1 The President's Daughter Part One.

THE. Prologue.

Kate was twelve years old. She was tall, lanky, very intelligent and very beautiful. She was the only daughter of Governor Lewis and the last born among the three children that her parents gave birth to. She was the apple of her father's eye so they were almost always together even at her father's eye so they were almost always together even at her father's very important meetings and travelling- both within and outside the country. It was a common and true saying in the government house and governor's office that whoever needs the governor's help should seek it through his daughter- Kate and that it would be granted in no time.

Kate and her brothers were studying abroad but they were always at home in Nigeria during long breaks and holidays. At the time, she was the only Nigerian at Princeton College in London (A school where only the extremely wealthy people alone can send their children to. Not even many white men that could afford the staggering fees but the governor did because he said nothing is comparable to a good first class education).

After a long winter vacation, she was returning to school in her father's private jet one day. The aircraft just left the airport and was about to exit the country when some its controls suddenly failed for no apparent reason despite the fact that it had been tested and rated okay before takeoff. The pilots battled with the controls, hoping to be able to bring the aircraft under control but nothing happened. It began to lose altitude and began diving wildly. While it was doing this, it dived so low that very tall tree branch broke its glass and a gust of windy air rushed in and flung Kate out with some things that were not tightly bound to the plane. Then it began to rise again and it flew through three states after Kate had been flung out before it finally crashed inside a Lagoon.

The Genesis.

It was December 23rd, two days before Christmas. In Mr. and Mrs. Lewis house in London, Kate and her mum were cooking in the kitchen. Kate's dad and bothers- Michal and Donald were in the lounge, watching a live football match between Manchester United and Barcelona. They were so engrossed in the match to the extent that none of them heard Mrs. Lewis calling them to the dining room for dinner.

"Whoever invented football must be very lazy and recalcitrant when he or she was younger" She lamented "See what it has done to my family. I am calling them, shouting at the top of my voice but none of them heard!"

Kate laughed.

"It's just a game mum. I will go to the living room to call them now" she said left the kitchen. In the lounge, her father and elder brothers were ferociously arguing over who would win the match between the two clubs.

"I bet my new wrist watch, Barca cannot in their wildest imagination I this match!" Donald said with an air of certainty that greatly vexed Michael unnecessarily.

"You just wait and see, we will finish Man City the way we finished Chelsea during champions league last season" Michael retorted.

"Hey young man, mind what you say. We would have won our last match if not that Mourhino messed up our defense" Their father rebuked.

"Dad, mum said that supper is ready. She is waiting for you too; Donald and Michael" Kate broke into their argument.

"This girl, you have no respect again, am I your mate?" Michael who was five years older than Kate rebuked her angrily.

"Leave her. You know that you can't touch her because mum will talk. But I will catch you and I will break your bones" Donald threatened jokingly before he riveted his attention back to the TV. He was two years younger than Michael.

"Mum is waiting" Kate insisted when no one answers. "She said that you must all follow me"

"Alright guys, we are done. Let's go" their father said as he rose up unhappily. It was obvious from his expression that he preferred watching the match to eating but he didn't want to ignore his wife's call and he wanted to be a good example to his sons.

"Dad please!" Donald and Michael begged in despair.

"No, I said that's okay" He took the remote control and turned off the TV. "Let's go guys. If we hurry up, we'll meet the second half. By the way, Michael, you guys need to change your coach. That man is going to ruin your club soon if he is not shown the way out" He said as he led his sons to the dining room.

After the supper, Michael and Donald wanted to sneak away into the lounge to continue watching the match but their mother insisted they stay.

"We have to talk" She said and both Michael and Donald exchanged a glance, Donald said under his breath.

"When mum says 'we have to talk, you better watch your back cuz something big and horrible is about o happen and you are the cause of it" He whispered to Daniel who remained impassive.

"Have you done anything wrong, stupid?" Michael hissed back. "See the way she is looking at you….don't look up yet!"

"Donald I'm talking to you!" Mrs. Lewis snapped at him and they broke up their silent conversation.

"What mum, I didn't hear you. I think I have a bout of malaria and headache. Please excuse me…." He pushed back his chair and rose up to leave the dining room.

"Come back here!" His mother said and he stopped dead in his tracks.

"Mom...."

"I said come back, now!"

He walked back to the table and sat down looking fixedly at the cutleries on his plate.

"Why did you beat Rita….."

"Again?" Kate asked incredulously.

"O shut up cat! I bet you were the one who told mum....."Michael retorted.

"Shut up Michael, she didn't tell me anything." Their mother shot back. "Donald, answer me, why did you beat her"

"She cussed me mum" Donald mumbled.

"So what? What if she does? Does that kill you, break your leg or make you handicapped? Does it even stick to your body cuz I can't see it on you?"

"Donald, look at your mother when she is talking to you!" their father snapped angrily and Donald looked up somberly at his mother.

"The last time you did that, we begged her mother and the principal of your school not to suspend you. Now, you've done it again. She is threatening to report you to the police because her daughter was injured in the process"

"I'm sorry mum" Donald apologized.

"It's too late to be sorry. You will face this alone. You will there in the morning with a bouquet of flowers; you will apologize and sign an undertaken that you wont do it again. Then I will give them your monthly allowance to pay her hospital bill. If not, we could be deported backed to Nigeria for this"

"But mum, that would kill me!" Donald said loudly. "How am I going to survive, if you give that silly-white girl my monthly pocket money?!"

"I don't know how you are going to survive and I don't care either. all I want is that you do what I just told you. simple"

A silence ensued for some seconds before Kate spoke.

"Dad, are we still travelling to Nigeria for Christmas?"

"Yes. We'll leave tomorrow. Our flight is scheduled for four-o-clock"

"But can't we stay here and spend the Christmas?" Michael asked unhappily.

"We are going. I don't want to talk more about that…."

"Okay. Manchester would have score by now. I'm going to check...." He said as he rose up to leave but his mother told him to sit down. "But it seems we are done....?"

"No we are not. The principal reported you too. She said your grades are slipping. You used to lead the class with a lot of gaps before, but it seems as if you going downhill now. It's all in your report, what's going on?"

"It's nothing really; it's just that….."

"He plays basketball all time and follows Lisa round the school. He writes a thousand letters to her in a day. Her locker is full of his letters and flowers" Kate whispered in her mother's ears.

"Shut up Cat!" Michael said menacingly. "You are a local BBC. Mum, don't mind whatever she says. I will improve"

"You better do and stop following Lisa and writing letters"

"Did cat just tell that?" Michael grumbled angrily

"She didn't tell me anything; I found out myself"

Mr. Lewis cleared his throat.

"I hope we are all free to go back to the game now?" he asked his wife.

"No we still need to talk" she said seriously.

"Jesus!" Michael lamented.

"What again, I thought we are done talking?" Donald asked incredulously." the match would have ended by now. I'm very sure"'

"About our trip to Nigeria, you all can go to your rooms and pack your things now. Nobody goes anywhere until his/her things are in order. I mean it Donald don't you dare disobey me" she warned thought about what the 'Nigerians in Diaspora' said?"

"Hmmm. Yes I have but this is a chance for us to serve our fatherland through public service. Remember what one of the scholars said that if a wise man refuses to rule; a foolish man will rule over him. Or are you worried about money?"

"Not at all. That's the least of my worries. Don't you think this will affect our family? I'm more worried about that more than any other thing"

"I know it wont be easy but we will survive. We'll let the children continue schooling here and spend the breaks and holidays with us in Nigeria but we are moving down to Nigeria" she said.

"And you think they will grow up well; especially Donald. We are here and he is causing a lot of trouble and problems, what if we are not here anymore?" he asked worriedly.

"Lewis, you worry too much. I should be the one saying all these negative things but I am trying to be strong here. I need you too to be strong if we want this to work out well in the end"

"Okay, I surrender. But why don't you go ? Why don't you contest for the post instead of me?"

She laughed.

"you are my husband. You do it first, if I see that it is safe for me to venture into then I will try. How about you and I; contesting for the same position?" she asked her husband guffawed with laughter.

"that would be the biggest story of the century. The whole world would hear about it and think we are going insane. I'd love to do it someday through."

The following day, they arrived at Nigeria around 10PM. They were driven to their country home in Lagos by their driver who has been waiting at the airport for some hours. A small party was known. There was a round of applause as he made the announcement.

