The Train Ride to Sambisa Forest

My Dear soldier,

As you go to war remember to come back home for Christmas, I will be waiting for you outside our home to kiss you and hand you our child. It is a pity that you will not be around when Jason comes but I will definitely keep him safe until you return.

I know our goodbye will leave a nagging pain in my heart and I will be unable to say farewell properly as you leave so I took out time to write this letter and slip into your backpack. Go with my love and the love of our child. I know you will bathe in gunpowder but promise me in your heart that you will use our love as a shield to cover you from the bullets of the insurgents. Also, as you defend our dear nation Nigeria at Sambisa forest against the endless influx of bokoharam, do not be in front, if you die Nigeria has only lost one soldier but I would have lost my entire world and happiness.

Be safe my love, I will send love and light your way through my prayers daily.

Kisses,

Your Golden Girl.

You can wipe your tears with my handkerchief young soldier’ a middle aged woman spoke to John from the seat adjacent to him. He looked up and saw the white handkerchief she was handing to him dangling in front of his face wet with tears

Thank you ma’am, I did not realize I was crying’ john said feeling quite embarrassed.

And how did you know I am a young soldier? John asked slightly raising his left eyebrow like he usually did when he was suspicious about something.

Your uniform’ the woman replied.

My what? John asked, shouting almost at the top of his voice because the screeching noise from the train had reached a deafening crescendo and no one could make out the words of another person if they do not shout.

Your uniform’ the middle aged woman shouted over the noise that had started to subside.

Oh Yeah’ john nodded, feeling embarrassed again.

I completely forgot I was wearing one’ he said letting out a mild laugh.

I am Ovie, I had a son who was in the army’

Was? What happened to him?

He died’ Ovie said.

I am so sorry about that’ John responded trying to make his voice as sympathetic as possible.

It is fine; he deserved it, who peddles drugs while in the army?

That is a grave offence but may his soul rest in peace’ john said shaking his head in a manner that signified disappointment and pity together.

Someone tried to pick Ovie’s purse so she left the conversation and turned right in time to stop the young man that had almost succeeded in snatching her purse.

Get out from here, you little scoundrel’ she cursed.

Were you raised by the hyenas in lion king? How dare you try to steal from me’ Ovie went on raining curses for another five minutes. Meanwhile, the thief had already disappeared back into the crowd of people standing at the end of the coach.

She turned to another aged man that looked like he was in his 70s and started to explain the incident that had just occurred and how she used her energy to stop a fully grown lad from stealing her purse. The man gently robbed her shoulders and kissed her softly on her right cheek to calm her down, it was obvious he was her husband.

John’s adjusted himself on his seat to face another direction to give the couple a little privacy. His attention was caught by a young couple with their daughter, he smiled at them and they returned the kind gesture.

The past;

It was few minutes past 7 a.m. on a wet Wednesday morning when they heard a knock on the door. John was twelve years old and was drowning himself in a bowl of cereal and milk, they had just moved into their new house his mother acquired with her life savings. Owning a house painted with white and blue surrounded by flowers and a vegetable garden had always been her dream, the house was not exactly what she had always wanted and there were few repairs she still had to do but she was satisfied. Besides, we cannot all get what we want.

Finish your breakfast, I will get the door’ Phina said as she tried her hands with the kitchen towel.

Her eyes widened and for a moment she looked like she had just seen a ghost. She was motionless for about three minutes. I was not counting the time but I do not think it was more than three minutes or less’ john would later say when he told the story at his father’s funeral years later.

His father, Philip who had been absent from of his life was the one at the door. He was bandaged from his head down to his toe save for his face which had traces of burns caused by a severe fire.

How did you find us?’ she asked him.

I am sorry Phina’ was all Philip could say.

My mom stood at the door with only her tears telling the long story of the pain she had endured for all the years he abandoned his family and went to South Africa with a strange woman after he was refused from joining the army.

I wanted to punch is face for the pain he was making mom go through all over again.

Let me in Phina’ you are all I have right now’ my father said in a voice that sounded like he was crying.

There is no home for you here anymore’ mom said and was about closing the door when tears dropped from his eyes.

I will not last a day without you and I am ready to be the right father to our boy John’

It’s funny how you did not consider your son when you disappeared with that rich Yoruba woman to South Africa but you want me to take you back because of him?’

