[STORY] Road to Nowhere (Episode 23)

Episode 23.

” Kon! Kon! Kon!”, Mrs Seye knocked at the gate for the fifth time. She had been in front of the Ololade’s compound for about seven minutes knocking at their gate. It’s been a week since she returned backed to her city with Dammy. She had decided to get Dammy home, but, she wanted to be sure that Dammy’s parents were ready to receive Dammy and take care of her pregnancy.

She didn’t want a situation whereby Mrs Ololade would abort the pregnancy for Dammy when she gets back home. According to test she had Dammy conducted for, Dammy was some weeks pregnant.

Mrs Seye knocked for the last time and concluded there was no one at home. She was about to leave when she heard the gate opening. She turned and saw a young man opening the gate. Immediately, she concluded it was Daniel, Dammy’s elder brother.

She was right, it was Daniel.

Daniel had been at home with his mom since Dammy left home. His mom had stopped going to shop because Dammy was missing. She had done her best, but, Dammy was no where to be found. Daniel had used the opportunity of being alone with his mom to tell his mom everything that happened including what he did to his sister some years ago.

Mrs Ololade nearly ran mad. All those things had been happening under her roof without her knowledge. She wondered which type of mother she was. She was really sorry for everything she did and she badly wanted to apologise to Dammy.

Dammy’s disappearance had strengthened Mrs Ololade’s faith. She would pray for hours in tears in the midnight praying that God should bring Dammy home safe.

“God, please bring my Dammy back home safe. I’m sorry that I have not being a good mother to her, I probably to change when she returns. God of heaven, please, bring my Dammy back. I want her back in good condition, I don’t want her dead. God, I don’t want to lose Dammy. Jesus, please help me. I promise to serve you all the days of my life”, Mrs Ololade groaned praying in tears.

She experienced the power of God and she became very close to God. Although she had given her life to Jesus a long time ago, but, she wasn’t fully dwelling in His presence. She rededicated her life to God. Daniel was surprised at his mom’s rapid change in her spiritual life.

“Mrs Seye Folabomi! “, Daniel screamed.

“Hi. Do you know me?” Mrs Seye asked with a smile on her face.

“Of course, I do. Everyone knows you. I always watch your programme on the television and every bit of it is always amazing”.

“Thank you, very much”.

” So, to what do we deserve this honorable visit?”, Daniel asked with a smile.

” You would know soon. Is your mom at home?”, Mrs Seye asked.

” Yes ma, you may come in , ma”, Daniel said wondering how Mrs Seye knew his mom. He concluded within himself that his mom had called Mrs Seye because Dammy was missing.

“Daniel, did you bring Mrs Seye to interrogate me?, Mrs Ololade asked on seeing Mrs Seye entering the house with Daniel.

“No , ma. I thought you invited her”, Daniel said defending himself.

” Good afternoon ma”, Mrs Seye said as she gave Mrs Ololade a handshake.

“Afternoon ma. Welcome to our house. It’s a great pleasure to have you here. I’m really surprised to see you, I only watch you on television, but, now, I’m seeing you physically in my house. It’s really a great pleasure”, Mrs Ololade said trying to compose herself.

“Thank you very much for welcoming me into your house. Actually, It wasn’t Daniel that invited me. I came here to discuss a very crucial matter with you. I got to know from someone that your daughter is missing “, Mrs Seye said.

” Yes ma. It’s true. My only daughter is missing”, Mrs Ololade said as tears gathered on her face. Daniel tried to comfort his mom by patting her in the back.

Mrs Ololade continued, ” She has been missing for some weeks now. I have looked for her everywhere, but, she is nowhere to be found. My husband has stopped coming home since Dammy left home. He held me responsible for everything that happened. What got him more angry was when he got to know that Dammy was pregnant”

” Oh! So, Dammy was pregnant before she got missing?”, Mrs Seye asked pretending not to know about it. “How did your husband know?”,

“Actually, Daniel told me. Daniel returned back from school the day Dammy packed out of the house. Daniel told me about his conversation with his little sister before she got missing. Out of fear, I told my husband. He got very mad. The letter Dammy left behind infuriated him more. He told me he wasn’t going to come back home until Dammy comes back”.

” Sorry about that, ma’am. But, I would like to ask you a question. When your daughter was still with you, did you perform your role as a mother to her. Did you bring her up the way you were supposed to? Can you boldly say that you performed all your duties as a mother to her?

Mrs Ololade heaved a sigh and said, ” Actually, before, I thought I was behaving like a good mother and bringing up my daughter in the right way. Recently I got to realize that I failed as a mother to both Daniel and Dammy. Daniel explained to me some things that happened between he and his sister when they were young and I realized I didn’t deserve to be called a mother”.
Tears were already dropping from Mrs Ololade face. Mrs Seye tried to comfort her.

“It’s okay, ma. Crying isn’t the solution to the problem at hand.
The deed has been done. What we need now is the solution. If your daughter returns home today with her pregnancy, are you sure that you are going to receive her?”, Mrs Seye asked.

” Wholeheartedly ma. I’m going to receive her with all my heart. I can’t wait to make up for all my mistakes. I want her back ooo. I have not seen my daughter for weeks now. A dead child is better than a missing child. I would accept my daughter back with all my heart if she returns home”, Mrs Ololade said on top of her voice.

“Are you sure you know the right way to go about parenting her now? Mrs Ololade, motherhood is not about giving birth to a child. You should be able to bring up your child in the right way. There are different techniques in bringing up a child. It doesn’t necessarily has to be scolding your child and punishing them everytime. Try to show your children love, care, support in every area of their lives. Be fully concern about every aspect of your children’s lives. As a good mother, your child should be able to tell you anything or ask you anything. They should be able to open up to you when they are having problems. You should be their greatest confidant and they should be able to tell you all their secrets.

When you wake up in the morning, you pray for your children with all your heart and speak positive words to their lives. When you see children, commend them and appreciate them for everything they do. Always remind them that the are beautiful, smart, wonderful and intelligent.

If their father is not performing his role, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t perform yours. When everything goes wrong, the blame is mainly on the mother. So, you have to give it your best.
Your children are your seeds, they are your future. You asked for them, they didn’t come to you by themselves. Don’t be careless with raising up your children, it’s like being careless with your future.

Monitor their whereabouts and their friends so that they won’t be a victim of sexual harassment. You must be very careful of the people your children stay with when you are not around. Even if they are your closet family members, you can’t trust anyone”.

” Wow, I have learnt a lot of things today. It was just like you shouldn’t stop talking. Thank you very much, ma”, Mrs Ololade said.

” I learnt a lot of things too. I’ll be very careful when raising up my children when I finally have children. I’ll perform all my responsibility as a father”, Daniel said with a smile on his face.

” You are welcome. Actually there is one more thing I want to tell you. Dammy is in my house!”, Mrs Seye blurted.
On hearing that, Mrs Ololade fainted.

To be continued……