, you told me that you were from the neighbouring village and wanted to come to Abuja to look for your parents who were banished, that is why I gave you the lift in the first place” she said.
Toke “I lied. When I stabbed him last night, his wife came around and threatened to have me arrested and jailed for murder. Afraid of spending the rest of my life in jail, I ran away because I was afraid. I ran all night and only stopping to rest when I get tired. That was how I was able to get to your village. I had to tell you that lie when I saw you in the morning and then pretended to ask for my missing parents. Luckily for me, you said you were coming to Abuja and I was happy because I wanted to run far away from my village and I remembered how my mother always told me that we will move to Abuja whenever we saved enough money.
She had always loved to live in this city even though she has never been here before. I promised her that I will buy a house for her here even when I finish a schooling and get a good job but it never happened” she explained.

Lady B: “So, who is the man you killed?”
Toke “His name is Mr. Debo but he is popularly known as baba Gift” she said looking down on her feet.

Lady B: “What! You killed my enemy, wow! I love you already” she said and hugged Toke.
Toke is finally out of the village … I hope she has finally come to her place of rest …. Who is lady B and what relationship has she with baba Gift?

Episode 18

Toke “Your what?” Toke asked anxiously.
Lady B: “You know what, never mind. So, where are you going to after going down? Do you have friends or family around?” She asked.
Toke “No, I don’t have anyone in the world. My parents are dead and I don’t know any of our relations” she said sadly.

Lady B: “What do you mean by that? So why did you have to run away from a place where you have family to come to this place? Do you think Abuja is like your village?”
Toke “I was told that Abuja is the capital of Nigeria and it is a place where endless opportunities abound”

Lady B: “Listen, it doesn’t work that way. You are just a young lady and Abuja can be very unfair to strangers if you don’t have anyone to assist you. You can’t be roaming around the street with no place to lay your head; it could get dangerous you know”
Toke “Don’t worry, God is on my side” she said with faith.

Lady B: “God will not come down and protect you if you put yourself in harm’s way. I am taking you to my house; I cannot leave you on the streets like this”
Toke was afraid of following the lady to her house because of what her mother had told her about strangers.
Toke “Sorry, I cannot follow you because I don’t know you” she said.

Lady B: “I can see that you are very foolish. You cannot follow a stranger home but you can follow me all the way from the village to this place and you can walk the street of Abuja and sleep in unknown places. My friend will you put your seat belt back on and follow me home”
Toke shook her head and got out of the car.

Lady B: “I can see that you have made up your mind not to follow me home. Very well then, say me hi to your dead parents when ritualists finally send you to join them this night”
Toke “Ritualists?” She asked in shock.

Lady B: “Of course, this is Abuja not your village” she said and turned the ignition to drive off but Toke quickly got into the car.
Lady B fed and clothed Toke for a month during which period Toke began to put on a lot of weight and her shinning beauty returned. A month after the luxury in lady B’s house caused Toke to forget all the pain and abuse that she had gone through in her village and she prayed daily for God to bless her benefactor whom she regarded as an angel in human skin.
After a month, lady B came to her room holding a nylon bag containing new clothes and shoes and cosmetics.
Toke “Good afternoon, ma” she said sitting up from the bed that had served as her own ever since she got into the house.

Lady B: “I have told you not to call me ma again. I said I am your elder sister and there is no need attaching ma to my name. By the way, how old are you?” She said sitting beside her on the bed.
Toke “I am 22 years old now” she said.

Lady B: “Wow, you are a big girl now. Anyway, I got you some things, she said. Try them on”
Toke “Wow, for me again? You have been buying so many things for me and I don’t even know how to thank you. Thank you so much, I just wish I can get a job so that I can repay you for all that you have been doing to me” she said.
Lady B smiled. You want a job? What qualifications have you?”
Toke “I stopped going to school after my junior WAEC but I can do any job, even house help or sales girl, any legitimate thing to earn some money and at least appreciate all that you have been doing to me. I really don’t know what I would have done without you. God bless you”

Lady B: “You are very funny, even people who have PhD’s are still searching for jobs in this country and you are here saying you want a job with your junior WAEC, no make me laugh abeg” she chuckled.
Toke “Hmmn, I wish I could go back to school. That has always been my mother’s wish for me” she said sadly.

Lady B: “You can join my friends and I in our business and still go to school” she said.
Toke “Really? I will be glad ma. I will do anything to see that I go back to school again. In fact, my mother died because she wanted to pay for my examination fees. I will do everything to keep that dream alive” she said, her eyes sparkling with hope for the future.

Lady B: “I am glad to know that you are interested. Anyway, there’s no need to hurry. Just take your time and use those cosmetics well. You will get to know more about our job very soon” she said, touched the girl on her shoulder and went out.
Toke “Hey, thank God I ran away from the village o, look at what I have been missing all these while. This lady is so nice, she is the big sister I never had. May God bless her for me” she said.
Toke woke up and went to greet her benefactor in her room after she had finished cleaning up the house. She was however surprised to find her in tears.
Toke “You are crying, ma. What could be the problem?” She asked after greeting Lady B who didn’t hear her talk more of responding.

Lady B: “I am fine” she said trying to clean her eyes because Toke had caught her unawares.
Toke “No, you are not fine. You are shedding tears. Maybe you should share your problem. Experience has taught me that sharing a problem relieves one” she said.