"Now you are talking Lewis "an old distinguished man said. "We've been waiting for ages to hear you say it but you wouldn't. now that you have though, we are solidly behind you and the whole Nigeria is behind you. This state needs a capable man like you to run its affairs. And one day when you are ready, we want you on the president's seat!"

"Yeah, yes!" other agreed.

Later in the evening, the crowd dispersed to their various destinations but the distinguished man behind. He led Mr. Lewis to the latters study where there was privacy.

"Honourable senator thank you immensely for tonight.it wouldn't have been successful without you" Mr. Lewis said gratefully.

"All thanks must be to God. Meanwhile, there are three important things you need to do if you don't want to lose this race. One, there are people you need to meet. They are the godfathers. They decided who fill what position. So you must meet these people and make your intention known to them. And once they hear, you are good to go"

"And what would they ask for in return for their trouble?" Mr. Lewis asked.

"Sometimes money but mostly it is position. They will give you the names of the people they want in certain positions and once you have a deal, your success is ninety percent guaranteed."

"Okay, what's the second thing, you said there are three? "

"Ehn—en. The second one is that you have to be spiritually strong. Look at Kogi state sometimes ago, a candidate died on the day he would have been declared a winner in the gubernatorial election. Some fools said that his death was a natural but many people know that he was spiritually murdered. I don't want the same thing to happen to you .you are like my son. Therefore, I will take you to baba; he is my spiritual father and he will fortify you and make you a man"

"And the third?" Mr. Lewis asked, he was already getting bored with the stupid lecture and making plans for his next move with a part of his mind."Thirdly and finally, you need guns, a lot of it. As you are fighting spiritual battle; you also need to fight the physical battle. Nigeria is not like where you come from. In London and America, when an ordinary dog dies the president and the Americans will not sleep until they know who killed it and why. But in Nigeria, lives don't count much. If someone is killed and no one is found at the crime scene, then the person dies for nothing because no one will ask questions. There are many unsolved murders here in this part of the world and everyone is not taking any steps in covering the mysteries during the election, you can scare him or her with gun." The man concluded brilliantly."

"thank you very much sir. But I don't intend to do any of those three things you just mentioned. I have a license to own a gun and that is enough. If I feel that someone is after me then Ill go to the police. After all, its their duty to protect us; they are getting paid fro it anyway" he said seriously but the man laughed.

"I don't blame you because you are GREEN. I was like you when I began too but I learnt my lessons. I don't want you to make the same mistakes that I made, that is why I am telling you to think about all that I just said."

"Alright sir, I'll think about it sir" he said politely.

"Goodnight" the man replied and left.

The following day, Mr. Lewis put his family in the car and drove them round the town.

Somewhere in the middle of their tour, they came to a police checkpoint. "And the senator said that the road, controlling traffic and ensuring security of lives and properties. He was glad that the senator was proved wrong.

"My dear don't mind him. I believe the Nigerian police is not as bad he made it sound" Mrs. Lewis said and they both laughed. He wound down his glass.

"good evening sir, well done ." Mr. Lewis said to the policeman who peeped inside the car and looked at everyone in the car. Two buttons were missing from his uniform and he carried a gun that was as old methuselah.

"Where you dey come from, wetin you carry for your booth?" the policeman asked with frown. He was not reciprocating Mr. Lewis friendliness at all.

"Here are my papers am I am not carrying anything. I'm just driving my family......"

"Park for here!" the policeman ordered and Mr. Lewis parked. He showed the unsmiling policeman his papers-everything was in order but the man was not satisfied. "Open your booth" he said and Mr. Lewis complied. On the road, other vehicles were passing as the other policemen briefly stopped them and seemed to shake the drivers then the vehicles were freed to go. Michael was the first person who noticed it and he told Donald who told Kate and Kate told her mum. The policeman searched through the booth but found nothing incriminating. He came back to Mr. Lewis.

"Come down from the car, you are under arrest"

All of them were amazed.

"What did we do? What did you find from my booth?" Mr. Lewis asked angrily. "I am a law abiding citizen and I don't do anything that would jeopardize my name...."

"What about this?" the policeman held up a parcel that contained Indian hemp.

"What?!" Mr. Lewis and his family exclaimed.

"why don't you put that in my booth?" Mr. Lewis asked angrily. "Listen I am a qualified lawyer from one of the highest courts in Britain. If you think you can ROPE me then you better think twice about it because I will sue you, your black shoes and that old gun you are carrying around...."

The policeman slapped him hard across the face. Other policemen came to the scene. Mr. Lewis didn't slap him back; instead he held his cheek and told his wife to snap the picture of where he was slapped. The policemen laughed. Donald and Michael who couldn't take the insult leapt at the policeman at once and he was lying down on the floor before he knew that he had been attacked. They were too strong for him so he couldn't shake them off. He cried to the other horrified policemen for help and they pulled them off him with great difficulty. His mouth and nostrils were bleeding from the attack. He was pulled up by his fellows but he couldn't walk by himself so he was supported and led to their black van. Mr. Lewis and his sons were handcuffed and pushed towards then waiting van. His wife quickly brought out a cell and called the senator for help because she thought he could help.

After she heard everything that happen she was told to give the phone to the policeman. The man collected the phone.

"Hello who the hell is this?" he barked into the phone. "don't say anything because I don't care who you are. This guy has already killed one of my men and he will die in the jail to...

"Shut up and listen" the senator shut back angrily the policeman became mute. "if you know who you and your boys just messed up, you will wish that you were never born or that your mother aborted your pregnancy. He's the next governor of Lagos state and one day may be the president of this country. I am senator dada from Lagos main land senatorial district. I will help you and beg him nit to be angry maybe he would listen but you better start praying but he does, otherwise, you and your boys will rot in jail."

"All….awwright sir" he stammered and gave the order to remove the handcuff from their hands then he gave the phone to Mr. Lewis with a lot of respect.

"Hello sir" Mr. Lewis said

"Lewis, Lewis, how was the experience uh?"

"These men are not police; they are touts…."

"I told you. Do you still want to put security of your family lives in their hands?"

"God forbid"

"You too should have given them money when they stooped you....."

"What money, what for? Besides, he didn't ask for money. He asked for my papers and if I had anything in the trunk and I showed him everything!" Mr. Lewis said hotly.

"When Nigerian police man says bring your papers, he means bring fifty naira. They don't care if you have the head of a man in your booth"

"But …..but that's insane! Why is the government not doing anything about it?!"

"Government, we don't have an honest government here. Government itself is corrupt beyond redemption. Anyway, lets leave these talks about morality and honesty; lets clean this mess first. Give those guys some money and leave that area….."

"But I don't owe them anything..."

"Listen, you are no longer In London; you are in Nigeria now and different rules are followed in both countries. If you want to leave there today or you don't want to go to a stinking cell, give them something and leave. Once again, welcome to Nigeria Lewis" the senator said the line went dead. He dropped the phone in his pocket and faced the leader of the policemen.

"Do you think what you are doing is right uh? Extorting money from people?" he asked angrily. "if not for my family that is here, I wouldn't have given you dime" he dipped his hand into his pockets and brought out a crisp bundle of one thousand naira notes. He counted ten and gave the policeman. The man almost prostrated.

"Thank you very much sir. We are sorry for the fiasco. It's not our fault too. The prices of everything has sky rocketed and the government has not increased our salary since 1990. The salary is like a drop in the ocean of our expenses; it's insignificant. This is one of the ways we can keep the body and soul together...…"

"Whatever" Mr. Lewis retorted and got behind the wheel and drove away with his family. After the encounter with the policemen, none of them was excited and happy about the tour of the whole city again so they turned and went back home. Mr. Lewis employed three detectives to be guarding him and his family the next day.

The campaign began and lasted for six months. Mr. Lewis spent a lot of money to run it. When he was out of money, he approached the godfather whom he had sworn never to approach at the beginning of the race. The man was in his nineties, a two times senator and three times House of Representatives member. He wielded a lot of political power.

"I thought you are capable to it by yourself?" the man asked immediately Mr. Lewis stated his purpose for coming to see him.

"Not really, it's just that i... I'm sorry sir."

"Anyways, I will help you. You are not the first person who would do that and I know you won't be the last. If you become the governor, you are going to appoint forty commissioners..."

"Ah, forty? What for? Do I want to sell them?!"He asked incredulously.

"What's so special about that? A governor once appointed fifty-six. Anyways, I will give you the names of thirty candidates out of the forty and you will choose the remaining ten by yourself. Do you agree?"

