Taduno's Song (15 page)

*

While Vulcaniser was away, Taduno briefed Aroli about his encounter with the President. He left out the details of his ordeal in the underground cells. But he told him that he had seen Lela, and how pitiable her condition was.

‘You saw her?' Aroli's voice was tinged with fear.

‘Yes.'

‘Why didn't you get the President to release her since he now remembers you? After all, you are the one they are looking for, not Lela.'

‘He insists I must praise his government with a hit song within four weeks. Lela is his bargaining chip. I explained that I need to discover my voice first, and that I need TK to do so. He agreed to call off the hunt for TK to allow him to work with me.'

They fell into a long silence.

Finally, Aroli spoke. ‘The people are singing your praises, looking up to you. You are not going to crush their hopes by supporting the regime with your music now, are you?'

‘I have no choice.' Taduno's voice was quiet.

‘You have a choice.'

‘What choice do I have? Allow Lela to die? All along, the plan was for me to discover my voice, praise the government with my music and secure her release.'

‘Yes, that was what we agreed. But that was before we remembered you. Now that we remember you, the whole country is looking up to you. If you go ahead and support the regime with your music, our hopes will be crushed. The regime will have won. Tyranny will have won, and people will say that you were responsible for conceding that defeat. It will be remembered that you sold the people out.'

‘I'm selling no one out!' Taduno exploded.

‘That's the way it looks.'

Taduno jumped to his feet and stormed into the bathroom.

*

He emerged forty minutes later in a white bathrobe, refreshed but strained. Downstairs in the living room, he found Aroli in a distant mood.

‘I guess there is nothing left to say,' Aroli said, rising from his seat. ‘The way I see it, the priority is to find TK, and then you will have to discover your voice and make music to praise the government.'

Taduno did not respond.

Aroli shrugged. ‘I'll go and see what progress Vulcaniser and his men are making and report back to you.' He went out and closed the door quietly after him.

For a while Taduno roamed his living room, unable to coordinate his thoughts. The only clear image in his mind was of Lela's face and the anguish she bore so helplessly. The image passed, replaced by that of TK, without his distinctive Afro cut.

Wondering how he would find TK, he went up to his bedroom and began to get dressed.

*

Taduno enjoyed smiles and greetings in the street just like the good old days. Everyone stared at his guitar in admiration; they wanted to know when he would rattle the dictator with another song. He had no answer for them, and he wept in his soul knowing he could no longer live up to their expectations.

He refused to look into people's eyes. He could not laugh with them or smile at them; his conscience forbade him. So he simply looked away and spoke to them from the corner of his mouth.

‘We have not been able to find TK,' Vulcaniser updated him.

A small crowd of men gathered around him in front of Vulcaniser's workshop. Everyone patted him on the back and assured him that they would help him to find TK. Vulcaniser had told them how important it was, they said.

He nodded gratefully at them.

‘I cannot thank you all enough,' he managed to say. ‘I'll start a search for TK too, from tomorrow. I'm sure that together we will find him soon.'

They answered in chorus, nodding their heads eagerly.

Afterwards, they insisted on going for a meal with him at Mama Iyabo's restaurant. More people joined them as they made their way there, and, in the end, the restaurant was so packed many had to stand or sit on the bare floor. But they did not mind. They were in the company of a hero whose music would liberate them from the ruthless dictator.

*

‘Where is Aroli?' Taduno asked Vulcaniser as they ate.

‘He has not returned since he went out in the morning,' Vulcaniser replied. ‘I'm sure he is still combing the streets for TK. He said we must find him urgently.'

‘I wish he would understand.' Taduno spoke his thought aloud, a sad look on his face.

‘Oh, I'm sure he does,' Vulcaniser said as he wiped his soup bowl clean with his last morsel of pounded yam.

Taduno nodded absentmindedly. Vulcaniser did not understand what he meant, and he did not intend to explain to him.

