Deadly Advice

Her friend’s advice killed her child.

Growing up, I experienced some stories one could say was right out of the movies. One of those stories happened in the early 2000s.

Our neighbour back then was known for not being very pleasant; for a fact, she soiled her hands in dirty life juice. One day, her friend came screaming and crying with her hands placed on her head; she called for help and said she could not believe what had happened. To silence her so we would not hear what was happening, the neighbour started a fight with her friend.

“If you hadn’t advised me, this would not have happened”.

The friend yelled out.

When we saw people rushing out of their houses, we followed. We were eager to know what might have happened between these two best friends. As I stepped my leg forward, I felt a knock on my head; it was my mother:

“Taaa! Would you go inside? Where do you think you are going?”

On hearing my mother’s words, no one had to tell me twice to step back. My brother and I waited for her return by the window as we tried to gather one or two pieces of information. The problem was the people with information were too stunned to speak. Finally, my mother came back with tears in her eyes; we knew the story was a sad one and our ears now itched even more.

“You remember that small boy that usually terrorises the neighbourhood? The one with the beautiful smile?”

My mother asked in an attempt to describe the ten-year-old son of the woman who had just come crying. Suddenly she mentioned how he was no longer alive.

“Yeeeeeiiiih! how come?”

My brother exclaimed, inquiring how it happened.

The story was that the boy’s mother attempted to kill her husband’s first son, who she did not know was not at home to eat the poisoned meal. She was not careful, and her child ate it. Our neighbour had advised her to kill the boy, so her children would have no problem inheriting their father’s property later. The woman could not hold herself together and said she came to take her friend along because she would not be going down alone.

Life indeed is a crazy place.

Sincerely,

Onye Kachi?