"Come Tomorrow"

My father recounted the story of a childhood experience he never forgot. In 1940 when he was 6 years old he lived with his family in Lagos, Nigeria, by the famous port of Apapa. It was the colonial period, and the British were in control of Nigeria. It was the time of World War II, and of course, Britain was at war with Germany. Apapa port was the central harbor in West Africa where several British man of war ships were docked.

A German company had offices near the port, and their expatriate staff lived close by in a small community that housed a swimming pool and tennis courts. My father and his little friends used to spend their afternoons watching the gentlemen play tennis. They made themselves useful by running after the balls and pitching them back onto the courts. At the end of the day, they earned a few shillings and a pat on the head from the gentlemen players for their trouble, however, there was one particular man who never gave them any money. When the little boys run to him for a tip, his response was always "come tomorrow", so they named him "come tomorrow."

One day after school, my grandfather was not at home as usual for lunch, so without informing his mother, my father decided to go find him in his office.  As he approached the port, he heard the whine of the engines of an airplane high above. As he lifted his head to look at the sky, he suddenly heard people shouting. The next thing he knew, a man run right into him and slammed his little body onto the ground, covering him completely with his body. At that very moment, the port erupted in a huge explosion. Hidden under the body of the stranger, my father could only hear the profound sound of shattering windows and crumbling stones all around him. When the deafening sound cleared, the man who lay atop him got up. To my father's surprise, he recognized 'come tomorrow', who now had pieces of glass sticking out all over his body. "Go home now!", come tomorrow shouted at him.

My father run home to his mother, still unsure of what had just happened. Young as he was, he knew that 'come tomorrow' had just prevented something terrible from happening to him.

Shortly after the explosion at the port, my father and his little friends could no longer find 'come tomorrow' and the other German gentlemen at the tennis courts.  They had disappeared overnight.