TOLU'S HOUSE

Eric climbed the Third Mainland Bridge, speeding to Ojota in the Toyota we rented. I looked at my phone: 6:05 am. Many cars lined up the other side of the road and they moved in the heavy traffic, heading to the island. We got to the end of the bridge about the time the sun stopped yawning and started the day's work. 

Eric had convinced Maria to stay back in the house, but she didn't need much persuasion from the unease I saw on her face. She was ready to go back to Warri and I didn't blame her since I was ready to leave Lagos too. The fact that Mr. Potter was under the police search light now had changed everything. Everything seemed real now. Only Eric seemed unmoved and galvanized to take more actions to bring our dream to reality.

I turned and looked at the back seat. Mr. Potter lay like a pack of pillows, sleeping. Eric had donned cap on his head, hiding his hair and most of his face—a caution in case he suddenly seats up. He slept on, motionless, except for the rising and falling of his chest.

We reached Tolu's residence about fifteen minutes later. Eric stopped the car in front of the gate and honked. He got out after the third honk, walked to the gate and rapped on it.

The new guard came out and talked with Eric. They talked for a while and then Eric voice rose up and I knew I had to intervene before the situation got out of hand. I looked at Mr. Potter again, he hadn't changed his posture.

I opened the car and walked to the gate, and by the time I reached them, the guard's voice was also high, and his face was contorted.

'No one is getting into this house,' the guard said, his eyes turning to me. 'No one!' 

'I am his friend!' Eric shouted. 'Let my friend here stay while I go in to see him. It will just take a minute.'

'No, you cannot go in,' the guard said. 'My orders are clear: no one is to go in.'

'Please listen—,'I said.

'I am not listening to you,' the guard said. 'No matter what you say, none of you is going into this house.'

'I don't want to go in,' I said. 'You are right not to allow anyone inside. You have your orders, and you should follow them. I don't want you to lose your job.'

'No one can make me lose my job,' the guard said. 'I don't care if you knew Tolu from birth; I have my orders.'

I shook my head. 'You won't lose your job. You are doing the right thing and that's why you are good at your job.'

The security nodded. 'I know my work.' He turned to Eric. 'You cannot tell me how to do my work.'

'All I want you to do is to hear me out,' I said. 'This is a matter of life and death. We will just talk to him for a minute. What harm will that do? We came all the way from Alpha Beach.'

The guard looked at me and I saw a flicker of interest had come into his eyes.

'Yes, all the way from Alpha Beach,' I said quickly. 'It would be a waste of time to go back without seeing him.' I took a step closer to him. 'All it will take is just a minute to talk to him. What harm can that do?'

The guard looked at me for a moment. 'You stay in Alpha Beach?' 

'Yes,' I said, bewildered. 'Our house is just next to the beach. You can hear the waves in the night.'

The guard shook his head from left to right. 'You must be out of your mind to stay that close to the sea. What if the water overruns the shore?'

I stared at him. 

He chuckled. 'Are you not afraid that the water will overrun the shore and swallow you up? I think you people living on the Island must be out of your minds. I have been to the Bar Beach once and that's enough for me. And I see people on television sand-filling the shore and building houses on them.' He shook his head again. 'The day the sea decides to reclaim what is its property, man will know you can't cheat nature!'

I nodded. 'You are right; you are right.'

My eyes went to Eric. He rolled his eyes the way one does with an impatient situation. His eyes also asked me if there was a point in the long conversation, I was having with my newfound friend. 

'Of course, I am right,' the guard said. 'One day the Island will be swallowed up and before the water gets here, I would have reached my village in Kogi State.' He looked at me and smiled. 'I hope that day you wouldn't be on the Island.'

I smiled back. 'I hope not.'

He shook his head again. 'What's so urgent that you have to see Tolu? He told me not to let anyone in.'

I shrugged. 'I just need to tell him something and that will be it. It will take just a minute; after one minute come and drag me out.'

'Okay,' he said, 'you come in. But your friend stays here. He doesn't know how to talk to people. I wonder who raised him!'

Eric glared at the guard. 

'Thank you,' I said quickly before Eric could utter a reply. I turned to Eric. 'I will be back; watch the car.'

Eric nodded, turned and walked back to the car. The guard held the gate aside and I walked through, wondering what to tell Tolu in a minute that will convince him to open the gate for us to come in. I saw the Prado jeep Tolu had brought two nights ago parked in the middle of the compound. A pile of water sat beside it, and the guard went to it and began to pour water over the jeep. 

'Knock the door,' the guard said, walking to the pile of water. 'He keeps up late hours and sleep in the day like a bat!'

'Thanks,' I said and walked to the front door. I tried the door; it was locked. 

'Knock harder,' the guard said. 'I told you he didn't sleep last night.'

I rammed at the door with the bottom of my fist. Twenty or thirty seconds passed, and I did it again.

'I am coming,' Tolu said somewhere in the house. 'Who is it?'

I kept silent. I could hear the faint sound of his steps coming toward the door. I waited. The steps reached the door and stopped. 

'Who it is?' 

'It's me,' I said.

I heard a sharp gasp at the other side of the door and then a long moment of silence followed. 

'How did you get in?' he asked. 'I told you I don't want anything to do with you guys. Why are you here?'

'We are all here, Tolu,' I said to the door. 'We are all here.'

'What do you mean you are all here? Did you bring him here?'

'Yes.'

'Are you out of your mind? The police are looking for him and you brought him here?'

Another silence walked between us. I could hear his breathing behind the door.

'Please take him back,' he said. 'I don't want any trouble.'

'And we can't keep him in Eric's place,' I said. 'The neighbors will see him and tell the police. That's why we brought him here.'

'Are you out of your mind? My uncle will be back by the end of the week; what do you think he will do?'

I waited for him.

'I am leaving today,' he said. 'Take him somewhere else.'

I wasn't making progress, and the time was ticking fast. The guard would be here soon, and Mr. Potter was in the car outside increasing the risk of someone seeing him.

'Tolu,' I said. 'You either take us in or we will leave Mr. Potter to sleep in front of your gate. You have ten seconds to decide.'

'You can't do that,' he said, and I heard the fear in his voice the way you hear the sound of a jet taking off. 'You can't do that to me.'

I waited.

His breathing rose and fell like the sound of sea waves coming from far away. The silence lingered, but I waited patiently knowing I had the upper hand. I heard the sound of the key turning in the keyhole about ten seconds later and Tolu's scared face came into view. There was sweat on his forehead. 

Five minutes later, we drove the car into the house and the best part of that morning was that we took Mr. Potter inside the house without the guard seeing him. And all these happened an hour before Talatu's call came.