As a young boy, I was very stubborn. Maybe it’s because my beloved mother had died prematurely while birthing my brother Okorie, an incident that made me to loose interest in everything. The only way I knew how to mourn her loss was to be stubborn. And believe me when I say that my stubbornness took the best of me, even affecting others especially Ahudiya who was my uncle’s wife that custody of my brother and I.
But beyond mere stubborness, I also [fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][unknowingly] exposed myself and my little brother to lots of danger. I remember when he was learning how to walk and Ahudiya had enrolled him in the same school I attended in order for her to concentrate on the farms. I was supposed to take care of the boy every day after school but I never did. I hated to babysit because it denied me the opportunity to play with my friends and be fun. I simply could not bear to watch the others run around the community playfully while I remain sat with a crying little baby. So one afternoon I decided that since I wouldn’t leave Okorie all by himself, I could tie a rope around his little neck and drag him around with me. So I did exactly that! He crawled on all fours, following me about like a dog on a leash. It must have been a funny sight, but I was more concerned about having fun than caring about the dangers I was exposing my little brother to. Later that night, Ahudiya beat the crap out of me when she saw the wounds on my brother’s fragile body…
The following day Ahudiya decided to take Okorie along to the farm, giving me all the time I needed to have a good afternoon to myself. I spent that afternoon at my friend’s house, taking enough time to just to observe their glowing electric bulb. Theirs was the only house in the entire village that had electricity at the time and the phenomenon was simply mind-boggling for my ten year old mind. Meanwhile, as I stood there in the middle my friend’s sitting room gazing at the yellow light, I soon let my curiosity take the better part of me because I found myself climbing a table to touch the bulb. My friend was at this point busy in the kitchen dragging food with his siblings and had no slightest idea what was happening. Before long, I had climbed on top of the table and was finally able to touch the bulb, first cautiously and then firmly. I had thought the bulb would burn my hand just like the charcoal that previously did that to me many times. But surprisingly it did not, although it felt somewhat hot. I cupped it in my palm, truly fascinated as I used an entire minute to really observe it. Soon afterwards I realized that merely feeling the bulb and staring at it wasn’t enough for me. So I removed the bulb, and without caution proceeded to inserted my finger in the whole from which I just removed the bulb. What happened afterwards was beyond shocking…
The current jolted me before I found myself being flung against the wall. And as I hit the wall, I crash landed on a makeshift shelve where some ceramic wares were displayed, causing it to tumble over just as we both went kissing the floor. For a while my mind became blank and by the time I realized what was happening, I was lying in the shards of broken ceramics, my head throbbing and blood gushing out from the many cuts on my body. My finger with which I had touched the electric current felt numb, and for some seconds it felt as though my world was just still. And it was then that I saw Ndukwe my friend, standing over and peering down at me with his siblings by his side looking scared. At that moment, we both knew the troubles we were in I realized what trouble we were in…
+NB: This is culled from Emmanuel Benson’s soon to be published manuscript.
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