They finished eating, and all who could afford to contributed towards the bill. Then they begged him to play for them. He obliged, knowing that he would soon betray them irredeemably. He played a very slow tune that brought tears to his eyes. ‘Tell me, what hope is there for the man who betrays his own people to save love?' he asked with his wordless song. But no one could console him with an answer.

*

Later, he went to see Judah at home.

He found him seated in the midst of his friends in his parents' compound, regaling them with fantastic stories of his encounter with the President which culminated in the limo ride back home.

‘Uncle Taduno!' Judah cried, jumping to his feet.

‘Lion of Judah!' he hailed.

‘That's me!' Judah responded happily.

They embraced.

The other kids gathered around them, stretching to shake hands with Taduno.

He had assured Judah during the journey in the limo that he would secure Lela's release, and Judah had full confidence that he would keep his promise. But the boy did not know that it would be at the cost of betraying everyone who looked up to him and had faith in his music. The boy did not know that his sister had become the most prized asset to both Taduno and the President; the queen in a ruthless game of chess. The boy did not know. But it wouldn't have mattered even if he did. All he wanted was to have his beloved sister back. He could not care less what happened to the rest of the country.

‘How are you?' Taduno asked, ruffling the boy's hair.

‘I'm fine. And you?'

‘I'm fine too.'

‘I came to your house a few times, but Uncle Aroli and Vulcaniser told me you were sleeping.'

‘Oh yes, I was. I have not slept well in weeks.'

Judah hesitated. ‘My parents came to see you too, when you were sleeping.'

‘Did they?'

‘Yes, they did.'

‘Are they home now?'

‘Yes.'

‘Let's go in. I want to see them.' To the rest of the kids, he said, ‘Go and play football, Judah will join you soon.'

The kids screamed with delight and dispersed into the street in search of a football.

*

Lela's parents were too ashamed to look at Taduno when he walked into their living room with Judah. They greeted him in a stiff manner, not because he was not welcome in their home, but because they were embarrassed. Sensing their discomfort, Judah retreated quietly to his room.

‘Judah told me you came to my house,' Taduno spoke cheerfully, when he had taken a seat.

The man simply nodded. His wife sighed.

He knew how they felt. He knew exactly how betrayers feel. In fact, he realised, he was worse than them now that he had agreed to betray an entire country.

‘Please don't feel so bad for wanting to report TK's presence in my house to the authorities. Don't see it as betrayal, but as a duty imposed on you by law.' He wanted to purge his conscience.

Lela's parents felt a little relieved when he mentioned that very heavy word – betrayal.

‘We are so sorry.' The man found his voice.

‘Please forgive us,' his wife begged, wringing her hands and crying quietly. ‘It was because we forgot everything about you. We did not even remember you as Lela's boyfriend. We wouldn't have dreamt of betraying you if we had not forgotten. You have always been so dear to us. Please forgive us.'

He felt ashamed that they could not see his own guilt. ‘Please forgive me too,' he said. ‘Forgive me even though you can't see my guilt.' He smiled hopefully at them.

They did not understand what he meant. But they smiled back at him all the same.

‘Lela will be released soon,' he promised them. ‘I have seen her. She's doing okay.'

‘Judah told us,' the man said, his eyes alight with hope. ‘He told us everything. How they brought him before the President. And how they brought Lela also. He told us you defied the soldiers to console her. Thank you so much.'

‘Thank you, Taduno,' the wife whispered.

He hugged them when he stood up to go. Judah came out of his room to say goodbye.

‘Your friends must be waiting to hear more stories,' he said to the boy, with a laugh.

Judah smiled.

Taduno left with sadness in his heart.

*

That afternoon, Baba
Ajo
led a delegation from his street to visit him. Among them was the pretty orange seller
who called him Oga Musisan with a demure smile on her tired face and the bony thug who hailed Oga Musisan with his fists in the air. Taduno received them warmly. He offered them cold drinks and a bowl of fried chicken which he ordered from Mama Iyabo's restaurant.

