BiroG GABRIEL BABATUNDE

“Did you hear what happened to Uncle Bill?” Kemi asked, as she worked on my hair, adding pins to keep the style in place.

I looked at her through the mirror in my bedroom. I’ve never been keen on gossip, but since he’s family…and we have history, I was certainly curious. “No, I didn’t. What happened?”

“He’s in jail! Apparently it was his father-in-law who got him arrested!”

“For what?”

“He was caught on camera molesting his six year old daughter! Aunty Folake was suspecting him, and thought he was even having an affair with their nanny! She installed nanny cam all over their house, and that is how she caught him! How horrible is that?”

“Oh wow! The poor girl. Does anyone know how long this has been going on? What about his other children?” I asked, shocked but yet relieved that he had been found out and was going to pay for his crimes.

“He has three boys. It seems it all started recently with his daughter, when she turned six a few months ago. The boys said he had never molested them.”

“How do you know all this?”

“Mama called them oh… After you told her what happened to you. That’s how Aunty Folake told her everything. He is awaiting trial. I’m even surprised that her father didn’t kill him when he found out. You know he always thought his daughter was too good for uncle. But she loved him, and she was pregnant, so they agreed to the marriage.”

“Thank God he was caught! Just imagine… His own daughter! God help us…” I said, as a tear escaped my eye. I suddenly thought of the many other children he would have been abusing all these years, because I said nothing. I needed to meet that child. She would need a mentor.

“Don’t ruin your make up oh… I can’t do it again!” Kemi said, light-heartedly.

I smiled at her through the mirror. We were preparing for my big day! Ope and I were renewing our vows by having a proper white wedding, which we hadn’t done before. Two years ago, we had simply gone to the Court to be married legally. This time, we had all our friends and family in attendance, and I was going to walk down an aisle, in our garden, where the ceremony and reception would be held.

“There! You look perfect!” She beamed at me through the mirror. And I had to agree, I had never seen myself look so good. Ope would swoon when he sees me, I thought. He had stayed at a hotel last night, in keeping with tradition, so that the first time I would see him today, would be when I walk down the aisle in my lace white gown and veil. His Pastor had agreed to do the ministration at our home.

“Thank you, sweetie!” I said, standing up to see myself in the mirror in full view. This was going to be a perfect day. The sun stood glorious, and there was not a cloud in the sky.

“Oh, don’t you just look darling!!!” Mama said, as she entered the room. She came in for a brief side hug. “Here, I got you something.” She handed me a small white box.

I opened it to find a small white, red-letter Bible. My first personal Bible. I beamed at her. “Thanks, Mama. I will read it everyday.”

“Hey, you guys… Come and see,” Kemi called us, and turned up the volume on the TV. “They are saying something about one Tony guy. Is this the Tony you told us about?”

I turned my attention to the TV. Surely, I beheld his familiar face. All I could do was nod. The caption read “14 Girls rescued from a Child Trafficking van at Seme Border“.

“Last night, a van carrying 14 young girls was intercepted by the Nigerian Police, while trying to cross the border into Cotonou. The van, which had been reported stolen some days earlier, came under suspicion when the driver tried to bribe a custom official. Three men were arrested. Ige Alade, Chika Ndubisi and Anthony Taofeek (aka Sweet Tooth Tony). Tony, who is known for his ‘sweet tooth’ towards the ladies, is apparently the ring leader of the child traffi

I was happy when I learnt Uncle Bill would be staying home with me. With the epileptic electrical supply in the country, I knew I couldn’t count on television for entertainment. I hoped to hear more of his stories, and play our usual games of Connect 4, Snake and Ladder, Ludo and the rest. But I soon learnt that Uncle Bill had other ideas for our time together that day.

He came into the room I shared with my brother and sister, to check on me after everyone had gone to school and work. He brought Vaseline to rub on my ankle, and help ease the sprain. I enjoyed the foot massage. But he didn’t stop there. His hand went up and down my right leg, as he decided he would give me a “full body massage”. After he had massaged the second leg, his hand lingered around my thighs, and then my crutch, where he gripped me.

He asked me if I liked it. I didn’t really know how I felt about his touch, but I knew that something was wrong for him to be holding my private part. I was a little scared, because I didn’t know what he was doing, but I didn’t want to offend him by being ungrateful for the massage. I told him it was uncomfortable.


---

Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/gabriel-babatunde/support

Broken is a story of a love tuat conquers all, from the author of an AN EMOTIONAL AFFAIR and THE CHURCH GIRL story series.

---

Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/gabriel-babatunde/support