"No, I strongly disagree with the arrangement. I am the one who wants to rule this state and not you sir. How will you chose people that I don't know and who probably doesn't have my vision to rule with me? I am sorry for coming here in the first place; I should have known. Sorry for wasting your time and mine. Excuse me, I am going""alright, goodbye but I you lose, don't come back here, begging me to take you back!" the old man shot after him.

"I swear that I won't. if you see me, do whatever you want with me" he said and left.

He approached a bank for loan next.

"Ah, it's an august visitor! O my God, today is the best day in this month" the manager said as Mr. Lewis was ushered into his office. They shook hands and he offered Mr. Lewis a seat. They chatted about politics, family and things before he stated the reason why he was there.

"Hmmm. I heard all that you've said and I am happy that you want to bank with us. I've been hearing a lot about you. Anyways, it's a simple thing if you agree with the terms and conditions"

"What are the terms and conditions?"

"You must have a property that exceeds the money you want to loan, that serves as security. Then we charge fifty percent interest on all loans above hundred million naira..."

"Jesus! How come? But the central bank law stated that it shouldn't exceed five percent in its laws too all the financial institutions?" Mr. Lewis asked angrily.

"Central bank doesn't own us; we are an independent body. Anyway, that is the theory but this is practical; the two are not the same. However, I have a deal for you if you are ready to take it."

Mr. Lewis became interested.

"I am ready provided it's okay" he said optimistically.

"Trust me, it is good. How will you feel to have a interest free loan on the one hundred and fifty million naira loans that you want?"

"That would be impossible but I would be mad with joy if it would just happen"

"It is very possible. Ii will give you the loan without a dime interest" he said smiling.

Mr. Lewis looked suspiciously at him. Already, his brain was calculating what lies beyond the unexpected generousity.

"why are you doing this? What do you want as a gain for such kindness? I don't think it was done out of love?"

"Make me a commissioner for finance in your cabinet. Also, you will make my wife the commissioner or women affairs….."

"Never! I'd rather lose than to compromise like this. We never have this conversation and you never saw me; good day!" he said and stormed out of the bank.

Later in the evening when he was alone with his wife, he told her everything about his day.

"Hmmm. This is very serious darling. Assuming it's in England, there would be donations from private individuals and organizations without making demands. What I would suggest though is that you take the banker's offer. It's a lot easier than the old man's. if he wants to become a menace in the future, we can easily fire him"

"I think that's good. Why haven't I thought about it before now?"

"if you have done that then I wouldn't be sleeping here by your side, planning our future with you" she said smiling. "God knows that you need me, that's why."

He accepted the banker's offer the following day but refused to make his wife a commissioner, but an adviser to the first lady. He won the election with a landslide. He was sworn in a couple of months later as the new governor of Lagos state.

New Life.

Governor Lewis appointed only ten commissioners, thus reducing the state government's expenditure by ten percent. He was unjustly criticized by his party members and his opposition but he was firm in his decision. He merged most of the ministries together and abolished the redundant political offices and titles established by his predecessors. He appointed only one advised and forbids his commissioners from having more than an adviser else they would pay them from their salaries. Mr. Ogundiran, the ex bank manager who was now the commissioner of finance barged into his office the following day.

"When I said I want t becomes a commissioner, I didn't say I want to become a slave! I intended to come and enjoy and not to be treated like a bloody slave. You have merged three different ministries together for me alone to handle and slashed my salary into half instead of tripling it in proportion to my workload. I am collecting half of what should be constitutionally mine. Your excellency, I want an explanation" he demanded angrily.

Governor Lewis was unperturbed. He looked calmly at him and replied.

"What do you want commissioner?" he asked calmly.

"Jezum! what did I want? Didn't I just say it now?"

"You barged in here so whatever you might say after this is cancelled because it was not done properly. Please go back outside; knock then I will ask you in, okay?" he said with the same calmness that was infuriates the commissioner but he did as he was told, mumbling as he went out and came back in when he was told to come in like a stubborn school kid. He repeated himself a little loudly to show that he was pissed off.

"How come that I was earning more money as a banker than a commissioner?!" he shouted angrily.

"Well, if I were you, I would resign and go back to my banking job" governor Lewis replied, smiling.

"You know that I am not forcing anybody to hold this post; I want only those who are ready to serve their father's land."

"Jezum, I think I am dreaming and that when I wake up, this bad dream would go away. Anyways, I want the loan back and you must pay it today. With interest too"

Governor Lewis laughed.

"In case you don't remember sir, in the document that we both signed, the loan is too be paid over a period of two years and we haven't even spend three months"

"God, I hate you! I thought that I am into money but I don't know that I am into misery. I bet if I don't resign soon, I will die a poor man"

"That would be too bad. Please close the door after you, we are done with this conversation" the governor said as the commissioner rose up and leave the office. He went out and left the door wide open. His secretary came and closed the door after her.

"Sir, Michael and Donald are ready to go to the airport, they called some minute ago. Should I tell them to hold on….."

"No, I'll drive them to the airport. What are the plans for today?" he asked as he picked up his suit and put it on. He walked out of the office and his secretary ran after him, reading his scheduled plans for the day.

"You are meeting the American aeronautic engineers by twelve PM. A lunch with Dangote and a phone call to the president at three o clock. Then a dinner with the ambassador of France to Nigeria…

Oh, you have a medical check up with your doctor…"

"Cancel that. Call him and tell him to reschedule it."

"But sir, this is the time you would cancel the appointment…"

"Do what I tell you Dora." He snapped

"Okay, okay sir!

"Good, anything else?"

"Nothing sir"

"Good. Stay in the office, I'll be back in an hour time"

He picked up his family and drove them to the airport. On the way, he advised to be good ambassadors of their country

"Through there are times I wish that I could sell you guys and use the proceeds to buy shoes; yet I am awed, impressed and fascinated by your honesty, diligence, obedience and good nature. I am proud of you two and I love you both through rarely say it. Now that you will be on your own, I want you to watch out for each other. Be your own father and mother. Learn from the story of my life, I was an orphan since I was five. I had to scavenge and make my ways through the knotty maze of life's difficulties.

Eventually I made, but it was through a lot of difficulties.. you both have the opportunities I never had and I am happy for you. Please use these opportunities very well and reach places that we your parents can never reach in life. I want you all to go beyond wherever we your parents have ever been to. I want my achievements to be nothing compared to yours"

"Yes dad" Michael, Donald and Kate replied.

"I am not saying that you shouldn't have fun or that you must read all the books in the world and become book worms and zombies, but what I am saying is that you should work hard and have fun. Make sure that the two is balanced."

"Yes dad" his children responded.

"When is Kate coming to London?" Michael asked.

"I don't know, she says she wants to stay with us for a while longer. Kate, when will you be returning to school?" Mrs. Lewis asked.

"Two weeks from now" Kate said "Mike and Don, I'll miss you both very badly though like dad said, there were times when I wish that I could sell you both and use the money to buy lipstick, yet I must confess that you are the best brothers in the world. I'll be coming over to your school to check on you periodically once I arrive back in school in a couple of weeks' time" She said solemnly "I promise"

Everybody laughed.

"Silly ass" Michael taunted "I wish I could sell you too and use the money to buy football then I'll kick nonsense out of that your big head!"

Everyone laughed harder at this.

They hugged and kissed and said goodbyes at the airport. Suddenly, Kate began to cry as she held them both tightly.

"It's okay dear. Why all these outburst of emotion? I don't know that you love your brothers this much" her mother said as she tried to pry Kate from her brothers.

"I feel as if this is the last time that I will see them both!" she sobbed.

"Ah Kate, don't say something like that! Nothing bad will happen to them both in Jesus name. It's okay, so let them go, their flight had been called" She said and Kate let go reluctantly but she ran back to them immediately they began to walk away and took them into a crushing embrace again. there was a final loud announcement that their plane was about to depart.

"Kate it's okay!" Her mother snapped angrily "You have to let them go or they will miss their flight for God's sake!" Her mother came up behind them and pulled Kate from her brothers. Donald too was crying as he walked fast to the waiting airplane.

For the remaining weeks she spent at home, Kate spent most of her with her parents. She followed her father to his meetings and stayed with him in his office when he was round and free. Throughout the governor's office, everyone wanted to please her in order to be able to curry favour from her father.. They knew that whatever she says meant a lot to her father.

"This governor is too rigid, harsh and mean, how do I get a favour from him?"

"Ask him through his daughter, she is his weak point" so was the conversation in the corridors of the government offices.

