1 IN DEPENDENCE

Chapter 1

One could begin with the dust, the heat and the purple bougainvillea. Once might even begin with the smell of rotting mangoes tossed by the side of the road where flies hummed and green-bellied lizard bobbed their Orange heads while loitering in the sun.but Toyo did not notice these instead he walked in silence, oblivious to his surroundings. With a smile on his face,he thought of his last chat with Module.And while Tayo was lost in his thoughts, his father,who walked alongside,noticed the smile and read it as excitement for the forthcoming trip.

They had set off early that Morning to visit relatives, as was the tradition when someone was about to embark on a long journey. They would begin with Uncle Bola in the hope of finding him sober.By midday,he would almost certainly be drinking ogogoro and this was not a day to meet Uncle Bola under the influence.

"And old man should be contemplating his mortality rather than dreaming of women,"Tayo's father said,alluding to his brother's raunchy tales,which Tayo knew his father secretly enjoyed.

Uncle B like to joke that he was still young enough to make babies and thank the Lord God Almighty. And he did make babies dozens of them.As for thanking God -Well, that was simply a manner of speaking.Uncle Bola believed only in beautiful women-not Allah,Christ, nor Ogun.in turn,women loved him,in spite of what he lacked by way of height, teeth and schooling. Tayo had a long since concluded that Uncle Bola held the secret to a woman's heart,which was why he looked forward to this visit. But on this particular morning, Uncle Bola did not seem himself.upon seeing them,he became quite weepy,so weepy in fact that he forgot about his atheism and offered prayers to Allah, Ogun and Jesus on behalf of his favorite nephew. With tears still in his eyes,Uncle Bola gave Tayo his best aso-ebi as a going-away present,and then insisted that they stay longer to take amala and stew with him.

"Here is some money for the Ladies when you arrive," Uncle Bola whispered, stuffing the newly-minted pound notes into Tayo's shirt pocket before waving a final goodbye.

Tayo had hoped to stay longer, enjoying the company of his sentimental Uncle, but there were many more relatives to be visited and several more lunches to eat, Everyone insisted on feeding them and then, just when Tayo thought it was all over, they returned home to find more relatives gathered to wish him well. Several of father's friends were sprawled across the courtyard drinking beer and palm wine while the children chased each other in the dirt path by the side of the house. The woman sat in one corner, roasting corn on a open fire, with sleeping babies on their back, "Tayo! Tayo!" the older children chanted as he made his way though the throne, stopping to pick up the youngest, Tayo expected his father to usher people away, but after the day's copious consumption of palm wine,he had apparently forgotten time,preferring instead to continue boasting about his eldest son.

"Na special scholarship dey don make for the boy?" Somebody asked. "Oh yes." Tayo's father beamed. In fact,the scholarship was not created for Tayo, but because he was the first Nigerian to win it (such things have been reserved in the past, for whites), Tayo's father decided that he might as well claim it solely for his son. Tayo close his eyes while his father boasted, and thought ahead to the day after next, imagining how he would move swiftly though the crowds at Lagos port to the ship and sail over the seas to England. "And then to Bailliol college, Oxford," Tayo whispered, thinking how grand it sounded. At dawn the following day,the entire Ajayi family said prayers before gathering around father's silver Morris,washed and published by brother Remi and tunde so that it glistened like a fresh river fish,Everybody was dressed in his or her Sunday best, ready for the photographs, and only when the cameraman ran out of film did five of them clamber into the car.father sounded the horn and all the doors slammed shut. The key turned and turned again, but the motor wouldn't start,so everyone stumbled out to push. Even father helped, with one foot pumping the pedals and the other pushing back against the ground. They rolled it down the path,out of the compound and into the road,until the engine jerked into action. Then hurriedly, they all piled back in. The children followed the car down the dirt road, running and waving, not caring about the dust being belown into there faces,but jogging along until they could no longer keep up.sister Bisi ran the fastest, thumping decisively on the car boot before they sped away,out of lbadan and into the main road that will take them to Uncle Kayode's place in Lagos in the car,mama and Baba set in front,and Tayo and his two aunts in the back.father forbade talking in the car,claiming that it distracted him,and for once Tayo was happy with edict, knowing that otherwise his aunts would lecture him on how behave in England.it didn't matter that his aunts had never travelled outside Nigeria: it was their right and duty to instruct, Tayo closed his eyes and thought again about his sweet-heart and their final goodbye.He remembered the poem he had composed for the occasion and the lines that did not quite rhyme.Thankfully, in the end,there had been no need for sonnets.

By the time they arrived at Uncle Kayode's house, the car was caked in dust and it's weary passengers covered in sweat and grime,but all would soon be forgotten.Uncle Kayode had a luxurious home.He was a big man in Lagos,recently returned from abroad as a senior army officer,maids cooked for him, and large fans hung from the ceiling,whirling at high speed to keep the house cool.Tayo hade never seen anything like it before."When you arrive in England, my son,"Uncle Kayode was saying, "you must make sure to contact the British council and don't forget to write to cousin Tunde and cousin jumoke." Tayo listened carefully,hoping not to forget any valuable advice, but by the time he went to bedhe couldn't remember half of what he have been told.been looking forward to travelling away from home to have his freedom but now he thought only of what he would miss and how frightening it would be to travel alone, He took modupe's photograph from his bag,quickly so as to wake his Uncle,and looked at it.reassured by her smile and remembering the event on Friday night, he rolled over eventually fell asleep.the next day Tayo stood at the port.holding his bag tightly, He dared not ask his Uncle another question (he had asked so many already), but he still wasn't clear about what to do when he disembarked.What if the arrival halls in England were just as chaotic as the confusion he was seeing now,with everyone shouting and gesticulating and no one bothering to queue? Exasperated by the last-afternoon heart,men took of their cloth caps and flicked away beads of perspiration.then,as the fold of their agbadas kept slipping off their shoulders, they hitched them back,raising their arms like swimmers. Meanwhile, women herded children and straightened little dresses, trousers,and shirts ,whill hastily tightening their own wrappers and head ties,continued unravelled by heat and bustle. Tayo,like everyone else,had been standing in this crowd for hours.He smiled,but not as broadly as the day before his parents, uncle, aunties,and several Lagos based relatives were with him,as well as headmaster faircliff and some teachers from school; Mrs.Burton (Latin),Mr,Clark (maths),and Mr,Blackburn (British Empire History), but none of him brothers or sisters had come and he miss them,especially Bisi. Tayo shook his head wistfully, staring at the liner,the Aureol,which towered high above them like a vast white giant with hundreds of porthole eyes. You well be missed,he told himself,recalling the rumour started by friends that a particular Lagos girls school the one whose pupils occasionally visited his old school was in the mourning over his departure. He glanced around for girls ,but all he saw were family, easy to recognise in the matching clothes worn specially for his send-off.the men's agbadas were the same aubergine purple as the women's shirtsleeve bubas and ankle -length wrapper .Tayo's mother had chosen the material, fine Dutch waxed cotton,embroidered in gold thread at the .