CHAPTER FOUR

Rustling of leaves, the glow of the sun penetrating into the small room through the cracked windows jolted me out of slumber. The other men were already up and for some seconds I was unaccustomed to my surrounding, some of the men smoked cigarettes, others sang old sea songs and one young man was on his own with a flute in his hand as he played seamlessly, I looked at him and he looked at me quizzically, I looked away quickly.

My good man, I heard the doctor call out

Top of the morning to you sir, I greeted

He smiled and patted my shoulder

I searched my breast pocket and found the map intact.

You seem to have a whole lot of money in that bag, the doctor observed.

It's all yours sir, I said.

You can keep the money my good man, he observed.

Spruce yourself up, we are going to your mother's place, he said.

I had my bath in the only bathroom in the house and put on a new suit, I looked prim.

The doctor and I got on a horse and started for my mother's house in the other part of the town, we got there when it was sunset, the environment was quiet and seemingly benign, a dog barked in the yard and I heard mother's voice, the doctor and I rang a bell on the door and she opened the door. I had vague memories of this house, since I was a kid, I'd not come back to this place, my father died five years after I was born and Kyle had taken me away just after the obsequies. My mother back then was young, beautiful but corpulent and I could see how sepulchral she looked when she sat on a chair eulogizing my father, three or four women surrounding her.

Now, her look hadn't quite changed. Her eyes were still deadpan, though now hidden behind thick, medicated glasses. She had stooped more from infirmities than from senescence, she had shed weight and looked more vulnerable than ever, I pitied her.

Welcome Jim, she said, her voice strong and bold.

Dr.Tom and I took a seat and she sat facing us.

You're a big man now, she observed. You're healthy and strong and I have God to thank for that.

Yes mother, I have come to say goodbye, Kyle is at large and we discovered something which we would have to find in the high seas, it's a matter of life and death. I stopped and looked at her, she was expressionless and the doctor was silent as water.

After sometime, she sighed and adjusted her spectacles; my son, you talk so much like your gallant father, he was a brave man and the entire nation feared him but he was a loving husband. I think it's high time I told you a story.

The doctor looked at me and then at my mother and made to leave.

You can sit sir, I implored him.

Is he a man we can trust? My mother asked.

By the powers, he's the nation's noblest man. We can trust him, I answered

Well then, my mother observed sighing and coughing lightly.

Some years ago, precisely 1770, your father and I got married. We were so happy together and we loved each other so much, we had few friends and little money, so we started a little business in the city's suburbs, then your father got a job at the wharf, his obsession to be a seaman started when he got the job, he sang wild sea songs which he had picked up from his place of work and drank too much rum, it was a perplexing scenario. I tried my best to bring him back to himself but he seemed bent on self-destruction. Your father loved the men of the sea, the gentlemen of fortune who made so much money, drank plenty rum and slept with the country's finest ladies but one thing was strange about these men, they lived in fear and avoided the authorities. Sometimes, they got caught and were hanged. In 1774, your father went to sea and when he returned a little over a year later, he was stupendously opulent but we had to build this house away from the prying eyes of the public and the authorities so we left the city and came here. He was so restless that in 1776, he went to sea again and returned in 1778, I waited for him all this while, he got me gravid and left for the sea. I birthed you in his absence, he returned in 1779 and vowed never to return to the sea again. All through these sea adventures, Kyle sailed with your father but he didn't love your father and often berated him before the other seamen, he wasn't making so much money as your father but your father never knew about all these. He undermined your uncle's capacity to bring about his downfall. Your father stuck to his vow till 1783, he longed for the sea once more and against all entreaties from me to make him jettison the idea, he stuck to his guns and left for the sea, this time he didn't return, he was hanged. No thanks to Kyle, she was sobbing.

I was taken aback.

Dr.Tom spoke for the first time now

Madam, we understand how emotionally broken you are reminiscing the past, but we need to reach a logical conclusion on this matter.

Yes mother, I added obviously agreeing with Dr.Tom.

My mother stopped sobbing and continued in a teary voice, Kyle ratted him out to the authorities. The government sent an army regiment to the sea and after a fierce battle, your father was apprehended.

But mother, how did you come to the conclusion that it was Kyle that brought about father's arrest? I asked. Due to my love for Kyle, my mother's story seemed to stretch credulity to the limit.

Smith Pickford! The heavens bless his soul, he was one of the authorities and a family friend, he told me how Kyle had come to them and told them all he knew about your father.

I was distraught at this moment, tears filled my eyes, I couldn't imagine a man who had been a father figure to me these past 16 years could be so evil as to cause my father's demise.

Mother, so what happened after father's death? I asked

Kyle swooped in on us like a raging hawk and rent our raiment in the open, my mother answered with a renewed newness in her voice.

I didn't seem to understand my mother.

She seemed to notice that I was lost, so she said more calmly; Kyle sequestered your father's wealth and a valuable chest which belonged to your father, he took you and promised to take care of you and promised me death if I ever told you this story, she concluded.

Mother, it's obvious that Kyle is an enemy and has a lot up his sleeves, we need to be wary.

You need to be very wary, she affirmed. Kyle is not retired, he will come for your father's treasure and probably kill you in the process.

Why did he give me the map? I asked

Dr.Tom chirped in, he's giving you a run for it, it's a head start.

The three of us looked at one another and understood what the doctor meant.

I clasped my hands around my head and breathed heavily.

The doctor said, Thank you Mrs.O'Neal, we hope we meet you when we return from Treasure Island. Tomorrow, we set sail.