On her last day at home, she woke up earlier than usual then she began preparation for her journey. Her mother came to her room while she was waiting for the last of her bags to haul out into the garage by the maidservants.

"Good morning mum" she curtsied as her mom came in.

"Morning darling how was your night?" her mother asked, taking her into a warm embrace and ruffling her hair in the process.

"It was fine. Is daddy out already?"

"No, why did you ask?"

"Nothing exactly, it's just that I don't feel like going today"

"Don't come up with that nonsense again. Others have been in school for almost three weeks now yet you are still here in Nigeria doing nothing. Get in the bathroom and shower, before you are done your breakfast would be ready. When you are through with your breakfast, the jet would be waiting and the pilots are already even waiting for you. Your father has made preparations for the journey and he would be greatly disappointed if you say this rubbish in his presence"

"Mum…"

"Don't bother to 'mum' me at all, just do what I told you to do…"

"What does she want to say?" her father asked, as he came into the room.

"Oh darling, good morning!" Mrs. Lewis said and she hugged her husband affectionately, he hugged her back.

"What is the problem Kate?"

"Nothing dad…."

She said she doesn't feel like going today"

"She couldn't have said that. When will she go back to school if she keeps postponing? She is already behind in school. Kate, do as your mother said. The pilots are waiting. Don't forget that I will also take the jet to Abuja this evening for an important meeting with the president when the je comes back from London."

"Okay dad. But I will miss you and mum"

"We will miss you too. Now be a good girl and run to the shower. Michael will be waiting for you at Heathrow airport to pick you up with a car. I just got a call from him and Don now"

"Alright dad"

Fifty minutes later, she was airborne and on her way to her school in London. Her parents waved and waved at her as the aircraft lifted and flew into the clear morning sky. Kate too sat glued to the window, pressing her face against the glass and waved back to her parents until they became tiny dots then they disappeared from view as the aircraft soared high into the sky. Kate was still glued to the window when the hostess came and told her to fasten her seatbelt and leave the window but being a stubborn girl; she didn't heed this warning. However, her stubbornness was what saved her life.

Governor Lewis and his wife were in a board meeting with the State executive council when his phone suddenly rang. His personal assistant excused himself from the room to take the call outside.

"What?!" the PA screamed suddenly into the phone "Jeeessssusss!" He dropped the phone back into his pocket and went up to the Governor, he whispered into his ear and despite the governor's efforts to absorb the shock of the news, he couldn't help shouting. Everyone became concerned and worried. Mrs. Lewis sprang up from her seat and went to her husband."Lewis, what's wrong? It is Kate, right? What happened?" She demanded frightfully.

"Oh my God, oh my good gracious God!" the governor continued saying distractedly. The PA quickly explained to everyone present what had happened.

"There is still hope" the PA assured everyone who was listening to him. "The plane hasn't crashed yet; it is still up there in the sky but its controls are not working. Hopefully, the pilots will be able to bring it under control in a while…." The PA kept saying but no one was listening.

The phone rang again and the PA picked it at the first ring. It was a call from the control tower of Muritala Muhammed international airport.

"Switch on the TV and watch it" the caller said and the call ended.

"That was the control tower from the international airport in Lagos" the PA said and switched on the TV. The jet was shown as it began diving and climbing haphazardly and all the people in the room sat glued to the TV with sinking hearts and great trepidation. Somewhere in the middle of this live horror, the First Lady fainted; the thought of her daughter in the errant aircraft was too much for her to bear. She was rushed to the government house hospital while her husband was sedated.

The funeral train was more than they'd anticipated. Though the governor through is PA had informed the general public was going t be very private and brief yet the church where it was held was jam-packed with people. Many more people were outside the church under canopies and makeshift tents under the pelting rain. Two large projectors were stationed outside for the benefit of those who were viewing the programme from outside and two more were strategically placed in the church where Kate's pictures were shown silently and this brought endless tears to the faces of everyone present. If tears could be sold for money, everybody's tears there would have worth billions of naira.

The service was brief but memorable. The presiding pastor stated all the things that young Kate had done with her life while alive. After that, few people were given the opportunity to say one or two things about her. To avoid what happened to Kate from happening again, Mr. Lewis told his sons not to come home for the burial. He told them to stay put in London and travel nowhere but both Michael and Don held a small funeral service for their sister in their chapel in London which was attended by few of their friends, neighbours and mostly Kate's classmates.

Later in the evening of the same day, Mr. and Mrs. Lewis were both in their bedroom, mourning the death of their daughter.

"Lewis, is that the end? Is she really gone like that? Does that mean that I will never see Kate again?"

"It's okay darling, lets take this as God's will for us"

"Bus she is not dead!" she cried vehemently.

"Yes she is" he said soothingly "I know it is hard to believe but she is. We have to accept this bitter truth and move on with our lives…"

"You don't understand what I am saying Lewis. If she is dead, how come her body was not found like the bodies of the pilots and the hostess?"

"Sweetheart, I don't want us to go over this horrible detail again. for the past two months we have been delaying the burial, thinking that we would find her because you insist we search everywhere for her body. But the jet crashed in a lagoon; a very big one at that. We've searched all the nooks and crannies of the lagoon, but found no trace of her…"

"Ehn-ehn!" Mrs. Lewis said quickly "That means she was not in the river at all" she pointed out.

"She was. Her teddy bear was found there. Her wristwatch too was there and many oter things that belonged to her. The point is she did not use the seatbelt when the crash happened, therefore she must have been taken by the fishes or other marine animals after the crash….O God, I don't want to be talking about this horrible incidence!"

"Oh my Kate!" her mother cried endlessly.

Ayoka.

In a village that was very far away from the noise, traffic, glamour, splendor, beauty, corruption, civilization and complications of Lagos city, there was a mad woman named Ayoka. The village was so small that everyone knew one another. Many parts of Nigeria have changed but there are still some areas that have not been touched and corrupted by civilization and this village was one of those areas. The name f the village is Erinla. What made the village an island from external access is because of its unique geographical features.

From the north, it was bordered by a very thick wooded forest with the oldest trees in the whole country. The forest ran for several hectares of land that has not been cultivated for as long as two millenniums. The forest was named "The dark forest" by the villagers and other nearby villages because at all times of the day, it was always dark in the forest. It was where they usually banish people that they do not want t see in the village again. it is also where the dead bodies of people who they considered wicked or those that have died shameful death used to be kept or buried.

From the south, there was a very tall hill that stretched for thousands of kilometers till it merged with the forest at both the eastern and western parts. Therefore, both the hill and the forest formed a sort of fortress for the village against external invasion and corruption. The hill was almost impossible to climb to the top. The villagers rarely bother with climbing it except on very rare occasions.

Ayoka's madness was preordained by the gods according to the chief priest in the village who had foreseen it even before Ayoka was born. The story behind it was that before she was born, Ayoka's father stole another man's yam from the person's farm and he was caught red handed by the owner. He was taken to the village's chief for justice but her father bluntly denied stealing the allegation. He was asked if he could swear with Sango and he said yes.

Nobody dares swear falsely with the god of thunder and everyone in the villages knew that Ayoka's father was lying but he said he was ready to swear. So he was taken to Sango's shrine where he swore.

Nothing happened to him until five years later. Then Ayoka was just two years old. One fateful day, the sky was clear and blue with few specks of snow white clouds running errands to places no one knew. Most of the villages were either under big trees on their farms, taking shelter from the punishing rays of the sun or they were in the cool corners of their huts, hiding from the intense glower of the sun. Suddenly, there was lightning and thunder but there were not enough clouds in the sky to suggest rain. Besides, it was in the heart of the dry season and people were not expecting the first drop of rainfall until the next full moon.

All the villages began to panic because they knew that the god of thunder was angry at something, or more frighteningly, someone and they knew with certainty that soon, someone bad and unspeakable would happen. It didn't take the elderly ones in the village to put two and two together to know who was likely going to be at the receiving end of Sango's wrath but the younger generations were cowering in fear, thinking that the wrath was directed at them for those little sins that they had committed when no one was around. Therefore, as the thunder raged on in anger, voices of supplication and vows not to commit sins again could be heard from every hut.

After five minutes when the thundering started, there was suddenly from Ayoka's parents hut that her husband was breathing funny. Some people rushed to the place to render aid and help but it was too late because he died a few minutes after his wife raised her first cry. He had died for no apparent reason. Not long after, the sympathizers dispersed to their various huts in hushed and pregnant silence. In the corners of their homes, the villagers did not feel sorry at all for Ayoka's father, they said he deserved what he got that no one dares swear falsely with Sango.

