THE EXCHANGE
EPISODE 36
That evening, BabaT had called his mum to thank for being a loving & caring mother who had wanted the best for him & asked for her forgiveness bcos instead of turning out to be a son she would be proud of he became an embarrassment to the family. His father did his best to make him a better man but he wanted pleasure instead of hard work, which had led him into drugs. He said that even when he was at the edge of destruction his mum made a father of him; when no societal woman would have him, his mother brought Toun into his life & though he never loved her bcos he saw her as a beautiful empty headed village girl who wasn’t worth of sharing his bed but at the insistence of his mother, he got her drunk & made love to her which resulted to pregnancy & marriage. I enjoyed playing house for a while bcos she was so naive she never questioned my movement. I started to have affairs, sleeping around & doing drugs; life was good until she caught me. I did not know she didn’t even understand what I was doing so I got upset but when she became wise that was the beginning of the end. I would go for weeks without touching her & she would not complain, mum she drove me nuts & whenever I took pity on her & made love to her she would get pregnant. Mum in 9 years she already had 3 children! Who does that? But now I understand that she made an honorable man & a father out of me, a legacy I would never have had if not for you mum & Toun. I’m so sorry for the way I treated her & mum, I have arranged with Bola to take me for rehabilitation tomorrow, I want to get clean mum, I want to make you proud of me & I want to be a good dad to my children. I love you mum & maybe Toun will forgive me someday. His mother listened quietly until he was done, then she said “Babatunde, why don’t you come to England or go to America where you can get better care?” But he quickly said he couldn’t travel with the way he was but maybe in two weeks after he had cleaned up a bit then he would consider travelling. He thanked his mum for taking care of his children & asked to talk to them & by 10pm, he ended the call after telling his mum he loved her. He took a swig from the bottle of brandy by his side & waited until 11pm before putting a call to his cousin Bola & told him that he was ready for the rehabilitation centre, Bola asked if he should come over but he assured Bola he was okay & that he had just had a long talk with his mother. So they agreed for 7am the next morning. BabaT then finished the bottle of brandy, mixed all the heroine he had left & injected himself. His body went into spasms but his mind was gone & so he died.
BabaT’s mum was not comfortable with the call she had received from her son; his apology was too detailed, it sounded as if he was saying goodbye. He had never spent so much time talking to the children, telling them how much he loved & missed them & how sorry he was for sending their mother away. She pondered over the call for a while then called Bola but his phone was busy, she waited for about 15 minutes then tried again. She got to Bola who told her that he had just spoken to BabaT & they were meeting the next morning; she became a bit relaxed but did not sleep well that night. She was startled awake at about 3am; she felt a presence in her room but when she looked around, there was no one there so she got up to check on the children but they were sound asleep. She went back to her room & began to pray, she could not sleep again until 6am that morning.
Bola got thereto meet the front door unlocked so he went in, called BabaT but there was no answer as he was about going upstairs to the bedroom he saw BabaT sprawled on the floor next to the empty bottle of brandy. He rushed over to him & saw the tie & empty syringe, BabaT was dead. Bola quickly called the family doctor & they moved him to the hospital after which he was pronounced dead from a domestic accident; he fell from the steps & he died on the way to the hospital. The family name had suffered enough scandal in the hands of BabaT & Bola did not want the way he died to be added to the scandal. After taking care of everything Bola called his wife Laide so that she would inform her cousin Toun & meet him in the hospital. When they arrived he told them what really happened & said Toun should prepare for London immediately bcos it’s not the news BabaT’s mother should receive via phone call. Toun had had a similar experience; she had woken from a terrible dream in which she was struggling with BabaT not to inject the drugs his arm but he had pushed her away, as she fell, she jumped up in her bed, looked herself all over & realised she had been dreaming. She looked at the time as she went for a glass of water it was a few minutes past 3am; what type of dream is this, she had thought & decided to pray for him… now she understood & began to cry.
By noon, she was on the plane to London; immediately her mother in-law saw Toun, her worst fear was confirmed & she began to wail. The two women almost cried their eyes out & Grammy kept on telling Toun all BabaT had said, she looked into Toun’s eyes & said, “he asked u to forgive him, u know?” Toun replied, “Granny I had forgiven him; it wasn’t his fault, it was the drugs.” They cried some more & tidied up to await the arrival of the children from school …..
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