The Butterflies... Episode 2

"If you ever try that nonsense with me again, you will know who I truly am....
What rubbish..."

"What will you do... Na so so grammar you go dey speak all the time. If you sabi book so much, wetin you dey do for here (you just like speaking english. If you're that literate, what then are you doing working in the market?)"

The women were almost inseparable, the uproar was much, so many people were holding Mrs. Badmus and the other woman popular known as Aunty Asabe, from beating themselves. It was a major scene at bodija market that Monday afternoon. Mrs. Badmus was not known for things like this, she had always been of the best behaviour amidst other shop owners at the market, and was even elected as one of the executives of the Association of Bodija Market Women Union. So, it was a major surprise for everyone to see her raise her voice and be ready to even beat up Aunty Asabe.


***

"I'd see you girls soon, ok?" Tofunmi said, boarding the bus that led to town from Moz car park. Her favorite room mates, Ibinabo and Tabitha had escorted her to the car park and waved her good bye.
She had to go home; it was long overdue. She had not been home since she resumed at the University. She even stayed back during the short break before the second semester commenced. She had told Ibinabo that she had to read, as though, reading before hand will make her get some double promotion of some sort like Ibinabo had said.

"What sort of reading is that? Don't you miss home? Na wa for you o. Them no dey give double promotion for here oh" 

She had laughed so hard at Ibinabo's funny response and stylishly changed the topic to stop Ibinabo from pushing further as to why she did not want to go home.


As the bus moved towards the gate, she couldn't stop her heart from beating faster than normal. A million things flashed through her mind...
She got down from the bus at the gate and literally ran towards the bus going to Ibadan, praying that she will be the last passenger needed for the bus to be full and they could get going. She couldn't shake off this awry feeling she was having, that some serious trouble had happened to either her parents, her sister or her 3year old son. Yes, her son.

***

It was a dream, a terrible nightmare she had. Dapo had walked into their home with two huge, body-built men to take her son away. He threw some documents on the table in the sitting room and said he was now legally in charge of their son, whatever that meant. Mr. Badmus had persuaded him to have a seat and let everyone talk about this, but he would not have any of that. He came fully prepared for them all. He raised his voice like he was under some sort of influence; Yes, Alcohol or weed or something strong enough for him to look Mr and Mrs. Badmus in the eye and tell them not to dare come near his son ever again, especially since he never even had the guts initially, to own up to his responsibilities as the father of the child.

Tofunmi just kept crying and shouting and her younger sister, Tade  kept holding her back.
"No, No, you can't take my son away. I won't let you", Tofunmi cried at the top of her voice, trying to get close to her son but couldn't as the thugs Dapo brought with him kept slamming something that looked like a gun on their hands, while the little kid was in Dapo's arms crying...

No, No, No... Tofunmi sprang up from her bed that Tuesday morning, all sweaty and shivery. That was when she decided she was skipping the lectures for that day was going home, no one was going to stop her.

She told Ibinabo she had some family emergencies to attend to and off she was; on the next bus to Ibadan.

As the bus sped off (of which Tofunmi was glad about), the dream kept flashing through her mind. She had never taken any of her dreams lightly, as most often than not, they came to reality - either directly or in the form of a similar incidence. She was not going to let this happen to her. Dapo Aborisade was not going to have her son; not after all he had made her and her family go through.

***

Tofunmi did not expect to meet anyone at home, as her dad, a civil servant at the Ministry of Works would have gone to work, and her mum would have also gone to her shop at bodija. She hurriedly dropped her bags and took a straight bike to the market. She knew her son would be with her mother.

There was so much noise everywhere; must be one of those market fights, she thought to herself as she greeted some familiar faces as she walked to her mum's shop. She however noticed the way they looked at her as they responded her greetings, like something wrong had happened and she was meant to be aware for some odd reasons. She knew something was up but she hurriedly discarded any negative thoughts.

A little boy was crying profusely, the sound of his cry reminded her of the way her son cried in her dream. She hastened her steps, got to her mother's shop and found her son on the floor, crying. She carried him and hugged him tight. Her mother's loud voice drew her attention as she stepped out of the shop to see her mother and aunty Asabe exchanging words...

"I will show you the stuff I'm made of. You mess with my child, you mess with me. I will never take nonsense from a low-life like you. What do you know about raising a kid? You come here everyday, gallivanting from shop to shop, spreading rumours about people..." Tofunmi's mother went on and on.

"E ma binu ma (don't be annoyed ma)" other market women begged, but she won't have any of their pleas this time. It was not the first time Asabe was spreading such rumours about Mrs. Badmus and her family.

First, she had told everyone that Mrs. Badmus did not have a good home and that was why spent the most part of her days at the shop, arriving earlier than others and closing after everyone had gone home. Next, it was the rumour about Mrs. Badmus using juju (charm) to draw customers to her shop. She had also chaired the committee that sat over the story behind the little boy Mrs. Badmus was always bringing to the shop with her. Aunty Asabe always had the latest hot gist in the market and even though she succeeded with selling her very many stories to people in the market, Mrs. Badmus was not the type to pay her any attention.

She had however overstepped her boundaries that articular day by calling Ayomide (Tofunmi's child) a bastard in one of her gossips to a fellow shop owner at the market. Mrs. Badmus had heard all sorts about the child and she knew it was only one person that was capable of spreading such dirty talk about her child.

She had approached Aunty Asabe as soon as she sighted her that morning, leaving the shop and the child in care of her assistant. She had to confront Asabe personally. It was during the confrontation that Asabe said the most irritating thing Mrs. Badmus had ever heard...

"Ehn en, no be true, abi shey na you born am. All these yoruba women sef, na like that all of una dey do; the pikin na bastard, na me talk am ( Yes, I called him a bastard but is it not true? or are you the one that gave birth to the kid?)"... and a slap landed on her face straight up.

