Of all my escapades, stealing from my father’s staff seemed to be the most humiliating for my parent. So, I was expecting the worst from my father. Surprisingly, he was unusually calm concerning the matter.

That not withstanding, my mummy continued to make life miserable for him. At a point, I had no choice than to call Mrs. Don on phone to help and talk to my mummy. She promised to do it

On the appointed day , I called her on phone to remind her to come. Initially she was reluctant, later she told me that she was coming.

When Mrs. Don later came, her eyes were dripping with tears. It was obvious that she had been crying. When Mummy requested to know the reason for the cry she replied that she was not crying. She smiled and attempted to wipe the tears away.

“You cannot deceive me, it is obvious that you are crying so let me know the reason,” Mummy said. This made Mrs. Don to start crying again.

“Please leave me alone. Allow me to mourn over my situation. That is the lot that fate has dished for me,”she wept uncontrollably.

As she continued sobbing, the attention of my father was drawn. He came and joined in consoling her, after which he requested to know the reason for the cry.

“I promised myself that I would not go out today,” Mrs. Don explained. “That was because I had earlier declared today a resting day. However, about an hour ago, Judy called me on phone to remind me that I promised visit her. On my way, I branched off an eatery to buy ice cream for her. A boy ran out, pointing at me and was shouting ‘Iya ole- mother of a thief’ Oh my God! I was so embarrassed.” She broke down in tears again.

“Have you had previous encounter with the boy,” Daddy asked.

“Yes. Last week when Judy visited my house, an incident occurred. That was how the boy got to know me and Judy.”

“I thought as much. I know that Judy must be in the picture,” Daddy responded.

Instantly, I knew that I had fallen inside hot okro soup. When this incident happened, I begged Mrs. Don never to tell my parents because I knew the consequence.

We visited an eatery. I was sitting, waiting for Mrs. Don and Lucia; her daughter who went to get the food. Suddenly, I noticed that a man left the food he dropped on the table to go and get drinking water. With the speed of a lightning, I dashed over to the table, carried the food and started eating. Mrs. Don arrived with food they bought only to find me already eating.

“Judy where did you get the food that you are eating?”she asked.

I fixed my gaze on her but I didn’t respond to the question.

“Could this be the reason you refused to accompany us to get the food?” she asked again.

The owner of the food returned and could not find his food. He looked at us and it was obvious he noticed what happened.

However, he never talked to me. He went and bought another food for himself. But the people around were already talking and pointing at me. Even the management of the eatery asked us to leave to avoid embarrassment. Though, at that point, we were already on our way out.

It was already a week since the incident happened so I felt that I was free. I never knew that my parents would find out. Dad quickly climbed upstairs and resurfaced with a belt. My mummy and Mrs. Don pleaded on my behalf but their pleadings felled on deaf ears. Even when Mummy tried to stand in-between as daddy was flogging me, he flogged both of us. I continued groaning under the pain of the flogging until a sudden peace descended on me.

I don’t know how long it took them to resuscitate me. Daddy, who was obviously shaking, managed to fix a drip on me and administered other medications. Mummy had cried her eyeballs out. She attempted hugging me but I wriggled out of her hold because of pain. She reached for my hands and held them tight as if I would disappear if she let those hands go. As she was holding me, the wrong words were popping out of her mouth.

“Judy please don’t leave me. If it is stealing that will make you to stay alive, continue stealing. I cannot afford to lose you.”

In a normal situation, Daddy would have rebuked her for that statement. But owing to the situation on ground, he did not mind her. It was as if he never heard those words. However Mrs. Don could not ignore Mummy.

“Ore it is okay. She will not continue to steal. There is surely an end to every trouble. The only thing is that we should not be over reacting. It is over reaction that brought us to this point.”

“Enough! Your advice is not needed,” Mummy shunned her.

“Ah! What have I done?”

“The question should be; what have you not done? You are advising against over reaction, the one that you did, was it under reaction? If you had not left your house to come and show irrelevant emotion, my daughter would not be laying down here lifeless.”

“Ore you are taking this too far. This is not my fault. Was there not a cause?”

“What exactly is this cause? That you were called iya ole, is that enough reason for you to cry all the way from an eatery to my house. If you were to be her biological mother may be you would have gone to hug an electricity transformer.”

Mummy continued ranting but Mrs. Don did not answer her anymore. I pitied the innocent, gentle woman because of the way Mummy attacked her. Mummy was not a quarrelsome woman; I guessed the sorrows in her heart made her pour out anger in the form of words. Mrs. Don was unlucky to be the recipient.

“My dear it is okay,” my daddy pleaded in a bid to calm her.

“What exactly is okay? Is it the fact that my innocent daughter suddenly started stealing immediately after you organized a birth day party for her or that she just escaped death from your hand. Just pray that nothing happens to my daughter.”

“What exactly are you insinuating,” daddy asked in anger.

” Dr. Pius, I am insinuating that you have a question to answer concerning my daughter’s situation,” mummy continued unwaveringly.

Watch out for the next episode.