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A month later, the in mates who’d participated in the free, diploma worthy courses, were gathered to receive their certificates. As the course hadn’t been compulsory, only few gathered at the conference hall, Wana and Alero, among them.
The wardens had hinted to the occurrence being an occasion, in mates had been advised to clean up their looks, at the possibility of a TV crew. Female prisoners with hair making skills had their jobs cut out for them, every in mate with hair wanted to have a hair do.
Alero had settled for a scarf, as usual, and Wana had gone for a simple pony tail. Deodorant permeated the air of the hall, Wana wasn’t excluded from spritzing herself from Alero’s collection, one her often visiting sister never forgot to bring.
The hall was arranged like a church…a small church, and the ‘choir’ stand had the twenty three participants of the free diploma courses. The stage, ‘pulpit’, was arranged and decorated fit enough to welcome royalty.
“They didn’t need to go all the way for us now,” Wana commented in a whisper, her eyes never leaving the wardens that stood watch.
“Or, is somebody wedding?”
Alero coughed to cover the sudden laugh that escaped her. She arranged a proper expression before answering Wana with a strain, she was still trying to control her mirth.
“I think the governor is coming,” she managed.
She didn’t see Wana’s blanched expression. Shock went through her, now for the moment of truth, she thought. Would Mrs. Debbie John come through, will she keep her promise? Would today be her last day in prison?
APPARENTLY, IT WAS HER last day in prison.
Wana sobbed on Alero’s neck after the governor had gone. The ceremony of receiving diploma certificates hadn’t lasted an hour. The governor had hastily gone through his speech, congratulating them and saying how proud he was of them…as if.
Then, he’d made an excuse about another such ceremony waiting to be done at the male prison, before other importantly vague meetings. His Excellency was in a hurry, so he just read out the twenty prisoners eligible for his most coveted pardon; Wana’s name came fifth.
Several photographs were taken, documents were signed, more photographs were taken. Even in mates with money, took pictures with the pardoned ones. After taking a couple of pictures with her cell mates and a single with Alero, Wana had broken down.
Alero held her as she blubbered hysterically on her shoulder. How could the woman still be kind to her? I’m the one granted freedom, Wana thought, and wailed more, for the unfairness of the situation.
“I’m sorry,” she wailed, hiccupping and sniffling.
“Wana,” Alero called kindly and then shook the younger woman to get her attention.
“It’s just not fair,” she cried, her eyes filling up with tears as swiftly as she wiped it off. “I know they said you killed your husband, but I still wish you’d been pardoned too.”
Alero sighed, dazing her with her kind stare, “Wana, please, don’t bother yourself for my sake,” she softly said, wiping Wana’s tears with her thumb.
Still, it seemed her kindness brought out more tears from Wana’s eyes.
“If you stop crying, I’ll tell you how I got here,” she softly promised.
Wana’s eyes widened. She immediately wiped her tears, but couldn’t do anything about the hiccups and sniffles. Alero smiled, it was both sad and kind, while she brushed Wana’s hair back with her fingers, like she’d do to a child.
“I was protecting my child, Wana. I had to protect her, and myself too.”
“So, you really did it…killed your husband?”
Alero nodded, “Yes. It was difficult for me, but I had to do it.”
Wana, in her perceptive way, refused to ask what the dead man had done. “Your daughter, is she okay?” Again, she nodded.
“Is she with your sister that visits you?”
“I know where you’re going, Wana. No, it’s not like that. But, in her defense, my daughter isn’t with her…”
“Then who…”
“Let’s not go into it, that hole is deep, dark and dangerous,” Alero advised, still smiling.
Looking into her eyes, Wana saw a glimpse of the torture, going on in Alero’s mind, “I’m sorry,” she said helplessly.
“Don’t be. This is the only place I’m safest,” for now, she thought, slowly patting Wana’s hand. “Go out there and conquer, Wana,” she postulated, finally allowing tears to run down her face.
Wana hugged her with all her strength and couldn’t have stopped the next words she spewed, even if she tried. “I’ll never forget you, Alero, never,” she vowed vehemently.
Alero chuckled waterily, her face still smashed on Wana’s shoulder in a tight hug. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
Wana loosened her hold on the kind lady, her brow furrowed seriously. “I mean it, Alero. It’s not a joke.”
“I know,” she replied, her hand, daintily wiping her tears. “You’ll be one of the few I trust,” she said, squeezing Wana’s palm. “And in my life, that spot is pretty expensive,” and dangerous, she thought, but didn’t add that part, there was no need to scare the nice girl.
“I’ll buy it,” Wana said, looking her straight in the eye. She realized at that moment, that she’d just made her first, real, female friend. Someone she was willing to call sister.
“No need to buy…it’s already yours,” Alero said, standing and dragging Wana to her feet. They hugged again, and would have lingered if the warden hadn’t come in between them. Alero was escorted back to the cells and Wana was taken to the front desk.
AFTER MY EMOTIONALLY TASKING morning, I was raving to hit the road. My knapsack was handed over to me, empty, if I might add. I wondered if the raw food stuffs I’d been arrested with had been added to the cache of evidences or if someone had fed his or her family with it.
My steely stare at the uniformed woman at the front desk, conveyed my thoughts. She looked away and passed me a freshly bought jean, t-shirt and a pair of ballerinas. These items were a surprise to me.
“Mrs. Debbie asked me to give you those,” the uniformed lady stated and didn’t say more. If I had to wager a guess, the woman was probably not happy to see me go…bad belle people.
I grinned my gratitude at the very kind Mrs. Debbie, even though she wasn’t there. I quickly changed into my new cloths, which fit perfectly, I finger brushed my hair into a tight bun and I was ready to bust out of the joint.