At first, Ayoka's mother didn't hear all these opinions and gossips in the village until she got over the shock of her husband's death and decided to proceed with the burial. She began to suspect when no one came to sympathize with her and her suspicion was confirmed when she went to people for assistance in buying her husband but everyone bluntly refused to offer any help and pointedly told her that they couldn't help someone who had been cursed by the gods themselves; they don't want to bring bad luck on themselves. It was this denial to render helps that drove Ayoka's mother raving mad.

When Ayoka was just ten years old, her mother died with the lunacy. By then, they had been ostracized by the whole village and nobody interacted with them so they were living alone. Since they have been ostracized, Ayoka continued living alone and in other to fill the vacuum and the loneliness that occupied all her days and nights, she chose to talking to herself like her mother used to do. As she grew older, her parents' once beautiful hut too grew older and dilapidated. She grew up into adulthood in this isolation. She wore dirty and tattered cloths and spoke to herself endlessly and laughed when she felt like. Soon, other lunatic details began to add up and by the time she was twenty years old, she was a raving lunatic.

One day, she was in hut, singing a stupid lullaby to her wooden baby when a strange noise suddenly came over the village. All her life, she had never seen airplane before and that afternoon was the first time ever when she would see one so close, just like the rest of the other villagers so that by the time Ayoka ran out of her hut, half naked to see what was making the noise, other villages were other outside their other, gazing at the sky and shouting wildly and excitedly. The silly jubilant and barbaric noise of aelonpelen filled the afternoon air form both children and adults alike as the erratic plane flew haphazardly over the village several times at heartbreaking altitudes.

She was still looking skyward, singing and screaming lunatically when the aircraft suddenly dived and came so low that its silvery body could be touched with bare hands. Someone standing on any tree nearby could definitely have touched it. It hit the tree at the back of Ayoka's hut with a force so powerful that one of the biggest branches on the tree was sawed off its trunk and it crashed with a thunderclap to the floor. In return, the crafts windows exploded and several items on the craft flew out. Immediately, the plane shot like a bullet into the clear afternoon sky and disappeared to the annoying of the villagers who thought that the plane was there to entertain them. The villagers went back to their humdrum lives in the dark corners of their huts. The excitement was over.

Even in her madness, Ayoka knew that something was wrong. Therefore, while other spectators were returning to the comfort of their huts, after gazing longingly at the sky for long, expecting the plane to come back she ran to the back of her hut and began to walk through the thick bush that was once her mother's lovely garden. It had been overtaken by aged bush and it was as bushy as it could ever get. She walked straight to the tree that was hit and she began to look around. Though she didn't understand why she was looking around but in her lunacy, that felt like the best thing she should do under the circumstances.

Since her house was at the extreme end of the village, nobody except Ayoka alone witnessed all these, yet it all happened so fast that a sane person could have thought that maybe he or she had imagined it. Ayoka ran to the back of her hut where the bush had overridden the garden. She walked straight to the tree that had been touched and began to look around.

It didn't take too much time before she found it. It was the body of a girl that was rapidly growing into a very beautiful young lady. Ayoka followed the legion of voices in her and climbed the tree. She plucked some leaves and climbed back down. She rubbed her palms together until the leaves brought out a blue-black juice then very gently; she opened the girl's mouth and let the juice run into her mouth. After that, she began to dance wildly and unrythmically. All the while, she was making a hell of a noise but the villagers were used to all her crazy noises.

It's been three days since Ayoka found the girl and took her into her shut. Ayoka didn't know what death means so she thought the girl had been sleeping throughout the three days. A sane person would have thought her dead but Ayoka was not sane. She continued to force foods into her mouth until it was filled up to the brim and it began to stink but all these mean nothing to Ayoka. "Eat your food and stop wasting my food!" she scolded the lifeless body every time she fed it.

In the evening of the third day, the girl stirred and coughed, spewing the overflowing food in her mouth out on Ayoka who was at that time forcing more food into the mouth of the girl. Ayoka took this as one big funny joke. Kate continued to cough and spurt out blood but Ayoka kept laughing and rolling on the floor. after a long time, Kate fainted and Ayoka stopped laughing.

When she woke up again, her surrounding was in pitch darkness. She tried to sit up but all the parts of her body were aching and none of them moved. She gave up trying to sit up but she began to moan because she was in so much pain and she was faint with hunger. Ayoka heard her moaning an she sprang up from her rickety wooden bed and stirred the fireplace. A tiny flame sprang to life, attaching itself to the nearby firewood and it caught fire, piercing the darkness with a weak glow. She lighted an oil lamp and brought it to where Kate was laying on the floor.

"My doll, how are you, are you hungry?"

Kate didn't understand what Ayoka was saying but she nodded all the same and Ayoka left.

She came back some seconds later with a foul smelling substance. Kate let her feed her and she slept again. when she woke up the next time, she felt better but she was still weak and ached all over her body. She was not strong enough to stand up. Ayoka helped her and sat her down, leaning her back against the mud wall of the hut.

Three weeks later, Kate was totally physically alright but something was wrong with it. It was something very serious; she had lost her memory and she could not remember anything that happened before she found herself inside Ayoka's hut and she thought that Ayoka was her mum and that nothing was wrong with her. To her, Ayoka was what a normal human was supposed to be.

One day, they went out to the village market together to buy thing though they had no money. People began to gather and gape at them "Where did she see this girl?" they asked one another "This girl is definitely not from this village or anywhere around here but where did she see her? Look at the girl's dress and hair…."

Though Kate didn't understand anything they were saying but she knew that she was the object of their discussion and curiosity, so she asked Ayoka. Instead of answering, Ayoka dragged her away fro the gaping crowd down the sheds that served as the market stalls.

Every seller looked with disgust and anger at them whenever they stopped to buy something. Whenever the few ones that want to sell anything to them asked Ayoka for money, she would unknot the knot at the edge of her filthy rag like a serous buyer and bring out some crumpled leaves as if they were actually money. The buyers would then chase them away with threats and curses. Some even tried to haul sticks and stones in their direction.

After their unsuccessful attempt in the market at buying something, Ayoka led Kate away from the market to a hut and she banged on the door of the hut when she got to the hut. The door opened and a woman came. She was not too old but she was old enough to be Ayoka's mum.

"Ah, welcome!" the woman said excitedly. "Alejo nla ree o (This is an august visitor). You did not come here yesterday and I was worried about you Ayoka. Stay here, let me go and bring something to eat for you and your visitor" the woman said and disappeared into the hut. She reappeared moments later with a steaming calabash of porridge. By then, Ayoka had sat on the floor, avoiding the mat that the woman had indicated for her to sit on like a plague "Oh no Ayoka, I have told you countless times not to be sitting on the floor, you will get dirty like that!" the woman scolded gently.

"The floor is better than the mat" Ayoka and she began to eat the food with her dirty hand in earnest. Kate joined her while the woman looked in astonishment at both of them.

"Ayoka, where did you see this girl from?" the woman asked, unable to curtail her astonishment

"She is my doll" Ayoka replied without looking up from the food she was eating.

'Your doll, Ayoka you could be in a very serious problem if you have abducted this girl from somewhere and you are lying about it all. How can a human being be your doll?" the woman asked worriedly.

Though Kate had been learning how to speak Yoruba since she started living in the village, she was not yet perfect in the language so most of what was said by the woman were lost to her.

"She is my doll! She is my doll, my doll my doll" Ayoka began singing and twisting her body rhythmically to a beat that only she could hear but Kate kept eating, unperturbed.

"Hey this girl, what is your name and where are your parents? Are you from Olopon, Agunla or Dagbolu village?" the woman asked Kate.

"My name is doll and this is my mum" Kate said, pointing at Ayoka.

"No, Ayoka is not your mum and you must have a name. ARE YOU OKAY?" the woman asked seriously, pointing a finger at her head. Kate said yes.

"Oh no this is tragedy!" the woman lamented and cried. "As young as she is, what could be wrong with her too…"

"Nothing is wrong with me… Kate shouted at the woman."

"But how can you call Ayoka your mother if nothing is wrong with you?"

"Because she is my mum!"

"She is not your mum! She is mad, she is crazy, and she is abnormal. Something is wrong with her brain. Look at her, is that the way a normal person supposed to be behaving?"

Kate looked at Ayoka, at that moment; Ayoka was sprinkling sands on the porridge and eating it at the same time. Kate winced.