Lady B: “Where do I start from? Just like you, I lost my parents when I was only a little girl. I stayed with my grandmother who took care of me in the same village that you ran away from and I hawked for her so that we could have something to eat. One day, when I was about 18 years old, I went to hawk as usual and a man lured me into his room and defiled me”.
She paused and cleaned the tears that was streaming down her eyes and continued.

Lady B: “Guess who that man is?”
Toke “Who? She asked in disbelief, finding it difficult to believe that the lady whom she had come to love and admire so much was once a rape victim like her.

Lady B: “The man you killed. Mr. Debo a.k.a baba Gift!”
Toke “lt is a lie, she said taking a step back unconsciously.

Lady B: “Yes. That is why I reacted the way I did that day after you told me that you killed him. After the rape, I told my grandmother all that had happened and she went to his house and reported the matter to the council of elders. The next thing was that we started receiving threats from Mr. Debo who threatened to burn us alive if we don’t let the matter die, that is why we had to relocate to the next village and so we allowed the matter die so that we could live.  I have always had it in mind that I will take my pound of flesh no matter how long it takes but thank God you have done that for me. Since then, I have detested men and have never had anything to do with them. He was the first man I have ever had and I after him, I swore that I will have nothing to do with any man. I don’t have a government job, neither do I do business” she said shocking Toke.
Toke “But ma, how … how did you acquire all these and whenever you are going out, you tell me you are going to work. I don’t understand”

Lady B: “This is what I do …”
What do you think Lady B does for survival? Is baba Gift dead? One thing is certain, Toke will make it in the city but how?

Episode 19

Toke “Yes” she summoned courage and asked after Lady B stopped talking.
Lady B: “I don’t do men but I do women and trust me, that is even more lucrative than doing men” she said.
Toke “I don’t understand ma” she asked, her eyes as if they would pop out of their sockets.

Lady B: “Of course you do. You only find it difficult to believe” she said.
Toke “Okay ma, but is that why you were crying?” she asked.

Lady B: “I am crying because my grandmother who is my only surviving family member is dead and the villagers went ahead to bury her without even waiting for me. She was my only surviving family member and now I am like an orphan with nobody but myself in the world”
Toke “Oh, I am so sorry to hear that. I know how painful death is because I still remember vividly the pains I felt after I lost my mother. It is something that I can never forget. Don’t worry, you have me and God and that is more than enough. I promise to always stand by you the way you helped me when I had no place to go to” she assured her.

Lady B: “It is because I see you as family that is why I am saying this to you. I mean we just have a lot in common. To think that we were deflowered by the same man and you helped me carry out vengeance on him is just more than a coincidence. That is why I want you to join me in this trade, my sister it is very lucrative and before you know it, if you are hardworking, you will even become richer than I”
Toke “Which trade ma? You told me you don’t do business so I really don’t understand”

Lady B: “What is it that you don’t understand again? Okay, let me ask you, how many men have you had sex with in your life?”
Toke “I have known only two men and the two men all raped me. I had wanted to preserve myself until I get married”

Lady B: “Okay, you see what I am talking about? Two men forced their way into you without giving you anything. Do you know how much you can make by servicing one woman?”
Toke “How?”

Lady B: “Don’t tell me you think I do women for pleasure, hell no. I sleep with women and get paid. They pay me handsomely for that matter”
Toke “God forbid, that is lesbianism, over my dead body” she said, flipping her fingers over her head.

Lady B: “What God forbids is you being raped by two men against your wish. God will forbid it more if you are still foolish enough to give your body to another man and get nothing whereas you can go out with your fellow woman who will pay you well for your services”
Toke “But I am just 22, I am too young to do that. Besides, the women may not like me” she complained.

Lady B: “Trust me, you don’t want to know at what age I started this business. And who said the women will not like you? Those women even prefer young blood to us and they pay young people well. Just make sure you satisfy them well and you will become rich in no time”
Toke “How do I satisfy them? I don’t have a … a …”

Lady B: “You don’t have a manhood right? Have you heard of vibrators and sex toys before?”
Toke nodded.

Lady B: “Okay, let me show you how it works” she said and went into her wardrobe. After few minutes, she returned with different sex toys and Toke’s eyes popped out at their sizes.

Lady B: “These are the things we use to give ourselves and our partners pleasure. These are for my personal use. Anytime I am in the mood and I am at home, I fuck myself with it and trust me, they are even better than what most men have in between their legs. So, you see, at the end of the day, I give myself pleasure without going to meet any man and without the fear of getting pregnant or contacting any disease”
Toke “But …”

Lady B: “No buts. It is very easy, do whatever the women ask you to do. Sometimes all you need do is finger them, touch them, or suck their nipples until they cum. They will do the same to you until you cum and that is it, you get paid”
Toke “I can never do that to a fellow woman, it is a dirty and unholy act. I am sorry ma, but you have to desist from doing such things. This was the same sin that made God destroy Sodom and Gomorrah”

Lady B: “Abegi, see this one o. Who are to preach to me? Where was God when we were raped repeatedly? My friend wake up, we are in the 21st century and in this century, same sex marriages have been legalized in some parts of the world so there is nothing to worry about. You want to go back to school right? This is your opportunity to make money for your education” she said.
Toke “I cannot do it. Yes, I want to go to school but I don’t have to do this before I can return to school, I am sure my mother will not approve of this”

