Irked me deeply. Hivenaija prompt #40.

We have all made mistakes at one point in time or another and as life continues, errors will still flow. It is a human thing to fal while trying to walk or run. There is no one that can beat his or her chest and declare that they have never erred.

Correction comes only when a mistake was made and the purpose is to set one on the right path to avoid a repitition of such mistake. Correction should also be done with love and a motive to see the erring person change for the better. Whether it is academics related, business related or even on psychological and behavioural issues, correction is meant to evoke a positive change.

But some persons just have a wierd way of calling out one's error that rather than the resultant positive inclination, one feels rather embarrassed and irked leading to an unholy indignation.

Flashback

Thirteen years ago, I stayed with a relative in Benin City, Edo state. I noticed that the bungalow was shared into single room apartments and this was to accommodate students who wanted to stay outside campus, hence there were several female students accommodating the rooms.

The landlord's daughter was the one in charge of the house and somehow we clicked and a relationship began to brew. The house still made use of a general kitchen, situated at the back, where each tenant had a cooking space for their cooking. The one and only thing that was for general purpose was a grinding stone kept behind the kitchen door.

I was craving for some plantain porridge with peppered edible mushrooms and snail sauce, so I quickly sent a teenage girl from the next compound to help get the necessary ingredients from the market.

When she bought the items for me, I should have carried on from there after expressing my thanks but laziness weighed on me like a blanket and I asked her to assist me in grinding the fresh pepper with the grinding stone. She smiled and obliged my request while I lazed around reading a novel.

She came to tell me that she was through grinding and I gave her a little tip for biscuits before she left me to my cooking. I prepared the food and felt nothing amiss.

That night, while I was still trying to finish the novel I was reading, a ruckus in the kitchen drew my attention. I listened to know what was going on and I could hear the landlord's daughter shouting on top of her lungs. She was even uttering some swear words as well. I got up to go snd see what caused her annoyance but I was met with her angry face and a broken grinding stone.

"Ha! Mimi, What happened to the grinding stone?" I asked abruptly.

She gave me a bombastic side eye before pointing her wooden spatula at me while continuing with her rants. Shocked was an understatement, I mean when did I use the grindstone to the point of breaking it, that doesn't sound like what I would do and thus I was angry at her accusations. Sensing the frosty atmosphere, she then went ahead to tell me how she heard that I sent someone to use the grindstone and got it broken. She threw all the blame on me and I was dumbstruck. I never knew the girl who assisted me in grinding the pepper broke it.

Not wanting to go back and forth on the matter, I gave her a half-hearted apology and stormed inside. I was irked and felt agrieved but after calmly going over the scenario in my head, I reasoned with her anger and thought of a way to make peace.

Early the next morning, I knocked on her door and requested to speak with her. I then narrated what happened the previous dayto her while also letting her know that she would have approached me about it in a calm manner rather than voicing her displeasure angrily last night.

Thank God she reasoned with me and we both apologized to each other. I also pleaded with her not to query the girl that I would foot the bill for the grindstone repairs, to which she refused. she told me not to worry as she would take care of it and that was how the issue was laid to rest. A month later I came back to Lagos, grindstone issue forgotten.

Thank you for reading...shalom

Images used are mine.