Chapter Two

Dele ran way. What was he to do after what he had just done?

"Baba is going to kill me."

The thirteen-year-old ran, as he had never done before. Life would be so much better if this day had never happened. He arrived home and returned the knife he had just cleaned with the end of his Buba.

After returning the knife, Dele tried to calm his breath.

"Don't think about it, and it will go away."

It was a horrible solution, but he was too scared to even think about it.

The rest of the day went as usual. Maami did not know anything. If she did, Dele would be worse than dead meat.

"Dele, Dele!" It was Baba's voice.

Dele's heart started to race. The evil man runs when no man pursues.

"Yes, Baba." He answered his father's call.

"Help me take this to your mother." His father handed him a parcel of fresh meat.

"Is that all Baba?" He asked hesitantly.

"Yes, or do you want another chore?"

"No"

"That is what I thought."

Adekunle noticed the unease his son's posture carried, but he did not give mind to it. He would catch the boy for whatever sin he had committed.

Moreover, he was right about that.

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"Adekunle! Come out now!" It was an angry male voice.

'What is wrong?' Adekunle thought to himself.

Adekunle came out to find Baba Adisa with a troubled expression. He was vibrating.

"See what your useless boy has done."

"What did he do?" Adekunle asked

"He will pay for what he has done! Jumoke said the injury was severe."

Adekunle's heart raced at the mention of Jumoke, the village healer, in the same sentence as 'severe' and 'injury.'

What has his first son done again?

Dele, you will not kill me.

"Stop beating around the bush and go straight to the point." Kunle inquired.

"Your dear son," Baba Adisa started, 'dear' sounded insulting. "Has injured my daughter."

"What is the big deal? Children injure all the time when they play."

"That is not the case. Tiwa is just seven. What would she be doing playing with your Dele? "

"Then what happened?" This man could waste time.

"Dele used a knife to wound my girl. What did he want to do? To cut off her leg? Why?"

"What?"

Dele is dead.

"If anything happens to my daughter," he said and paused

"You know what would happen." And Baba Adisa stomped away.

Kunle tried to slow his breath.

'If I get my hands on that boy, I will...'

One of his children interrupted his thoughts. Luckily for Dele, it was not him. It was Damilola.

"Baba!" she squirmed and jumped unto her father with a happy smile.

"Damilola, Did anything happen when I was not at home?" The young girl nodded.

"What happened?"

"Is it not Dele? He got a knife. I'm sure it is one of your own. He was proving strong to all of us. I told him to stop, but he did not listen to me. He then called me a baby."

"Don't mind him."

As if she remembered something.

"And oh, he injured one girl's leg."

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Adekunle had heard enough.

He spoke to his wife on the subject. She was oblivious. Dele tried but did not succeed in hiding his offense. The couple decided what to do.

Dinner went as usual. That night their father dismissed them. He gave the excuse that he was too tired to tell them folklore.

As all the children were leaving, his father called Dele.

"Dele, come back."

"Baba, is anything wrong?" He said while trying to be neutral. Dele stood before his parents.

"Do you know what this is?" Kunle brought out the knife. The hunting knife.

"Em... Yes Baba"

"Do you... I will not waste time again. Dele, what is wrong with you?"

The question was rhetorical, but Dele was stupid enough to answer.

"Nothing."

"What did you do to Tiwa?"

"Nothing" Now Dele was visibly shaking.

"Dele, I did not kill my mother, and you will not kill me" the interlude was his mother. His father kept quiet and just looked at his son. Still sitting, Kunle called to his son.

"Dele come."

"Eh?"

"Come." His father gestured.

Feeling brave, Dele stepped forward slowly. Once he was directly before his father, he received a heavy slap. He landed on the floor. It was then that his father pounced on him.

If not for his mother's intervention, one could say Dele stood the chance of dying at his father's hand. Dele cried himself to sleep that night.

"Baba hates me" was the last thought he had in his mind before he slept.

___________________

The girl was going to limp, not for some months, but for the rest of her life.

Dele was beside his father as the man spoke to the village healer.

The journey home was one of silence.

Pregnant silence. Dele knew Baba had something to say but kept quiet. That meant only the worst. Maybe he could talk to his mother.

She always helped when he was in trouble.

When they finally arrived home. Maami was teaching Damilola how to break periwinkle shells with a stone. Damilola was more than happy to learn.

Their mother greeted their father. He replied and gave a tired sigh. Dele knew his father has continued silence meant hell on earth.

'Why did I ever think about that knife?' He truly regretted, but the deed had was done. All that was left were the consequences.

_____________

Dinner went well for all except Dele.

He knew his parents had a heated discussion that afternoon, and he could only guess that their conversation surrounded him.

He was worried. In all his thirteen years, Dele had never had cause to worry, but that had changed.

"Maami" He called his mother

"What is it, omo mi?"

"Baba is angry with me." true statement.

"Yes, my son" She looked weary too.

"But I said I am sorry, and he has already flogged me."

"It is not that easy."

"How?"

"You see, Tiwa, the girl you injured would recover but would have a scar and would not walk straight again."

"Yes, I know, but he is behaving as if I killed her." His tone was frustrated. His mother's reply was a bittersweet one.

She humored at her son's naivety, but sadly, he had to face the consequences.

"No, you did not kill her. You only earned yourself a wife."

After this statement, Dele became numb.

______________

The first few weeks of their betrothal were quiet. After all, Tiwa had become homestead, and children did not give care to marriage. Slowly, Dele began to forget he was doomed to marry a handicap.

He began to live again.

"Let the future worry about itself. I will enjoy my life."

He did enjoy his life.

Or so he thought.

_________________

Hey guys!

I am going to explain because not everybody is from my part of the world.

In many cultures, when a man disfigures a woman or injures her while she is unmarried, he would have to marry her.

This story happens in a Yoruba village.

Yoruba is a popular African language. It is mainly spoken in Nigeria, but also in smaller populations in Togo, Benin, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ghana, and The Gambia. Mainly West Africa, but there are many international speakers.

Yeah, I know, right?

So many people. It's a special language.