The Yam's Head
Mrs Apolomia Mejedu was a Senior Clerical Officer at the Ministry of Home Affairs and Information. She lived alone with her child, Matthew who was just five years old. Thrown out of her matrimonial home by her husband's sisters,' Apolonia went through the storms of life to cater for Matthew, her only hope.
The pressure at her place of work was much too. Her boss was most of the time nasty. The boss could not bring himself down to her level to bear that she was a single parent living on a meagre public service salary. The boss, Mr. Max Livingstone abused her in public for coming late to the office.
"Are you the only mother who lives alone?" He asked publicly. Apolomia would retire to the toilet after resumption and cry her eyes out.
She then made up her mind that the best thing for her would be to quickly arrange with her neighbour, whose five year's old son Marcus also attended the same school at Ilubi area of the city where she lived. It was believed that the two five year olds, though small boys would give each other some security cover whenever they walked to school together.
The two boys were linked to each other and for two months, they trekked to school together. Apolomia was very much relieved. She also got to her office on time and did not receive the nagging of her uncooperative boss. Besides, she thought the whole thing was becoming a blessing after all. She had time to do her work. As soon as she closed, she returned home on time to meet Matthew, who may have returned with his little friend, Marcus.
One morning, Apolomia quickly dressed up her son Matthew and took him to Marcus' parents so that both kids as usual would journey to school together. She left for her office at the Ministry of Home Affairs soon afterwards. Ten minutes later, Matthew and Marcus held each other's hands and began to move slowly and steadily towards the school.
Just at the bus-stop, they found a middle-aged strange man standing all alone and strolling towards their direction. This strange man walked carefully towards the children. He looked very well around the neighbourhood to be sure no one was watching. The two children had gone a little bit ahead and the strange man realized it was now safer for him to move closer to the young boys. He did.
"Good morning young boys. Can you please direct me to Agbagba Street?" The strange man asked the five years old boys.
"Agbagba Street? What kind of a street? Does it exist?" The boys did not know. They did not know the name of any street around their home. Their parents only told them a long time ago they lived on Yekiojeki Street. Nothing more than that. Of course, because they were learning numbers, they knew they lived at Numbers 12 and 18 respectively.
"I don't know Agbagba Street Sir," said Matthew faintly.
"What about you?" the strange man asked Marcus.
"I don't know sir," answered Marcus.
Because the area was a quiet and secluded place, the strange man thought this was a good terrain to operate. He was a professional kidnapper. He stole small children, who were used for ritual purposes. By now, he moved closer to Marcus and slapped the little boy on the chest. Suddenly, Marcus turned into a piece of yam tuber! It was incredible.
The Making of the Yam
The strange man had used some fetish objects to carry out this act. He put the yam into his bag. He wanted to slap Matthew too. Matthew was so scared at the turn of events. He appeared transfixed. He could not move away from the spot. He just stared aimlessly. Gracious! Suddenly, his lips opened. He began to utter some words. He did not know what he was saying.
Suddenly, a crowd had been attracted, and they gathered around the boy and the strange man.
"What is happening?" The crowd asked.
"This is baffling," said the strange man.
"What is strange?" the crowd demanded.
"This boy!" the strange man answered.
"What happened," Someone asked.
"I was asking him about a street and suddenly he began to cry."
"Ha! What does a small boy of five years old know about streets?" asked an elderly man.
"I thought... that..."
"What could you have been thinking? What did you do to him?" the crowd asked.
"I did nothing. I just asked for the street," he answered.
"Marcus is in his bag," matthew said with a tiny voice.
"In his bag?" asked the elderly man. "How can Marcus be in his bag?"
"The boy is too small for...this kind of a thing," they said.
The boy continued to weep profusely. "Marcus is in the bag. Marcus is in the bag. I saw him," the boy insisted.
"Can you imagine? How can I put Marcus in this small bag? These small kids of nowadays are funny. They are something else," the strange man said.
"This boy is not serious," said a woman amongst the crowd. "Where are his parents? Should they not be the ones to take him to the school?" the woman, asked angrily, adding further that the boy should be left alone to continue his cries.
"Marcus is in the boy!" the boy continued to say amidst weeping.
Trying to damn the consequence, the strange man volunteered to open his bag. "Wait a minute. I will open the bag for everyone to see. There is no person in my bag. I am not a kidnapper. I don't know why this boy wants to make me a child thief. Why is he now trying to turn me to a kidnapper? Maybe he is a cursed child. This is my bag," he said as he opened it.
Marcus is the yam
The crowd peeped through and could only see the lump - a piece of yam. "Its only a yam that is here. There is no human being. This small boy has perfected lying at this young stage in life," said the crowd.
"Marcus is the yam!" the boy insisted. "He slapped Marcus, and he turned into yam. Marcus is the yam in the bag," Matthew confirmed.
"Can it be true?" asked the elder.
"Don't let us leave a stone unturned," counseled a woman.
It was about 8 o'clock, the school resumption time. The school bell in nearby schools began to jingle. But the crowd was not moved. The yam was later brought out of the bag. Suddenly, a man from the crowd stepped forward with a penknife. Before anyone could ask for his mission, he had used the penknife to cut a portion of the yam. Suddenly, blood began to drop from the yam.
"You have cut the yam's head...you have cut his head," cried the small boy.
The incredible and bizarre thing had happened. Some elders with discerning spirits now realized the strange man was a kidnapper who had used voodoo on the kids. They held the strange man and gave him a thorough beating. With the same knife, they began to cut him. They instructed him to transform Marcus to his normal self.
He finally brought out some charms and began to recite incantations amidst beatings. He finally transformed Marcus.
When the poor boy came back to life, his left ear had disappeared. It was the portion that was cut off from the yam. It continued to drip blood until he was rushed to the hospital, and the kidnapper was handed over to the police.
©2002 StoriesByEmail.com
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