Mrs. Badmus could take almost anything but not the slightest insult on any member of her family, and not even her children...

"Maami, Maami, please stop. Enough of all these, just let her be. Let's go home, please" Tofunmi pleaded, but raised her voice so that her mum could hear her. She had dropped her kid with the assistant who was just at the other shop, closer to the scene of the fight, and did not even realize that the little child was crying.

Tofunmi dragged her mother away from the scene and back to the shop.

"Kaabo oko mi (welcome my child)", Mrs. Badmus said after about 15minutes of getting back to her shop and had calmed down a bit. She had to get away from the market. She felt so embarrassed. Had her daughter not been there to drag her away, she would still be there exchanging words with someone young enough for serious spanking.

"Is everything alright? You didn't say you were coming home" her mother asked.

"Everything is fine ma. I just felt the urge to come home. Besides, it's been a while I saw everyone" she replied.

"How is daddy? And Tade? She comes home often, shey? I see you've been taking good care of Ayomikun, his cheeks are bigger. Ese ma (thank you ma)", her ringtone stopped her from asking further questions. Her mother just smiled at her, she knew Tofunmi liked to catch up on everything all at once.

"Hello dear. You're home, right?" That was Ibinabo on the phone.

"Yes, I am. Thank you so much. How's everyone in the room?" Tofunmi responded.

"We're good. Hope everyone at home is fine? You know you said there was a family emergency, Ibinabo pressed further.

"Aww, thanks dear. Everyone is good. The situation is under control. My regards to Tabitha and other room mates" Tofunmi hurriedly said and ended the call before Ibinabo went on to ask what the family emergency was exactly.

She helped her mother pack a few things and Ayomide's baby bag and they went home, leaving the assistant to pack the remaining the things into the shop and bring key home to Mrs. Badmus.

***
Dinner that evening was very quiet. Tofunmi had welcomed her dad when he got back, they had begun catching up on the events of the past months that Tofunmi was away in school before her mum came to join them and narrated the whole fight at the market to her dad. Her father's countenance had changed drastically, and Tofunmi understood what that meant.

"Daddy, I will set things right. I'd find a way to look for Ayomide's dad and make him come to see you sir. I've explained earlier that after I left that GCE coaching center, I've not seen him since then. I've tried reaching him too but he won't pick my calls, and I think he has changed his number" she said amidst sobs.
She knew her parents were doing their best to help take care of Ayomide, but the whole embarrassments and unwarranted insults they were getting was no longer going down well with them. It wasn't as if they had so much to spare and her hair business wasn't yielding as much profit 'cause she had to concentrate on her academics for now.

She stood up from the dining table, took the plates to the kitchen and while washing the plates, she let the tears flow.

One night of carelessness had ruined her relationship with her family, was almost ruining her life, and had caused so much embarrassment for her parents. They did not deserve all that was happening to them because of her; her mother did not deserve the kind of insult she got from Aunty Asabe; her dad did not deserve to be suspended as a deacon in church. It was all because of her; a stupid mistake she made 4years ago that had come to stay permanently in her life. She sighed, walked back to her room and began repacking her bags.

Tofunmi had told her parents that she was going back to school the following morning, and that she just came home because it had been a while, and to see her son. She explained that she had missed attendance for the day's lectures and couldn't afford to miss the next day's as marks were given for attendance. They had prayed for her that night and explained to her that they were not complaining about taking care of her son but they just wanted her to find his father and bring him home; especially since he was not dead. They said they would feel better meeting the boy that impregnated her and gave them this wonderful grandson. She had told them she'd keep doing her best to get him to come, and went to bed that night.

She had made her son sleep in the same room with her, she played with him as much as she could, took pictures of herself and her son with her Nokia 3320 phone; hugged him tight; smiled and cried in between. This was her world right in front of her.

***

The bus had stopped in front of campus gate at 8.37am the next day. Tofunmi slept almost all through the journey; images of Dapo had flashed through her mind, and then her son's face a couple of times. Ayomide was the splitting image of his father; it was one of the reasons why she cried uncontrollably while staring at her son's face.
She got down from the bus, boarded another bus to take her into the campus. She didn't have lectures till 10.00 am, so she still had enough time before going to class.

She could have sworn that she saw someone that looked like Dapo cross the road in front of the Guaranty Trust Bank on campus. She wiped her face properly and blamed it on the events of last night and the dream of two nights ago. She had to use the ATM, so she alighted at GTBank.

***

It had become a norm for queues to be excessively long at all GTBank ATMs. Tofunmi was in no mood for any queuing, so she just went into the bank to use the POS.

"Next customer please.."
She walked to the counter and was getting her transaction done when this dude walked up to the lady attending to Tofunmi to give her some banking instructions.

"Thank you ma'am, you may take your ATM card now"

"Ma'am? Excuse me?"....

"Oh sorry, i'm so sorry. Thank you" Tofunmi finally regained consciousness and closed her mouth that had been open for some seconds. She felt very embarrassed as the lady winked at her.

She hurriedly left the bank, walking as fast as her legs could take her, with many thoughts running through her mind plus the fact that the lady at the counter must have thought she was checking out the banker guy that had come to give her some instructions. No, she wasn't checking him out. She was shocked at who she just saw... Dapo Aborisade.
She wasn't mistaken, she had seen his name tag too.

"Dapo Aborisade was here in Ife, on campus, working in the bank I use and come to often... Oh My God" Tofunmi flew the next bike to Moz with the Dapo's face in her head.

"This isn't happening, the dream.. Oh no..." Tofunmi kept muttering as the bike sped off to Mozambique Hall.





*Photo credit: bigstockphoto.com 
*Faith Tunde-Yara
*The Butterflies