“You wax muscle to your hustle life remains a difficult puzzle. You crawl from thorn to thorns as you battle to break the loins. Tear tears path on your cheeks and fear fate pairs as your clique sadness balloons your hearts “cause to hard time you’re an art in your yell for breakthrough” I see the hell you go through; To faith, you voice your dream but faith deaf eared your screams.
No matter how hard the strife, do not knife your life for the dead wishes to be in your shoe you just don’t have a clue.
For how long are we going to paddle this phases of struggles before our aspirations wake from the state of dream?”
Since then, he had forced them to live in the countryside. Her mum wasn’t happy, but since she wasn’t working, she doesn’t have an excuse. But for him, he can attend the Federal Boys School which was a ten-minute walk to the almost tranquil express road.
‘New York is just like Abuja and Calabar, only that the number of skyscrapers are different,’ his father said one day just after dinner. He had visited America just because he involved himself in NGOs programme. ‘If they involve government, I won’t have traveled to America.’
During periods like this, Tango would lower the TV volume not because it interested him what his father was saying, rather he was waiting for her mother responses.
‘You never stop amazing me.’ She tied her wrapper just above her breast and lean on the chair he sat on. ‘Just because you traveled out doesn’t mean you should compare things here with the Whitman country. You are a professor.’
His father turned to face her, then start with the country gross injustice that was palpable. ‘Over there, they have the jury. But we don’t have just because we don’t even trust ourselves.’
‘Judicial system of all country can’t be the same. Francophone countries won’t have same system as the Englishman country.’
‘Yes,’ his father raised his hand, just like a kid in the class waiting to answer the teacher question. ‘America is a commonwealth country which is being colonized by Britain. Nigeria is colonized by Britain; what differences do you expect?’
‘I expect us to be unique.’ Her mum always put the word “unique” in at least a sentence when arguing with his father. ‘Uniqueness shouldn’t be in our skin alone.’
‘You are getting it wrong again dear.’ His father would pat her like a baby. ‘Uniqueness is vital, but in the judicial system you practiced what the best is practicing.’
‘Ha! Practice what the best is practicing. That is an inferiority complex o.’ she included the “o” to her words.
Tango remember that during the heat of their argument, he would close his reading Tablet dictionary. Dad was a professor in Prisun University where he lectured political science. Though his mum spend hours on both newspapers and news channel and was more current than Dad, whereas her husband won’t ever let her win. He would always say No, No and No before picking the TV remote and increase the volume.
It was one of these days that after their routine argument, his father changed the channel to a news channel and then he shouted “Jesu”
This was the first time his father called Jesus in the Yoruba language. He never even understands Yoruba language. Anytime he traveled to the southwest, he will return the next day mainly because the NGO sent him there and wasn’t even able to learn words for salutation. ‘Unbelievable! This is twenty-first century.’
‘Twenty-First century,’ his mum said after him. ‘Is this the first time people are being killed?’
‘This is different.’
‘How?’ with her wrapper tied around her body, her mum sat on a sofa then exchanged look between his dad and the TV. The air inside was cold but the yellow bulb performed a homeostasis work.
His father pointed to the TV. ‘Five people knelt on that stony ground without a blindfold, while they blindfolded the slaughtered man.’ For him, he understood what his father was trying to explain. The killer wants his action to scare remaining five. This was just like the horror movies. Though most horrors are in zombie movies, and zombies are not humans. ‘The blindfolded man is being slaughter like a fowl. Don’t you see that?’
