©️Opeyemi Akintunde
AS INSPIRED BY THE LIVING WORD
“Keep the change” The words kept re- echoing in my ears.
“Ma, what did you say?”
Two boys walked out of the corpers lodge.
I knew It, the kids were the kids I saw on the internet the previous day on my way to the village. The news had it that they had been abducted by a woman.
“Your children?” I asked in Yoruba still maintaining my village girl identity.
“They are so fine…”
“Hey, Roland I told you not to get out of the house”
“Aunty Promise, we want to speak to our mommy” Roland said
She rushed at him and sent them back in….
“What do they want?” I quickly pretended not to understand English
“You don’t understand English?”
“No…”
“He wants the water”
“Ok, let me be on my way.”
I rushed in, picked up my mother’s old tattered bag and slid my phone into it. I needed to check for more information online about this woman.
My entire family had gone to the farm, and they would return in the evening, so I could still maintain my cover till evening.
As I sat in the cab, I browsed online for more information. I saw about three phone numbers to contact if anyone had information about the whereabouts of the children.
I dialled the third number when I got down from the cab… The Holy Spirit nudged me towards that number.
*****
A strange number was calling me.
I hurriedly picked up.
“Good Morning” I said
“Good morning ma” the caller answered
“Ma, are you the mother of the abducted boys, and one of them is Roland?”
“Yes ma…”
“I know where they are. My name is Rantimi, an undergraduate. I came home to see my parents and just few minutes ago, a woman came to knock at my parents’ door asking for where to get bottled water. That piqued my interest…”
“Hello sis, please where is your village?” I cut her short.
“Ilu Agbon, it is not a popular place, but I will send you the address. I think she is on the move, because she only asked me to get her two packs of water, and that can only last her a day or two.”
“Ok, please send the address”
******
“God, I hope I have done what is right.” I kept questioning what I had done.
“Oluwarantimi, you have done well.” I heard the reassuring voice of the Holy Spirit.
I returned to the house and gave her the water. She was so happy, but the boys who were peeping looked unhappy.
I wanted to engage her in a conversation, but it felt like the Holy Spirit was holding back my tongue.
*****
I noticed Roland bowed his head like in a praying position. I saw his lips were moving…
“What are you doing Roland?” I asked
“I am praying.”
“About What?”
“That God will touch your heart, so you can forgive my mum and Dad”
“Why did you say that?”
“I had a dream, and I saw that you killed me and Greg so as to hurt my Dad and Mum, but as you were trying to escape with Kira, the police caught up with you and killed you too”
I was caught off guard…
“My teacher says anytime we have bad dreams, we can pray to cancel it. She says dreams are warnings, so if we pray well enough, we can avert the dream.”
Roland was about 11 years old, he was pretty smart for his age.
“Well, your parents offended me, they didn’t tell me they were married. They told me they were siblings.”
“They are Siblings Aunty Promise. Mummy told me they both lived in the same orphanage for close to 20 years, so that way they saw themselves as siblings.”
I was interested in the story.
“Go on…”
“Mummy met my biological Dad through my Dad and they committed fornication. I am the result of the act. After that, mum and Dad made a mistake of sleeping with each other and Mum got pregnant of Greg. Instead of aborting the pregnancy, they decided to get married. The marriage was not based on love, it was based on surviving since they had two kids now. Mummy told me, dad however loved you more, so when you came into their lives, she had to leave him for you.”
“When did your mum tell you all these?”
“Recently, when I was getting more confused about the relationship in the family. I wanted to know if Kira was my step sister or my cousin.”
*******
As we drove towards the village in the police private vehicle, I couldn’t help but think about how blind I was weeks back when Roland had engaged me in a question session. After Promise and F.D had left our house that Saturday, Roland had come into the room I had taken over as my room in the main house.
“Mum, I am Confused… Who is Kira to us? Is she my Step Sister or my Cousin? Dad is Greg’s dad, and Also Kira’s Dad, that makes us Step Brother and step sister, But Aunty Promise sees us as Cousins…”
I should have probed more, by asking Roland if he had been discussing more with Promise, instead I thought this was just him trying to reason things out. That day, I decided he was matured enough to handle the truth. I remembered explaining the entire truth to him and he had simply asked…
“So Aunty Promise doesn’t know that Greg is Daddy’s son?”
I nodded in Response and looking back, I should have seen the look of guilt in his eyes. He Probably had already told Promise that Greg was F.D’s son.
******
“It seems I will be keeping you, you must take your father’s genes. I won’t kill you Roland, I will kill What Leni and F.D have together” I concluded within.
******
As we journeyed, I had been interceding for Roland for hours.
“Is it not selfish that you are only praying for your offspring? I see no one is interceding for Greg. Timothy’s father has saved his son from this, you are praying to save your Grandson Roland, but no one is praying for Greg” I heard the admonition in my Spirit
I looked at Leni and F.D, they were lost. No one was praying for Greg truly.
I tapped them and repeated What the Holy Spirit has said…
“I have been praying for Roland, Timothy did not even get into this trouble because his father was highly sensitive, but Greg… Who is interceding for him?”
Leni and F.D looked at each other.
To be continued…