Lady B: “Leave the dead out of this. They are dead and gone and they have nothing to do with the living. The only way you can go to school is to do this and get money because there is nothing like free education in this country. In this federal capital territory, you will need at least N20, 000 before you can even enroll yourself in a public school so wake up my dear”
Toke “I can do other jobs. I can be your maid and help you do all you need for l exchange for school fees and a roof over my head. Anything legitimate but not this, please”

Lady B: “I was this stubborn before. As a matter of fact, if anyone had told me that I will consider this as an option, I wouldn’t have believed but when hunger and homelessness dealt with me in this city and when I heard that my grandmother was at the verge of dying because she had no money to take herself to the village clinic, I had no option than to plead with my friends who were already into this to show me the way. So, I will give you some time to think about it. Remember, I am not saying that you should do this for ever. Do this for a couple of time, get some money and invest, that way, you can train yourself to any level you want without doing it again. A word is enough for the wise” she said and left the room, leaving Toke more confused than she had been when she ran out of her village few months back without an irking on where she was going to and how she was going to survive.
Life and her endless lesson that could be so confusing. Which way for Toke now? Let episode 20 tell us more.

Episode 20

Lady B: “Did I just hear you say you are interested?” She asked, finding Toke’s cooperation to easy to believe.
Toke “Yes, I mean no” she quickly added after having a second thought.

Lady B: “What are you saying? Yes and no, what is that?”
Toke “Please ma, have mercy on me. I cannot do it, I can’t just imagine it” she said.

Lady B: “You are a very ungrateful girl. I gave you a ride all the way from the village to this place even though I didn’t know you. As if that was not enough, I had pity on you and brought you into my house to live with me even though you already confessed to me that you are a wanted criminal. I didn’t mind the fact that the police could also get me arrested as your accomplice. For the past 3 months that you have been here, I have shouldered your responsibilities and I have made sure that you lacked nothing. I fed you, bought you good clothes and cosmetics, gave you a room to yourself and opened up to you as I would have done to my younger sister if I had any. All these I did with the money I made from women. Now that it is your turn to join my trade and help me expand, you are backing out.
Thank you” she said, pretending to be sad. She was breaking the girl psychologically; the same way she had been psyched when she refused to join her friends in the trade after she left the village.
Toke Please don’t misunderstand me ma. I appreciate all that you have done for me and I wish above all things to repay your goodness but it doesn’t have to be this way. Any other thing you ask me to do, I will but not this one please”

Lady B: “You are such an ingrate and don’t you ever call me ma again, I am not older than your mother. Now, pick your things and get out of my house this minute”
Toke “Please” she said falling on her knees and holding on to her benefactor’s feet.

Lady B: “What am I even saying? Which things did you bring to this house? Even what you are wearing now, I bought for you so basically you have nothing in this house so move!” she barked.
Toke “I beg you in the name of God, don’t do this”

Lady B: “Will you leave finally or do you want me to call the estate security to throw you out?” She threatened and Toke got up, wiping tears from her eyes.
Toke “At least let me spend the night here and then I can leave tomorrow morning, please ma” she said.

Lady B: “No way! You are leaving my house tonight and that is final.
You cannot do the kind of things I do to make money but you can sleep in a house l got with the money I made from women, how hypocritical. Get out!” She said and pushed Toke out of the bedroom, out of the sitting room and out of her house”
“Good riddance to bad rubbish!” Lady B said as she secured the bolt of her door but deep within her heart, she felt a fire burning for the girl and she knew that their paths would surely cross again.
Afraid of the danger that lay outside, Toke decided to sleep very close to Lady B’s flat at the estate. She was alone, without any possession, not even a mat or a wrapper to help shield her from the cold harmattan wind.
Toke “I will spend the night here, who knows if Lady B will have mercy on me in the morning and allow me back into the house? The truth is that I have nowhere to go in this city and I cannot go back to the village” she soliloquized.
Toke was beginning to doze off where she sat when she felt a hand touch her. She opened her eyes and saw that it was Adamu the gate man.
Toke “Adamu, good evening, you almost scared me because I didn’t hear you approaching” she said, rubbing her sleepy eyes.

Adamu: “How I go hear am for me when I dey sleep for here”
Toke “Adamu, you won’t understand jare” she said sadly.

Adamu: “But wait o, wetin I dey do for here by this time?”
Toke “Adamu, you are very funny sha. How will I know what you are doing out here at this time of the night?”

Adamu: “No be me, na I” he said in his thick Hausa accent.
Toke "Which one is me and I? Abeg, don’t add to my confusion this night” she said.

Adamu: “You, what am I doing outside here?”
“Oh, you mean what I am doing out here? Okay, well, I guess I will spend the night here, I don’t have a choice” she said sadly.

Adamu: “I no fit sleep for here. It is against the estate rules. Enter inside or leave am for this premises”
Toke “Why can’t I sleep here?” She asked suddenly getting worried.

