Lineage

Funmi Dada Part 6

Bankole had gone to bed a little earlier than usual. Funmi was in the living room. She had not got around opening the envelope her mother addressed to her. She wondered why the Old man did not give to her all these years. The talk with Alex today reminded her of it, and she was a little afraid to sleep lest she has sex with Alex in her dreams again. In the envelope was a diary of some sort. From the contents of the diary, her mother was telling Funmi about her life as a young girl. She wrote about her mother, sister, and father. Now Funmi understood all the warnings by hermother and Grandaunt Kay. Funmi was astonished as to her mother's account of what she had done to save Funmi from her mother and sister. Finally, it all made sense. They didn't know what the effect of taking herLight out of her would do.  It could be the reason she did not do well in school or she just didn't seem lucky. She has to talk to her son. She wondered if he had eaten anything outside the home or in his dreams.

Power went off. This woke Bankole up because the fan went off as well. He sensed someone was in his room. Even though there was no electricity, he could see. He had his sight; he saw everything and the man in the room.

"I can give you your sight," said the stranger in his room.

Bankole had heard the voice before.

"If you eat this, you will see again. It has the power to restore your sight and everything will go back to normal. You will go back to school. When you finish your education, you can come work for me. I will make you rich. You and your mother will never have to suffer again," He continued.

The man sat on the bed and said "take, eat" and gave something to Bankole. Bankole believed him and he wanted nothing more than to see again, go back to school and take care of his mother. Ever since their hospitalization, once there was a blackout, Bankole would call out for her. Funmi did not understand how a blind person was afraid of the dark. Tonight he did not call out for her. He was sensitive to blackouts and would even wake up if one occurred. She felt something might be wrong and went to check on him. She got into the room and saw her son's hand stretched out as if to collect something.

"Bankole, are you alright?" Funmi called her son.

Suddenly he heard the fan come on, power was back but he was still blind. He must have been dreaming about having his sight. Funmi sat on the bed, the very spot the man in his dreams had sat.

"Are you okay?" she asked him again.

"Where is the man that was just here? He said he could give me back my sight. I could see him and everything in the room," he lamented.

Funmi could hear the disappointment in his voice. He was close to tears.

"Maybe it was a dream, my dear," was all she could say.

She did not know what to think anymore, not after reading her mother's tale, but she needs to know more from her son

"Bankole have you ever eaten anything from anyone, maybe in a dream or real life?" she asked.

"The man who was in my room was about to give me something to eat before you came in. He said if I ate it I would see again."

Funmi looked puzzled and wondered what was going on and who was this man who made her son see.

"No, not now. Remember when you were so sick you missed school for a week." He nodded. "Good, just before then, did you eat anything outside our home, maybe in a dream or in real life?"

Bankole looked down and away from his mother.

"It's okay, Bankole, I will not be mad. I just need to know. It is very important."

He told her how he had forgotten to take his lunch to school and was already late that morning and so skipped breakfast. A classmate gave him bean cakes because he was so hungry. Funmi just stared at her son. If what her mother wrote is true, then is he an Aje or is he not. Something else happened to her son that caused his convulsion and blindness.

"It okay, thank you for telling, now tell me, this man that was in the room have you seen him before now?"

"No, Mama," he replied, "but his voice sounded like that of the man who you were talking to in the mall today. He was very tall, a little light in complexion, and had light brown eyes."

Funmi became afraid.

"What else did he say?"

"He said I would work for him when I have finished my schooling and he would give me my dream job, he would make me rich and I would never have to suffer again," he answered.

"You said that with this man you did not see any light like everyone else?"

"Yes, Mama," he responded.

She held her son close.

"The person you just saw fit the description of the person I was talking to in the mall, and I think you were right about him. Promise me you will eat nothing from anyone else ever and that no matter what that man promises you will be not accept anything from him. I don't think that man is an ordinary human."

"I understand Mama and I promise."

She recited the 23rd Psalm, and her son joined her. It was all she could do for now. She would have to go find Iya. She just hopes she is still alive.

Funmi had read her mother's diary several times, and it never stops amazing her all that happened and all that her mother foresaw of the future. Right now she cared little about her Light, she was more worried about her son and she hopes that Iya was alive and would have the answers she needs. For some strange reason, this man called Alex is interested in her son. Funmi had told Bankole everything that in her mother's diary. He has no remembrance of being an Aje. Maybe that would explain why he became friends with the likes of Lydia and co.

Funmi took three months leave of work, she did not care if she would not get paid during the period. She had enough funds to take care of herself and her son for the period. Funmi was going back to the place she was born. She only has a faint recollection of the place, but she remembers the address because her mother had made her memorize it. She had to memorize the name of her parents, where they worked just in case she got lost. Funmi missed her parents, especially her mother. It broke her heart that her mother died, and now she knows why. How could a mother and sister be so cruel to their own? This evil is indeed evil. Her dad was really in love with her mother. Funmi remembered he was the ghost of himself after her mother died. He never quite got over her death. Her father kept his wife's things around the house, and sometimes she heard him talking to her. He did all he could to save her life. At least now they are together and happy.