Chapter 37

The Death of a Mother

When Adebayo got to the village that day, he didn’t meet Ajoke his wife or Roseline his daughter in their rectangular-shaped little-bit-better-than-a-hut house. What could be happening? He asked. He knew Ajoke had developed something like a malaria fever immediately the principal’s letter was delivered but not a severe one. He went to Aremu’s house but they weren’t there. Everywhere seemed empty; the road to the farms looked narrow.

"Everybody might’ve gone to their farms as usual,’’ he soliloquized. "They don’t joke with work in this village.’’

Meanwhile, a thought burrowed into Adebayo’s mind unexpectedly. Could it be that her illness had worsens and had been rushed to the hospital? Yes, that’s possible! He ran out like a man chased by a mad dog towards the only clinic in the village.