Source: Meta AI
It was a wild day and I was bitten by that furious sun that vomited its venom on the people residing in my country. Everyone complained about the steaming heat; those selling by the roadside find it hard to sell their goods. Those in the office had to combine the air conditioner and fan at the same time to be able to curtail the effect of the heat. As a teacher in a local school, the staff room was uncomfortable for all the staff, and even the students could not bear it. I needed to go home so I could go out for my side hustle. Not long after, the school bell rang and I thanked God, took my bag and left directly for the university gate to look for some lazy students who might want to do their assignments and term papers. It was not a gay day as everything seemed stuck. Probably it was a result of this angry sun, I thought, the sun was going down, but the heat remained unconcerned. I could remember, it was on a Wednesday.
I got home some minutes past 8.00pm, tired and hungry. I did not smell nice, I knew it, so the first thing was to enter the bathroom and take a cold shower, “Which shower will be cold”? I reasoned that it wasn’t a true cold shower as the first drop of water touched my skin. In the bathroom, I heard my phone vibrating; my phone hardly rings. Who could that be? Could it be a client calling or someone from home? I reasoned again. I hurriedly finished up and the phone rang the second time, it was my mom
“Hello”, she said, “Mum, good evening” I responded “Evening” “Are you home”? She asked “Yes, is there any problem? I sense that the conversation might be long hence I decided to put the phone on a loudspeaker “Your cousin, Isaac will be coming to stay with you I believe her mom must have called you” “Yes she did” I responded casually while walking down to the kitchen “He will be coming this weekend so get yourself prepared” “Hmmmm” I hummed, as I let that out, it seemed she understood it, then she said “I have told her, that you’re just managing your life at least she should be supporting you with money for food and also foodstuffs” “It's okay, ma”, I let out. “I hope you’re fine, and I hope that your work is fine too” “I thank God for everything” “Okay, take care of yourself”, she said and hung up the call.
On Sunday afternoon, I was tidying up my things to go home when someone caught my attention to my phone, which was plugged into a socket. “Brother James, your phone is ringing” he said. It was a strange number, and a voice from the other end sounded excited. I knew it was my cousin. “Brother, I am in the park o” I directed him to my house. He came with two bags, one had his clothes and the other had a few foodstuffs. I was excited to see him as well. I asked everyone, and he said everyone was fine.
I was yet to understand why they sent him to come and stay with me, although I spoke with my mom about it, and she said I should help him get a job. “How can someone who has not gone to school get a job,” I protested, “Lots of graduates in this town can even find good jobs over here” “Just find a way to help him out, remember, he came and asked me to talk to you to help him out, that he can’t stay in the village with his mother any longer”, she convinced. “For my sake and the sake of God”, she said gently
I did not understand why my mom insisted when she knew I also needed help. At some point, I encouraged myself because it was a sign that I was mature enough to take care of someone else. I wouldn’t want to spend any money on sending him to school, “having a skill is better”, I reasoned,
One Sunday morning, I woke him up from sleep and decided to have a conversation with him.
“Good morning brother” he said as he cleaned his eyes
“Morning” I responded telling him to pay attention as I have an important thing to talk about
“How old are you” I ask
“Fifteen”
“What class were you in at your former school?”
“I’ve never been to school”. It was obvious because of his disjointed grammar. Notwithstanding, I pressed further to know why
“There was no money to send me to school” he said.
“Okay not bad, as long as you can express yourself, you are good to go” I assured him
“What kind of skill would you love to learn?
“Fixing of cars” he hurriedly responded as if he had known what I was about to ask him.
“Why”? I pressed further, and he looked at me feigning a smile
“I love cars”, from the response, I was confident that he knew what he wanted.
“Being a mechanic is a nice profession, if you put in more effort in learning, it can open a door for you to travel out of the country,” I could sense some happiness in his look “Get yourself prepared, I am enrolling you right away” I said
Two years later, Isaac had completed his two years as an apprentice and was making some money. With my little salary from my teaching job and my side hustle, I was still providing for food and paying other bills. I paid for his training fees and other equipment and facilities needed for the job. All the money he made was for himself. I did not bother to ask him what he does with his money, at least I was happy that I could change someone else's life.
One fateful Thursday afternoon, I felt so uncomfortable at work, I got some drugs but it seems it was not helping out so I took permission to leave, it was granted, I got home and I discovered that my house was not locked, it was half closed, as I got closer, I noticed a female shoe at the door post, could be that this boy brought a girl to my house? I thought, to satisfy my curiosity, I opened the door and behold, two unclad people were on my bed, “I am very sorry brother” he begged, I couldn’t believe my eyes, “So you’ve been bringing girls to my house? I said with a loud voice, “Have you seen me bring a girl to this house before”? I asked, “Since you want to be doing girls, get your things out of my house,” I picked up his bag and threw it out, together with his shoes and all of his belongings”
Two days later, I got calls from different quarters to take him back, but it was too late as I had already made up my mind.