My father welcomed the visitors. The pastor's wife was smiling at me. Don would not look at me in the eye. And my brother was rubbing his tunny unconsciously: he was hungry.
After the welcome my dad asked the purpose of their visit. Don would still not look me in the eye. The pastor took over and apologized for barging into our home but said that it was necessary. He then proceeded to tell them a story."About a year ago I came to this lovely country with my two sons. I came to perform in a concert. My sons, being boys, wanted to have a feel of the town so they bribed their guard to take them to the hottest spot in town." The man glanced at his sons' bowed heads before he continued.
"They went to the university of Lagos, to the lagoon front. Now I can never recant exactly what happened because i was in my hotel room sleeping the vigil concert off, but I can say some things about that day. My sons ended up almost drowning that day. Someone saw the crowd watching and instead of joining in and staring like the others, leaped into the waters to save them. Then after ensuring that the boys were going to be alright, the person just disappeared into thin air. We offered prizes for the hero, we even offered prizes for anyone with information about the hero but the person refused to come forward. After a few months I wondered why. Was the person an angel? No, because eyewitness accounts said otherwise. Was he afraid to come forward? Most probably. Eventually I surmised that the person preferred God's reward instead of man's. But three months after I was having nightmares every fortnight wherein God was showing me the nasty terrible things that would happen to me if I didn't reward the good Samaritan. It became a quiet obsession to find him but I couldn't leave the States to do it myself. So I asked God to show me the man's face or give me unique clues that would aid in my search." he paused to say thanks to my mother who'd been handing out drinks to the guests. I was still frozen in my place.
"The first thing God told me was that the person was female. The second thing he showed me was that she was a student. The third thing He showed me was that she really did not want to be discovered. All I had to go by in terms of appearance was a silhouette. So I employed the services of a private investigator firm who sent Daniel here" he pointed at Don," to me. Going with what little I could give him he travelled to Lagos and gave me reports monthly. He eventually found the girl but insisted we needed time to understand why she would not come forward initially, which he did. Then he returned to the States to give me his final report."
"But what has that got to do with this early morning visit to our home?" asked Dad.
"The girl that saved his sons' lives is your daughter sir." replied Don.
"Its not possible," my father said with conviction.
"She can't even swim in the shallow area." added my brother with a teasing smile. "From what I heard and read about the swimmer girl, she's a fish, and that's definitely not my sister."
Then all eyes were on me. The pastor's family wanted me to open up and tell the truth. My family wanted me to deny it. My mother's was the only face without expression. I closed my eyes and whispered in the utter silence in the room.
"I did it." when the explosion I'd envisioned would take place if I was ever found out did not happen, I opened one eye to survey the people. My mother was smiling, my father's mouth was hanging open while my brother was looking at me as if I'd grown two horns on my head. I summoned up courage.
"I had been taking lessons at the pool house for a while. Then I went swimming often but that day I just happened to be around because I went for a stroll."
"Why didn't you tell us?" my dad asked.
"because you forbade us to go near any pool. Because telling you would mean I disobeyed."
"How did you find me?" I asked.
"It was not easy to track you down." He admitted, finally looking at me directly since he entered my home. "Nigeria is not a standard place and believe me, Lagos is messy. It was your love of water that gave you away. And your sense of honor. I persuaded George to offer you the job and was able to study you at close quarters for months."
"Study me?" I repeated. "You actually call our friendship that?"
"Well," he said looking stumped. "I was able to get to know you better D." He used the endearment he'd given me.
"What gave me away?" I had to ask.
"Well, you were the only one that had other reasons for the swimmer girl not coming forward for the prize." he replied. "I was not sure until you refused to collect a gift for saving that man's daughter. You kept saying it was not necessary."
"But you have actually betrayed me Don, or Daniel or whatever your real name is." I said more quietly.
"I did not want recognition. And I did not want my family to ever find out."
"Did you think we would eat you alive if we found out?" my mother cut in. I looked at her and wondered.
"I admit I would have tried my best to make sure you never enter water again," my father added.
"Well said Dad," my brother interrupted, making me smile because I knew it was true.
"But it didn't mean I would have amputated your limbs," my Dad continued. "You did a honorable thing. And we are proud of you."
I looked at both my parents and could not say anything.
"I encouraged my husband to try to find you," the pastor's wife spoke for the first time. "because I was indeed grateful to God for using you, and grateful to you for letting Him. My boys have changed tremendously since then. I know several of my close friends that would have said, Let the Patrol do their job, and walked away. I felt that what you did was not a random act of kindness and wanted to meet your family and congratulate your parents for bringing you upright despite this country's misgivings."
"Other people stood by and watched, but you did the right thing," added her husband. "We will be eternally grateful to you."
"Thank you for taking the trouble to find me sir," I said. "I hope God would stop giving you nightmares now."
Everyone laughed at that. I expected the whole thing to end there and there but the pastor was not having it. He insisted we go dress up and go out for breakfast. He assured my dad that it was all taken care of. By the time I had my bath and came out, I was not surprised to find my brother gisting with the boys, my father talking about banking with the pastor and my mother telling his wife about some of my escapades.
That left Daniel standing in the middle of the living room, alone. I went to sit at the dining stable rather than go to him. He came over. And proposed. Yes he proposed. I told him no immediately.
"Why?" he asked, looking genuinely hurt.
"Because I do not know you," I replied. "I didn't even have the honor of knowing your real name until a few minutes ago."
"Then permit me to introduce myself," He said. "My name is Daniel Donald Davidson, sometimes called 3D by friends. I work as a pri....."
"Why don't you fill her in over breakfast?" the pastor interrupted. "We are all ready to leave."
As we waved at the wonderful family when they dropped us later at the gate of the compound, I felt my family's eyes boring into my back. Because of a simple act I did without thinking months ago, we now had an invitation to visit one of the most influential pastors in the United States of America, and both my parents had job offers. My brother had a scholarship promise and I had an open invitation to come and work with the IT section of the pastor's church.
And I still had a marriage proposal. Of course It could not have turned out any better - it surpassed my dreams. And I did not expect any of this. I kind of thank God I didn't accept the prize, because what I am getting now was worth more than money could buy.
