Father's Ghost



Charles Oluyori-ACK

Amina's husband, Ibrahim died in a controversial circumstance following an illicit affair she had with his friend. He was discovered dead one early morning in his car some weeks before they had their new baby. No one is certain as to what actually led to man's death except for the rumors that he died after meeting his wife and friend in an act of immorality.

One Monday morning Ibrahim was going to his place of work as usual. He was a rich trader dealing in cash crops. He normally leave the house by six in the morning he drives to a nearby town where he had his shops. It was a drive of about thirty minutes from his place. On this fateful morning, he had only gone for about five minutes when the Mercedes Benz 200 suddenly stopped. He parked by the road, knowing that it would be a battery problem since the alternator wasn?t working well. He came down from the car and examined the engine, it was the battery, it had gone down, and he blamed himself for putting on the air conditioner. If he hadn't put on the air conditioner, he would have been able to manage the car to work. He was hoping that he could manage the car to work that day and for the week with the plans of fixing the alternator while servicing the car by the weekend.


It was still too early to find a battery charger at that time. And so he locked up the car, after taking the small bag containing the money he was supposed to use in paying for the goods that was bought for the shop the day before. He started to walk back home thinking Amina would be surprise to see him. Since he moved into the small town with his wife, Ibrahim had no reasons to go back to the house before the close of work.

As he walked to the entrance of the house, he noticed that the door was not locked. He thought maybe Amina was some where at the backyard washing plates or sweeping the compound. Entering into the living room he was surprised to see Hamza sleeping on a chair. The boy was sleeping in the room when he was leaving the house earlier. He looked around to ensure everything was in place and that thieves hadn't invaded the house while he was away. Then he heard a faint sound coming from the bedroom like the moaning of a woman having sex.

With the fear of the inevitable he entered into the room and was shocked to see Ahmed without any clothes, on his knees, and thrusting in from behind his wife. He swallowed saliva as he ran out of the room to the back of the compound and vomited. His stomach churned and he felt a sharp pain in his head. He took some water from a bucket at the backyard and washed his mouth. He said to himself, "I won?t go back into that house again, never!" The thought of the woman he loved so much having sex with his best friend on his bed was unbearable for him.

"I am a man, I won't cry" He told himself as he walked past the back of the bedroom, the sound of climaxing made him hold his ears with his palms and it was all he could to stop himself from screaming. It was better not see it nor hear it.


He left the building, walking to no particular destination. His head pounded, he didn't understand why Amina was cheating on him. He had done all he could to ensure that he satisfied his family. It would be too much of a shame for him by the time people hears of the affair between his wife and his friend. He was sure that so many people already knew of it, and he was probably the last to know of it. He thought of the possibility that Hamza would not be his son and that saddened him.

At the rate he was going, he would either end up in a stroke or a bad heart attack as his head pounded so badly. It was already day break by the time he got back to his car,but instead of going to work, he decided to walk around the town the whole of that day, drinking from one joint to the other, trying every ways to make himself happy. He spent the money that was to be used in paying the merchants that goods were bought from on prostitutes and bars, a lifestyle he had never known all of his life up till that time. At night fall, he went back to his car to sleep;he was discovered dead the next morning by passersby.

Amina mourned him for several days refusing to be consoled. Though she didn?t know what led to his death, but the guilt she had never experienced suddenly became a shadow of her. Two weeks after the death of Ibrahim, she gave birth to a girl she named Hassana. Hassana looked so much like the late Ibrahim. But no one attended her naming ceremony because of the rumor about the possible situation that led to death of Ibrahim. No one would associate with an unfaithful woman.

Then one sunny Thursday afternoon several months after Ibrahim had long been buried Amina was cooking in the kitchen, when she heard the cry of her baby coming from the room. Wondering why, since the baby she had just fed and sleeping too, she dashed quickly into the room. An unusual wind had started blowing in spite of the sun. The curtains on the wall blew from one end to the other and a calendar fell from the wall to the dining table. In the room the baby was sleeping soundly, she was wrapped in a small white blanket. ?But I heard her cry? she said to herself. Maybe it was one of her scary daylight dreams, she thought. She had been having several nightmares and day time dreams since the death of her husband. Sometimes she would see her husband chasing her with cutlass, and she would wake up.

Since the baby was sleeping, she started back for the kitchen to finish her cooking. Before she reached the kitchen she heard a terrifying sound from the backyard. Hamza her son was at the backyard, she rushed there to see him tied and bounded with ropes, he screamed. ?Untie, me, untie me please dad?

"What?" She didn?t understand. ?What are you saying?? she asked, confused! ?I don?t understand. Who tied you??

The boy kept on and she panicked. Something strange was happening around her, and there was no one around to help her. Ahmed left her since her husband died, he hadn?t been there to check on her.

"Daddy", the boy screamed again.

Amina bent down and started to untie the boy, but a strong wind blew from the east gathering dusts on the road that formed a cyclone, some dusts entered into her eyes and she left the boy to clean dusts out of her eyes. The wind continued non-stop upsetting the whole house. Curtains tore off as the wall clock fell to the floor hitting it with a loud bang while doors opened and closed by the force of the wind.

"I can't see, my eyes, my eyes" Amina called for help but there was no one around. The whole place seemed deserted. She managed to locate a bucket containing water and she used some water from the bucket to wash her eyes. She could see a bit even though the eyes hurt. She noticed that some things inside the house had been blown outside, so she ran inside to rescue her baby leaving Hamza who is still bounded by ropes and by now covered with dusts. The thought of the baby getting hurt was all she could think, Hamza could still manage somehow.

The whole living room had been turned upside down, and the house looked like somewhere not inhabited for years. She went into the room, but the room was empty. There was no bed, no baby, bare room, completely empty. She fell to the floor and fainted. 


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