It was on Wednesday and Olu was sitting quietly in his room strategizing what he was going to tell his grandfather if the question of where he got money to buy a pair of shoes and jeans arose. After thinking of it for a while, he grinned and came up with an idea.
"There is no way to defend the ownership of this amount of money now. I will buy the jeans and shoes and hide them in my room till the coast is clear for me to make them public." He told himself.
"Olu," grandpa called him as he arrived from hunting and checking traps set for games. With a heavy sack hung to his shoulder and excited Jack wagging his tail, Olu knew that his grandpa and his dog were in a happy mood. It is easier to read the mood of grandpa through his long time friend and confidant, Jack. Jack, with his sleek aerodynamic body reflecting his history as a swift hunting dog, was not just a dog but a friend that knew perfectly when his master was happy or sad.
"Take this and prepare it." Grandpa handed the sack to Olu.
He emptied the sack and found a huge grasscutter.
"Be fast with it so that we can use the minor parts to prepare pepper soup while we sell the main part of Iya Sifau at the market tomorrow." Grandpa, with a cup of water in his hand and Jack busy with his own in a bowl, told Olu to hasten up.
The mention of Iya Sifau wasn't comfortable with Olu.
"That woman likes underpricing games when selling to her. Papa, let's try another restaurant owner." Olu suggested.
No response came from grandpa.
The following morning, both of them set out for the journey.
"Jack, this is your food and water. Look after the house and don't go far from the house at any time." Grandpa gave instructions to Jack who in his usual manner was trailing them to bid them goodbye. After a few meters, he wagged his tails and returned back to the house.
Olu carried the smoked grasscutter on his lap behind grandpa on his motorcycle and headed to the market.
Sensing that grandpa was going to Iya Sifau upon their arrival at the market, Olu reminded his granny again of his dislike to continue transacting business with the woman.
"Papa, this woman will underprice this meat. Let's go and sell it elsewhere."
"Life isn't handled that way. This woman has been kind to us, bailing us out of financial crises several times by lending us money ahead of selling any game for her. We are selling the meat to her." Grandpa explained and gave his verdict.
They arrived at Iya Sifau's buka, a small restaurant constructed with planks and roofing sheets. Two ladies were pounding yam in a mortar with full energy. A pot of soup was boiling in another corner with a young ebony girl adding seasoning to the soup.
As grandpa was parking his motorcycle, he could hear one of the ladies pounding yam calling the attention of their boss to come and warn a customer that was playing with her and touching her inappropriately.
"Maliki, you have come again. Are you here to eat or have you come to disturb my girls?" Iya Sifau who angrily left the customer that he was selling food for and came out to warn Maliki to keep off her staff.
"Baba Olu," as she does call grandpa, "welcome Sir." He noticed the presence of grandpa and Olu as she turned to enter the restaurant to continue selling food for some customers who were threatening to leave already because their time was being wasted. "Let me quickly attend to these people," she sought the patience of grandpa while she went inside to finish up serving the waiting customers.
After a few minutes, she came out to attend to grandpa.
"What do you have for me today?" She asked.
"We have a very big grasscutter for you." Grandpa responded to her while Olu brought it out from the sack.
"Billy, you are cutting that pounded yam too big. Aren't you aware of the price of yam in the market?" She called the attention of his staff who was cutting pounded yam into sellable sizes to reduce the size of the cutting.
"I am sorry, Sir." She turned to grandpa. "How much are you selling this?"
"I understand your nature of business. It's multitasking. This grasscutter goes for 2000 Naira."
"That's too much for this Baba Olu. This is not up to the size that Olu came to sell for me two days ago that I paid 1700 naira for. I will pay you 1500 Naira."
"Olu came to sell a game for you two days ago?" Grandpa asked her to be sure of what he just heard.
Olu was shaking on his feet. A cold lump of dread sat in his stomach. He intermittently winked Iya Sifau to put a stop to the revelation.
"Baba Olu, sorry for the miss up, it wasn't Olu that sold grasscutter for me. Let's conclude this transaction. How much are you selling it for me last?"
Grandpa took a few seconds to give Olu the 'I am coming back to your case' look before turning to Iya Sifau and told her, "2000 Naira."
They negotiated for a few minutes and he sold the grasscutter for 1800 naira.
Both of them climbed the motorcycle and they left the restaurant.
"Two days ago? should that be a coincidence? When did Olu start lying to me?" Grandpa asked himself multiple questions as he rode to a quiet spot, under a tree to ask Olu some soul searching questions.
Two days earlier, Olu had left with his bicycle to check on traps set for games. He returned home very late and the already agitated grandfather asked him about what kept him so late. He claimed that Jack with whom he went to check the trap got lost and he spent hours before he could reconnect with him. He had also told grandpa that a trap caught a grasscutter but the animal escaped with the trap before he arrived at the spot. He searched around and found the trap without the animal.
"Olu, tell me the truth. What really happened two days ago?" Grandpa leaning on his motorcycle asked.
He responded by repeating the same story he narrated on his returning home late that evening.
"Don't sell me a dog. Your effort to make Iya Sifau change her claim was obvious to me. Your repeated winking. If you refuse to tell me the truth and I later investigate and find out that you lied, I will invite your mother and hand you over back to her. You know that I don't condone lying and stealing."
Olu fidgeted. There was an uneasy calmness as his heart raced in his chest. "The game is up, I need to tell the truth." He told himself.
"Baba, I was the one that sold grasscutter to Iya Sifau two days ago. I wanted to buy a trouser and a pair of shoes and I didn't want to disturb you for it. I took the grasscutter on my bicycle to Iya Sifau and sold it. That was the reason I came back home very late that evening. I am sorry Baba." Olu pleaded soberly.
"Why should you do that? I will call your mother immediately." Grandpa with a hostile glare and face contorted with rage responded to him.
"I am sorry papa. I won't do that again. Please, don't tell mom, she will be mad at me."
"This should be the last time you do this. Grandpa warned. If you need anything, let me know. If I can't afford it for you, I will call your mother to send you money. I will give you another chance since this is the first time that I am catching you in this kind of act."
Olu was unusually quiet for the rest of the day. He regretted his actions sincerely.