Kimberly, (a true account of a lost girl.)


KIM.

(The Destined Child).

By

Olayiwola Oromidayo (Ayomide)



©2019.



Foreword.

This book is meant to sensitize people, especially Africans about adoption. Many Africans see adoption as a western culture which has no root in the African soil. This perspective is wrong to put say it mildly.

An adopted child is as good as one’s biologically child(ren). Adopting a child will go a long way in reducing population in Africa; promote peace and development, security, unity and mutual understanding to mention a few.

Besides, when a child is adopted and properly taken care of, such child will be eternally grateful to that man, woman or couple that took him or her in when he or she has no one. This is the simple truth. Let’s make the world a better by putting a smile on the face of a child!



Dedication.

This book is dedicated to the helpless kids in the world who go to bed at nights with tears and hunger. Your coming into the world is not a mistake; there is a reason why you are here. Though there are mountains to climb, hurdles to jump and rivers to swim, yet you will prevail because nothing is impossible as long as you strongly believe and have faith. This book is dedicated to you.









PROLOGUE.

One bright Sunday afternoon, Kim, a nine year old highly spirited girl skipped through a congested street with her school bag firmly held in place at her back. The happiness on her young beautiful face rivalled that of the bright shining sun and this evident happiness rubbed off on the people she passed. She took two steps at a skip and sang happily as she weaved through the human traffic on the streets. Several times, she had to walk as close to the gutters as possible whenever the impatient Lagos drivers decided to overtake the vehicle in front at all cost or in some cases when they decided to drive on the curb, causing the pedestrians to scamper for cover with curses.



After several minutes, she arrived at a junction where the street branched off into two more streets. Here she paused and took a moment to decide which one to take. The road by her right led to the opulent GRA where she knew that her mother would be at that moment, working in one of the grandest houses as a cook whiles the one by the left led to the slum where she and her mother lived. She didn’t stay long in making up her mind because she knew that her mother would undoubtedly wanted her to stay at home till she comes back in the evening to join her but the temptation to see her mother at that moment was so great that she couldn’t resist it. So she took the right and walked few paces down before she came to the impossibly talk gates that keep strangers and poor people like herself away the GRA.



The gates and the fences surrounding the GRA were so tall that nothing could be seen of the streets inside. Two unsmiling guards stood guard like sentinels at the entrance, eyeing every passersby suspiciously.

She halted at the entrance and looked up at the unsmiling security guards with a sort of boldness and innocence that surprised them both.

“Yes?” The taller of the two men asked when he could find his voice “What do you want here?”

“My mother” She said calmly “She works inside this estate”

“I’m sorry we can’t allow you to go in unless you are a resident of this estate. Why don’t you go home and wait for your mother there? She’ll join you at home in the evening when she’s done” The other man suggested.

“I’m sorry but I have to see her now!”

“When did your mother start working here?”

“Today”

“Ah, I see” One of the men said, scratching his bald pate. “Do you know the number of the house where she works?”

She shook her head in the negative.

“I’m afraid I can’t help you. Go home and wait for her. She’ll come for you when she is ready. Did you hear that?”

Kim didn’t reply. Instead, she stood rooted to same place with her bony hands crossed across her thin chest. She held the two men’s gaze steadily without flinching or looking away.

Both men became uncomfortable. It would have been easier if it was an adult that they had to deal with but how would they handle a child without giving the impression that they were maltreating and abusing her?

“Okay, do you know the name of your mother’s employer; maybe we can contact him or her to inform your mother that you want to see her?” The shorter of the men said exasperatedly.
“She works for the Williamsons”

“Okay” one of the men said and marched off into the guard house at the entrance of the gates. The other stayed at the gates with Kim, shifting his weight from leg to leg. After several minutes, the other man reemerged from the guard house with what looked like a rusty smile on his broad face. “I have put a call through to your mother and she will be here soon. In the meantime, you can sit under the tree over there, leave this place” He said and pointed to a tree afar off.

“I’d rather wait for her here” she said with a finality that shocked both men and there she was till her mother came out some twenty minutes later.

“Kim, you better have good reasons for dragging me out of work at this time, otherwise I will spank you so badly” her mother said as she emerged from the gates, untying the apron as she walked.

“Mum, mum, he came!” she said “He was angry and shouting and he said I must find you otherwise, he will send us packing”

“Who….the landlord?” She asked with a worried look.

“Yes”

For several moments, both of them said nothing as they considered their options. Finally, she spoke.

“You know what, go back home and tell him that I will soon be home and I’ll come to his place to pay. Meanwhile, when you get home, go to mama Bisi and tell her to give you a cup of garri and groundnut for lunch, I’ll pay her in the evening”

“Okay mum”



Her mother went back to the estate and Kim skipped back home the same way she came. The security men at the gates watched her go with sympathy, neither of them saying anything but both of them thinking how beautiful it would be if such a lively and highly spirited girl could be born with opportunities, she would have been unstoppable.





Chapter One.

January 1992, Lagos Nigeria.

