Every Child Deserves Responsible Adults.

Photo credit: Kassoum_Kone

His small arms hugged the baluster firmly while he looked down from his mothers rented second floor apartment, watching the queer old man relax under the afternoon shade.The bench had broken a long time ago no one usually sat there anymore until gradually it had been abandoned at the backyard where the old man dragged it out front propping it against the wall below a window. It became his bench and favourite spot where he drank and smoked, holding loud meetings with the old men on the street.

Tomiuwa was curious and he found them interesting since he had sparsely little by way of entertainment and he was always bored. They gathered every evening and had a brawl over drinks and cigarettes late into the night sometimes it was palm wine they guzzled drinking huge cups from big gallons. As they drank, their voices increased by notches. It kept Tomiuwa awake most nights not just because he enjoyed their conversations and he listened attentively or that he longed to sit in their midst. He couldn't sleep, he knew his mother could not either for she cursed them each night under her pillow and when she stood up around four to prepare them both for the day. Soon he noticed the bags; the circles around her eyes deepen. He did not understand why his mother never spoke out or rallied the neighbours against the old men. He knew she could do it she was good at that in fact it was her work; he was used to her complaining loudly about everything. She complained about him, complained about her three horrible bosses, complained about his dad; her husband, eventually sending him out for good. Yet, she never confronted the men him or threaten the landlord with no rent at the end of the month. Even the neighbours accorded him a respectful distance. Tomiuwa felt maybe  because he was a man. Not just any man. The man. He thought. That's why the others in the compound said nothing to him.

He thought about his father. He wondered why he left. If he would come back and if he had not left he sure would have joined these men too; that was why his mum always got into a fight with him. She said he had a terrible drinking problem and he drank himself to stupor. He didn't know what stupor meant but he had the feeling it wasn't good. He also wondered if his father would have taught him to drink or smoke. He saw older boys at his school at it during lunch break behind the kiosk. They were the big boys.

Tomiuwa observed the old man sitting there carelessly relaxed eyes closed, head thrown back touching the wall.  Benson and hedges cigarette splayed on his lips as he inhaled fistfuls of carbon monoxide at the same time lazily raising his lips slightly to allow the smoke escape. He sat  there like a statue except for the irregular motions of lifting the green long necked bottle to his lips and returning it to the crest of his skinny thighs.

Tomiuwa had never seen him eat or go out. except smoke and guzzle green bottles. He wondered how he paid his rent and promptly too. The landlord enjoyed using the old man to shame his other so called responsible tenants that never paid their rents when due. Tee wondered how it could be possible the old man lived alone and he did not work but it never seemed that he lacked money.

He uncurled his hands from the concrete and peeped through the living room door. His mother was still fighting with whomever it was she was talking with on the phone. Instinct led him to believe it was his father.

He turned around and ran for the bed snatching the mobile phone from his mother's ear.

"Daddy, daddy when are you coming? I miss you, come back," he yelled pleading into the mouth piece. While his mother furious, slapped his butt continuously to force him to loosen his grip on the phone but Tomiuwa held on tightly waiting anxiously for his fathers response. It was unusual for him to be silent.

"Daddy," he said again. This time his voice faltering. "When are you coming home please, Please come home I miss you."

At the other end a gruff voice cleared its throat uncomfortably mumbling incoherently then it was followed by a mean laugh.

"Who is your daddy?" The voice said harshly. "I said who is your daddy? smallie", It drawled. Tomiuwa felt a slimy smile spread on the lips of the one on the flip side.

Tee dropped the phone suddenly like it smarted his hands. That was not his father, he looked at his mother and frowned. He dodged a hit and ran out.

He heard his mother saying, "wait for me Tee, wait in the living room, I am coming for you, I will teach you." He didn't wait. Tomiuwa opened the back door and fled, his eyes moistened with tears he blinked away furiously sprinting down the stairs.

He saw the old man and stopped. Taking two steps forward, he was entranced by the bottle. It was bigger than it had looked upstairs. What if he took a sip from that bottle? would it make him a man? His eyes lit at the possibility.