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Drops of water hits his face, awakening him to his predicament. Alas! he had been dreaming all along, he wasn’t in his home in Nigeria neither, did he have any child to play with even if, he was indeed at home. His eyes wander at the ceiling wondering if the ceiling had a leak. He then becomes aware of his environment; there seemed to be a heavy rain pour. He had just realized the gravity of the leakage when he heard the sound of a drop of water landing on a reasonable amount of water gathered on his bed. He made a move to sit up then he realizes he is numb. The chilled rain drop had given him cold. He stays still for a while hoping he would get out of the numb state. Minutes later, his eyes gradually close, shutting him off his environment.
‘Desarrolló frío debido a la fuga en el techo, las gotas de iluvia pasaron por la fuga. ¡Ver! Todo es un lío. (he developed cold because the ceiling has a leak, the rain drops passed through the leak. See! everything is a mess) an inmate states. The Wardens take Tade out of his cell to the medical section so he could properly be attended to.

Lola awakes into the news of becoming a mother. She had mixed feelings about the news. She was happy she was going to become a mother but, sad she would not see her child grow, she would not live her dreams. She painted a picture of how events would possibly turn out, she imagined herself and her husband being away from their child. She wondered how Tade would take the news. She knew he would be terribly sad but happy like the way she felt. She cried at how fate had turned to ruin them. ‘I have to let Tade know’ she states aloud to herself. She requests the presence of her lawyer whom seemed to be the only one she could communicate through to Tade.

He had been taken back to his cell. His fellow inmates welcomed him warmly, he was still struggling to interact with anyone as that type of ‘interaction’ had led him to his present plight. He makes a gesture by nodding his head as they welcome him. He goes to a corner of the cell to sit. He wondered how his wife was faring. The last time he saw her she had fainted due to, the sentence passed upon them. He wished he could see her, he probably would cope better if she was with him in their present situation. He wished they had not separated them. While he was deep in his thoughts, thinking of his wife, a warden calls his name and a tap on his shoulder jolts him back to reality. He spots his lawyer and he knew instantly it was about his wife.

‘Mr Tade’ the lawyer calls as a form of greeting. He speaks English and that relieves Tade the stress of having to communicate. He gets irritated when he his being spoken to with a language he struggles to decipher. ‘How is my wife?’ Tade asks. ‘She is fine’, the lawyer replies. ‘she is the reason for my visit, she requested me to come here and inform you that’. The lawyer pauses to see Tade’s reaction whom was keenly following each word the lawyer spilled. His eyes were wider than its normal state and in it contained rapt attention, passion and desperation to hear the next word. His hands, even though hand cuffed and chained to his legs seemed to gesticulate as he spoke loudly with his eyes wide opened. ‘that what Mr Demian’. The lawyer smiles after watching and noting his reaction and says, ‘your wife is four (4) months pregnant’. ‘What!’ Tade exclaims flashing back to the dream he had dreamt a day before. While still thinking and trying to digest the joy and sorrows of becoming a father, the lawyer says with a low tone voice, ‘things could be better’. Tade moves his wandering eyes fixing his gaze at him and then the lawyer says, ‘i have something for you’.

 

From the desk of Mary Elebijo..