Adamu: “Because estate people say make them no dey allow anybody hang around here for night” he explained.
Toke “But I am not anybody now, don’t you know me? My aunty have sent me to give you things countless times”

Adamu: “Na wetin estate management tell me be that abi I want them to sack me for my job?”
Toke “How will I want them to sack you? See ehn, Adamu, my aunty has sent me out of the house o and I don’t have anywhere to go, let me spend the night here and then I will think of what to do tomorrow” she said.

Adamu: “No wahala now, enter my room come sleep for there, that my small mattress go do me and you” he said smacking his lips.
Toke “Are you sure you want to share your space?”

Adamu: “Yes but na fifty-fifty we go do am. You go sleep for my room and me go sleep with you all night. Kai mana, I sabi do am well-well, you go enjoy am no be small”
Toke “God forbid that I sleep with you. What is it with the people in this place seff? Can’t you just help someone without asking for anything in return?”

Adamu: “You no fit sleep with me ba? Oya come dey go” he said and pushed her out into the world of danger and cold.
She was alone with only the nightwear she had on. A pretty young girl penniless and homeless out in the middle of the night, a night filled with all the terror and danger that was better imagined than experienced.
Back then in the village, baba Gift who was rushed to the hospital after Toke ran off was recuperating and had been discharged from the hospital.
He was glad to be alive but he had one mission and that was to find Toke and make her pay for sending him to stay several weeks in the hospital and for making him spend his money on medical bills and medication. However, he didn’t know what had kept him alive so that he could see how Toke would become great and successful and how calamity would befall him and his family.
How does God intend to make Toke great and successful now that she has been thrown out of the house? All options of surviving are of "give and take"

Episode 21

Toke walked around aimlessly for minutes without finding a place to lay her head. The street was quiet and all she had for company were dogs barking behind the securely fenced compounds.
She thought she heard a footstep approach her and she turned around sharply but there was nothing, the sound was only a figment of her imagination. She was tired and sleepy and frustrated, if only her parents were alive, she thought.
After walking aimlessly for over an hour, she realized that she could not walk all night, especially when she didn’t have a place to go and so she sat down at the corridor of a shop. She couldn’t make out what was sold in the shop because it was already locked and the owner was likely to be in the comfort of his bed snoring.
She thought of all the occupants of the big high fenced buildings that she had seen and she thought how lucky they were to have a roof over their heads, something she had taken for granted for the months that she had enjoined luxury in Lady B’s house.
She thought of all the young people like her who were born with silver spoons in their mouth and who had never had the cause to be homeless or hungry before but here she was, from one suffering to the other even though she had not offended anyone.
Toke “Life is so unfair. I don’t blame people who take the laws into their hands and those who even go into prostitution just to make ends meet. So, I will suffer like this and then I will bring children into the world to suffer like this too? That is not right now” she said aloud.
After a while she began to doze but jerked off when she began to hear approaching footsteps. As the footsteps drew close to her, her heart flew to her mouth and she held on to her chest for fear that the pounding of her heart would attract the people approaching.
From the corner she was crunched, she could see the approaching footsteps she had heard belonged to three hazard looking young men who were on artificial dreads. She shrank back in fear and hoped that they will not find her from where she was hiding. Then she felt something touch her hand and she jumped off in fright, attracting the attention of the guys.
“Who is there?!” They shouted.
Toke held her hand over her mouth to prevent herself from screaming.

Guys: “Who be the person who dey hide for there?” They asked again, this time around startling her with their baritone voice.

Guy 1: “See, abeg we dey go our assignment. Nobody dey there, I sure say na cat or rat make that movement. There is no sane human being that will be in that corner by this time of the night” one of them told the others.

Guy 2: “You sure say na cat or rat? Make we on torch go check that place well o” he suggested.

Guys: “No, you want us to use our torches to attract the attention of security men around here? Guy make we dey go for our assignment abeg” he convinced the others and they all left.
Toke heaved a sigh of relief when they left and sat down. Her heart was still beating fast and she stayed a while to steady her nerves.
Toke “No, I cannot continue like this. This is a sign from God that I should go back to Lady B’s house. Roaming around the street with no place to spend the night can be really dangerous” she said and made up her mind to return to Lady B’s house the next day and do all her biddings.

Lady B: “So, you have now come back to your senses abi?” She asked. Toke who returned home that morning told her that she would do all that she wanted her to do provided that she would have a roof over her head.
Toke “Yes, I agree. If I have to do that to remain in your house, then I am prepared to do it. It is really dangerous out there, I have confirmed it”

Lady B: “Now you are talking. Listen, the room I gave you is still there and your things are there just the way you left it. Go in and freshen up and eat then sleep and do all you can during the day. We will go out in the night and I will introduce you to your first date. She is a politician’s wife and she will take very good care of you”
Toke “Okay, can ask a question ma?” She asked nervously.

Lady B: “Cut out the ma, I don’t know how many times I have to tell you that. Anyway, which question do you have to ask again? I thought you said you in are in for it?”
Toke “The women you date, I mean the ones we will be dating” she corrected herself when she saw that Lady B’s expression changed. “I mean, are the women not married? Why can their husband’s satisfy them in bed?