"Can you see that? You don't belong to this place my daughter, you have to go back to wherever you come from and find your parents" the woman said.

"I don't know anyone apart from her. She is the only one I know all my life. I know nobody else" Kate said angrily "The truth is; I don't even believe all these things you are saying. She may be mad but she is my mother"

The woman looked with exasperation at her.

"Okay, whatever you say is fine by me. But you should know that she is not normal so you don't emulate her"

"I know, she may not be normal but that doesn't mean that I have to deny my own mother. I will help her as much as I can"

"Okay, god to hear that then. Let's start with her cloths; I've been the one giving her cloths. Nobody in this village likes and interacts with her except me and I am getting tired of her already as well because she can turn a brand new cloth into rags in a matter of hours. Now that you are with her, please make sure that she is always neat.

"I will"

"I'll give you some cloths, soaps and foods now so that you two can take it home and cook…."

"But I don't know how to cook" Kate said, embarrassed.

"Ah, okay, don't worry about that yet. Let's do it this way; you can be coming here whenever you are hungry and I will be teaching you how to do all those chores…."

Ayoka suddenly stopped eating and sprang up.

"Let's go home my doll" She said and grabbed Kate's hand tightly.

"Ayoka wait…." The woman pleaded.

"Mum please wait" Kate begged but Ayoka was not listening as she hurriedly dragged Kate away.

Six months after Kate began living in the village, she has already learnt everything she needed to know to survive and fit in to the village. With the help of the woman, she was able to learn so many things. The woman taught her how to cook, wash, fetch water from the village stream and how to balance the water clay pot on her head without holding it, how to fetch woods from the bush and which type of firewood burns better in fire, how to hoe the ground and cut the grass and how to set traps to catch rodents and title animals. By the middle of the sixth month, Kate had cleared the entire bush surrounding their crumbling hut and had planted some things. The once abandoned and hunted hut now takes a new and lively look with the brightness of Kate's touch.

People also noticed that Ayoka though still mad as ever, no longer wore rags and they all knew that it was Kate who was behind all the changes and transformations. People who had not been helping them before began to offer help. For instance, a group of young and able bodied men volunteered to help them rebuild their tumbling down hut for free when it would have cost at least fifty tubers of yam and three big pots of cola nut, a price that Ayoka and Kate could never afford.

Time passed quickly and seasons changed in a twinkling of an eye. Two years came and left since Kate arrived at the village. By then she was almost a woman grown. Every dry season in the village, it was a tradition to initiate teenagers who have reached puberty stage into adulthood. This was not an ordinary tradition. If fact, this a tradition was among the most interesting things that always take place in the village every year and everyone always look forward to that period. All the teenagers who are weaned would be gathered in the village square for seven days that the initiation would last. Each day has its rituals and set of activities

. Usually, most of these activities and rituals were held in the evenings; a time when everyone would have been back from his or her farm, streams or hunting. The villagers would gather at the village square, forming a bog circle around the teenagers who were to be initiated. Drummers and singers would begin their titillating drums and women with small cloths wound tightly to their chests and similar cloths tied to their waists with heavy waist beads would challenge one another in sequences of dances that tells stories and shows the beauty of their Africanness. It is a common sight to see one or two people shedding few tears as these silent dances remind them the forgotten stories of yore; tales of ancestors long gone and drowned in the murky ocean of memory.

After the waist dancers dance, the teenagers would take the center stage and begin to jingle to the beats of the drums in all their glory and youthfulness. Once again, the faces of the crowd of the elderly ones would crease from its wrinkles and broaden into a toothless mirth of pleasure and longing to be young again. The spectators would be clapping an dancing with them. All these would take place in the evening of those seven days that the ceremony would last.

On the seventh day, the chief priest, assisted by his horde of disciples would step into the middle of the circle and give each teenager to be initiated a potion to drink and he or she would be made to sit down, leaning his or her back against the gigantic iroko tree that dominated the village square with its legion of heavy branches that cast a very big circular canopy over a large area of the village as if it was a mother hen, casting its wing protectively over her chicks. As each teenager is made to sit down, leaning his or her back against the iroko tree, others would continue Dancing and clapping until the last of the teenagers to be initiated had been made to sit after drinking the potion.

As the seventh evening begins to envelope the village in a blanket of darkness, the teenagers would become drowsy and fall asleep one by one until they are all sound asleep then the crowd would depart to their various huts. After the last spectator had gone, the chief priest and his disciples would carry these teenagers to a hut built very far away into the middle of nowhere and this is where these teenagers would be locked up for seven days, unable to see their family members until the seventh day had passed.

Of course, nobody except the chief priest and his accolades knew where this hut was located although every adult in the village had been initiated before, except of course Ayoka because he was already raving mad before she even became a teenager. None of the adults who had been initiated before never tell where they had been taken to for those seven days. It was one of the seven mysteries of the village that no one knew. Kate was among the teenagers to be initiated on this particular occasion but unlike the other teenagers who treated the whole event as sacred the whole thing looked silly and somehow funny. She was taken away with the others and instead of being in a deep sleep like the others, she was wide awake but she pretended to be asleep.

The chief priest and his disciples took them all into a hut into the middle of the thick forest where the hut was located and the door was locked from outside after all the teenagers had been lay on bare floor and there they would remain for the next seven days without food or water. It was a general knowledge that in a year, as many as two teenagers may die from thirst and hunger but mostly it's usually one every year but there was no year when a teenager wouldn't die. So those who were unable to make it through the hunger and thirst will graduate into adulthood.

When she'd made sure that the chief priest and his dispels had gone, she went to the door and tried to open it but found it locked tightly from outside. She went back to the others but she couldn't wake them up. She suspected that there was a very strong sleeping dose in the potion that they were given o drink. She had not taken the drink but pretended as if she had but the stupid others had drunk it to the last drop. That's their fate; she reflected and she began scheming on how to get away from the dark hut. Not long after, she found a window that was hidden in a very small room in the hut. The room was meant not to be entered but she entered anyway and found the window.

She walked very far and fast away from the hut till she reached the village. She went home straight to Ayoka who had been looking for her all through the day after roaming through the forests for hours. The following day, they went to the market together and people were surprised and afraid to see her.

"She must be a witch" they gossiped in whispered tones among themselves "I've never seen anyone come back from the sacred hut until the seventh day in my life before. This is a real abomination and the gods would be very angry" they said but Kate didn't care.

On the seventh day, other teenagers were brought back to the village. Normally, their arrival was meant to be celebrating with pomp and pageantry but Kate's exit from the hut had downgraded its novelty and sacredness so no one bothered to dance. Besides, three of the teenagers left in the hut had died and this was very disturbing news that made the parents and families of the dead teenagers angry. The teenagers blamed the death of these teenagers on Kate's disappearance before the said date. Soon, the villagers took to the village square in angry protests and from their, they went to the chief's palace.

"She is evil!" they shouted "Use her blood to appease the gods or bad things will be happening!" they said on and on. The chief calmed them after several attempts, and sent his messengers to bring Kate to the palace. It didn't take them long before they brought her on their shoulders with Ayoka on their heels, pelting them with stones and curses in high pitched tones.

"Now tell me young lady, how did you escape from the shrine of the gods and find your way back to the village when nobody alive has ever done that before?" the chief asked and everybody listened with rapt attention as she narrated how she escaped.

"The other teenagers were sleeping when we got to the hut but I was not. The chief and the others locked us inside one dark silly and smelling hut and left. It was wickedness and they didn't even think that w might died from starvation and thirst or anything. I found a small window concealed at the end of the room, I opened it and climbed out through it"

"Ah!" the villagers shouted.

Some were laughing at this but those whose children died were not. This revelation made hem madder. Everyone was angry that the chief priest and his cohorts had been deceiving generations and wasting innocent children's lives through a body of lies that they called custom and tradition. Even the chief of the village felt embarrassed and very foolish that as wise as he claimed himself to be, he had been deceived all those years with that simple trick. Thanks to the girl who unraveled that mystery. Not only he had been deceived, all his predecessors long before him had been deceived by these herbalists over the ages. He cleared his throat and directed his gaze and anger at the old chief priest.

"Awo, is that so?" he asked.

The old pries shuffled forward, supported by his aged blackened cane. He had been preparing himself for this confrontation she the stupid girl ran away from the hut and he already had hi answers. He prostrated for the chief before he began to defend himself and all the other chief priests before him. At least, a tradition of almost three hundred centuries shouldn't be messed up in his time by a ruthless, stubborn girl.