Mr. Smith was a successful businessman who believed that as long as one is hardworking, nothing is impossible to achieve. He has shown this principle in the way he managed both his chain of businesses and his family. He always made sure that his children top their different classes with distinctions. He was fond of saying “Heavens can only help you when you have helped yourself to some extent”



One Monday morning while he was driving to his office, he became held up in an unmoving traffic. He was used to having his ways according to his timing, so he was frustrated with the traffic but because he had no choice, he decided to wait it out. The traffic crawled at snail’s pace and he inched his car forward slowly at the pace of the traffic.



To pass away the time, he turned on the FM radio and tuned to a music station but he turned it off because the music was ‘nothing but a loud cacophony of sounds and rhythm with no suggestion at melody’. That was his definition of much Nigerian music. So he always dissuades his children from becoming enamored to them. “This is not about not loving what is ours” he always said whenever Angela, his eldest child starts defending the Nigerian music and challenging him why he didn’t not appreciate them. “Yes, I love my country and will do anything within my power to defend her integrity if needed but am I supposed to love what’s not good about it? Will I say because it is my country and I have to show my loyalty, then I have to listen to junk as music?”

“But dad, are you implying that ALL Nigerian music is junk?” Fred, his eldest son would ask

“No” he would quickly say “Not all. We still have some artistes who sing common sense but majority of them sing trash”

All these conversations with his family came rushing back at him on that particular day while he was waiting in the traffic. He began to watch the pedestrians as they walked with a sort of purposefulness that you will only see in Lagos in Nigeria. Lagosians have this aura of purpose about the way they walk that no other state in Nigeria could match. People of all ages and shapes were walking past him as the traffic came to a dead lock and became completely stopped. After putting a call through to his secretary to delay the board meeting for at least an hour, he resorted to looking at the pedestrians and thinking about them.



While he was doing this, his eyes caught a lone small figure bundled in rags and an old school bag walking past his car. He focused his attention on the child because she reminded him of his youngest child, Annabel who must be age mate with this young girl going to school. He felt sorry that as young as the girl was, she has to pass through so many obstacles in life before she can make anything meaningful out of her life. He silently thanked God for lifting him out of that level. He was lost in thought over this unknown girl when the traffic began to move again. Cars began to rush off like a flood that has been held up in a dam for so long. He engaged the gear and moved with the traffic.

After several minutes’ drive, he came to a broad way and he stepped on the gas, trying to gain the lost time while he was held up in the traffic. He knew he could still make the meeting at the earlier scheduled time if he drives faster. Involuntarily, his mind returned to his children and how God had blessed him with them. He considered himself the luckiest man in the world for having everything he needed and a family with exceptionally brilliant, well behaved and responsible children.

He was still caught up in his reflections when a child suddenly crossed the road. It was almost too late before he saw the child but he was quick and calm enough to swerve to the left, taking advantage of the fact that no car was coming behind and he slowed down until the engine stopped running. He opened the door and sprinted back to the fallen child in the middle of the road. He knew he had not hit the child but he just wanted to be sure she was okay.

“Hey, are you okay?” he asked as he reached where she’d fallen in the middle of the road “Can you hear me, are you okay?”



At this juncture, other people had joined him in the middle of the road and this has caused another hold up. Several people were speaking at once but he was not bothered with whatever they were saying but bent on confirming if the child was okay. He confirmed her pulse and checked her body for scratches but there was none then he heaved a sigh of relief.

“Check her pupils” Someone suggested and he did. Her eyes were dilated and she looked faint. “It is the shock” many people chorused in babble.



To save time and energy, he decided to take her to the hospital. He asked if anyone would follow him but no one volunteered. Then he carried her into his car and drove off, leaving the uncaring crowd gaping at the rear of his car.



He took her to his company’s clinic and after handing her over to the nurses on duty, he headed to his office for the meeting. After the meeting, he headed back to the clinic to find out how the girl was faring.



“She is okay” the doctor told him as he walked into her ward “She was not hit”

“Then why did she pass out?” he asked, concerned.

“It was shock” the doctor said simply, smiling “and malnutrition”

Mr. Smith walked close to the bed and examined the tiny bundle. The girl was awake and was staring back at him. Their eyes met and held. His heart beat fast in his chest and his voice became constricted in his throat.

“h-how are you?” he asked huskily.

“I’m fine” she said. “Thank you for saving me. It was my fault…”

“Nonsense, it was not your fault. Where were you going?”

“I I …Was going to school but I missed my way. I have been walking for almost one hour before I decided to cross the road and go back the way I came that was when I was almost hit” the girl said. Mr. Smith noticed that she had a regular tic while she was speaking. The tics greatly affected her speech.

“Okay. Hope you are feeling better now?”

“Yes sir” she said.

“What would you like to eat now and have you eaten this morning?”

“I’ve not eaten but anything would be okay”

The doctor instructed the nurse attending her to get her something to eat and the latter left the ward.

Mr. Smith and the doctor conversed for few more minutes during which the doctor told him that she should be rested for few hours before she was discharged. Mr. Smith asked if she had hiccups but the doctor said it was a permanent READ MORE.... https:///2BGiEX9