chioma8:
Larrysun, you're too talented..... keep it up.

rukidanty:
larrysun..this book never finish since..i stopped reading since you stopped sending me my constant update on WhatsApp even though you are still owing me one episodes I paid for..well nice work

Vulcanheph:
Hooray ! ! ! This story has made it to frontpage.

jayman00004:
well done sir , please update in time ooooo

Aniesko222:
[color=#000099][/color]Nice story u have here larrysun more Wisdom from God to you

Ann2012:
Thanks for the update

Anigreat:







Dear LarrySun


I just want you to know that you are the best thing that has ever happened to nairaland literature section even outside nairaland.
I have been praying secretly for you, that you have the recognition you deserve in the world of literature, and i will be the happiest person on earth the day that happened.


"A man’s gift opens doors for him, and brings him before great men" This rare gift of yours must open doors for you... This is not my word, but God's word!

Eddyella:
Nyc write-up Oga Larry.


Xpecting more......

queenitee:
What a small world!!!

indodon:
larrysun baba... Man wey sabi ride on

Dackrapper:
Larrysun the great! ride on.

Update 6

***
Peter Black waited another two weeks before showing himself. This time, he was certain that the hunt for either him or Maria was beginning to grow cold. But he knew that he could not stay hidden forever; he had to take some steps. He had spent these two days planning well about what step to take next. He would need the assistance of Maria to make his plan successful, but he would need her to be absolutely well.

On the third day, he decided to reach out to Basket, but not directly, at least not at first. He dressed up in his usual disguising attire and left the house.

“Be careful,” Maria warned him, “Officer JB is a very smart and intelligent man. Do not take him for granted.”

“I know him more than you think,” replied Black, “He can never catch me except I allow him to.”

She stared at him. “Sometimes your confidence worries me instead of assuring me. You are too overconfident, I hope this does not end in your destruction, Peter.”

“People who do not understand me think I am, but that is not the case. I only believe so much in myself. Don’t worry, Maria, I will be back.”

“Why is it so important for you to go?”

“I have a very important message to give Basket.”

“It’s not my whereabouts, is it?”

Peter scoffed. “Don’t be ridiculous. He’ll have to go through me to get to you. I’m not letting anyone take you to jail.”

“Is that a promise?”

“It’s a vow.”

High Cross Hospital was crowded today. There had been a truck accident not far away from the hospital and the victims had all been brought down here. All the nurses and doctors had been very busy since morning. Some of the victims had been referred to the city’s general hospital when there were no more available beds for more patients.

Peter walked to the nurse at the reception. He flashed his best smile.

“I know today is a very busy day for you,” he began, “But I need to check a patient.”

“A male or female?”

“Male,” he replied, “An elderly man.”

“Was he brought in with the accident victims? If he was, the only elderly one among them was already dead by the time they brought him here, and he has been taken to the mortuary.”

“No, no. He’s not party of the accident victims. He has been here for over two weeks. He had an appendicitis surgery.”

“May I know his name, please?”

“Old Cargo.”

The nurse suddenly smiled. “Oh, Old Cargo. That delightful old man. Are you his family member?”

“I brought him here.”

“What’s your name? I need to check our record.”

Peter was reluctant about answering this question. If he gave his real name, it might be used to apprehend him in future. But then again, it was his name he gave when he brought the man in for the first time. Lying now or trying to change it would not help his cause.

“Peter Black,” he finally replied.

The nurse brought out a big book and flipped through its pages.

“Oh, here it is,” she said delightedly. “He’s in his ward.”

“The same Ward 32?”

“That’s right.”

“Thanks.” He was about to leave for the ward when something suddenly occurred to him. He stopped and returned to the nurse. “Can I ask a question, please?”

The lady giggled. “Technically, by asking if you could ask a question, you have already asked the question.”

“Has anyone else ever visited Old Cargo since the last time I came?”

The lady glanced through the record again and shook her head. “Nobody. As a matter of fact, he is due to be discharged but the man doesn’t seem ready to leave.”

Peter smiled and thanked the nurse again. He located the ward in no time. He expected to find the old man alone, possibly sleeping, but he wasn’t. There was a nurse there with him. She was feeding him spoonful of rice; she was laughing hysterically as the old man kept cracking old jokes. Black was glad that the elderly man was fully all right. He knew exactly why Old Cargo had not left yet. The man wanted him, Peter Black, to be the one to take him out of the place. Also, he probably didn’t want to return to his old home where life was lonely. At least here in the hospital, he got to crack jokes with the nurses. He didn’t want to return to that godforsaken house he was dying in.

“Hello old friend,” Peter greeted.

“Peter!” the man was genuinely glad to see him. He turned to the nurse. “Hey, meet my grandson. Isn’t he goodlooking?”

The nurse laughed and looked at Peter shyly.