Swinging my knapsack onto my shoulder, I moved majestically towards the gates and was surprised to hear my name being called behind me. It was Mrs. Debbie, I paused by a parked car and waited for her to catch up.
“Mrs. John,” I greeted with a smile, “I’m so grateful for all of this,” I said, indicating my cloths and shoes.
“Oh, it was nothing. Only the jean and shoes are new, the t-shirt came from my box,” she said, waving my thanks away.
“Even if they weren’t all new, I do appreciate it,” I reiterated my gratitude.
“So, congratulations again,” the chubby Mrs. Debbie enthused in her usually bubbly fashion.
I scoffed, not able to control myself, “The way felicitations are pouring in, one would think I won the US lottery,” I tampered my sarcasm with a smile.
“But you did win the lottery, the freedom lottery,” she pointed out.
I nodded. “I guess I should thank you for that opportunity Mrs. John.”
“Please, call me Debbie, we’re out of the class now.”
I smiled and nodded, “Okay, Debbie.”
“I’m a bit concerned though that I’d not seen any of your family at the ceremony.”
“I have no family,” I said solemnly, suddenly reminded of my need to get to the orphanage.
“So, where are you headed now, I could give you a ride there,” Debbie offered, I could see the concern etched on her face.
The lady was helplessly kind, and though, she’d been good to me, I still couldn’t help the suspicious feeling I was currently having. I couldn’t even cipher what I was suspecting, but I was unwilling to trust anybody connected with the uniformed officials.
“Don’t worry about me, I’m covered,” I say, squinting in the sun and looking over her shoulder at the gate.
“It’s nothing, I can drive you there,” Debbie insisted.
I looked at her and wondered again why she was so kind. Was she kind of my unofficial parole officer? Was she supposed to stick by me and probably report me to the cops if I relapsed? There was only one way to find out, I thought, and recklessly wiped out a male wallet from the back pocket of the jean she’d given me.
“Like I said, I’m covered,” I declared confidently, sliding out the money from the wallet and flinging the leather under the car we were standing by.
But Debbie had already seen the male passport on the wallet and called me out on it…but not as I’d expected
“Uwana! That wasn’t your wallet,” she whispered vehemently, coming closer to me and looking around furtively, for my sake.
I counted out five thousand, two hundred and fifty naira, before answering the nervous woman in front of me. I guessed if she hadn’t called the attention of the cops yet, she really was genuinely kind.
“I know,” I replied casually, my eyes daring her to do her worst…she did.
“How could you?” she whispered urgently. “Pilfering immediately after getting out of jail…and not even out of the station yet?”
I folded the money into a thin roll and shoved it into my pocket. “I didn’t just steal that, I’ve had it for a better part of three years now,” I explained with a smile, enjoying the sight of her flummoxed face.
“Why?” Debbie asked, seeming pained at the notion.
“Well, he pinched my melons inappropriately…”
“Melons?” Debbie looked confused.
“These are my melons,” I said, grabbing my breasts and joggling it. I don’t know why, but the woman’s naive attitude pushed me to shock her. “He pinched them inappropriately, so, I took the opportunity to pinch his wallet.”
Debbie’s mouth hung slightly open. “Don’t look at me like that. I didn’t make the rules; Moses did…an eye for an eye.”
Her mouth finally closed and she blustered, “But according to that rule, you should have pinched his…melons, too,” Debbie said indicating my chest region.
“Yes, but I had no use for his melons,” I shrugged and chuckle.
“And when this finishes, then what?” Debbie asked, promptly wiping the smile off my face.
“I’ll figure it out,” I said through clenched teeth, anger was beginning to set in, for she was right about that notion, but I didn’t want to think about that at the moment.
“You mean steal again?” Debbie asked, attacking my uncertain future with a belligerent look.
The woman was determined to spoil my first day out of jail. I know she made it happen, but that didn’t give her the right to judge me.
“Look, Debbie, I know you’ve been kind all along, but you don’t know anything about my situation. You don’t know anything about me, so don’t judge,” I snapped angrily, but noticed that she immediately looked contrite.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to sound that way. I’m not judging you and I never will. It’s just that, I feel you are better than this,” she said, looking close to tears.
“I’m the best there is at this,” I boasted, decidedly forgetting that the best wouldn’t have been arrested in the first place.
“Please don’t waste your intelligence. With it, you can do great things,” she said passionately.
“I’ve heard you, Debbie, I’ll think about it,” I answer exasperatingly. I was tired of her nitpicking and just wanted to get out of the prison premises.
“You were the best in that class,” she whispered vehemently.
“I know, Debbie, I was there,” I groaned in despair, my eyes showing my desperation to be off already.
“I just want to help,” she insisted.
“I said, I’ll think about it,” I rolled my eyes at her, not even bothering to hide it, just so she’d let me go.
I began walking, crossing my middle finger over my fore finger and wishing she’d just stop talking and let me be on my way. But she hurried after me, rustling in her big handbag; she got out her wallet and slid out a battered looking complimentary card.
“Here, take this. I need you to call me when you’ve settled, I don’t have a great job offer, but I can keep you busy…legally busy.”
I stopped and stared at her with evil eyes, at that moment I wished she was a child I could snap at or even slap, for bothering me. But she wasn’t, so I took the card.
“Anybody ever tell you that you’re tenacious,” I called the adjective like it was a bad thing. Debbie grinned and nodded.
“I’ll think about it,” I said, shaking the card in her face, before walking away. The gate loomed, and I practically skipped out of it and boarded a Keke Napep to Big Mama’s house.
The story continues…
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