THE POLICEMAN

The sound of the jeep brought me out of the short sleep in the early hours of the morning. I sat up on the edge of the mattress, cold and confused, not knowing where I was. Mr. Potter slept beside me noiselessly like a bag of potato. I looked around and found Tolu standing by the window.

I got up and walked to the window. 'What's going on?'

He turned. 'I don't know,' he said, his eyes going back to the window. 'But they are up to something. Eric and Dracula came out of the jeep and went outside the compound. I think something is up.'

'What about Joseph?' I asked, rubbing my eyes. They stung as if pepper got into them. 'Did he go out with them?'

'He went out first but returned immediately. He held his gun and walked around looking agitated. Maybe someone is coming this way or something.'

'Nobody came into the gate since then?'

'No one. Eric and Dracula are still outside. I am sure Joseph is keeping an eye on—'

The sound of a car came to the room and several seconds later we heard it stopped in front of the gate. We heard the car's door open and bang home and then a second door close. We looked at the gate, expecting someone to come through but no one did for close to a minute. Then the gate swung opened, and I saw Eric, followed by Dracula, and following Dracula was a policeman. I felt elation and gloom at the same time, like a woman giving birth and finding out it was the wrong sex. 

'The police have found us,' Tolu said, backing away from the window. 'We are going to prison.'

'Tolu—'

'I don't want to go to prison,' he said, his eyes wide open. 'I don't want to go to prison.'

I held his trembling arm.

'If we stick to our story—'

'I don't want to...' The words dried out of his mouth and his body shivered. He pulled away from me and held the burglary rods on the window.

'Tolu, calm down,' I said. 'Let's just stick to our story; Mr. Potter will be on our side.'

He pulled and shoved at the bars, but it was like trying to pull and push a truck filled with cement. He pulled right hand suddenly from the bars and clutched it with the left. He turned and walked into the toilet. 

'Tolu,' I said, running after him. 'Tolu, wait.'

I found him in the toilet still clutching the hand.

'Tolu, calm down,' I said. 'Let's stick to our story. We are the hostages here, remember? They forced us to come here, just as they forced Mr. Potter.'

Tolu climbed the toilet seat and pulled at the bars on the window. Blood dripped down his hand and on the bar. I looked at the size of the window and sighed. A ten-year-old wouldn't pass through that space if a lion was after it and I wondered what Tolu's intention was even if he could cut through the bars. 

'Tolu, get a hold of yourself,' I shouted, pulling him down from the toilet seat. 'This is not the end of life. They are not going to shoot us. Calm down.'

'What's going on?' Mr. Potter asked from the room. 'What's the matter?'

I pulled Tolu back to the room and he came in a spastic way, walking and shaking. Mr. Potter sat on the edge of the mattress, the way I sat when I awoke some minutes ago.

'The police are here,' I said, releasing Tolu's arm.

'Did you call them?' Mr. Potter inquired. 

'They found us,' I said and walked back to the window. 'You are saved. No one can harm you now.'

I heard murmurings from the front of the house but there was no one in sight. The police were probably handcuffing Eric and the others before coming into the room to rescue us, I thought.

'Can you see anything?' Tolu asked in a low voice. 

'No, nothing. They must be in the living room by now and would there be here at any moment.'

But three to four minutes went by without the police coming in. A sudden uneasiness began to grip heart. 

Where are the police? I thought. Why haven't they stormed into this room and rescue Mr. Potter?

'The ceiling,' Tolu shouted. 'The ceiling; let's get out through the ceiling.'

I looked up to the ceiling, my mind trying to comprehend what Tolu was saying. Then, at that moment, I heard the key turning in the door and knew Tolu won't have the opportunity to try out his suggestion. The door swung opened, and Joseph came in, followed by Eric and Dracula.

Where are the police? I thought. Why haven't they made the arrest?

'I hope everyone had a pleasant night rest,' Joseph said. 'I want to introduce our friend: Inspector Chris.'

The policeman I saw at the gate walked into the room, his blue uniform bright in the early morning sun that crept in through the window. He stood tall, but the protruding stomach in his middle disfigured him—the way a goiter would disfigure a woman's neck. I lifted my eyes from his midsection to his face and our eyes met. I stared at the black eyes and remembered the eyes of a fox. The eyes dwelled on me for just a moment but for that brief moment and for the first time since I ventured into this kidnapping business, I felt real, crushing fear.