Our Saviour

About three phones have gone missing in our
room in the past five months. When we
reported to the School's security, they only
told us that it
was a roommate that is responsible.
Everyone of us in the room was waiting for the day we will catch the culprit. Last
Tuesday, when we were all asleep; I think it
was about 2 am, Ben woke up suddenly and
his phone was gone. His phone was the
most expensive of us all. When Ben woke up
and couldn't find his phone, he sprang up from the bed and
quickly opened his
cupboard. He rummaged the contents, even
removed his clothes but could still
not find the phone.
I was in the room when it happened; sitting and reading before I dozed off with my
heading resting on my books. So when Ben
couldn't find his
phone, he gently
shook my shoulders until I woke up.
'It has happened again', he told me. I didn't even need to ask what happened as I
could see the panic and loss written
in his eyes.
This is the second time his phone had been
stolen. So I took my phone and dialed Ben's
number; just to be sure it had not been misplaced. 'Error in Connection' was what I
saw on the screen of my phone. I dialed it
again and it started
ringing not just on
my phone, but the actual ring tone of Ben's
Samsung phone was faintly audible. We were both surprised when we
heard the tone.
I beckoned on Ben to keep quiet as
he was visibly
ready to 'finish' the person who took
his phone. I continued dialing as we moved silently, following
the direction of the ring tone.
There were four bunks in the room, each
with two bed spaces. Ben and I use the same
bunk just beside the door and the sound was
coming from the last bunk at the extreme left corner.
We tiptoed, Ben and I, like Jack Baeur until
we
traced the sound to the top bed space on the
last bunk.
'So it is John who had been stealing phones in this room'. Ben whispered to me.
We shook his leg and woke him up only to
find out it was not John sleeping on the
mattress. Neither of us had ever seen the
guy
before. To make matters worse, the ringing was coming
from the bag he was using as pillow.
When he woke up, he looked at us
strangely as if
he didn't know why we were there.
We opened the bag and found not just Ben's
Samsung, but three other phones.
'So, you are the one who's been
stealing our
phones!'; Ben shouted at him.
Before he could find an excuse, Ben slapped him
on his left cheek and walked out
looking for
anything to break one or two of the
guy's bones.
I don't know; but there was something about the
guy. So I asked him,
'Oga, what are you doing here?'
'What are you doing with Ben's
phone'.
He was just looking at me without saying
anything, so I slapped his right
cheek with my left
hand.
'ANSWER ME!', I screamed at him;
waking up the roommates who were around.
John had obviously gone to night
class to read
and I assumed the other three
roommates who
were absent had also gone to read. The two guys remaining in the room
with me and
Ben came and gave their own round
of slaps.
The accused was now staggering
when Ben came back with a long wood hard enough
to kill the
guy.
As he raised it up, the three of us,
the
roommates, held his hands so he wouldn't
murder the accused.
Ben dropped the wood and swept
his right leg
against the thief's legs and he fell
down. Ben had told me before that he had
attended the
Soldiers' recruitment training but
failed the
medical test. I believed him right
then. I looked at the guy crumple on the
floor and
before Ben killed him, I decided to
interview him,
at least to know who he is.
He was now sitting on the ground where he
landed from Ben's force.
'Who are you?'
I asked him again; this time gently.
He was crying but it was only the
tears that were coming out.
It was then I realized he had not
even uttered a
word since it all started. Not even
when he fell to
the ground. 'Why are you in our room'? I asked
again.
'Can you even talk?'
He shook his head then.
I was now confused. Why was he
shaking his head?
So, I asked again,
'Can't you talk?'
He shook his head again.
'Wait, is it that this guy is dumb?', I
asked the guys.
The guy then nodded his head and
pointed to his
mouth and then shook his head left
to right.
It hit me then. The guy is dumb but not deaf. That
was the first
time I am seeing a case like that.
My anger changed to pity
immediately.
'Are you dumb?', I ashamedly asked the guy to
confirm.
Again, he nodded his head.
'Can you read and write?'
He nodded again.
'Get me a pen and note!' I said to my roommates
over my shoulder.
I collected the pen and wrote on the
note,
'Who are you? Explain yourself.'
I was almost in tears as I read his fine
handwriting,
'My name is James, I am John's elder
brother. I
am a student of Delta State
University. I was traveling to Delta but our bus
stopped for the
night at Benin. So I decided to sleep
with my
brother till tomorrow morning. He
brought me here around 12 am and went out to
night class to
read. He gave me the bag to keep
for him. So I
decided to use it as pillow so that it
won't be stolen'.
I held the note with the guys at my
back as all of
us read it.
I became so weak I almost fell.�
'The guy is innocent.' I needlessly announced.
When we realized this, even I was
ashamed of
myself.
Ben just stood there with the wood
he almost used to hit him, looking as if he was
the one who
had been beaten.
I am not sure, but I think I saw
tears in his eyes
as he realized he had just punished an innocent
man.
So we knelt down; Ben and I, we
knelt down and
clasped our hands so he will know
we were really sorry.
With tears in our eyes, we told him,
'We are sorry. Sorry for accusing you
wrongly and
beating you for it'.
The dumb guy just smiled with bleeding lips from
the blow I gave him. He smiled and
looked into
our eyes. And I could see pity in his
eyes.
He smiled and shook his head and then wrote in
the same paper.
'It is Alright. I took the pain
willingly. Please
don't beat my brother anymore. I
knew why you were beating me. John had always
been a thief,
right from home. But please don't
report or beat
him again'.
Tears dropped from my eyes as I read his
sacrifice. He deliberately allowed us
beat him just
so that John will be free.
I lend my hand and raised him up
as I used my cloth to wipe the tears from his face
and blood
from his lips.
It was then my own tears flowed
from the corner of my eyes...