PART 2

“MY FATHER’S FARMLAND”

©?Opeyemi Ojerinde Akintunde

Oba (King) as His name suggests had a way of making people do his bidding.
He cajoled his sisters into the fasting and praying program.
Ola(Wealth) and Ope (Praise) joined Oba in the fast and it was a humbling
time for them. They wept before the Lord and prayed with all their heart.
They were so broke that they didn’t have money to buy food to break their
fast on the third day.
Ola (Wealth) who was the business-minded one, decided to go look for a
means of making money. As weak as she was, she walked straight to one of
the beautiful houses in their environment. She knocked on the gate and
surprisingly to her, it was the Madam of the house that answered…

“ Good Afternoon ma!” Ola had said
“ Yes, Good Afternoon !” Miss Johnson said with a puzzled look for lack of
recognition
“ Ma, my name is Kikiolaoluwa and I live down the street, I am not here to
beg you for money, but I need money for my siblings and I to eat, so please
ma, is it possible for me to wash any dirty clothes you have, to earn a little
cash…” Ola had said pleadingly
“ Wow!,… unfortunately I use a washing machine that takes care of my
laundry”
“ What about sweeping the compound, I can see your compound needs some
sweeping” Ola said with desperation in her voice as she was simultaneously
stretching her neck in other to have a good look at the compound.
“Hold on young lady, is this about you getting money to eat, if it is about
that, I can give you some money.”
“ Aww, That is so nice of you ma, but I would love a permanent work,
something that will fetch me regular money. My siblings and I just lost our
father and my brother asked us to wait on God for three days for God’s
guidance, Today is the 3rd day and we don’t have anything to break our fast…

That’s why I took it upon myself to do a menial job to get money…so if you
give me money right now, it might not be enough to sustain us for days..” Ola
said
“ Are you saying, you and your siblings have not eaten for three days, because
you were fasting and now you have nothing to break your fast ?” Miss
Johnson asked
“ Yes!”
“ Wow!…where do you live?” Miss Johnson asked
Ola pointed towards her house and Miss Johnson told her to take her to their
place. She wanted to know the authenticity of Ola’s claims. As Miss Johnson
walked behind Ola, Ola knew Oba( King) was not going to be happy with the
development. Oba didn’t like asking people for Favours.
Ola had always told him, he was proud, but Oba would say “It is Self-respect,
I know my worth, I may not be where I ought to be, but I must not sell myself
cheap because of where I am today!”
“ …eat at my place” Miss Johnson was saying but Ola only heard her last
words about eating at her place…

“ I am sorry, I didn’t get you ma…I was lost in thoughts”
“ Oh!, I was saying that if I can verify your claim, then you and your siblings
will follow me to my place to have a decent meal…”
Oh!, thank you, ma’am, that’s really thoughtful of you ma’am. May God
bless the work of your hands and may your children find help wherever they
find themselves…”Ola said beaming with smiles
“ Amen..” Miss Johnson said returning Ola’s smile
At that point, they were already in front of the Trio’s room. It was a very small
dark room with the only source of light finding it’s way into the room from a
miniature window. The rooms had no furniture except for a wooden shelf of
books belonging to Oba. They had sold everything sellable, but Oba being an
avid reader could not do away with his wooden shelf that housed his books.
They also had two mats on the floor; the twin girls slept on one while Oba
slept on the other mat. There were sacks neatly placed in a corner. The trio
had neatly arranged their clothes in there…
Oba was lying on the floor reading a motivational book about leadership, but
Ope had a small mp3 music player in her hands with her earpiece tucked in
her ears… Oba sighted the visitor first and on seeing her, he jumped to his
feet wondering what his sister had done…

Miss Johnson looked around and could not believe people could still live in
houses like this, Eben, Her security man who she had sent on an errand
earlier that morning was not even living in a room as terrible as what the trio
was living in..
“ Hello…” Miss Johnson said
“ Good Afternoon ma,” Oba and Ope said looking at Ola for answers as to
why they had a visitor in their room…

“ Emmm… Madam lives down the street… I went to her place to see I can get
a menial job in other to fix food for us, but she asked to know my house to be
sure of how genuine I am “ Ola said…
“ Ok .. Ma.., she is very genuine. She is our sister …”Oba said taking full
responsibility as always
Oh!, You are a twin!” Miss Johnson said when she noticed Ola and Ope
were identical.
“ Yes ma”
“ Wow!, I have always prayed to have twin girls, I totally adore twins… It is
well, Your sister has told me about your recent loss and I am very sorry for
your loss, but whatever I am able to do, I will do for you, especially for the
fact that you know the Lord. What challenged me about her, was the fact that
she said you all took it upon yourself to wait upon the Lord after losing your
father…, that is a bold step I must say. For that reason, I won’t hesitate to
show God’s Kindness to you..” Miss Johnson said…
“ Ok ma, thank you, ma’am!”
“ So what do you say?” Miss Johnson asked
“Was this woman asking if she could help them?” Oba wondered silently…
“ Yes ma!, we will be glad to accept your God-centred kindness towards us…”
Oba said stressing and Emphasizing the “ God-Centered”. His intention was
to let the woman know that though they were poor, they were not willing to
compromise by doing anything that didn’t glorify God…
“ Ok, let’s start with you breaking your fast at my place. I will have my maid
make something for you!” Miss Johnson said with a smile.
Ola was the first to return the smile, followed by Oba, but Ope was the
meticulous one. She was always very careful about trusting people. She was
the deep one among the trio, she spoke few words but had deeper insight
than the other two…
“ Can’t she give us the money and we sort ourselves out?” Ope whispered in
Oba’s right ear…
Oba gave her a reassuring look, that they would be fine…
Oba, Ope and Ola went with Miss Johnson to her house and …..

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