He pleaded more and he looked like he was not going to give up so mom finally opened the door for him and prepared the guest bedroom for him downstairs.

You will have to get a nurse for yourself, I cannot be a mother to two people at the same time’ mom told him later that evening

I think I will just refer to him as ‘Him’ instead of dad or my father because he was a stranger and we lived like that up until the last day he passed away. I do not want to fake familiarity that was non-existent when he was alive now that he is dead’ John said in-between reading his father’s biography at the funeral home his mother paid for.

You said you are ready to be a father to our son but I haven’t seen you having a conversation with him’ Phina finally confronted Philip after one month since he arrived at her door. She noticed the two males did not even look in the direction of each other or exchange greetings at the dining table in the morning during breakfast or in the evening during dinner.

Your son does not like me one bit’ Philip said in defence,

The boy doesn’t even greet or say Hi to me when he sees me; I cannot force myself on him. He is a teenager, he doesn’t need an old man covered in bandage to disturb him’

No, he doesn’t; But he needs a father to talk to, its either you create a good relationship with our boy or you will leave my house’ Phina said and stormed upstairs like a gazelle.

John, please come and talk to me before your mom throws me out of the house please’ Philip said to no one. he knew John had gone out to play football with the neighbourhood children and was looking for ways to infuriate Phina further to get her attention because apparently, she only spoke to him for long when she had a complain to make and he missed her terribly. He regretted leaving her for his ex-Yoruba fiancée Bisi. Bisi was a good woman but she became physically abusive when she lost her business to her greedy board members. She went as far as removing altering the brakes in his car which almost led to his death, he returned to Nigeria shortly after he was discharged and begged his old fried Aliyu to help him trace Phina’s current location. Phina was not difficult to trace because she posted a picture of her new house on her Instagram page.

Several months passed and Philip got better and found a job in the coding company as the director of applications, he had a pretty interesting CV and had taken extra coding classes while he was in South Africa to add to his computer engineering degree. He provided for the family as much as Phina allowed and was happy about the fifty percent bill Phina finally agreed to give to him after begging her for two years.

He was a responsible man for a while until he started to physically abuse me; he would come back home and hit me continuously and would hit me harder when I cried, telling me to be a hard man’ John narrated.

I know it is his funeral and I should be saying the good things about him but I cannot talk about him without mentioning this part’ a tear escaped from john’s eyes when he said this.

I want you to be strong like the soldiers’ Philip would always say whenever he beat John.

Later;

John would later grow up into a hard man that wanted nothing more than to join the army and prove to his father that he was not worthless.

His name came out on the merit list the first time he sent his application. Well, everyone in command school knew he would make the merit list because of his exceptional performance in both academics and physical combat.

While he was serving at Warri base, he was called into his commandant’s office on a Saturday morning in October after the morning drills and was told his father had just died that morning from a cardiac arrest and he was free to go and console his mother for some weeks.

It was during those weeks of grief that he met Ana, she was a teacher that had moved into the mother’s estate in June the previous year. They became inseparable during the funeral preparations and like a Christmas morning surprise; they announced their wedding at the end of the mourning days which lasted for three weeks according to Ijaw tradition, his mother who was an ijaw woman believed firmly in tradition and insisted that the funeral be done in the traditional ijaw way like Philip would have wanted.

They got married and Ana had to move with him down to Warri. six months into their marriage, the Warri base got distress order from the head command in Abuja to deploy soldiers from its base to Borno,  they were short of soldiers because the insurgents had intensified their ammunitions and they had lost over five hundred soldiers during the launch of ‘Operation Crocodile smile’ and were in need of good and competent soldiers.

John’s name came out among the soldiers that were selected. Despite several pleas to dissuade him from going by Phina and Ana, he refused.

I will be the weakling my father called me if I stay back’ he told them the evening they came to beg him for the last time before he left the next morning.

Take my wife home to stay with you until I return and keep my child safe, his name is Jason’ john said.

He narrated all this to Ovie after she returned her attention back to him.

You will definitely go back to see your family and live with them, the universe will take you back home safely’ she said and touched his left leg gently.

Light filtered into the train and they realized they had been awake all night and it was already morning the next day. John and Ovie looked out the window and were greeted by the sweet savanna plains that extended only to the foot of the mangrove forest lining the palm of the Niger delta.