THE JOURNEY HOME FINAL

By the time he regained consciousness, he was still in the same room with Bosco. This time around, he noticed an awkward silence. He moved out of the room shaking and in shock towards the living room and discovered that the whole place was empty. He thought of running away but he didn’t know where he was or where he could go. He went back to the room and tried to propel Bosco’s body forward. After all Bosco was his friend. Maybe he wasn’t really dead. Maybe he had just fainted he thought. “oya turn round” were the next words Joseph heard as he held on to Bosco’s body.

He turned about to see two uniformed policemen and another man in brown native attire. Joseph was very excited to see that people had come to the house to help. He ran towards the uniformed men in excitement only to receive a huge blow on his face. He was hit so hard that he fell to the floor and hit his head against the wall. At that point Joseph began to wander if all along, he had been in a dream. He closed his eyes and saw the face of his mother. Afterwards, he knew he was in heaven.

The police cell Joseph was in was only 2meteres long and 5 meters wide, they were about 13 people cramped in it. Joseph had been moved to the police station on suspicion that he had murdered Bosco. After regaining consciousness in the police van he had pleaded and cried that he had nothing to do with Bosco’s death but his plea fell on deaf ears. He had been thrown into a cell that was crowded and smelt of urine and human faeces.

Joseph had cried all through and when he didn’t know what to do he recited the Lord’s prayer over and over again. He was hungry, sick and tired and wanted to go home. This time not to the mechanic shop or to Alfa Jimoh’s house but to his hometown, where life was much easier and he had the affection and love of his siblings. By Thursday morning, Joseph was brought out to call whomever he knows. Lucky enough for him, he knew Alfa’ Jimoh’s number and recited each digit to the police without making any mistake.

Forty-five minutes later, Alfa Jimoh was at the police station with Uncle Korede’s wife. She burst into tears as she saw Joseph cramped in one corner of the cell and began to beg the police to release him. Out of a deep place of pity and affection Uncle Korede’s wife began to wail “He’s an innocent boy who came from the village few weeks ago” she said. Alfa jimoh who was also compassionate to the young boys plight and knew he couldn’t harm a fly added that Joseph was very diligent and hardworking and that Bosco was a customer who liked joseph a lot and invited Joseph to his house.

Two days after, Joseph was released on bail after two of Bosco’s friends got arrested in connection with the crime but life did not remain the same for Joseph and he made up his mind that once he sets his foot outside the police station, he was going home.

On a bright Sunday morning, Joseph thanked Alfa Jimoh for his kindness and patience and all the help rendered as he packed his bags. Not long afterwards, Uncle Korede’s wife took him to the park to board a vehicle going back to the village.

Joseph thought of his life, his hopes and dreams that had been dashed during such a short period. He wondered why he was ill-fated and why all the bad things happened to him. He wondered if he would ever be successful in life, he wondered what his siblings would think of him, the disappointment that would be written on their faces seeing him back in such a short period, the smirk and mockery of the father he left behind and vowed never to return to except he was successful.

It was 33years after, again as he wondered about the story of his life, how he had moved back to the village in humiliation and started a repair workshop, how gradually things started to look bright, how his business expanded and his peers got jealous of him. How he built a brand in the village as the best mechanic, how his fame spread across neighbouring towns, how he and his sisters got the best education, how he took a wife and moved out of the village to the Federal Capital Territory, how he became a politician, how he was going back to his hometown as a Governor and how he concluded that he was once visited by an angel in the form of a young lady who told him that he would prosper right in the middle of where his problems emanated. The 20 something year old prostitute in the house of late Bosco.

The end.