"May you live longer than a horsetail my lord, my king. Dear villagers, I salute your wisdom, courage and patience in this trying time. I am the representative of the gods among you and I have assumed this position even when the chief himself is still a boy- no insult intended my king. Since I have attained this lofty height, I've always treated everyone in this village with fairness and justice. What this devilish girl, a strange river with no tributary said now amazes me a lot. Is there anyone here among you the elderly ones who has never been initiated before? If there's none, can any of you here then tell this gathering if he or she sees a hut like this lying girl just described now?" he asked and looked around at the faces around him everyone was mute.

The chief priest knew that he had the people already so he moved in for the kill, so he raised his voice.

"I said is there anyone here who knew then and even till now where he or she was taken to when he or she was initiated? Answer me!" he asked angrily with his thick ancient voice that boomed through the gathering. The people shuddered and some became scared such that they couldn't look at his face again. "You have all called the gods liars through your childish behaviour and moment of doubts. The punishment for that is grave as you all know. I have been told by the gods that evil things would start happening one after another unless you do these things: one, this girl must be sacrificed to the gods and Ayoka must be banished forever from this village. The girl is very evil and it was through Ayoka that she came here; a strange stream of no origin. Ayoka herself is an embodiment of evil through her parents. Finally, each family in this village must offer to the gods: two mother goats, a roll of white cloth and twenty baskets of yam tuber…."

"Ah, do the gods want to kill us?" the villagers shouted angrily.

"Listen o, I won't beg you to bring these things to the gods. Who has ears, let him hear what the gods are saying. Any family that dares disobey this instruction will be losing a member every day till it obeys or everyone in that family dies" he said and sat fuming. For a long time, nobody said anything. Even Ayoka was silent, a rare occurrence.

"Hmm, my people, this is a very delicate situation. We have angered the gods through our foolishness. We dared them and now the consequences are hanging on our heads like a plague. Anyways, thanks to the gods that the price for this disobedience is not too much. We have to do what the gods demanded in order to avoid serial death and to bring peace back to this land. Therefore, in the best interest of this village, I decree that the girl that caused all these mess be taken and sacrificed to the gods to avert further evil. Also, I implore every family to get all the things that the gods demanded. Does anyone have anything to say?"

"Your royal highness, we know that we have done a very grave thing but please help us to tell the chief priest to tell the gods to reduce what they are demanding for. It would wreck us financially if we have to provide all these things" an old man said and people nodded in affirmation to support what he said.

"Okay, Awo, you have heard the people, help us beg the gods: tell them to temper justice with mercy." The chief said.

The chief priest reluctantly put down his divination kits and began to throw some things up randomly. Each time the pieces of bones and metals hit the ground, he looked keenly at the position of each object as if his life depended on it. In the meantime, he was murmuring angry incantations and vituperations; his voice alone sounded like that of a thousand bees. After a long time that seem like eternity to the villagers, he spoke.

"The gods said that they won't reduce anything and that anyone who dares remove a thing out of the things mentioned will dance in the cold fires of the gods' anger." He said.

"In that case my people, you all may go home in peace now. Be rest assured that all would be well henceforth. Let the living bury their dead and let these pains and mistrust run into the wilderness of forgetfulness and let our tradition continue with renewed vigour. But everything the gods had said would be done about the girl and Ayoka in details." The chief said plaintively. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he was already calculating the number of yam tubers, cloths and goats that he would collect when the villagers give those things to the chief priest. It was an open secret between the chiefs and the priests for numerous ages that nobody else knows apart from him and the chief priest that certain percent of whatever the latter collects from the people must be remitted to the chief.

The villagers dispersed. Kate and Ayoka were taken and bound with ropes. They were dragged to the dungeon in the chief's palace.

Melancholy.

That same day in Lagos, Governor Lewis and his wife were invited to the book signing of a commissioner's daughter. They were the chairman and chairlady of the occasion. The worst part of it was that the girl was Kate's intimate friend when she was alive. While she was dressing up for the occasion, Mrs. Lewis thought about her daughter and two silent tears stood at the corners of her eyes, contemplating whether they should fall freely like the waters of Niagara or to stay hidden like frightened children in the presence of a bully.

"How good will it be today Kate if you are alive and following us to the party? Rita wouldn't be happy today without you by her side. God this is not fair!" She howled and flung her compact face mirror against the wall in despair. She began to cry as she talked to her picture. There was a knock on the door and her personal assistant came in when she was asked to.

"Your excellency, hope there is no problem? Why are you crying ma? Is there anything you need? Are you fit to go to this party or you want to call off?" She asked, concerned.

"Don't worry, I'm alright. What is it, why are you here?" The first lady asked, pulling herself together.

"His excellency said he is waiting for you and that there is not time anymore"

"Okay, tell him that I will join him downstairs now" her personal assistant bowed and exited the room.

"Kate it hurts so much to think of you as dead. This thought is rude and desperately wicked" She continued talking to Kate's picture where she was smiling to the camera. It was her last picture before she died and she put it in her handbag then her husband came in.

"Honey, are you crying again?" he asked as he took her into his arms.

"It's hard not to. If she is alive today, she would be going to this party with us or at least, /she would…."

"Sweetheart, I've told you, this is the will of God and no matter what we say or do, we can't undo the knotty web of the past. Let it go. Now are you fit to go or I should go alone if it won't be convenient for you?"

"I'm alright. Sorry for keeping you waiting. Let me reapply my powder; I won't take a minute"

"Okay, I'll be downstairs" he said and left.

At the party, the governor donated generously and the author- Kate's friend said in her speech that Kate was the best person that se knew and she was her inspiration for writing the book and that she dedicated the book to her loving memory. This brought fresh unprecedented tears to Mrs. Lewis' eyes and she had to quickly excuse herself from the high table before she could break down weeping publicly.

Banished.

The night was in pitch darkness. The moon has not come out yet but the trillion of stars were already in the black night sky, sparkling on and off like Nigeria's electrical power. Night birds and insects were singing several natural lullabies that filled the night air with a loud cacophony of sounds. The chief priest was in the lead. He carried a palm oil lamp and a piece of white cloth was draped over his shoulder, he held a cock by his left hand. He was chanting incantations and these incantations were faithfully picked up by his disciples. Behind him, there were his students and disciples who were equally gabbed in white and they held both Kate and Ayoka tightly. Ayoka was gagged but Kate was not. Like the leader, they too were chanting the same meaningless, unmelodious incantations. Their voices were echoing and breaking through the perfect symphony of the birds and the crickets' songs.

The group walked on very deep into the dark forests till they passed the last farm and the narrow path ended. After that, one of the men began to cut the interlocked and ancient bush and make way for the troupe as they as they went deeper into the forest. Soon, they reached a tiny stream and the chief priest signaled to all of them to wait. He performed some meaningless acrobatic dance steps and when he was doe and satisfied, he slaughtered the hen and sprinkled the hot blood on both Kate and Ayoka. Then they began moving again.

At last, the chief priest reached an open space and he told the others to wait.

"This is the place. Right here, we will offer the sacrifice and banish the mad woman from this village forever" He gave his disciples instructions and quickly they began to make preparations for the sacrifice. When they were done, they bounded Kate tightly with strong ropes and lay her flat on her back on the woods that had been gathered and arranged like a pyre. Dry woods were lay in a perfect circle so that she was in the middle of the circle. "Now, awo, take this mad woman and walk her very far away from here. Do not leave her until the day breaks and only when you hear the first cock crow should you stop walking and release her in the wilderness to roam till eternity comes and goes. May the gods of our fathers go with you. On this journey, may you go and return safely. Now go!" he said as he sprinkled some foul smelling liquid content on them. They became happy and overexcited as they licked the foul smelling substance. They left the chief priest and the tightly bound Kate alone as they dragged the struggling Ayoka away.

When he had made sure that the others had gone very far away, he knelt down beside Kate and began "You wanted to shame me, you this silly girl. You made me a liar in the front of the people I have been serving and saving all my life, before your father-whoever he is- was born. Today is your last day and ii will make sure that you don't leave here alive. Very soon, your soul will depart from your body and begins to wander with other legion of restless spirits in between the heaven and the earth. Next time when you come into this world- because I strongly believe in reincarnation, try and learn not to question the wisdom of the elders"

"Leave me alone, please let me go!" Kate cried and begged in despair. "I did not do anything wrong against you, pleases!"