Lady B: “They are all married women. Their husbands are politicians and top business men who do not have time for their wives, and the women knowing that their husband’s may be monitoring their movements prefer dating ladies because their husbands will never suspect that they are having any illicit affairs with the ladies.
Toke nodded her head and went into her room. She was glad that she was finally back into the house. Few hours of homelessness had taught her how tragic it was for one to be homeless in the city.
Lady B took her time to sort out a sexy dress for Toke who shuddered at the way the dress exposed her cleavage and hung tightly to her curves. Lady B told her that she needed to dress that way since it was the first time she was meeting her woman date.
“First impression matters a lot” she said to her while she was taking out time to make up her face the way Toke never did before.
When they fully glammed up, they drove in Lady B’s SUV, it was going to be a long night and Toke knew it.
Toke shuddered when the mistress came out of the bathroom all naked. She turned her face away when she saw a woman older than her mother stand before her stark naked.

Madam: “I see that you are a novice and that is how I like my girls. I like them young and innocent so that I will teach them to be just how I want them to be. Lady B was right when she told me that you are as fresh as a virgin. I think she deserves a bonus” she said sitting beside Toke who shifted uncomfortably.
“Look at me” the woman said and raised Toke’s head. Toke looked at her and almost threw up at her big stomach, folded bag and fallen big breasts.

Madam: “Come here she drew close to kiss Toke but she got up and moved away”

Madam: “Don’t worry, I will not harm you. All you need do is suck and finger me till I cum and then I will pay you, money is not the problem here. Just name your amount and you have it” she said.
Toke “No, this is not right. You are old enough to be my mother and God will not forgive me if I do this” she said moving away.
The woman came close and attempted to touch her breast but Toke screamed and ran out of the room and out of the hotel.
Hmmmn, what an innocent and decent girl! We are so proud of her! But wait a minute, will Lady B forgive her? How will she cope without Lady B’s help? Should she go back to the village and face whatever they have in stock for her?

Episode 22 "Final"

Lady B was surprised to see Toke return that soon.
Lady B: “Why did you come back this soon? I thought you were going to spend the night there. How much did the woman give you? I hope you satisfied her well by doing all that she asked you to do?” She asked in one breadth.
Toke was speechless, head bowed low with wobbling shoulders.

Lady B: “Can’t you talk? I said how did everything go and why are you back this early?”
Toke “I am sorry, ma”

Lady B: “Sorry for what? What are you talking about? Did they snatch the money she paid you from your hands?” Oh, don’t worry, I didn’t tell you that we have so many petty thieves in Abuja now. Don’t worry about the money that was stolen, you will make so much more okay?”
Toke “My money was not stolen”

Lady B: “So where is the money or are you hiding it in your bra? I know that you do not have an account number so that woman has to pay you cash” she said, touching her bra and peeping to see if the money was hidden there.
Toke “The woman didn’t give me any money”

Lady B: “What! How can she do such a wicked thing? She sent you away after using you? No, that will not be possible. I am calling her right away” she said and turned around to pick her phone.
Toke “She did not use me” she said afraid of Lady B’s reaction when she told her the details of the outing.

Lady B: “What do you mean by she didn’t touch you? This girl, you will not confuse me. Why didn’t she touch you? Is it that she doesn’t like you or what? But she was impressed when I took you to her now” she said.
Toke “She didn’t touch me because I didn’t allow her. I couldn’t stand the disgusting things she said she wanted me to do and so I ran away. I trekked all the way from the hotel to this place” she finally said.

Lady B: “Today, you will trek back from this place to your village since I can see that you are an ungrateful child. How can you do this to me after you had promised to do whatever she asked you to do? Do you know that the woman in question is the wife of a top politician and that she has paid my commission for giving you to her? Do you know how much you have lost tonight?  That woman would have given you nothing less than two hundred thousand naira and that would have been more than enough to take care of your school registration” she flared up.
Toke “I am sorry, I just couldn’t do it …”

Lady B: “Shut up your filthy mouth there before I help you shut it up. Oh my goodness, this girl will spoil my business for me. How did I even get myself entangled with you?”
She was saying when her phone rang.

Lady B: “lt is the woman calling, there is fire on the mountain” she said and Toke’s heart skipped a beat.

Lady B: “Hello, ma. I am very sorry for the way my girl treated you, I promise to make it up to you…”

Woman: “Just shut up, I didn’t call you for you to apologize. I asked you to get me an innocent girl that will do my biddings and all you could do was give me a dummy who could not even stand my nakedness. That silly girl left me high and dry and yet I paid you handsomely for a job I thought you had done well. Anyway, return my money back this minute or I will have you and her arrested and frame you up for stealing from me. I am sending my account number right away for you to make a transfer like I did to you. If I don’t receive an alert in the next five minutes, you and the girl will be in grave danger. I don’t ever want to see you close to me or any of my friends again.
Nonsense!” She barked and ended the call.

Lady B: “I am very sorry ma, I can explain to you. In fact, I will make it up to you myself, I am coming to your hotel to give you the pleasure of your life right away” she said and removed the phone from her ears when she noticed that the call had gone off.

Lady B: “Did you see what you have caused me? This woman and her clique of friends are my highest paying clients and now you want to severe the relationship I have with them. I don’t blame you, I blame myself for taking you in. I am going to the hotel to do to her what you couldn’t do, that is the only way I can appease her but before then, leave my house” she ordered.
Toke “Ma? She said going down on her knees unconsciously.

