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PRESERVED (5)

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Continued...        The next morning was a Saturday and they were all set for the visit. Rather than the hate they should have felt, they felt a sudden concern for him. Tunji was surprised when the jailer called him that he had visitors.  He had had no one visit him in the last five years and could not imagine who the visitors could be. He was ushered to the visiting room and he was dead shocked to see who his visitors were... His wife, step daughter, a little girl he knew instantly was his daughter as he remembered  his wife was pregnant before his arrest and this could only be the child... his daughter and Pastor Anthony, the father of the very first child he took advantage of when he was a teenager. Pastor Anthony came very close to tears on sighting him, remembering this was the same man that almost ruined his first daughter's life had Jesus not intervened. It was in the past now and Pastor Anthony would rather leave it there, after all his daughter was doing so well now a

PRESERVED (4)

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Continued...          "Who are you looking for?"  She asked with a familiar voice Bidemi could not mistake. She was her mother but this look... What could have happened to make her age this much?  Bidemi controlled herself from screaming Mummy! She had promised God she would behave herself... Her emotions... The pain, the hurt, mixed unevenly with the excitement of seeing her mother again. Pastor Anthony as she now knew him as, introduced himself to Bidemi's mother and knew from how Bidemi's grip tightened on his arm as she saw her,  that the woman was her mother. "Please ma" He continued "I am Pastor Anthony and we are looking for one mummy Bidemi, a young child who ran away about six years ago" He paused to study her face. He noticed how she heaved a heavy sign before replying "I am the one, what about my daughter?, did they find her somewhere? " The pain in her eyes was unmistakable as she looked desperately at Pastor Anthony

PRESERVED (3)

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Continued...  ....  Suddenly the guys were unsettled as a car chose that time to pass through the narrow bush path they had pursued her into and focused its head light on them. The guys were almost blinded by the intensity and they fled from the scene. The light then dimmed as though intentional and the driver beaconed on her to get into the car. She couldn't even think twice about it, she got in almost immediately and hurried the man to drive far away. She didn't get the chance to see his face... She was still shivering all over. Was she just almost raped? By five guys! The man interrupted her thoughts "Where should I take you to young lady? He sounded responsible Anywhere... No... Your house... I don't know" She replied totally confused "No problem... Calm down, you are safe now" He managed to comfort her Soon they were at a totally different street, it was about 9pm already and everywhere looked so unfamiliar but Bidemi didnt care so far she

PRESERVED (2)

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Continued...  Six years later, sixteen years old Bidemi who now answers Becky had become 'All shades of bad', she had mingled with the criminals who took abode in obscurity, she became their errand girl for the little money they gave her regularly and often slept beneath the staircase of the uncompleted building they inhabited. On one fateful day Bidemi got into a chat with another young girl of her age who also roamed the streets, and she narrated to Bidemi how a lot of the guys had taken sexual  advantage of her and how they had cruelly raped her if she as much as refused them.  "I can't stay here anymore Becky. I need to leave" She said, frustration written all over her "But if you leave, you would have nowhere to go. Didn't you tell me you are an orphan and your aunt dropped you off on the streets despite making beautiful promises to your mother on her death bed? I don't really know what to advice but I am personally scared of the unkno

PRESERVED (1)

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        Bidemi grew up on the streets of Lagos and home for her was often the space under the staircase of an uncompleted building. A lonely teenager who couldn't understand why life presented only the odds. Her father died when she was just two years of age ... Her mother was too devastated.. She was just too young to be widowed... 28!. Life seemed to pause for two years but seemed to only continue afterwards for her mother alone as she soon met this tall, dark and handsome man who presented to be the cure for her loneliness. One thing soon led to another and soon she was  sitting up a four year old Bidemi to inform her of her decision to get married to the new man... "Uncle Tunji will be your new daddy" was all she could say to get the preschooler to understand... Of course her approval wasn't needed... What did she know?...  The relocation to Uncle Tunji's house was quite swift... No gown, no cake, no rice... Just a faded gold ring on her mother

OJO OJA (MARKET DAY)

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Ojo oja ,the proverbial description of life Where everyone has a fair chance to trade Where some choose rather to strife And a few others prefer to be the sages The sea of people from different walks of life A homo sapiens' imitation of the beehive The cluster of legs at different selling points The  Incessant inaudible voices at every joint The  blend of colouful arrays A reminder of the rainbow that succeeds the rains I walk from store to store, my legs bade me to stop Fascinating articles on display, this weak poet is tempted to shop Once every week, a day is picked And the excitement of diverse goods is at it's peak But what does the next day hold? A cramped up or lonely road? A day's abundance, six others of drought Such is the tale of market days I have seen abundance, I have seen drought Such is the tale of the human race Be careful when you  take cover in the crowd To perpetrate what will earn you no crown For the stone launched from yo