Episode 6
At this point in Ola’s narration, there was dead silence in the TV studio. The audience had been listening with rapt attention. Some members of the audience wondered if the personality and raw beauty portrayed in this lady could be due to her being an ogbanje. After all, was it not said and known popularly that water spirits manifest on earth among the children of men as human beings? Yet, it is just a belief. No one has ever seen any of such. Maybe guys are just intimidated by pretty and successful young women.
The show presenter interrupted these diverse thoughts among the audience and announced a commercial break. He leaned over towards Ola. At this moment, she was opening a bottle of mineral water set on a stool next to her with other assorted bottles of fizzy mineral drinks.
The commercial break was soon over, and the session could continue. Someone in the crowd had a hand up. The presenter acknowledged him but announced that a Q&A session will follow at the end of the interview. Ola had graciously accepted to take a few questions from the audience, probably to throw more light on some points she may have made. The guy insisted that he had something to say and started shouting that he had a right to speak. The TV Station security personnel appeared out of thin air and whisked the nosy guy off his feet, dragging him towards the exit. He was screaming something about teaching them a lesson if they did not let go of him. One of the security guys punched the guy in the face when he attempted to pull out a pistol from the holster attached to the security guard’s heavy belt. At this point, the studio was noisy.
Ola was calm in her seat as if nothing was going on. She was looking intently at her phone and typing away as if responding to a message. The presenter asked her how she could be so calm with a bit of trouble happening during her interview.
Ola cleared her throat and paused. She looked intently at the crowd as if she was telling them to behave themselves. And they did. The dead silence returned, and you could hear a pin drop. She smiled and cleared her throat again lightly, almost as if she was giving out a soft moan. One guy in the crowd whistled. Everyone laughed. Then, she continued.
Ola asked her audience to allow her to digress a little bit. However, she said the digression would, among other things, answer the TV presenter’s question as to why she could be so calm in the midst of apparent turmoil during her show. She mentioned that she has had to overcome many painful and even life-threatening experiences.
Three times in university, boys tried to rape her. One or two of her lecturers had threatened to give her a fail mark in their courses unless she cooperated and gave them what they wanted, in their respective offices, behind closed doors. Two guys had pointed a gun at her at the entrance to the university main gate, demanding money. One of her own roommates at varsity stole and hid someone’s dress under Ola’s bed just so they could accuse her of theft. Ola said with a smirk at the corner of her lips, that she survived all of that and more, thanks to Jesus. She would give them all the juicy details in the course of the one-and-a-half-hour interview.
Back to the village days. Ola had suddenly become a type of local and national hero. In her village, she kept living her life as before. She walked to school alone because she had no friends. But, she noticed that boys and girls were starting to like her; they were coming close, wanting to be friends. As intelligent as Ola was, she could tell, although not with absolute certainty, that this friendship was now motivated by her success. Just a few months and years back, nobody wanted anything to do with her; and now, everyone wanted to be friends with her?
Well, Ola and her grandma had one of the best houses in the neighborhood. She now wore designer activewear with designer labels. It was the kind of clothing people in the village only saw on TV. Ola’s success in sports made her a recipient of boxes of sportswear from the major sportswear companies like Nike, Adidas, and some local brand called Omokpa. People in the village envied Ola. A group of hoodlums broke into Ola and granny’s house, hoping to find cash or whatever it is they could steal. They took Ola’s sportswear and went to try them on next to the river when a young village man hunting with his dogs saw them. He recognized one of the boys and called out. They ran. The hunter wondered why. He was later to find out that Ola’s house had been broken into by thieves. The boys were later arrested and taken to kirikiri maximum security prison somewhere to the south of Lagos. That prison was a dreaded place. Rumor had it that they still executed hardened criminals in that prison by firing squad.
A rumor started circulating in the village that the boys who stole from Ola’s house will be executed. Some argued that someone who just stole mere clothes was not a criminal. Others said a thief is a thief and must face the consequences of their actions. At this point, again, all of Ola’s potential friends melted into thin air. They started avoiding her again. This time around, it came to Ola’s hearing, through Father Ronaldo, that the villagers believed she was an ogbanje. Ola was heartbroken. She sobbed as Father gave her the shocking news at the mission house. In an attempt to comfort her, Father held her in his arms as a father would hold a child. He assured Ola that when you follow Jesus sincerely, you will have many afflictions and false accusations. But, he added, you must continue to trust Him.
Unknown to Father and Ola, a group of women who had come to clean the churchyard saw Father holding her, through his office door that was open. They gasped and said to one another that this old white man was indeed grooming this child as his mistress. They had seen the proof with their own eyes. They patiently finished their work at the mission yard, and all decided to pay Ola’s granny a visit. They all headed to Ola’s home. They needed to tell her granny what Father Ronaldo was up to with her grandchild. Had they not witnessed the whole thing with their own eyes? One of the women suggested that they should paint even a grimmer picture by adding to the story that Father was sticking his tongue into the little girl’s mouth, just like these shameless white people do on television. The six women all agreed to add that small spice to their narration to Ola’s granny.
They arrived at Ola’s house. Granny was seated outside on a stool taking in the last of the sun’s rays for the day. They greeted her and sat. Granny felt a little concerned and frightened. What was going on? She recited Hail Mary silently in her heart. Had they come to accuse her of witchcraft just like they accused her granddaughter?
One of the women, Iya L’Eja, who was a fresh fish trader, cleared her throat, looked granny in the eyes, clapped her hands, and started speaking.
(to be continued)
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