Kalu was filled with an ineffable joy as he got into the house.
He arranged the money he had sold for the day and those of all the other servants for they had reported to him for the day.
After he had reported for the day to his uncle he went into his room and resumed on the happy thought of how he was able to recover all that was taken from him.
It began to dawn on him that he had never lost anything without recovering it sooner or later since he came to the city.
Some things that had taken place around him was beyond his comprehension.
He described them as miracles for he had been hearing the word 'miracle' from those around him especially at the market. Though he never really understood what the word actually stood for.
He was beginning to suspect that there was an extra ordinary power that worked around him and for him.
He reminisced on some other things that had taken place in that nature which hadn't really piqued his interest and he had counted them as nothing.
"Could it be the girl that visits me in dreams that is behind all these?" he asked himself.
But he was sure that those extra ordinary happenings had been taking place even before he started having encounter with Rose in his dreams.
As he continued to lavish on the recollection, he slept off.
In his dream, as he was seated in a bar, waiting for Rose.
A man approached him instead and got seated at the same table with him, in the same position Rose had seated the last time she visited.
He was able to recognise the man though it had been long since he saw that face, he was his late father.
The father got seated with him and started to explain to him how he had not left him since he departed this life. " I have always been with you since the day I departed this life... and I have ensured that you scale through in all your endeavors!" he said
There were some questions bothering Kalu which he needed some clarification on, but the father left immediately after revealing to him all he wanted him to know.
But before departing, he advised Kalu not to lose focus in what had brought him to the city.
He also promised to continue to assist him as long as he was still able to do so.
After the father had left him, he woke up at the middle of the night thinking that it was already dawn.
But when he had a glimpse at the wall clock with his slumberous eyes, he discovered that it was 1am.
Since the father died that was the first time he could see his face again.
He could remember as a kid, when the father assured him that as his only son, he would always direct him to the best in life.
It was on a faithful afternoon when the father was already battling with the sickness that finally took his life. That was at the early stage of the sickness for he was down with the sickness for over three months before he finally met his Waterloo.
Then Kalu was seven and was already engaging in some house chores apart from cooking.
The father was already down but was still able to engage in some non stressful tasks, like strolling within the environment and attending to some minor house chores.
Kalu was so hungry as he returned from school. The mother had gone to the market to get what to prepare for lunch. But somehow, she was delayed in the market and couldn't come back in time.
The father who was so empathic in nature, he couldn't bear the pain of seeing his little boy so hungry.
He had to move to the kitchen to see if there was anything edible to offer to his little boy.
There was a little piece of yam that was left from the tuber the mother boiled the last night.
The man had to put the yam on fire so that kalu could at least be a little relieved before the mother could come back and prepare what they would be having for lunch.
As the yam was boiling the father told him many stories about life just to shift his attention from the pain of the hunger.
Stories that as at that time wasn't making much sense to kalu because of his age.
But as he grew older, the message of the story began to unfold and it started making sense little by little.
The first story was the story of how a little boy like himself lost his parents at a very tender age.
And how the boy went through tough times in trying to cater for himself for there was no one ready among his family members to take up the tedious responsibility of taking care of him as it was perceived at the time.
The little boy had to hire himself out to do menial jobs for people just to take care of his stomach.
By the end of the day, the boy was able to make the best out of life and became whom God had destined him to be.
The father was simply trying to encourage him with that story so that he could be able to begin early to learn how not to depend on anyone and to put on the apron of hard work in life.
One important thing that the father said that was still at the back of his mind, was that he would always be with him whether alive or dead.
As if he knew that he wasn't going to survive the turberclosis which started like a minor cough and progressed by the passage of each day until it finally claimed his life.
The same assurance the father gave to him that day was the same words he repeated in that dream. "I will always be with you whether dead or alive"
Kalu was confused as he meditated on those words.
"Could it be my father who has been disguising as a woman and visiting me in dreams... is it that he wanted to reveal his real identity now?" he pondered in his heart.
His thought flashed on a story that was in speculation back then when he was still in the village. About a man that died somewhere in another village and was buried.