Lady B: “I said get out of my house, which one is ma? Useless, silly and stupid girl, if I see you anywhere close to my flat, I will personally kill you myself, nonsense!” She said and pushed Toke out.
Again, Toke was back on the street, homeless and lonely on another cold harmattan night.
Lady B was driving back home when she saw people gathered in circle at a corner along the road, some were talking in low tunes and others starred at the body on the floor with tears in their eyes.
Out of curiosity, she pulled over and got down from her car. She walked close to the crowd and was surprised to see them making way for her. She peeped at the corpse and saw to her horror that it was Toke lying dead with her two eyes plucked out. She gave a loud scream and woke up with a fright frightening the woman who was lying beside her on the bed.

Lady B: “It was only a dream, thanks goodness. Gosh, it felt so real. Toke, no, please don’t die in that manner” she said aloud.

Woman: “Are you okay? Why did you scream like that?” The naked woman that was to have Toke asked.

Lady B: “I dreamt that the girl I sent to you last night was murdered by ritualists”

Woman: “So what if she was murdered? What use does she have on earth? Come back to bed and let us continue from where we stopped last night” she said extending her hands towards Lady B.

Lady B: “I have to go and look for her. I actually sent her out of my house yesterday night and I will not forgive myself if anything happens to her. I guess the dream was a warning, that girl was like a younger sister to me, I saw genuine love for me in her eyes even though we are world's apart” she said, hurriedly got dressed and zoomed off in her car.
After several hours of driving around the estate and asking if anyone had seen any sign of Toke, Lady B became exhausted and decided to stop over at a shop to get soft drinks to calm her wrecking nerves.
After the drink, she felt a lot better and was about stepping into her car to drive back home when her phone rang.
The caller was a friend who was into similar business with her and she was inviting her to Port Harcourt where some rich foreign women were willing to pay handsomely for her services.
Lady B knew that she had made more than enough money and properties from the business but the enticement of what the Port Harcourt women were willing to offer was too big for her to resist and so she agreed to travel.
“I will go home, get my things and take the next available flight to Port” she said to her friend and ended the call. The call had been able to make her forget Toke, whom she had spent hours looking for.

Baba Gift: “Yes, I want you to strike her dead wherever she is. That girl stabbed me and almost killed me, she doesn’t deserve to live” he said to her herbalist he had visited in the next village.

Herbalist: “lf that is what you want, it is very easy. I will summon her spirit here and with this knife” he said handing him a knife. “you will stab her in the stomach but that will be in seven days time because I have to perform some rituals before I summon her spirit here”
Baba Gift nodded in agreement.

Herbalist: “What did you say is her name again?”

Baba Gift: “Her name is Toke” he said and dropped some naira notes in the calabash where Toke’s passport that she had taken when she was preparing for her Junior WAEC was immersed in water.
The stage is set for some confrontations between light and darkness. Is Toke still alive? Will Baba Gift succeed with his evil plans? One thing is sure, the God who fetches water with the basket to disgrace the bucket will change Toke’s story.

Episode 23 "Final"

Lady B drove back home and was surprised to see Toke lying down on the bare floor beside her flat. She ran up to her and hugged her, surprising Toke whose heart began to beat wildly when she saw Lady B drive in.

Lady B: “You are here and I have been looking for you all over the place” she said glad to have found the girl alive.
Toke “You … you were looking for me?” She asked, unable to believe the changes in Lady B’s attitude towards her. Just last night, she had sent her out of her house and today she was hugging her and telling her unbelievable things.

Lady B: “Yes, where have you been since last night?”
Toke “As soon as you drove off last night, I returned back here to sleep because I was too scared to go out of this compound considering my experience the last time you sent me away. It can be so dangerous out there. I thought of staying here and praying to God to change your mind so that you can take me back in” she said.

Lady B: “I don’t believe in any God but then that prayer of yours was surely answered. It was actually a terrible night mare that forced me to go in search of you” she said searching her bag for the key to her apartment.
Toke “Dream? What sort of a dream?”

Lady B: “Don’t worry; I will not scare you with the details of the dream. Let us go in, you are staying with me whether you join my business or not, I cannot afford to send you out there without a place to go”
Toke’s heart leaped for joy when she heard that.
Toke “Thank you very much ma. God will bless you and grant you whatever you desire in this life. I am sorry for what happened yesterday, it is just that I couldn’t bring myself to do it even though deep within my heart, I wanted to do it just to please you”

Lady B: “lt is okay, get inside, I need to rush to the airport now” she said and let the girl in.
Lady B took her time to dress well and make up her face well before going out like she always did. When she was sure that all was in order, she went to Toke’s room to drop some money with her in case she would need to buy anything while she was away.

