CHAPTER 2
ONE BALL, ONE GIRL, AND ONE BOY
I did not know, however, that life does not ask for your permission before thrusting people into your life.
And that is what happened.
Everywhere I turned, Tokunbo was there. It did not matter where. Whether I went down the road to buy bread for my mother, or to the Mallam on our street to buy sweets, he was there. It happened so many times in just one week that I was convinced that Olorinla was following me.
Yes, Olorinla. That was the nickname I gave Tokunbo, without his knowledge, of course. My younger brother, Yemi, called him “Head of State,” and my older brother, Temitayo called him Olori Ebi, meaning “Head of the family.”
All these aliases and nicknames for a boy we saw but never spoke to.
Until one day.
I was in our yard, one a