Later on after about two years, the dead man was seen by one of his close neighbor who had gone to the city for medical assessment, driving a taxi there in that city.
As soon as the dead man saw the neighbour he disappeared and that was the last time he was seen around that area.
Kalu was also familiar with the word 'reincarnation.'
He had also heard the story of how dead people assumed another body and still move around on Earth without anyone recognising them except for those to whom they chose to reveal their identity.
His thought wandered on many stories that had been stored in his brain as he was lying wide eyes on the bed.
He couldn't bear the thought of his father being the same Rose he had already fallen in love with.
How could he fall in love with his own father?
He tried as much as he could to dismiss the thought but it kept creeping back to him.
The dream was all the more confusing to him, because he was met by his father at the same spot where Rose met him the last time she visited and there were some other similarities with the way Rose visited.
But nothing about what the father said in the dream related to his discussions with Rose.
"Let it not be that it was my father that had been visiting me in the person of Rose!" he murmured to himself with a deep frown on his face.
" He said that he had always been with me since he died".
His thought quickly diverted to that day he went in search of Rose.
he started to have a second thought on what played out on that day.
"The girl I saw on that particular day, vanished like a spirit, I don't think any normal human can be as fast as that....I couldn't even hear the sound of a door swinging on its hinges if truly she entered any of the rooms". he thought.
" Now that I have succeeded in finding the Rose..... why didn't my father appear all this while that I was searching for the girl so that I could easily give up? why now that I have totally fallen in love?.. what kind of problem is this? he continued to ask himself.
Kalu continued pondering on the dream until the busy sound of early morning commuters could be heard.
Then he knew that it was time to get ready for market.
He was still pondering on the dream as he prepared for market.
The more he thought about the dream the more he came to understand so many things that was happening around him from the little hint he got from his father.
The problem he needed to overcome was asking the question in his mind in dreams.
It always happened to him with Rose, now it had happened to him with his father.
The urge to be sure who Rose was welled up in him for he needed to be sure that his efforts would never be in vain by the end of the day.
Not after going through hard times, difficulties and stress to make acquaintance with Rose, it will turn out to be his own father that he had been putting in so much effort to be with.
That would be the most annoying and heart breaking part of the whole situation to him.
He was torn between two decisions as he meditated upon the situation all alone in the shop.
One mind suggested he should go back to the spiritualist for clarification, while the other mind suggested he should revisit the Rose' address since he had discovered the place so that he could talk face to face with her.
The second suggestion seemed to have pleased him more. For right from the beginning of his dreams he had longed to be with Rose physically, to behold that beautiful face in reality. .
And now that he had known one person among those men that harassed him the other time, he was confident that the harrasement won't repeat again, for the man, the old woman's son, would fight to protect him the next time.
Moreover if he were to go to the spiritualist, he would have to spend more money.
The last time he was there, the spiritualist had persuaded he dropped an amount of money before his problem could be attended to.
Secondly, if the spiritualist by the end of the day confirmed that Rose was the same person with his late father, that means he would never get the chance of meeting Rose face to face again.
He would be so much heart broken and embittered that he would never want to see Rose' face again.
Thirdly, it would be difficult for him to make out time again to visit the spiritualist since his visitation days were on weekdays.
He couldn't pretend to be sick again for he might visit the hospital this time around.
But if he were to visit Rose again, he could do that on Sunday which was his free day since he had already known the place.
" If Rose is my father, she wouldn't have kissed me the day she kissed me...But she also felt bad from what I could read from her reaction when I said I loved her.. could it be she was actually trying to avoid falling in love with me?..." he contemplated as he was locking the shop to go home for the market had closed for the day.
He was lost in the thought that he didn't realize that he was vocal in those thoughts.
He thought he was speaking in his mind.
"Kalu who is this Rose that kissed you" commented a neighbor who was standing close to him.
He jerked in shock immediately at the question for he came to realize that he had been vocal all this while.
He smiled wrily over the question. And in an attempt to divert the attention of the neighbour, whom he never wished to reveal his feeling to, he introduced the discussion of what took place in the market that day.
How a full grown beautiful lady attempted to steal a pant from a boutique in the market and was caught that evening after she had succeeded in squeezing the pant into her bra.
