The Little Thing that Spoiled Everything

The little thing that spoiled everything

By: Onuigbo Dennis email: simple14all@gmail.com

This time, it was more debilitating and demoralizing. As I woke up, I prayed briefly to stop its occurrence. My prayer was brief so that I can quickly write everything without forgetting any part of my thought or do I call it dream?

I remembered all the actors in the scene except the man who did the little thing that spoiled everything. I also do not know the name of the policeman who questioned me for some while.

It was on a fateful evening as people gathered in the school field of L.E.A Primary School, Mpape Abuja watching a show put up by some individuals. I can’t remember vividly the exact event taking place there then suddenly someone tapped and pointed towards the backside of a classroom that my cousin has given birth. As she was saying it I sighted my cousin as she gazed into the crowd looking for my mum who always plays the role of a midwife or even ‘nurse’ to most women in the community not because she went to a nursing school but due to her wealth of experience.

I hurried to the scene where she gave birth but my mum got there few seconds before I arrived and almost immediately she ask me to hurry home and get a bag full of baby wears and items. Having understood the situation there I knew how urgent it was for me to go fast so I looked for a bicycle that I was using earlier in the field and took off with it.

My home was about 20 minutes from the scene and as I approached the main road about to cross the chain of the bicycle went off. I jumped down quickly to fix it and this policeman whom I have never seen before came around and started asking me so irritating questions. He first asked me what happened? Uncomfortable with the disturbance I answered the 'the chain went off'. He continued, 'who owns the bicycle?' 'me!' I replied swiftly. As he was going to ask another question I became more nervous and perplexed not because of the questions but because I was wasting time while I have a life to save. I abruptly left the bicycle there with him and took off like a sprinter in an Olympic event, I don’t know how to describe how I ran but it was as if I was virtually flying because each step was like 20 of my normal step. As I continued running home I heard the sound of a motor bike and familiar voices saying 'Is that not Chinedu?' that for me was my mum's voice and the second voice 'I don’t think its Chinedu' but I didn’t want to look back and risk a second. The voice was lucid when I turned right towards the direction of my home and at that point I knew they were already coming home. I reached home brought out the bag and waited for them to arrive. I was recuperating from the long run and breathing heavily like a dog when my younger brother Ebuka came and told me exactly what has happened. He said before my mum got to the birth scene a man had used a kitchen knife to cut the placenta and too close to the baby and that my mum who later came and saw the mess tried to clip the little part of the placenta on the baby but air and may be foreign bodies have passed in or may be the baby couldn't stand the pain and gave up. I was so demoralized and sad on how this woman has carried this baby patiently for nine months, delivered without surgery and this little thing spoiled everything.

What lessons are available in the above:

I really do not know how to bring out the lessons from the story. I find it difficult on my part so I want you who have read this to comment or point out the lessons from the above. Thanks for your contribution.