LIFE IMPRISONMENT 29
WRITTEN BY: GRACE OLAYEMI
“Could Danger be Comfort’s long lost brother?” The thought came back again and he carefully considered the possibility.
Comfort had told him a similar story and though it was a long time ago he remembered faintly. The more he narrated the story of Danger he received in a dream, the more it was related to what his wife had said before.
“This can’t be.” He searched for his phone. He immediately put a call through to his wife.
“When did you say is your brother’s birthday?” He asked immediately she answered the call without even going about the usual pleasantries.
“Edward’s birthday is on the…” he cut her short…
“Not Edward. Your other brother.”
“Oh, Big Brother! His birthday is on the 23rd of May. Why are you asking all of a sudden?”
Abraham’s heart skipped a bit.
“Where did you say you lived with your parents before they abandoned you?”
“Ebute Metta. Honey, what’s going on?” Comfort could not understand why Abraham was asking her about things that were obviously irrelevant to them at the moment.
“Or is someone threatening him with my past life?” She thought to herself.
She had seen all the derogatory comments from people to her husband’s tweet and she dared not drop a comment even though she was proud of how maturely he handled the situation.
“Just answer my questions first. What is your brother’s full name?”
“Oluwarantimi Justice Adel.”
“Jesus!” Abraham didn’t know when he screamed.
“What is it? What happened?”
Abraham was quiet and after a while he ended the call without saying a word.
“This is not happening, Lord!” Tears flowed from his eyes.
He remembered all Comfort told him about their elder brother who dropped out of school and took on a menial job to see them through school. How they despised his effort and selfishly cut him off. He had joined her in the search for him since he knew about it; and each time, he saw how depressed Comfort became whenever they embarked on one of those fruitless journeys. They even had to name their first child after him in honour of his contributions in Comfort’s life.
“How will I tell her that her brother is Danger, the national terror?” The tears continued to flow without hindrance.
“How will she take it?”
“Maybe the names and information are just similar.” He concluded and dialed his wife’s number again.
“Do you have a picture of your brother?” He asked her.
“Yes, he hardly took pictures but I have some old pictures of him when he was still a teenager.”
“Ok, send them to me right away.”
“What’s going on?” Comfort asked in panic.
“I’ll explain everything to you after I clarify things.”
“Ok.”
She sent the pictures minutes later and Abraham dropped his phone in disbelief. Though battered by life and hardened by evil, he could not mistake the young, radiant and vibrant face of Oluwarantimi in the picture from that of Danger.
“It’s him. He’s the one,” he said in a whisper.
“Is this why you wanted me to take the case?”
“What do I do, Lord?”
“Danger is my brother-in-law. My wife’s hero and even a father figure to her. He is also a national terror and a hardened criminal. What do I do?”
He knew the words he said to Danger really hit him hard and that would give him a lot of things to reflect on. He was certain that he said other things to Danger after narrating his life’s story but he could not remember what he said. He simply prayed that God would allow the words to become life so that Danger would be saved.
“At least he will go to heaven after he is being sentenced,” he said to himself and drove out of the police station.
To be continued…