It had been the topic of discussion in the market throughout the evening for the woman was paraded naked around the market with the pant hung on her neck by the market task force.
Every of Kalu's neighbour left their shop inorder to witness the humiliation of the woman by themselves. But the issue of that dream bothered Kalu so much that his interest wasn't piqued by the scenario or any other thing.
He remained seated in his shop. And some of the neighbours had been wondering if he was alright for Kalu they had known wouldn't dare to miss such a scenario.
Even when the issue was being discussed in the line, he made no contributions. The far away look in his eyes was a clear indication that he was being bothered by something.
He told some of them who cared to know if he was alright, like that particular neighbour standing close to him, that nothing was wrong with him.
" How come is now that he wants to talk about the issue?" the neighbour wondered as Kalu was trying to distract him from inquiring on what he had heard him mentioned.
Even as he was going home that evening, he nearly missed his bus stop for lack of concentration.
As he walked to the house after he had alighted at the bus stop, he collided with a woman that hawked dry fish.
The woman was carrying her tray of fish well arranged on her head when she heard whistling sound from behind.
She turned to see if she was the one being called.
But she was still walking as she looked back instead standing at a spot.
She was coming face to face with Kalu and Kalu wasn't in full concentration to observe that the woman wasn't looking.
He was walking freely his mind occupied by the thought of his dream.
Before he could realize that the woman wasn't looking it was too late.
He had already had contact with her and at once the tray of the dry fish on the woman's head fell on the ground and all the fish scattered on the dusty road.
The woman who was frustrated by the bad market day, started blaming Kalu for falling her tray of fish.
Kalu was sure that it wasn't his fault and was trying to explain to the woman who was not willing to listen to his own part of explanation.
As they were arguing, people started gathering to know what the problem was.
When the woman wanted to explain to the people what had happened, as she turned to point at her tray of fish that was scattered on the ground she discovered that every single fish that was initially scattered on the ground had arranged on the tray just the way it had been on her head.
the woman was dumbfounded and confused with her mouth wide open in shock.
She picked up one of the fish from the tray to see if there were dust particles on the body maybe one of the bystanders had quickly arranged the fish while she was busy arguing with Kalu.
Kalu too was surprised at what had taken place.
The people that had gathered didn't see what the argument was all about and we're walking away one after the other.
The woman who was initially claiming right with the hope of extorting some money from Kalu couldn't believe how her plan was distorted.
Those people that had gathered thought that she was insane for it appeared she carefully dropped her tray of fish and started accusing someone for causing it to fall from her head.
"Madam what are you accusing the innocent boy for" asked one of those that had come to intervene.
The woman carried her tray of dry fish in shame and walked away.
Kalu was already aware of the person responsible for what had taken place.
The father had already made it clear to him in that dream that he had been the one getting him out of troubles.
He was sure, he saw with his own two eyes as the fish was scattered on the ground.
Well he wasn't too surprised at the same time. But even at that, he hadn't experienced such a wonder since he had been experiencing extra ordinary happenings around him.
Nothing as immensed as that had ever taken place.
Clara lied on the bed staring at the ceiling. Her mind was filled with bitterness for what Alex had done.
She wished Alex was in the room with her, she would have landed a dirty slap on his moustached round face not minding his big stature.
"well I made a mistake on my own part" she murmured to herself. "I should have let him know that it was a secret that not even my mother knows about!" she blamed herself on a second thought.
"But does that mean that a full grown man like Alex couldn't keep a simple discussion to himself?" she questioned herself again. " Does it mean that if I get married to him, he would be taking every of our discussions to my mother?" she dwelled in the thought until she was unknowingly taken by sleep.
Rose was seated on the bed, she stared around the whole room in amazement. She was surprised on how their room had changed.
Almost every property apart from the furniture and few other things like the foam had been packed out by Clara and taken to her new home.
She had been to Clara's new home to look for her but couldn't find her there so she decided to come to the family house to see if she was there.
Clara was so happy to see Rose again after sometime that she hadn't visited.
She had been wondering if something had happened to her.
When she told her that she won't be coming for sometime, she didn't tell her that it would take that long.