“You have been taking good care of my old man,” Black said, smiling warmly, “How do I pay you for your kind hospitality?”

“She’s still single, you know?” the man said, laughing out loud.

“Let me leave both of you to talk,” the nurse said and started to walk out of the ward. “Make sure you finish your meal.”

“You know I won’t. You must come back later to continue what you have started.”

Peter watched as the nurse walked away. He then turned to the old man. “You have really made yourself comfortable around here, old man.”

Old Cargo’s expression suddenly changed from humorous to a serious one. “Where have you been all these days?”

“Been hiding.”

“You’ve been stealing again?” asked the man. “Are you ever going to stop?”

“It’s not what you’re thinking,” Peter replied quickly. “Old Cargo, I need to ask you some few questions.”

“You seem ill at ease. What’s the matter, child?”

“What’s your real name?”

“I told you. It’s OMB.”

“And what does that stand for?”

“Old Man Balewa.”

Peter breathed in slowly and then out. “That explains it.”

The man stared suspiciously at him. ‘Make me understand what you’re talking about.”

“Do you remember the girl you told me about two weeks ago?”

“The sick girl that stayed in the ward down the corridor?”

“Yes.”

“What about her? I heard she escaped. Did you break her out?”

“No.” For some reason, Peter Black was suddenly reluctant to talk further. “Her name is Maria.” He added.

“How did you know that?”

“I found out.”

“Then why did you ask me about her? What does she have to do with you? What does the meaning of my name have to do with anything?”

Peter spoke slowly. “I know who your grandson is.”

There was silence for a while. “How did you meet him? Did you tell him about me?”

“Your grandson was my childhood friend.”

Another silence descended.

“Why are you just telling me this?”

“It’s a long story. What you need to know right now is that he is after me and Maria.”

“Every word that comes out of your mouth puts me deeper in the dark. I don’t understand anything you are saying.”

“Your grandson’s name is John Balewa.”

The man thought about it. “That’s not the name I gave him.”

“That doesn’t matter. He is a police officer and he is out to arrest not only me but also that girl named Maria.”

“I understand that Maria was a criminal when she was brought in but what does that have to do with you? How did you get involved in her?”

“Maybe later when I have time, I will explain everything to you right from the beginning, but for now I need your help.”

“”I hope you are not asking me to commit a crime.”
Peter shook his head.

“What do you want me to do?”

“I want you to call your grandson,” said Black, “I want you to call him. if you explain who you are to him, he will come to you and listen to what you have to say. I need you to place a call to him and tell him to stop hunting for us.”

The man frowned. “I don’t know if he’s going to listen to me. He doesn’t know me.”

“You are his grandfather, you have to try,” Peter sounded desperate. “If you don’t talk to him, I will go to jail. He will put me and Maria in jail. Please you have to do this for me. You have to really try to convince him to back off.”

“I really don’t know if he would listen to me, Peter. You are trying to make me an accessory to crime.”

“What is he going to do to you? Send you to jail?”

“He may not listen to me; and if he’s truly my grandson, he will not listen to me. I will talk to him like you requested, but I can’t promise you that he would listen.”

Peter reached into his pocket and brought out a piece of paper. “If he doesn’t listen, can you at least give him this piece of paper?”

“What’s contained in it?”

“It contains everything. If he’s still the Basket I used to know, he would understand. But you should only give him this when it’s certain that he’s not ready to back off. Please try to convince him as much as you could. He needs to stop hunting for us. If he stops, I promise that we will not commit any wrong again. All we want now is just to be left alone.”

“You sound like someone who is in love.”

“My love for her is genuine. It’s true. We are meant to be together. Your grandson will try to keep us apart. This is why I am begging you to make him back off. To make him stop. We just want to live our quiet lives.”

“Why would he want to separate you?”

“I can’t tell you. Maybe he will tell you when you meet him. everything depends on his decision. If he does not listen, give him the piece of paper. It’s a heads-up.” He rose to his feet. “I need to leave now, Old Cargo.”

“When am I going to see you again, Peter?”

Black shook his head. “I don’t know. I really don’t know.”

“Will I ever see you again?”

Peter put his hand in his pocket. Frustration seems written on his face. “Everything depends on your son now. If you don’t see me again, it could be the work of your son.”

“How would you know if he agreed to my request or not?”

“I’m going to know. I am definitely going to know.”

“What if he does not believe that you came to visit me?”

Peter was about to tell the old man to inform Basket to check the visitors’ list with the nurse at the reception but he changed his mind.

“Tell him these five words: The bag in the dustbin.”

“What does that mean?”

“He’s the only person in the entire world who understands what it means. The bag in the dustbin was supposed to make us even, but from all indication, he’s not yet to let go of the past.”

“I hope someday you kids make me understand everything that happened between you,” said the man, “And I pray that you both will not end up destroying each other’s future. The path both of you seems to be treading seems to only lead to destruction. I would rather die now than to see both of you ruin each other.”

