The Legend Of Dayo is rolling…
AARON ANSAH-AGYEMAN
THE LEGEND OF DAYO
SEASON 1: THE EMERGENCE
CHAPTER 2
The Ogbanje
Her father was ready with towels.
“It’s okay, my dearest,” Mr. Osuolale said gently. “I’ll take him to the unused storeroom and help him clean up and get warm. You can go inside and clean yourself up. The water is too chilly, my princess. You might catch the pneumonia. Please get inside and change fast.”
Neji Helen nodded and climbed upstairs.
Her face was hurting her a whole lot.
Neji Helen had a rare skin disease, centred around her face, which gave her a lot of pain. She had big pimples on her face that became worse when she felt cold, especially if she stayed too long in the rain.
[stextbox id=”alert” caption=”WARNING”]Exlusive Content to aaron-ansah-agyeman.com Do not copy or share on any other site. Do not share on any WhatsApp, Facebook or Social Media page. ONLY SHARE THE LINKS TO THE STORY[/stextbox]Sometimes, they became huge and unsightly, but that was just an insignificant entity compared to the crushing pain that she felt around her face. She had tried both orthodox and herbal medicines, but nothing seemed to work.
As she climbed up the steps, she shuddered as her face burned.
The rain had been falling hard, and the water had been so cold. Plus, she had stayed too long in it. She knew that by the morning her face would be covered with unsightly, pus-filled pimples.
She took a long warm shower, which sometimes helped. Neji Helen kept the warm face towel on her face for a long time, and then used an ointment to pomade her face. Even then, when she looked at herself in the mirror, she cringed at the huge pimples that had sprouted all over her face.
She slipped into warm clothes and went back downstairs.
She found her parents and her younger brother, Uche Joseph, in the kitchen.
Her brother was sitting at the table in the corner drinking warm milk shake and eating wheat bread.
Her mother, Grace Opurum, was warming soup and her father was standing by her side. Grace’s face was stretched with pain, and Neji quickly walked up to her.
“Mama!” she cried with concern. “Why are you up? I know your arthritis is severe tonight! You should stay in bed and drink the herbal medicine.”
Her mother smiled painfully as she looked at her daughter.
Grace Opurum had very painful arthritis in her hands that became quite severe and unbearable in the rainy season. It had made her fingers gnarled and crooked.
“I couldn’t sleep, dearest,” she said with a weak smile. “And your father told me what you did for that poor man.”
Neji looked at her mother with sudden concern.
“You’re not annoyed, mother?” she asked quickly with anxiety.
“Why should I be angry for such a great thing my kind-hearted daughter has done?” she said gently. “I’m proud of you, dear.”
“Proud of her?” Uche said from across the kitchen. “Mama, Papa, Neji brought an ogbanje into our house, hello? And you’re standing there congratulating her? Have you, perchance, forgotten who an ogbanje is? He is a spirit child, a child cursed by the gods…and he’s is going to die no matter what you do for him!”
Neji looked at him with mock severity.
“Look at his ugly face!” she said, and her parents giggled.
“Ugly?” Uche Joseph said, draining his glass. “Did you take a look at your face with all those pimples?”
“Shut your mouth over there, Uche!” Mr. Osuolale said suddenly, and Uche Joseph shut up.
There was an uneasy silence for a while, and then Grace broke the silence.
“Soup is hot now, darling,” she said softly. “Want to add anything else to it for the stranger?”
“No, dear, I think the soup and the meat chops would be fine for now,” Osuolale said.
“Let me take the soup to him then,” Neji offered, and her father looked at her sharply.
“No, dear, I will,” he said quickly.
“No, Baba, you rest,” Neji insisted. “I’ll take his food to him. I want to speak to him.”
Her father looked at her for a moment, and then he nodded resignedly.
Her mother packed the soup in a small bowl and placed it inside a small basket.
Neji placed an empty bowl, a spoon and a folded napkin inside the basket, and then she carried it down to the storeroom where the strange blind, deaf, mute and hunchbacked boy was sleeping on a mattress on the floor!
Her father had pushed the boxes in the store room to one side of the room, and piled the other items on top.
This created a sizeable space along one wall, and her father put a slim mattress covered with sheets and a small pillow in the space. He had helped the blind man get dressed in some old clothes, which were inches too small for the man because he had a bigger frame.
They had also given him a piece of cloth to cover himself.
Her father had put a kerosene lamp on a peg on the wall, the wick turned low and casting a glow in the room although it was a little bit ironic since the occupant of the room was blind.
Neji pulled up a small table and placed the tray of food on the table. She leaned down and shook the shoulder of the boy gently and persistently until he woke up drowsily.
In the light of the lantern, Neji Helen noticed that the young man had very dark and coarse skin, maybe from many hours spent outside at the mercies of the elements.
She noticed that his eyelids were tightly glued shut, the eyelashes making thin arcs on his face, as if his eyelids had never lifted off his cheeks.
His nose wrinkled now, and Neji smiled gently; at least there was one sense of this man that was functional.
She picked up the spoon, dipped it into the soup and began to spoon-feed him. His face remained unfathomable as he drank the soup, taking his time to chew the meat chops with obvious relish.
He took all the soup and the meat, and this made Neji very sad indeed. It was an indication that this poor man had been very hungry. She cleaned his lips with a napkin, poured water for him to drink, and then packed the empty bowls into the basket.
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[/stextbox]She was walking toward the door when she heard the tingle of a small bell. Neji stopped and turned round, and saw the young man was standing now with the aid of his staff. He was stooped, the hunch huge and unsightly on his back.
He was holding a small silver bell, and as she retraced her steps, he suddenly touched the bell to his groin repeatedly, causing Neji Helen to look alarmed for a moment. It was as if he wanted to convey something crass, like he had fulfilled his stomach and now wanted his groin fulfilled too.
She shook her head and turned away again, and once again he shook his silver bell, quite insistently, and when she turned toward him again she saw that he was making thrusting movements with his waist and touching his groin with the bell.
It was just in the gesture of a man thrusting into a woman as he made love to her.
She would have been outraged if he had not suddenly closed his thighs, and gyrated his waist in the absurd manner of a child trying to hold in the demands of the bladder.
It dawned on her suddenly; he wanted to use the washroom bad.
“Oh!” Neji said with a little chuckle and quickly set the basket down near the door. “That’s a relief! For a moment there you scared me.”
She took his hand and led him to the visitors’ washroom, and put a T-roll in his hand.
Neji went back for the basket, took it to the kitchen, and then went back to check on him. He was ringing his bell again, and she opened the door.
He was standing stooped, and was obviously done.
She led him back to his room, and led him to the bed. He sat down, and as she made to move away, he suddenly reached out and took her hand.
She stopped, startled, and then he rubbed her hand gently before letting her hand go.
He was obviously thanking her, and it warmed her kind heart very much. She leaned lower and gave him a warm hug. She then walked out and shut the door silently behind her.
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[/stextbox] [insert-comment-form] Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2018 Aaron Ansah-Agyeman
Hmmmmm this is serious matter o,Nneji u ar a good girl ineed.
Nice story.