ONCE UPON A SOLDIER

ONCE UPON A SOLDIER
The beautiful Awelewa was getting pale and pale each
day. With each passing day, she was unsure of what
the future holds for her. Awelewa had just finished
sweeping the entire compound of her fathers’ house,
she is the only unmarried daughter of her father. Her
other two sisters were already married with children.
She was about retiring to the house when she
remembered that she needed to fetch water from the
stream. Oh! how she loathed the stream…
Awelewa walked down the path that led to the stream
with a bucket in hand. Chief Lalupo had promised the
village a bore hole water pump presently and that
sounds like good news since she would soon never
have to go through this path that brings bitter-sweet
memory to her again. The young maidens chattered as
they passed by Awelewa, they bowed slightly in
reverence for her. Awelewa remembered the times she
came here with her peers; the jokes and songs that
accompanied each journey, now they are all married
with children. It was on one of such voyage to the
stream that she met Dauda the love her life who was…
The sound of the waters cut her from her thought
signalling to her that she was close to the stream. She
walked a bit forward before descending to the lower
bank to fill her large iron pail. Awelewa placed a well
wrapped cloth on her head for support before placing
the bucket on it. She carefully went up the slope and
proceeded in her journey back home…Awelewa had just
started on the path when she hit her leg on a stone.
She fell head long with the bucket finding its way to
the bush and the water flowing on the floor. Awelewa
picked up herself and sat on the floor as the water
flowed through the path she sat. Her heart thumped.
This is a bad omen she thought. The only thing that
came to her mind was Dauda, as she broke into a loud
wail.

The open field smelled like an abattoir only that it was
of human blood not animals. There had been a large
slaughter. The army was heading to victory; they were
very close or so they thought not knowing that the
enemies had deceived them into thinking they
retreated. Little did they know that the track they took
while pursuing was already covered with land mines.
As they stepped on it, each soldier was torn apart by
the blast. It was too late to retreat. The enemies came
out from their hiding place and caught them unawares.
There was a massacre; no one survived… at least it
didn’t appear so…
Dauda opened his eyes slowly around him. But he soon
closed them shut. He opened it again but couldn’t see
anything. He tried to remember what had happened
previously but his memory failed him. He tried to open
his eyes, this time his retina opened more and he
became aware of the thick darkness that surrounded
him. There ran a sharp pain in his thigh which
reminded him of the event that occurred earlier. He
found his way to his pocket and picked up the tiny
pocket lamp he had. Carefully switching it on, he
looked around to find a heap of dead bodies. Stench
filled the air, a sudden hush fell around the whole
place. He tried to sit up, but the pain was driving him
mad; both physical pain he felt from the leg with which
he stepped on a land mine and mental pain from the
loss of his dearly beloved brothers.
He was losing so much blood but he didn’t stop. It
couldn’t have been him alone who survive. A man
should not cry, a soldier should be strong always, but
Dauda could not help it as a tear drop fell from his eye.
The loss of blood made him weak and in no time he
collapsed on the floor.

Dauda didn’t open his eyes until the fifth day. The
rescue team had found a breathing soul among the
heaped mass of the dead, Dauda heard later. They
were not sure he would survive it. The equipment they
had could not heal him fast and completely. His left leg
was slowly decaying. Dauda lived in pain for weeks but
all through those times all he was saying was: I will
survive this, I will see Awelewa.

Awelewa busied herself with the making of Adire. She
was tired of her nagging mother. If it was for
grandchildren, her mother had that in surplus. Awelewa
could not understand why her mother kept pestering
her. When will she ever realise it was Dauda or no
other person!
“Awelewa!” Her mother called her from inside the
house.
At first she pretended not to hear, but she knew her
mother won’t stop calling her so she left what she was
doing and went inside.
“I have good news for you, have a seat” she beckoned
on her daughter to sit beside her.
“You know the son of chief Lalupo that went abroad,
he is back and his father needs a bride for him”.
“My daughter you know you’ve always enjoyed a good
life, I and your father have always done our best in
giving you the best, we want that to continue, please
accept this proposal. Dauda is a good man but you
know he’s at the war front and with the news we are
hearing everyday he might be…”
“Woman! It’s enough, leave the poor girl alone” baba
Awelewa blurted as he came in unto them in the
middle of their discussion.
“Awelewa was it not something you were doing before,
go and continue”. Awelewa could not be more grateful
for her father’s timely intervention.
“Ese baami (thank you my father)” she said as she
knelt down before standing up to go.
“Olowo ori mi (my husband)”, Amope knelt to greet her
husband,
“but you know this girl needs to get married as soon as
possible. What if he doesn’t return?”
“Wait till then, allow the girl to wait for her love”
Awelewa’s father said as he found himself a spot to
sit.
Amope sighed, “I hope this leads somewhere” she
muttered under her breath.

It was dusk when Dauda arrived at his village. The
darkness and the over grown grasses due to rainfall
reminded him of the war front.
With clutches in hand and an amputated leg, Dauda
found his way to his uncle's house. His parents died
when he was young and his uncle is the only family he
knows. Dauda stopped in track upon getting to a large
big tree somewhere around the center of the town. He
closed his eyes as memories of the good times he and
Awelewa shared there came to him. Dauda sighed
heavily as he sat down by the tree and began to sing.

It was in the middle of the night. Awelewa seemed to
have forgotten what a good night sleep meant as she
was almost always awake every night.
This night was no different only that what she felt at
the moment was different, she felt as if she could hear
her love calling her from afar. This made her especially
afraid. She stood up half consciously as she left the
house quietly and headed for the village square.

In the middle of his singing, he saw a shadow from
afar. The steps looked like the gracious steps of
Awelewa. Only that the person approaching looked
pale.
Awelewa as well seemed to have spotted the creature
seated by the tree from afar. She was reluctant to
proceed but she continued anyway. Dauda too at this
moment was already moving close to her with his
clutches.
As they stood in front of each other, Awelewa tried to
catch her breath, “I thought I would never see you
again” she said and they hugged each other.
And for that moment, they were lost in each-others
embrace.
“Well, I came for you but without my other leg”
Awelewa broke from the embrace as she stared at him,
noticing the clutches for the first time
She bent to touch his legs, “Does it hurt my love?” she
asked him staring into his eyes.
“No, not with you staring at me like that”
“Dauda you came, that's more than I ever wanted!” she
said. With hand locked in hand, they found their way
home.
@inspired_360