For the rest of that day, I was dumb. My mind was dead. The tears that I’d seen rolling down Rachael’s cheeks were begging at the doors of the evil chambers of my heart. I knew I had to do something—anything and everything—about that injustice but I didn’t know what.
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The world felt too small a place to harbour a big heart, yet too enormous a field that Ronnie was going to run away from the mess, just like he always did, with his I-don’t-care attitude. On the contrary, I wasn’t ready to watch him do so. It would have been okay if he hadn’t shown my sun the night, but since he had crossed that line, he had to pay for it in every way possible. ‘At least I’ll put both God and the devil on my team,’ I swore.
As I counted the perforations on the ironsheet roof of my shack, the devil whispered something in my mind. I didn’t hear his voice, but I felt victory coat the idea he birthed into my head. The idea was to go to Wandegeya police and pay Ronnie a visit. I hadn’t yet thought about what I would say to him but I wanted to at least stare down the man who illegally made merry in my territory. Perhaps to ask him why, and maybe spit a curse in his face, or even steal a punch.
A few minutes past 9am found me at Leila’s doorstep. She was the only person on my case at that time. She was happy to see me—or at least she gave me a smile when she saw me. It’s as though she had seen her long lost son return to her breast. I think she understood the complexity of what I was going through at that time. Furthermore, I believe she wanted to play mother to me; to fulfil the promise, of watching over me, she’d made to Gerald.
I didn’t wait for the conversation with her to boil up to break to her my morning visit. She went speechless for a minute after telling her my intention and the role she would play in it. “Why didn’t you guys tell me that culprit is at Wandegeya police?” she asked, and before I could answer, she continued, “And why in the world would you want to pay him a visit after all the things he did to you guys?”