Lady B: “That is ten thousand naira; I don’t know how long I will be away because my friend called to tell me that some foreign women who are on a visit to Nigeria need women who are good at giving their fellow women pleasure. The pay is good and so I will be there in Port Harcourt where they are on a sightseeing till they return. As usual, we have foodstuff and ingredients in the house. I am dropping this money in case you will need to buy anything while I am away. Make sure you don’t step out of the house unnecessarily o, ritualists are out there, prowling around like lions looking for who to devour. And always make sure you lock the door properly before you go to bed. You still have that Nokia phone I gave to you, right?”
Toke “Yes ma”

Lady B: “Okay, I will call you as soon as I get to Port Harcourt. Take care of the house” she said for emphasis and turned to leave but Toke interrupted her.
Toke “Excuse me ma”

Lady B: “Yes, what is it? I need to hurry; they are already waiting for me over there”
Toke got down on her knees.
Toke “I know I have no right to say this but my conscience will not allow me if I don’t talk”

Lady B: “Toke, go straight to the point, I just told you that I have limited time to leave here”
Toke “Ma, the few times that I have lived in your house has drawn me closer to God and I can tell you that he is able to provide all our needs if only we will trust Him. In fact, I only said a little prayer yesterday even though the situation was looking bleak but God heard my cry and made you take me back, that is a pointer to what he can do if only we call on Him”

Lady B: “Preacher, what has that got to do with my trip?”
Toke “You told me that you had a terrible dream about me last night even though you did not tell me the details of the dream. I also dreamt about you. You were used for ritual by one of your female clients. I was called upon by the hotel management to identify your corpse and when I got there, I saw that your private parts were missing.
Please, I think it is time for you to call off this trade. You have made enough money out of it, you told me yourself that you have more than ten million naira in your account. You have investment in gold jewelries, you have 2 exotic cars, you own this apartment that we are living in, you told me you have huge investments in the oil and gas sector after you dated one top notch female business tycoon in the oil and gas sector.
You are all alone in the world and so all these things that I have listed are more than enough to sustain you. In fact, some of them will even outlive you. Please quit this job and give your life to God so that my dream will not come true. I beg you in the name of God”

Lady B: “I already told you that I don’t believe in any God. Having said that, I was actually thinking of quitting because I have acquired more than enough cash, properties and investments but you see, I have to go for this last trip, these are foreign women we are talking about and I will get paid in raw cash, pounds and dollars!
I need to buy the latest edition of the Range Rover sport and that is what I will do with the money I will make for this trip. After this, I quit” she said.
Toke “We should not take the mercy of God for granted. Who knows if this last time will be your undoing? Please don’t allow greed becloud your sense of reasoning. I just have this ill feeling after you told me that you were travelling. Please don’t go”

Lady B: “You are over stepping your boundaries o. Who is greedy? Anyway, shebi your God is a merciful God? Help me pray to Him to make my trip successful because I actually do not believe in Him. I am going to get that hard currency and that is final. And by the way, who said dreams come through.
Last night I dreamt that you were dead and here you are today preaching to me. If not that you don’t want to do it, I would have travelled with you and given you to one of the women, you would have made big money” she said and left the house before Toke could say anything.
Baba Gift returned to the shrine after seven days and the herbalist gave him the knife and went into incantations to summon Toke’s spirit. After the incantation, instead of Toke’s spirit to appear, it was Toke’s guardian angel that appeared and the herbalist and baba Gift fell back in fear.

Angel: “Leave the poor girl alone, she has done nothing wrong. Leave her alone and desist from your evil ways. Repent and give your lives to God for He is merciful and ever willing to forgive” he said to the two of them and vanished.
Baba Gift and Herbalist: “You lie, that girl must die, she deserves to die” they chorus simultaneously and went about summoning her spirit again.
After some minutes of chants and incantations, Toke’s spirit appeared. Baba Gift raised up the knife to stab her but lightening from heaven struck him with madness and he ran out of the shrine confessing how he had been raping little girls including Toke. The herbalist on his part was struck dead by the lightening.
Two weeks after Lady B travelled, she called Toke to inform her that she had just flown into Abuja from Port Harcourt and that she was taking a taxi back home, so Toke could make something for her to eat.
Toke ran excitedly into the kitchen to make something palatable for her, in less than 30 minutes after the call, she received another anonymous call and this time around she was informed that Lady B was involved in a ghastly motor accident.
Toke picked a cab and went straight to the address of the hospital where Lady B who had lost so much blood was in intensive care on a life supporting machine. Toke had her blood screened and donated her blood several times to save Lady B’s life.
Lady B stayed in the hospital for several months and after she was discharged, she returned home on a wheel chair because the accident had affected her spinal cord, thereby rendering her crippled for life.
After some months, seeing the way Toke took care of her like her own sister without minding the fact that she was helpless and defecating on herself,  she and Toke took a taxi to the bank and there she opened an account and transferred all the money in her account into Toke’s account.
She also changed the name on her certificate of occupancy into Toke’s name and handed her the papers of her house, lands and all other investments.

Lady B: “Toke, you have stood by me in my trying times even though I refused to heed your warning to give up this job before it is too late. All that I have is yours, use it wisely and train yourself to any level of education you desire. Be great and successful, you are the sister I never had” she said and gave up the ghost.
Few months after the death of Lady B, Toke went to a Church for the first time since she ran away from the village to pray for the repose of her soul. She was lonely in the big house that Lady B had willed to her and she sought God’s help on how to manage all that she had inherited.
After service that evening, the Pastor called parishioners to make free will donations to the widows that the Church was feeding and accommodating. Toke who wanted to reach out to many of them asked the pastor to schedule a meeting with them in her house so that she could listen to their plights and see how she could empower them and give them capital to start up businesses.
On the day of the meeting, all the widows came around and one by one, Toke listened to them and discussed ways in which she could help them. Finally, the last widow came in and Toke’s heart struck a beat. The widow also stopped midway when she ran Toke.