They refused to eat or drink. Their hearts were too heavy for that. They had come to apologise for the rude reception they gave him the last time he visited their street. They had also come to express their shame at the way they treated TK. He could tell from their faces how sorry they were. And he smiled at them saying: ‘We all make mistakes in life. That's why we are human beings.'

‘Our mistakes are too grave for words,' Baba
Ajo
spoke slowly. ‘We have come to beg for forgiveness. That's why I came with this delegation, so that you can hear from their mouths directly. Whatever you hear from them, they speak on behalf of everyone on our street.' A sigh escaped him.

‘Oga Musisan, please forgive us,' the thug began, raising his fists in the air, before folding his arms across his chest. ‘It was not so much our fault, it was because we forgot you. And how could we have forgotten you like that? Please forgive our madness. Forgive the madness that also made us treat TK so terribly. Ah! A man who did so much more than gofment can ever do for us. Baba
Ajo
warned us, but we would not listen. Ah! Our sins are too great to be forgiven.' He shook his head.

‘And now we can't even find TK to beg his forgiveness!' the orange seller wailed. ‘Will he ever find the heart to forgive us? Will he ever want to live amongst us again? Our lives can never be complete without him. Oga
Musisan, we beg you to help us beg TK when you find him.' The young woman began to cry.

Everyone that came took turns to speak, to express their deepest regrets. They all spoke very well, with their arms across their chests, unable to understand the madness that drove them to do all that they did, and to forget all that they forgot.

Baba
Ajo
gave the closing speech. ‘It is too late to shed tears now. What's done is done. But our people say to sin is human and to forgive is divine. I will not deliver a long speech. Please accept our pleas and forgive us. When you find TK, please pass our messages to him.'

All said and done, they settled down to devour the bowl of fried chicken, and they washed it down with cold drinks. They ate with concentration, not sparing the bones. And they felt light and happy as they returned to their street.

*

It was close to midnight when Aroli came to knock on his door. He had roamed the city in search of TK for hours. Taduno was taken aback when he saw how beaten Aroli looked.

‘Where have you been all day?' he asked, stepping back to let Aroli in and shutting the door quietly.

‘I've been all over the city,' Aroli replied, dropping into a chair.

Taduno sat opposite him and leaned forward eagerly.

‘There's no trace of TK anywhere,' Aroli said, staring at the floor. Taduno stared at the floor too.

TWENTY

Taduno discovered that the soldiers had been withdrawn from the streets as he travelled round the city the next day.

In the absence of soldiers, the streets became brighter and people went about their activities with primordial passion. The bus conductors resumed their sing-song and charmed commuters travelled longer distances, exploring parts of the city previously unknown to them.

Taduno's re-emergence aroused emotions everywhere he went. People begged to hear his music, and he complied, but only with his guitar. They wondered why he chose to remain silent. He tried to tell them, through his guitar, that he had sold his voice to the devil. He tried to tell them that the next time they heard his voice it would be in praise of the dictator who had oppressed them for so many years. He strummed his confessions, delicately, pitifully. But he did not know whether they understood him. He did not know whether they listened to his confessions because they were too pained not to or because they were
too enthralled with his music to stop listening. His music assumed a soulful new sound, plaintive to hear. Nothing remained of its sublime joy.

*

He travelled on long and small buses with the people he would soon betray. He mingled with them at rowdy bus stops, under the burning sun. He gave them stiff smiles, made small talk with them, and forced himself to laugh with them as he searched for TK, the man who must help him to save Lela.

Aroli begged to go with him, but he refused, not wanting to taint his friend with the impending atrocity.

‘You have done enough for me,' he said to Aroli. ‘I have to do the rest myself. I'm prepared to pay the price for love. You don't have to pay that price with me.'

‘I have learned a thing or two from you,' Aroli said. ‘Maybe I will learn to love like you one day.'

For a moment he dwelled on Aroli's words. And then he asked himself: What is the real meaning of love? When is love a crime? He knew the answer to his second question. Love is a crime when you love one person at the expense of the whole world. Of this crime he had become hopelessly guilty. He wondered if love would exonerate him in the end.