Just a Dream!

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Just as a man would glue his calendar unto the wall, Obina and his accomplices were tightly tied to the brown oil drums which were standing even more gallantly than a well-trained military man, at the execution ground in the sunny Thursday's noon. Passers-by and onlookers took pity on him and his fellow crooks as they watched.

Obina, a fair-complexioned budding man who was in his late teen years had lived most of his lifetimes miserably. The frowning look on his face was an enough proof that he never regretted any of his actions. As he stared at the firing squad who were awaiting the order to shoot, old memories flooded his mind just like stars do to the sky at night. 

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Obina thought of how he lost his parents in a road accident one Saturday's evening while returning from a relative's place. He was only ten years old then and was in Jss 1. He was the only child of his parents and had always dreamt of becoming a Lawyer. After the unwonted demise of his parents, he had to live with his uncle, Mr. Edochie, a forty-three-year old man and father of eight boys and five girls with many sent-away wives. He dealed in tobacco and used every of his children who were primary school dropouts, in delivering his goods to his customers. Everyone in the town knew that Mr. Edochie was a fowl that wouldn't let go of his faecial droppings let alone a seed of corn. Not even his children could get a dime from him. So, it was unjust to say that he was a discriminating one, considering the way he treated Obina. The hope of being a Lawyer absconded from Obina as he had to join the crew of dropouts. But, perhaps life was fairer to him since he had been through the first phase of secondary school. Obina was now used to the tobacco business, being the new normal. However, in the course of the tobacco-delivery, he became one of the latest Ngba Ngba brothers in town, hoping to steal his freedom from his uncle, because he no longer owned it. 

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Life kept treating Obina unfairly, when he had to eliminate one of the reigning Air Lords in the town, being his first assignment as a Ngba brother.

The Friday's evening was painted in deep-red. It was as miserable as Obina himself. The moon was just showing up in the sky when Obina and his Ngba brothers set out to get the work done. Since he was the eliminator, he led the squad. His feet was more than cold; perhaps, iced. Intense fear overshadowed him which was obvious in the way he held the knife, butchering his targetted man in an uncompleted building down the street. It was too late before he sensed the presence of a police squad who were raiding the street that night. His fellow men were gone. His hands had been cuffed already. The hope of living a fairly life was now farther than the sky from him.

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Still resting flat on the brown drum, Obina kept flowing in the dark thoughts of the crippled life he had lived and tears swifted along his two flat cheeks. Just as the firing squad were ordered to shoot, Obina, a ten-year-old boy  woke from his sleep, panting and sweating profusely. He had been dreaming. "All was a dream", he shouted. He stood from his bed, still panting and walked towards the living room when he overheard his Mum reprimanding him for staying too long in bed. As she spoke on, he headed to the bathroom.

                                        

- Owoeye Tobiloba Moses

The Mosaic