Protect your children (part 1)
- from the book Greater Tomorrow by Pastor Taiwo Iredele Odubiyi
Sometime after, Osasere heard voices and woke up, looking out immediately. She realised the car had stopped in front of a fuel station. Some vehicles with passengers were also parked there and people selling different things approached the vehicles.
“Buy oranges.”
“Buy hot bread.”
“Where are we?” Osasere asked.
“We are at Ore.” Her mother answered.
The passenger in front opened the door and got down. When the driver opened his door and prepared to get down, Osasere asked her mother again, “What do we want to do here?”
“We are stopping for about ten minutes.” Mrs. Asemota said. “Let’s get down. If you need to ease yourself, you should quickly do so because the driver may not stop again until we reach Lagos.”
They got down.
A woman with a baby strapped to her back approached them, with a tray full of apples on her head. “Buy apples.”
“How much is one?” Mrs. Asemota asked the woman.
She told her.
“Bring six.”
While the woman was putting the apples in a plastic bag, Mrs. Asemota called a young girl selling small bottles of water.
Osasere told Esosa she wanted to ease herself.
“I’m sure there’s a toilet somewhere here.” Esosa said.
They glanced around to see where the toilet could be and saw the driver appear from the back of a shelter on a side. When he got close to them, they stopped him and asked, “Where’s the toilet?”
“It’s at the back of that shelter.” He said and pointed. “The one for male is on the right while the one for female is on the left.”
“Okay, thank you.” Esosa told him and said to her mother, “Mummy, we are going to the toilet.”
She and Osasere turned to go.
“STOP!” Mrs. Asemota called out.
They stopped and looked back. Mrs. Asemota was still standing with the lady selling bottles of water.
“You can’t go alone. Wait for me to finish.”
They waited. Mrs. Asemota collected her change from the lady and quickly covered the gap between her and her daughters.
“Didn’t you know that you were supposed to wait for me? You shouldn’t go alone. An adult must go with you.”
“Why? I’m twelve years old!” Esosa said.
“Yes you are but that does not mean you have become an adult. Both of you are young. You have to be careful, more so because this place is not your house. It’s a public place, both of you are females and there are unfamiliar people around.”
They followed Mrs. Asemota. When they reached the place, Mrs. Asemota first entered the toilet and looked round to see if it was empty and safe for her children. When she was satisfied, she came out and asked Osasere to go in while she stood by the door with Esosa.
Another woman came with a girl of about fourteen years and they stood beside Mrs. Asemota.
Mrs. Asemota greeted the woman.
The woman replied and asked, “Is someone there?”
“Yes. One of my daughters is there.” Mrs. Asemota told her.
“Mummy, you should stop following me around. I’m fourteen, not four!” The girl said to her mother.
“It does not matter if you’re twenty four! There are some places you should not go alone even when you become an adult.” The woman said decisively.
The woman looked at Mrs. Asemota and they both laughed.
“It’s the same thing I told my daughters.” Mrs. Asemota said.
To be continued.
This book GREATER TOMORROW is available in bookshops and online, on Okadabooks and Amazon Kindle
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