Widow: “Toke!” She exclaimed and collapsed.
Toke ran up to her and helped revive her with the help of the other widows. “Mama, she is my mother! My mother is back from the dead” she exclaimed when she saw the woman’s face.
Toke took her mother into her room, gave her something to eat and drink. When her mother was stable, she dared to ask. “Did you resurrect from the land of the dead? You died long ago and they brought home a headless body and told me that it was you. I couldn’t even look at the body before it was buried because it was already decomposing and I was afraid of facing the reality that you were dead and gone.
They said the human hunters had caught you where you went to hawk in the neighbouring village and had cut off your head and had used it to bury their king.
Mama Toke “Hmmn, my dear, our God is wonderful. In fact I don’t even know how to start narrating the story”
Toke “How do you mean? Did you resurrect from the dead or something? I have touched you, you are flesh and blood and not a ghost so I am not seeing an apparition. What happened?”

Mama Toke “On that fateful day, I left our village very early so that I could make enough sales and then return and pay your examination fees. After the sales, I made enough profit and I went to the market to buy soup ingredients so that we could at least eat a decent meal that night.
My friend who was a trader in the market tried to convince me against going because of the human hunters but I refused. It started raining heavily on my way back and I sort shelter under a tree. Then the human hunters struck me with their hatchet and when they thought I had died, they left me and the other dead bodies with one of the guards so they could go and hunt for more victims.

Some rituals were to be performed on us before they could cut off our heads. I miraculously woke up some minutes later and even though I was in excruciating pain, I recognized the guard whom they had left to guard me and the other dead bodies as the son of my friend whom I had met in the market.
I summoned courage and called him by the pet name his mother used to call him. He was just about 20 years old and after I told him that I was a widow like his mother who is my good friend and that I was risking my life because of my daughter who was about his age, he had pity on me and removed all my clothes.
Then he wore it on the body of one of the dead women and gave me her own wrappers. Then he smuggled me out of the bush and showed me the way to his mother’s house. I went there and she helped to hide me in her house treat my injury but I had to lay low for fear of the elders finding out what her son had done.

When the people from our village came in search of my body, they picked the decomposing body of one of the women who had been beheaded and took it home. I thought you will recognize the headless body as that of a stranger and come to the village afterwards and look for me”
Toke “Somewhere within me, I never believed that you were dead and since I couldn’t look at the headless and decomposing body, I didn’t know it that was not you. And remember that I didn’t see you before you left that morning and so I didn’t know what wrapper you wore.
Besides, the villagers didn’t even allow me come close to see your body, they said it was not a sight for a young girl like me, they had the headless body all wrapped up when they brought it and after they placed it in the grave, I poured sand on it and ran all the way back home to cry”
Mama Toke “lt is okay, my dear. Anyway, after about six months, I disguised myself and went to the village in the middle of the night and I found out that you had moved to baba Gift’s house and that you had resumed schooling.

I decided to let you finish your junior secondary school exams and start senior secondary school since I didn’t have the means to train you before I showed myself to you again. After a while, my friend told me that the elders were suspicious of my stay in the village and so I had to run away to save her and her children but before then, she made me to vow that I would not return to our village for fear of how her son had saved me leaking out.

I came to Abuja and went to the Church and told them that I was a childless widow. They took me in and I in turn gave my life to Christ and stayed around the Church cleaning and praying for you.
One day, I decided to go to the village and showed myself to you and face whatever was the consequences because I had missed you and I longed to know how you were faring. A kind neighbour told me as soon as I stepped my feet in the village that you had stabbed baba Gift and then run away.
I knew that they would hold me and make me pay for your crimes if they see me so I came back here. I have been living in the Church premises” she said with tears of joy flowing from her eyes uncontrollably.
Toke “Oh God, you are a covenant keeping God. Mama, why did you decide to come to Abuja of all the cities in Nigeria?”
Mama Toke “I have always told you that Abuja is the land of opportunities. I came here because I remember how you used to tell me that when you become an engineer, you will build a big mansion for me in Abuja.
When I heard that you had run away from the village, I knew that you would come here and since then I have been praying to set my eyes on you even if it is just for a second before the good God calls me home”
Toke “Mama, my dear mother who risked her life just to feed and send me to school. I thought I had lost you forever to the cold hands of death. A lot happened when I started living with baba Gift and I thought God was being wicked and unfair to me.

I didn’t know that just as gold is being refined by fire, he was taking me through those challenges so that I can be qualified to occupy the greatness that he had set aside for me in due time” she said, hugging her mother and weeping too.
Mama Toke “My experience these past few years has taught me to hold on to God and to forgive and leave vengeance for God. I was so bitter with God because of the way things turned around after the death of your father and I used every opportunity I had to curse my tormentors but it pays to leave everything for God. In his own time, he will avenge. But wait, how did you come to acquire all these and even have enough to empower widows?”
Toke “Mama, I am very rich now o. Ehn, God has been more than faithful. Don’t give me that look; I am not into prostitution or any ungodly thing. This is how it all happened ….” She narrated all that had happened after she ran away from the village and how she had come to inherit all of Lady B’s properties.