"Yes you did"

"No please, these ropes hurt so much!" she twisted and turned but all to no avail.

"That's how it's meant to be. This will teach you and others that are foolish enough to question the wisdom of our elders' very important lessons"

"Please…" she begged desperately and weakly.

"No" he said and brought out a rough edged sharp knife. He was about to put it on her neck when Ayoka suddenly appeared with a very big stick behind the old man. The old man spurned around in time to see the stick but it was too late for him to do anything in his self-defense. Ayoka brought down the stick forcefully down his bald pate with all the anger and hatred she could muster. The old man slumped like a sack of flour to the leavy forest floor. He twitched for very few seconds then he lay still in eternal death posture. She dropped the stick and untied Kate. They quickly ran away from the scene, running not in the way they had come into the forest.

Ayoka had tricked the priests that she wanted to defecate and when they didn't listen, she had defecated on herself right while they were still holding her and it stank so much that some of her captors vomited. They scattered in different directions as the stench hit their nostrils, gasping for fresh air and momentarily releasing their hold on Ayoka. Before they could recover, she sprinted very fast away from them, she ran back towards where the chief priest and Kate were. They chased her with fierce anger and hatred, with a strong determination to kill her immediately they catch her but she too fast for all of them. Besides, it was still night and everywhere was dark, only the weak glows of their oil lamps pierce a very small portion of the darkness that stretched endlessly. So they had to pick their way carefully through the forest else, they would run and stumble and hit their heads on stones and tree roots.

It was almost five minutes since Ayoka and Kate left before the priests reached the place and found the chief priest's body on the forest floor. They all cursed her and were brimming with uncontrollable anger. They would have given chase but they didn't know the direction they took. They gave up the chase and began thinking of what to do next.

The closest one to the chief priest when he was alive spoke.

"Well, things are not that bad after all. When we get back to the village, we will tell the villagers that we have done what the oracle said; sacrificed the girl and banished Ayoka. Those two people cannot go back to the again so our secret is forever safe. We also tell them that while the chief priest was interceding on the people's behalf, the gods took him away because they were very angry. This, my colleagues will earn us more respect from the people and make them fear us more. Are we one on this?"

"Yes we are together in this!" the other priests chorused.

Kate and Ayoka walked for days in the forest until they reached another village. Unlike where they were coming from, there were tidbits of civilization here. There was a public primary school and a chapel for people to worship the white man's gods. Also, once in a week, an old roaring bus used to come from the nearest town, which was more than fifty miles away to the village to take to the city farm produce. Therefore, modern things were brought into the village. Kate and Ayoka decided to live in the town for the meantime but where

It would have been a lot better and easier if Ayoka was a sane person but since she was not, it was all left for Kate to find them an accommodation but nobody took them in. "If it's only you, it would be alright but how do you expect me to take a mad woman into my house, no way!" they all told her. Ayoka too made the matter worse for them by shouting for no apparent reason and sometimes she could be shouting and cursing the very people they were trying to get help from.

The first night fell in the village with Kate and Ayoka homeless and helpless. For that night, they had to sleep in an abandon hut which was occupied- until their arrival- by goats and sheep. The place reeked of goat shit and fermented urine but there was no better choice. It was either they managed the place or they stay inside the pelting rain till the day broke.

The following broke bright and cool. Kate sat Ayoka down.

"Mama, I am going to the village now to find any work, anything that can put food in our bellies and shelter on our heads so that I can be able to take care of us. Meanwhile, I want you to promise me that you won't walk away such that I can't be able to find you. . also, I want you to promise me that you won't fight anyone while I'm gone. Finally, promise me that you won't tear or dirty your cloths while I'm gone Now promise me these things"

"My doll," Ayoka replied "Did you know that the mosquito is very delicious? If you roast it? In fact, the cockroach too is very spicy and tasty. Just apply salt and fry it till it dries very well then bon appetite!"

Kate felt heartbroken.

"Mama stop, that's not what I am asking you!" she said tearfully.

"Yesterday, the lizards and the dogs fought a very brutal war that threatens the existence of this very world in a jumble of jungle. There was so much bloodshed that it was flowing like the water of the Pacific….." she continued the rubbish but Kate was not interested.

Kate hissed and walked away. She knew that Ayoka would be on that monologue for the next few hours until she got distracted by something else.

It didn't take long before she got a job. She was employed as a house-help in the village's school headmaster's house.

She began working there but she was not happy that she while she had a place to sleep, her mother was sleeping on the streets at the mercy of cold, rain and mosquitoes. Every time she wants to eat, she would sneak out of her master's house and took the food to her mother. They both would share it then she would quickly go back to her boss' house, lest he found out the truth. The headmaster had asked her to bring her parents but she had lied that her parents were dead but the man believed her.

Mr. Joshua, the headmaster of the village's only school liked Kate very much but his wife and daughter despised her greatly. Whenever her husband was not at home, Mrs. Joshua would beat Kate for little or no offence; especially when their daughter – Joy accuses Kate of a wrongdoing. Joy was in primary five, about to write her common entrance but Kate had not yet even begun school so Joy used to taunt and call n Kate an illiterate. She dared not report these to her master though he might favour her and rebuke his daughter but she knew that it would only make things worse for her because they were his family members and he couldn't possibly chase them out. Unlike her, she could be sacked at any moment so she endured all the pains and miseries with the hope that someday, things would change.

One Sunday afternoon, Mr. and Mrs. Joshua and joy were in the living room, discussing about the new term that was about to begin 'the following week.

"I want My-Doll to start with the new students for this new term. My dear, I believe she is an exceptional child and she would be very good."

His wife frowned and said nasally "That's a good idea but why do you want to do that? Who will be responsible for the fees, the uniforms, books, stationer and all that? Don't you think this is a heavy load?"

"Haba, woman, how much will all these things you just mentioned cost me? You and I both know that the money we are spending on buying newspaper that takes almost a week before it finally gets to us weekly in this house is more than what all these things would cost. So why shouldn't I help if I am in a position to?"

"You don't know her like I do dear. I know her more than you will ever do; she is a real dullard. At her age, she cannot even speak Yoruba fluently; it is as if her tongue is twisted. So how can such a person learn and speak English? Don't even think of wasting our hard earned money on her. Joy has ben begging you for the trending pair of shoes since the birth of Jesus but you haven't given her. Yet, here you are, ready to be a Father Christmas to one orphan, someone you don't know"

"About Joy's shoes, there is no way for that. How can my own daughter who is the headmaster of the only school in the village be coming seventh in her class?"

"She came sixteenth the other time!" his wife countered angrily.

"What's the difference? Listen to this Joy" he said and faced his daughter who was sulking on her sweat at a corner of the room, looking at her eye-ball-t-eyeball "This common entrance exam, if you fail it, that would be the end of your education…."

"Why are you cursing my daughter? What would you gain from her failure and why are you wishing her bad luck? Are you doing all these because of that wretched, stupid, useless girl?" his wife asked as she hissed and walked out of the room. Joy wanted to follow her mother out but her father commanded her to stay.

Mr. Joshua began to soliloquize "I don't know why she is always worked up when it comes to our house help issue. Well, that's her problem. My-Doll!" he shouted Kate's name. Kate replied from the toilet where she was washing and scrubbing the floor. Moments later, she ran into the living room, covered with dirt and grime.

"You called me sa?" she said and curtsied as she came into the room.

"Yes, I called you. Get ready, you are resuming with the other students this coming term. Tomorrow afternoon, I'll take you to the school's tailor to have you measured up for the uniform. Now the reason why I called you is that I want you to be very serious. Let me happy and satisfied that I am spending my hard earned money on you by performing excellently in your academics. I will continue to pay your salary so whatever I do for you about your schooling is FREE."

"Oh, thank you sa!" Kate said excitedly, jumping up and down, unable to curtail her happiness.

"Okay, that's enough. Calm down. We need to set some things straight now. What's your father's name?"

"I don't know sa but my mother's name was Ayoka"

"In that case, you will use your mother's name to register in the school. How old are you?"

"I don't know sa" she replied solemnly.

"Ah, okay. What's your real name apart from the one you told me; My-Doll or something. That cannot be your real name. No one bears such a name"

"I don't know sa, that's my name"

"No it's not. We cannot use such names to register in the school. See, you will be bearing Rose. That is the name we will use to register you in the school and the name that you shall be bearing henceforth"

"Okay sa" she said and curtsied. Gratitude was flowing on a face like a river in wet season.