Last night, I had a weird dream. I found myself walking across town with my cousin, passing through rowdy, untidy and noisy street and laughing heartedly as we gossiped about the new teacher with the big teeth. I think we must have been window shopping because as we walked down the street, we soon came upon a woman selling roasted plantain by the roadside. I stopped to haggle with her but with no actual intent of buying anything. The plantain smelt nice though even as I let my cousin do all the haggling. And then I went from admiring the delicious-looking plantain to observing the environment. The plantain seller’s makeshift shop was by the road-side and behind her was vast grassland along which dotted shrubs and small trees. The beautiful environment stretches into the distance which was an ascending hill; a beautiful and sharp contrast from the hustle and bustle of the street beside it.
As my brother kept haggling with the woman who was quite persuasive, I began to notice the sudden change that was taking place; a large white fog was gradually overtaking the street. As I watched this happen, it seemed to me as though everybody was oblivious of what was happening. But I could sense that something had gone terribly wrong. It wasn’t until a certain terrible stench filled the air that everybody seemed to realize what was going. The stench was stomach-wrenching and seemed to be coming from the fog. It was horrible.
Confused, we stood there wondering what to do as we watched the fog approach us. My cousin was using his handkerchief to cover his nose while the plantain seller used part of her wrapper to cover hers, her palm shielding her little boy. I saw the horror in her eyes as she kept looking around for her other child. And just as she was about to panic, the little boy called from a tree in the valley, hurriedly climbing down like a squirrel. And just then, the smog overtook us, so thick I could barely breathe.
Meanwhile, the smog began to change its colour from white to smokey-black. The smell became even worse too. There was total chaos by this time as people ran helter-skelter; scampering for safety. Tires screeched as everybody just tried to get away. At this point I was completely scared even though I knew quite well fear wouldn’t help me. I tried to figure out what was happening- did a fire outbreak cause a chemical compound to combust and send such terrible fume into the atmosphere, was some unusual natural occurrence taking place or was the world simply coming to an end? Lots of questions but no answers…
TO BE CONTINUED
#WrittenByEmmanuelBenson
