THE COLD WAR

THE ADVERSARY IS READY

   "Mr Adenrenle!" The guard banged the gate to wake him up.
        "You are in a big mess and you're sleeping."
       Adenrele sluggishly got up from the floor. He had been weeping all night, and had fallen asleep just some minutes before the guard came in.
        "What do you want from me?"  Adenrele squinted.
         "You're nothing but a proud criminal." The guard whispered.
      "We will get to know each other better by the time you're convicted by the court of law." The guard stretched his hands requesting for a shake.
     Adenrele grabbed the guard's hands, wrenched it around the bars, and spat on his face.
        "Don't get on my nerves." He warned, and released the guard.
     
       "I will see to it that you rot in Jail, I promise you." The guard threatened in pains.
      "I will let this go, but your just deserts is coming. Your lawyer wants to see you."
       He unlocked the gate for Adenrele whose hope got lifted on hearing the arrival of his lawyer.
      "I'm so sorry Officer, I didn't intend to..."
      "Keep your apology."
 
         The guard led Denrele to the visiting room. On sighting the lawyer, Denrele's moody face was immediately brightened.
       "Thank you for coming through Mr Davies."
       Mr Davies reciprocated with a smile, turned to the guard, and signalled him to excuse them for some minutes.
  
       "How are you doing Mr Adenrele?" He sat up, adjusting his glasses.
        "Do you expect me to be fine with this mess I've gotten myself into?"

      There was silence in the room.

"It's really not about going to jail, I'm ready to bear the consequences of my actions Mr Davies." He placed his hands on the desk, and looked straight into his eyes.
       "I'm interested Adenrele."
      
      The lawyer set the atmosphere from a very official meeting to an intimate one.
       Adenrele stood up from his chair, paced round the room, then sat on the desk.
            "I will tell you."

         ****************************
         Mama Denrele stood at the entrance waiting for her son to come out  after he had refused to answer her call the first and second time.
      "Adenrele, tí mo bá gbá ẹ mú(if I catch you)…" She walked to the backyard to cut a rigid branch of a plant, she took a cutlass to remove the leaves and some spines on the branch.
     "Adenrele, have you suddenly gone deaf? You will have yourself to blame when I'm done with you."
              "Màámi, I'm coming."

   As soon as he got to where his mother was, she whipped him.
          "My rod of discipline will chase that devil that resides in you."
        She was still lashing him when a neighbour walked in angrily with her son.
      "ó ti ẹ da, I met you right. Mama Derenle, you better train your son well so he will give you rest. See what he did to my son."  She pulled off his clothes to show her the wounds on his back.
        "Haa!" Mama Denrele exclaimed.
          "How did this happen?"
       "Ask your untrained son." The woman answered snappily.
     "Adenrele, mó n gbó ẹ (I'm listening to you). His mother landed a heavy slap on his cheeks, but he kept mute.
        "Leave him, he won't talk." The woman tapped her son to say all that had happened.
      "Our mother sent my sister and I on an errand, and suddenly, she started insulting me because I asked her to do something. I got angry at her and slapped her, she tried to fight back but Denrele stopped her, and he took up the fight. He pushed me to the floor, hitting me with a rod. My sister had to bite him before he stopped."
        Mama Denrele knelt down before the woman, pleading for her forgiveness. She signalled her son to do the same.
      "Let me give you some money to take care of your boy." Mama Derenle offered, but the woman rejected. After much persuasion from Derenle's mother, she accepted it.
     "Thank you Mama Derenle, but please, handle your son well. I will send my daughter to give you a balance of  #500. I think #500 is enough for us too."
      "Thank you so much, ẹma binu(Don't be angry)."

       She couldn't beat her son because she knew all that happened was as a result of how his father treated her. it had so much effect on him that he always couldn't stand to watch a man or a boy mistreat the female gender. To fulfill all righteousness, she asked her son to kneel down, raising a stone.
        "I will be back soon Derenle. If I don't meet you in this position, you will be in trouble." She said as she tucked her blouse into her wrapper.
       "Okay,  màámi."

          Almost immediately after mama Derenle left, the woman's daughter brought the balance of #500.
      "Peep your superhero in the mud." The girl mocked.
      "I regret trying to save you foolish girl."
     "Next time, you should save yourself first before trying to save others. You don't know you have lots of problems. You're dull, you are ugly, you're smelly." She paused, looked left and right and whispered.
     "You have a useless father."

     Denrele's eyes turned red, resentment overwhelmed him. He thought of throwing the stone at her, but he waved it off.
       "You should be thankful that I don't beat girls."
       "It shows that you're weak. Moreover, do you think I'm like everyone else you beat? You're very stupid if that's what you think."
      Denrele hit the stone against the wall angrily. By the time he turned to put up a fight with the girl, she ran away. He dropped the stone, running after her too.
     When the girl noticed that he was coming after her, she increased her pace, screaming for help, but no one was available at that moment to rescue her, it was a serene route.  Unfortunately, she ran into a moving vehicle.
    On seeing that the girl had been knocked down by a vehicle, Denrele, out of fear, ran back home. Luckily, his mother was not back. He went back to his punishment and pretended like nothing had happened.