CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
” Mami please, I have had enough. Just leave me to die. Everywhere we went, they said there is no solution to my problem. It has been five months now.” Lara cried. She had been complaining of stomach pain since the previous night. Both her mother and her couldn’t sleep.
“No, I wont leave you to die. Not when I am still alive. As far as I remain your mother, we must find a solution to this problem.” Lara mother said in tears. She watched Lara for a while as she laid in bed. She had emaciated beyond recognition.
“Mami, You have really tried for me. I really appreciate your effort. I am the cause of my problem. Mami don’t bother yourself anymore. Please, if you continue like this you will start fighting an innocent person.”
“Someone has done this to you and I am not going to take it. I must find out who is behind this.” Lara’s mother got up decisively. She retied her loosening wrapper and ran in hurriedly. She came out with a head tie. She swung it round her head and hurriedly dipped her legs into her slippers.
“I will be back. If you need anything, call the house help ” She told Lara and hurried out.
She hailed a taxi and threw herself in without bargain. Few minutes later she was in Odogbo, a town known to have the fiercest native doctors. Lara’s mother came to a mud house and hurriedly went in . She met Baba Fijabi, a man in his late seventies. He had an unusual bald head that could make a first timer panick about him at the first visit. He was always in a red wrapper and a black damask shirt with beads of cowries on it. It reeked of blood and the acrid smell of libation.
“Baba o” Lara’,s mother called out. Baba Fijabi was sleeping. He wondered who the intruder could be. He got up and found Lara’s mother in the corridor.
“You again.”
“Baba help me. She is dying. She has been complaining of stomach pain since last night. You need to see her face baba. It is dried up. ”
“But I told you her fate is like that of a dog that strayed away. She strayed away too far. ”
“Help me baba.”
“See don’t let me deceive you, no doctor in the world can solve her problem.”
“Haa baba! Okay what about I get to know the man that used her. He could know the solution.” Lara’s mother opined.
“Okay, may be. But I am not sure the person that did it to have a solution. Most young men do this kind of a thing for wealth.”
“Baba let me know who did it to her!” Lara’s mother affirmed”
“Okay I will help you?”
“Thanks.” Lara mother said with a bloodshot eyes. She was about to cry. Her only child had been taken from her by the wicked world. She would not take it. No, not in her present time. She cried to herself.
“Okay” said Baba Fijabi. ” Follow me”
They both went into a mud house. Baba Fijabi brought out a white calabash and some cowries. He made some incantation and told Lara’s mother to bring some money. The woman handed him two wads of thousand naira notes. He collected it and put it inside the calabash. He called out some incantations again and shook his head.
“The person responsible is very close to her.”
“Who?”
“The father of her child.” Baba Fijabi dropped the bombshell.
“I am finished. I knew Kola is responsible for this. ”
“Go back home and ask your daughter very well who the father of her child is. I could see a thick cloud. Go ask her so that you won’t start a battle with the wrong person.”
“Okay” Lara’s mother answered and got up to leave. She was happy she had found the person responsible for it.
“What enquiry again does she need to do?” She thought to herself as she walked on the dusty road. “Anyway Lara will talk better if she has anything she is hiding. But Kola will pay for this. He will know that she is a different woman.”
She took a motorbike and sped home.
**********
Lara whined and cried. She was in great pain. She kicked her legs then tossed and turned. She would let out a high-pitched cry, her eyeballs would roll up. Her mouth opened. She tried to call out for someone but her voice was choked, stifled by what she couldn’t explain. She rubbed her hand on her stomach, still kicking her legs.
She coughed and later tried to stand but she was too weak. Suddenly, her eyes turned pale and white. Large liquid foam was in her mouth which she gathered from her bouts of cough. She stretched herself as if something was about to strangle her. The bones in her body popped out. Her head turned down like that of an epileptic. It was strange.
The house help ran in at this moment. She was scared to see Lara in such condition. She began to run helter skelter. She didn’t know hat to do. She tried to call her boss but there was no airtime on her phone. She ran into the road to call out for help. Three men and a woman who were all their neighbours came in. Instead of helping, they were asking questions.
“Why haven’t you taken her to the hospital? Has she been sick before? Is she epileptic? Why is the foam in her mouth? They were all scared to touch her.
Lara gasped for breath. She kicked again, then rolled her eyeballs. A man concluded they should take her to the hospital. The maid opposed it. She told them her madam had been to several hospitals. Lara coughed again. She was becoming too pale. She whined and called out names that were incoherent. She gritted her teeth, popped her tongue out. The people in the room were scared. A man quickly collected Lara’s mother cell number and began to speak to her. She swore to get home as quickly as possible. Another man told the house girl to put some palm oil in her mouth. She got some palm oil and hurriedly dug two spoonfuls into her mouth. She coughed and rolled her eyes. She coughed for a long time, rolling her eyes and stretching. The men all looked at her in pity. She stretched, still coughing until finally she gave up. She heaved a heavy sigh and brought it down like trying to ease herself of a heavy load. That was her final breath. She gave up. Lara’s mother rushed in few minutes later. More people had already gathered. The house girl already crying. Everyone observed Lara. She was no longer breathing nor coughing. Her mother came in, observed the atmosphere and ran out. They caught her. She threw her wrapper loose, threw the head tie away and scattered her hair. She rolled on the floor. She swore to die with her. It took four women to hold her and console her. Minutes later she was quiet. She looked into the sky.
“Kola you did this to me.” She said and everyone wondered who Kola was. She continued crying for a long time, still violent and hysterical. Everyone had pity for her when they found out Lara was her only child.
