involved in robbing my son will know
no peace for the rest of his life!"
A loud echo of amen swept through the
whole room.
"For stealing his properties, may they
have all there individual destinies
stolen!"
My amen was the loudest. My laptop
and my phone had meant a great deal
to me.
"Abba father! You promised me that no
evil man shall lay a hand on these
innocent, precious children you gave to
me and therefore for laying a hand on
my son, descend on the enemy's camp
with your mighty hand and beat the
devil out of their various lives in Jesus
name!"
My amen was low and I turned to
Willie who was kneeling beside me and
throwing out Amens like punches.
"Did you tell them that I was beaten?" I
asked him in whispers. He turned to
me, eyed me and continued the Amen
chants. My mom kept up with the
curses until she had made a mess of the
robbers lives with her prayers then we
sang praises and made the final sign of
the cross.
"Dad, Mom, as in they cleared
everything," Willie continued and I
kept nodding as back up. My mom
crossed her hand over her chest and
kept repeating her chants of "ewoo!".
"The television, the laptop, his phone
even his clothes," Willie said again and
my father coughed, dropping his paper
on the side stool. He removed his
spectacles and stared at me.
"You have a television?" he asked after
a staring match between us. Amara
scoffed, my mother turned to him with
disbelief all over her face. I turned to
Willie with that "Shey you have seen
what you have caused?" look on my
face. Then my mother came to my
rescue.
"Is that all you can hear from what
they have been saying here since?
Criminals attacked your son, beat him
like a school drum and left with all his
property and all you heard is that he
has a television?" she asked.
"He is not dead naa, is he?" my father
asked.
"And so? Can't you see how the have
beaten my son and changed his color to
black?"
Everyone laughed, even my father.
"Was he white before?" he asked.
"I don't know but I don't think I have
enough Children already, talk less of
the one armed robbers will come and
kill for me," she said, adjusting and
readjusting her head tie.
"Come and have more naa," my father
said, picking up his paper from the
stool again.
"Yes, we need another fresh chic in this
house," Willie said.
"Yes, a cute baby girl," I seconded.
"No, we need another boy, the two I
have are gradually turning into a heap
of wastes," my father said and kept
peeking at the paper over the rims of
his spectacle.
"My children are not wastes biko, my
baby boys are responsible," my mother
defended.
"Yes, we need a girl, when aunty Uju
and Prisca gets married now, I will be
the only girl left the in house," Amara
said. My father turned to her.
"Go and born a girl naa, are you not
old enough?" he said. Another
argument was going to break out and
replace my trending topic of the
robbery. That was one thing I and
Willie wasn't going to allow.
"Dad, our exams are starting next
week," I said and he turned to me.
"Good, go and read," he said.
"My books are back at school and I
need go back."
"I thought they stole everything?" he
asked.
"Armed robbers don't steal books,"
Willie chipped in.
"Are you one?" my father asked him.
"No, please don't call my son a thief,I
won't take that, no way," my mother
protested.
"I didn't call him a thief, I was only
asking if he was."
"Are you a thief?" my mother asked
him.
"God forbid," he said and circled his
hand over his head, snapping his
fingers.
"Then why ask him if he is one. He can
only be a thief if one of his parents are
and I am not a thief," my mother said,
eyeing him. My father turned to her
with a frown.
"I am not a thief, stop looking at me
like that," he said. Everyone laughed.
Then I pressed further my charges. I
told him my bed was also stolen and
my room was bare, only my locker and
books were spared.
"You have to change lodge then. You
can't be staying in a criminal infested
area. How can someone come into
another person's room and pack
everything like he is relocating?" my
father asked. We kept quiet. I hated
that idea of relocating, he might end up
suggesting the school hostel for me,
that was my fear.
"You going over to temp site, I heard
rents are cheaper there too," he finally
said and I heaved a sigh.
"That would be next semester,"I said
and he nodded.
"But I need to get back to school and I
need to buy somethings like phone,
mattress, pillows and I even need a
laptop for my online reading," I sang
out as the smile disappeared from his
face and broke out on Willie's. The
mattress theft was his idea. He was
organizing a graduation party and he
had blown the tuxedo money on booze
and girls and had nothing for the
party. We were in agreement to share
the loot.
"You will take your mother's phone
and laptop, I don't think she is using
them," he said and shifted further from
her, avoiding an impending blow.
We came to a conclusion, he would
provide the money for the items after
he might have done a market survey
for them. He thought I was a crook and
might inflate the prices. I had no
problem with that, let him bring the
money first.
He came back the next day with a
brand new laptop and an android
phone, a very good phone I must
confess. But then, Willie was moved to
tears, not tears of joy, mind you. It was
tears of pain, all his plans on doing an
apriko on those items had been dashed
against the wall and what was more,
my father had already ordered for a
new mattress to be delivered to the
house the next day, he was going to
drop me off at school with them.
Apparently, no money for Willie's
party and new tuxedo.
.
To be continued
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