MAGBO THE SEER (Episode three)
“Wake
up daddy” Magbo shouted as he barged into his parent’s bedroom. They were
deeply asleep as usual. He patted them as he continues to shout; “Wake up! mum,
dad wake up”. His Dad now awake by his continuous tapping and shouting was very
angry and shouted: “Yes, what is it this time”. “I saw them!” “Saw who?”
Magbo’s mum interjected. Just at that moment, Magbo remembered the strict
warning the witches gave him not to tell anyone about them otherwise they will be
killed. He suddenly went quiet in fear. Mr. Muyi scowled; “are you ready to
speak or not?” Magbo reasoned that he can tell his father not to drive his car
to work today without having to tell him about the witches after all. “Daddy,
please don’t go to work with your car today” Magbo said frightfully. “Why
shouldn’t I?” Mr. Muyi reacted. “I have a feeling that something terrible will
happen to you” said Magbo. “Like what?” Magbo’s Mrs Muyi asked curiously “is
this another terrible nightmare?” She demanded, “No mum, it’s not just a
nightmare this time, I am very clear about this, please Dad, you have to
believe me” Magbo cried. Mr. Muyi placed his hands on Magbo’s cheek as he
always does to him when he cries “Look here, nothing will happen to Daddy okay”
Mr. Muyi said “Dad, I’m telling you the truth please trust me” pleaded Magbo
but his plea fell on deaf ears. Mr. Muyi eventually walked him out with the
kind words; “Go back to bed son, we will talk later” to worsen his fears, even
his mum added; “Go to sleep Magbo, Dad needs some rest okay” He walked out of
the room feeling more angry than afraid. Here he was trying to prevent someone
from walking into his grave and all he could get is-“go back to bed son, we
will talk later”. “When in the world will my parents believe what I say” He was
about to go back to bed when a thought struck his mind; “what if daddy does not
listen to me in the morning after-all”. Magbo reasoned that he could not rely
on his dad’s words he had to do something to prevent his father from going out
with his car.
After
thinking and brainstorming, an idea struck him. He was going to do something
drastic, “yes, drastic situations like this one calls for drastic actions”. He
quietly tiptoed back to his parent’s bedroom, he was careful not to wake them
from sleep this time otherwise his plan would be obstructed. He carefully
picked up his father’s car key on the bedside shelf and crawled out of the room.
As soon as he got out, he made to reach the door when someone called his name
from behind. “Magbo!” his heart sank for a milli-second “where are you going by
this time” he turned to look back at Granny before looking at the big wall
clock hanging on the wall, the time was just 3:45 AM. He had wanted to go out
to remove his father’s car battery. He knew this will prevent the car from
moving since he had tried it with his toy cars as well. “Once the battery is
off, the car would not start” he reasoned. But now, here was Granny standing in
front of him and asking a question he had no time to answer. He knew however,
that he had to tell her what he was going out to do. Granny was the only one who
trusts him after-all. “Magbo, I said why you are going out by this time” Granny
asked a second time. “ehmm Granny, I am trying to prevent daddy from going out
with his car today” Magbo replied stammering. Granny got closer to him stared
at him for a while and asked: “why would you do that?” Magbo looked into her
eyes, he wished he could tell Granny the complete story but he was afraid of
what the witches would do to him and his family. So, he decided to hide the
truth. “Something bad will happen to daddy today, if he goes out with his car
today. I have warned him about this but he won’t listen” Magbo explained,
“Something bad? How do you know boy” Granny demanded shockingly. “I just know
but I can’t tell you how believe me I am saying the truth!” Magbo answered. Magbo
studied granny’s face as it turned sad all of a sudden. Granny is a very lively
person and he was surprised to see her that way, he had to ask her; “Is
anything wrong with you Granny” Granny managed to speak out “I had a terrible
dream just this morning. I dreamt something terrible happened to Muyi, that is
why I am awake-I couldn’t sleep, I had to come to the parlour to pray”. Magbo
was worried about granny’s dream but he was with mixed feeling as well. He was
glad that Granny agrees to the fact that his Dad was in danger. He summoned
courage and asked Granny; “Can I go now?” “Wait for me, I will go with you” Granny
echoed softly. Magbo wanted to smile but he couldn’t, this was about saving his
father’s life and he had no time for smiles. They both went out in the cold of
the night and walked straight to the car, by now the witches have dispersed.
They dare not try to step out while they are still around. Granny spoke softlym
to Magbo: “What is your plan?” “To remove the battery” Magbo replied like a
hero. Granny said softly; “No, he will know we tampered with it besides he will
just get a spare battery and replace it easily” “So what do you suggest we do
now?” Magbo responded suddenly beginning to feel hopeless; “I suggest we take
away the ehm! the solenoid activation wire” “How, which one is it?” Magbo asked
as he carefully opened the bonnet of the car. “That thick red wire” Granny said
as she pointed to a wire inside the car engine. They couldn’t remove the wire
easily, so they had to cut it off smoothly” Magbo had to ask Granny on their
way back to the palour how she knew which one was the solenoid. She laughed and
said; “Don’t you know that your late grandfather was a mechanical engineer, he wa
the one who taught me all this things” “I never thought it would one day be
this helpful though” she concluded on a serious note. Magbo smiled for the
first time in a long time. Now he can go back to bed, since he and Granny have
teamed up to prevent his father from going out with the car. He prayed that
what he and Granny had done to his dad’s car helps if not what would happen?
(To
be continued...)
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