They both went together to the sitting room where Rose narrated to her how she had been coping with life.
How she had been touring around the country. No part of the country that she had not been to.
She had even been to Europe and America. But no one could still notice her presence in those places.
She just arrived from America that evening and decided to come and see Clara.
Clara was fascinated by her story that she almost slipped into the world of envy for her sister.
But on a second thought, she knew that it was never something desirable to live without a body.
Rose had also been searching for that herbalist that took away her body but still wasn't able to find him.
Before she left, Clara insisted to see her off and she walked with her to the gate of their compound before returning back to the house.
As she walked back to the sitting room, Her eyes shot wide open where she was lying on the bed in her room.
she was sad to realize that it was just a dream.
"For how long will this continue to be a dream... why did I even wake up?" she asked herself.
She was too weak to get up from the bed.
She peeped outside from the window that was at the bedside and discovered that it was still dark outside.
The wall clock in the room hadn't been functional since the room was deserted.
There was no one to take care it when it was disfunctional or change the battery when it was dead.
She searched around lazily for her wrist watch to check what time it was. She needed to leave as early as possible inorder to dodge further discussion with the mother on the same issue of Rose and marriage.
As she searched around for the wrist watch, it occurred to her that she left it on the dinning the previous night.
She had no choice than to overcome the weakness that was trying to engulf her by pulling herself up from the bed and going for it.
She discovered that it was 5am as she stood at the dinning staring at the wrist watch like she was seeing it for the first time.
It's already morning but she had learnt to wait till at least 6am before she could hit the road for security purposes.
By then the early birds would be about their various businesses.
She wouldn't want to fall into the same trouble she almost fell into some time ago when she newly resumed her job.
On her first day to work, then she was hypnotized by the delight of the new job that she had to leave the house so early without bothering to check the time.
As she was standing at the bus stop, which was about few kilometers from her home, waiting for a taxi to take her to the place of work. Two hefty men with a lighted cigarettes in their hands approached her.
From the daring look in those men's eyes she was sure they were going to rob her or even rape her, there was no way she could escape any of those two predicaments.
As she was being interrogated by one of the men who had a jerk knife in his left hand, she almost urinated on her body, for the voice was so deep and intimidating.
"What do you have in that your dirty hand bag" the man roared.
Clara on a normal circumstance would have been infuriated with the man for referring to her cherished handbag as dirty but she was in a state of panic and confusion for there was no one at sight to help even if she decided to scream and call for help.
She had already submitted within herself to whatever ill-treatment those men might decide to extend to her when luckily the headlamp from a police van flashed its light towards that direction.
The men quickly left her and ran for their own safety as soon as they saw the van.
Clara immediately ran back to the house with an unbelievable speed and waited till the day was fully brightened before she came out again and headed for work.
She was nearly late to work that day.
From that time Clara had been cautious of early morning movement.
So she went back to her room waiting for 6am.
She had calculated that anything from six, the mother would be awake.
There was no work that day which means it's an opportunity for her to go to the police station and make her report since she had got the picture she needed.
It was like the movement of time was being hindered by an unknown natural force to Clara.
the 6am that was only one hour from 5am now seemed to be taking up to five hours to tick.
She quickly ran into the bathroom to freshen up a bit as it was getting to fifteen minutes to six so that she could be good to go once it's six o, clock.
It was five minutes to six before she finished from the bathroom. In her eagerness, five minutes to six and six o, clock were just the same.
She quickly went to the mother's room to inform her that she was going.
The mother was surprised at the urgency with which she was about to leave.
She peeped through the window curtain and saw that the day had not yet brightened.
"won't you wait for the morning to brighten before leaving, you said today is holiday!" the mother said as she stretched on the bed. "there is something I would have loved to discuss with you"
Clara knew that there was nothing the mother needed to discuss apart from what they had been discussing all through the night.
"I had an urgent call from my boss last night, he needed me to come and assess some documents in the office!" Clara lied, "but I will be back as soon as I am done." she promised. A promise she didn't intend to fulfill.
"But you should..." the mother wanted to continue But Clara left the room immediately to avoid further questions.