"I...i...am...spe...pea...king," [Beelal stuttered]. "Shut your mouth! You are here trying to talk? You should have been born mute, because this speech of yours—whether you speak or not—it makes no difference," the Alhaji cut him off, raising his voice. This shouting from the Alhaji alerted the gatekeeper and one of the house staff sitting inside the gate. The gatekeeper jumped up, eyes darting around in panic. The other staff member stood up and said, "By God, this is Alhaji! Oh, I pity whoever ends up in his hands, only God can save them now." The gatekeeper, thinking the Alhaji had seen Beelal and was speaking directly to him, fell into a state of panic. He knew he was in huge trouble, and not just him—Hajiya Ladifa, her younger sister [Fatima], and Nasira would all be in trouble if the boy revealed that his mother was inside the house. "I am leaving, I don't want to be caught in this," the staff member said, turning to run. "Innalillahi wa inna ilaihir raji'un! We are finished today!" the gatekeeper exclaimed, quickly grabbing his phone to call Hajiya Ladifa. Inside, Hajiya Ladifa and Fatima were embracing, overjoyed that they had reunited. Nasira was also watching them, happy to see their joy. Because they were so engrossed in their emotional reunion, they did not hear the phone ringing. The gatekeeper tried calling repeatedly, panicked. Finally, Hajiya Ladifa saw the phone and, seeing it was the gatekeeper, remembered that they had left Beelal at the gate. She answered, and the gatekeeper yelled, "Hajiya, there is a big problem! Alhaji has returned and found Beelal at the gate!" Fatima, hearing this, tried to rush out to her son, but Nasira held her back. Fatima wept, saying she would rather face whatever happened than leave her son to be humiliated, explaining how much she valued Beelal despite his disability and how she could not be ungrateful to God for her child. Outside, the Alhaji confronted the gatekeeper. The gatekeeper, terrified and sweating, lied that he had been in the bathroom with a stomach upset. The Alhaji, furious, told him that if his suspicions were true—that he allowed a disabled child to hang around the gate—he would be fired. The Alhaji then turned to Beelal, who was crying and clutching their bag of clothes. When the Alhaji asked where his mother was, Beelal remembered Fatima’s instructions not to tell anyone she was in the house. Beelal told the Alhaji, "She went to find me food." The Alhaji, satisfied with this answer, ordered his bodyguards: "Take him far away from this neighborhood and dump him. As for his mother, she has clearly abandoned him because she is tired of the struggle and poverty." The guards drove Beelal away to a distant place and abandoned him under a tree. They returned and informed the Alhaji, who was relieved to be rid of the child. Back inside, when Hajiya Ladifa learned from the gatekeeper that Beelal had been taken away and dumped somewhere far, she was devastated. Fatima, upon hearing the news, collapsed in a dead faint. Hajiya Ladifa, while trying to resuscitate her sister, was left with the impossible dilemma of how to search for a disabled child in a city as massive as Kano, with no idea where he had been taken.
Summary of Events
This segment marks a heart-wrenching climax in the story. Beelal's attempt to protect his mother's secret by not revealing she was inside the Alhaji's house backfired; it led the Alhaji to believe the mother had abandoned the child due to poverty. The Alhaji's cold-heartedness is highlighted by his order to have a disabled child dumped in an unknown, distant location. The story now shifts to a crisis: Fatima has fainted from grief, and Hajiya Ladifa is left in a state of panic, realizing the difficulty of finding a vulnerable child in a vast city like Kano, especially when they have no resources and are paralyzed by fear of the Alhaji. The tension is at an all-time high as the mother and her sister struggle to cope with the reality that Beelal is now lost and alone.
"I...i...am...spe...pea...king," [Beelal stuttered].
"Shut your mouth! You are here trying to talk? You should have been born mute, because this speech of yours—whether you speak or not—it makes no difference," the Alhaji cut him off, raising his voice.
This shouting from the Alhaji alerted the gatekeeper and one of the house staff sitting inside the gate. The gatekeeper jumped up, eyes darting around in panic. The other staff member stood up and said, "By God, this is Alhaji! Oh, I pity whoever ends up in his hands, only God can save them now."
The gatekeeper, thinking the Alhaji had seen Beelal and was speaking directly to him, fell into a state of panic. He knew he was in huge trouble, and not just him—Hajiya Ladifa, her younger sister [Fatima], and Nasira would all be in trouble if the boy revealed that his mother was inside the house.
"I am leaving, I don't want to be caught in this," the staff member said, turning to run.
"Innalillahi wa inna ilaihir raji'un! We are finished today!" the gatekeeper exclaimed, quickly grabbing his phone to call Hajiya Ladifa.
Inside, Hajiya Ladifa and Fatima were embracing, overjoyed that they had reunited. Nasira was also watching them, happy to see their joy. Because they were so engrossed in their emotional reunion, they did not hear the phone ringing. The gatekeeper tried calling repeatedly, panicked.
Finally, Hajiya Ladifa saw the phone and, seeing it was the gatekeeper, remembered that they had left Beelal at the gate. She answered, and the gatekeeper yelled, "Hajiya, there is a big problem! Alhaji has returned and found Beelal at the gate!"
Fatima, hearing this, tried to rush out to her son, but Nasira held her back. Fatima wept, saying she would rather face whatever happened than leave her son to be humiliated, explaining how much she valued Beelal despite his disability and how she could not be ungrateful to God for her child.
Outside, the Alhaji confronted the gatekeeper. The gatekeeper, terrified and sweating, lied that he had been in the bathroom with a stomach upset. The Alhaji, furious, told him that if his suspicions were true—that he allowed a disabled child to hang around the gate—he would be fired. The Alhaji then turned to Beelal, who was crying and clutching their bag of clothes.
When the Alhaji asked where his mother was, Beelal remembered Fatima’s instructions not to tell anyone she was in the house. Beelal told the Alhaji, "She went to find me food."
The Alhaji, satisfied with this answer, ordered his bodyguards: "Take him far away from this neighborhood and dump him. As for his mother, she has clearly abandoned him because she is tired of the struggle and poverty."
The guards drove Beelal away to a distant place and abandoned him under a tree. They returned and informed the Alhaji, who was relieved to be rid of the child.
Back inside, when Hajiya Ladifa learned from the gatekeeper that Beelal had been taken away and dumped somewhere far, she was devastated. Fatima, upon hearing the news, collapsed in a dead faint. Hajiya Ladifa, while trying to resuscitate her sister, was left with the impossible dilemma of how to search for a disabled child in a city as massive as Kano, with no idea where he had been taken.
Summary of Events
This segment marks a heart-wrenching climax in the story. Beelal's attempt to protect his mother's secret by not revealing she was inside the Alhaji's house backfired; it led the Alhaji to believe the mother had abandoned the child due to poverty.
The Alhaji's cold-heartedness is highlighted by his order to have a disabled child dumped in an unknown, distant location. The story now shifts to a crisis: Fatima has fainted from grief, and Hajiya Ladifa is left in a state of panic, realizing the difficulty of finding a vulnerable child in a vast city like Kano, especially when they have no resources and are paralyzed by fear of the Alhaji. The tension is at an all-time high as the mother and her sister struggle to cope with the reality that Beelal is now lost and alone.