***

Officer John Balewa was in his office thinking about how he was going to apprehend Peter Black and Maria when the telephone on his desk rang. He had been wondering what had become of the girl. It had been two weeks and he had not gotten any lead to where Peter Black must have taken her. He had exhausted every available clue there was. The car Peter had driven in had been towed to the station and taken apart. They had discovered that almost everything about the car was not original. The engine was different from the body, the windscreen and all the glasses had been different from the frame; virtually everything had been change and it gave them no lead whatsoever, except of course that the transformation had been done in the popular Iron Market. He had gone there but he knew it was a dead end even before he arrived there. No one in the market had been able to give him anything tangible.

He had returned to the office frustrated. If only the car had contained papers of the owners, but there was nothing like that. It was as if Peter had taken extra care in making sure that the car did not lead back to him. John Balewa wondered if Black had taken the papers when he was escaping with the girl or he had been driving the car around without particulars all along. But that did not matter now, what mattered was how he was going to locate Peter and Maria.

At first, he was reluctant to pick the call as the phone rang. He was afraid it might be a superior officer presenting him with another case. He was not interested in handling any other case until he got his hands on those two people. Peter Black was the reason he had become a police officer; he would not stand around to watch him roam freely in the streets of Lagos while he remained here taking charge of other irrelevant cases.

He picked up the receiver and placed it against his ear, ready to inform the superior officer that he was not interested in any case he might be bringing before him. He needed to concentrate on arresting the thief called Peter Black and getting back the girl named Maria. It turned out that Peter Black had been in Lagos for a while after all; the information that got to him was that Peter Black was a wanted thief who usually left black pieces of clothes in the locations of his robbery. For a while, no one had heard anything about the elusive Black until Officer John Balewa came to the office with his recent experience with him. peter Black’s file with the police had been pulled out and given to Balewa to go through. It had been very interesting but no information about it gave him any lead.

“Hello, is this Officer John Balewa?” a woman’s voice spoke to him. He was surprised; he had been expecting to hear the familiar thick voice of Superintendent Hassan.

“Yes, this is Officer John Balewa,” he replied, “Who is this, please?”

“My name is Nurse Blessing. There is someone who is willing to speak with you.”

“How did you get my number?”

“I’m calling from High Cross Hospital.”

“High Cross?” Basket was suddenly excited, “Have you found her?”

“Found who?” the nurse seemed confused.

“Maria, the patient. I thought that was why you were calling me.”

There was a short moment of silence. “I don’t know anything about that.”

“Then why are you calling me?” He was beginning to get frustrated.

“Someone wants to speak with you.”

“Who the hell is that?”

He heard the woman gasp from the other end.

“That’s no way to speak about an elderly person, officer.”

“Elderly person? Who are you talking about?”

“He claims to be your grandfather.”

Basket took the phone away from his ear and stared at it as if a hand had crawled out of its holes and flicked on his earlobe. “Is this a joke?”

“No, sir. This is serious.”

“I don’t have a grandfather,” he said, “My first grandfather was dead before I was born, the second died when I was very young. Please Nurse Blessing or whatever you call your name, I am in no mood for one of your pranks.”

“Efe,” the voice of an elderly person spoke into the phone.

Basket became suddenly silent. How in the world did this person know his middle name. No one, absolutely no one except his parents, knew that he bore the name Efe. That was his middle name; and from what he heard, it was a name given by his grandfather.

“Who is this?”

There was a nervous laugh at the other end. “The first time I saw you in this hospital, that was the name I was trying to remember but I couldn’t.”

“Who is this?”

“This is Old Man Balewa.”

Memories came flooding into Basket’s head. For a brief moment, he was a little kid again. He remembered how granny used to carry him on his shoulders and take him to the farm. He would sit him down on a fallen branch and pluck oranges and mangoes for him to eat. Sometimes, granny would stop a palm-wine tapper and request for a pint. He would give him a little of the wine. Basket remembered, he remembered indeed.

“Old Balé!”

“Yes, my child. It’s me, your granny!”

Basket could not believe his ears. “This is impossible,” he said, “I was told you were dead.”

“I’m very much alive, child. It’s a very long story. Efe, I need to see you urgently.”

“What are you doing in High Cross? Are you all right?”

“What I need to see you about is very important. You need to come immediately.”

“Are you sure everything is all right?” Basket sounded concerned.

“It’s about Peter Black.”

John Balewa was rocked. “How did you know about that name?”

“He sent me to you.”

“Is this a prank or what?”

“He told me to tell you this: The bag in the dustbin.”

Basket paused and said:

“I’m on my way.”

LarrySun:
Loooool You've been consistent with me, dear. I appreciate you, ma'am.

LarrySun:
So sorry, sir. I replaced my phone. Kindly message me again. Bless you.