Taduno's Song by Odafe Atogun Page A

soon as he disembarked from an okada , the entire street rushed to meet him, to share their discovery.
    â€˜He has him in his house.’ ‘We saw him, he came to the window.’ ‘They have been making music together all this while.’ ‘He is the man the secret service man came to enquire about.’ Their voices clashed as they all tried to speak at once.
    Aroli felt deflated. He had always known it would happen sooner or later. And now that it had happened, he wondered what would follow.
    â€˜Okay!’ he said, raising his voice and his hand for quiet. ‘Let’s not bring down the tower of Babel.’
    Everyone became quiet. None of them liked the sound of bringing down the tower of Babel.
    â€˜Who are we talking about here?’ Aroli asked.
    Looking round at their faces, Aroli saw their fear, their confusion, and he felt pained that he had allowed this to come upon them. However, he reminded himself that he had to get the situation under control, or else all would be lost.
    â€˜What did you see? Who are you talking about?’ Aroli pressed, even though he knew the answers to his questions.
    The big man known as Vulcaniser, who owned a roadside workshop on the street, cleared his throat to indicate that he wanted to speak.
    â€˜Please speak,’ Aroli said, nodding towards the man.
    Vulcaniser cleared his throat again in further warning, a man who understood that you could never be too careful, especially when the issue was as serious as that at hand. He rubbed a palm across his face. Then he took a few paces through the small crowd towards Aroli.
    â€˜We saw TK, the music producer, upstairs in Taduno’s house. He came to the window. They have been making music together all this while.’ Vulcaniser’s voice was taut.
    For a moment, Aroli was lost for words.
    â€˜Are you sure he was the one you saw?’
    â€˜Very sure,’ Vulcaniser responded. ‘He is a popular man, everybody knows him.’ He spread out his hands to show his point as the others nodded in agreement.
    â€˜So what’s the issue?’ Aroli asked, pretending not to know.
    â€˜The man from the secret service said he would comeback. He warned us not to withhold any information we have about TK. He said we would face grievous punishment if we did.’
    â€˜And he promised us a big reward of money if we supplied useful information about TK,’ one man spoke from the back of the crowd.
    â€˜Shh!’ Vulcaniser said in loud warning. ‘Let’s not bring down the towel of banbel . Speak only when you are asked to speak.’
    â€˜Thank you,’ Aroli said, appreciating Vulcaniser’s effort to maintain order. ‘So what must we do now?’
    â€˜I think we should tell the secret service man everything we saw when he comes back.’
    Aroli reflected for a moment.
    â€˜I don’t think that’s the best solution to the problem. Remember, the man from the secret service works for government. And government never keeps a promise. I can tell you that if you report this matter, you won’t get any monetary reward. Instead, they’ll beat everyone and lock everyone up. I’m sure you all have an idea what a government cell looks like. So I say we should just keep this matter between ourselves as neighbours.’
    Their voices broke out again, and they argued amongst themselves. And they spoke in anger because they were afraid and no one agreed with anyone else. They spoke like this for almost a minute until Aroli raised his voice above all theirs.
    â€˜Remember the tower of Babel!’ he shouted.
    Quiet instantly returned. Sweat dripped down all their faces, and they began to shake, confused about what todo; uncertain what would happen to them if they did what they had to do or if they failed to do what they must do. They all looked to Aroli for direction. And the direction he gave them was a simple one – each one of them must keep