Creativenonfiction#74 - The Love Of Games...

Have you ever been in a situation where you swung from elation to despair within a short period?

This week's prompt reminded me of a time I felt like this. It was when I was still in primary school. Back then I play a lot. Though I was a bit serious with my studies I never turned down a chance to play.

I was in the sitting room one day when I heard my mun making a call.

"So when should I expect my clothes? Yes, I am traveling tomorrow for the event", I heard my mother say into her phone. I couldn't hear what the other person was saying but I can see my mum looking very angry.

"It shouldn't go beyond today", I heard her say finally before she hung up.

"I have given this woman my clothes for two weeks now, I don't know how long it takes to make one gown"she said to no one in particular while I pretended to be arranging something I wouldn't normally arrange before.

My mum has a wedding she is to attend in another state and she has to travel down the following day to prepare for the party. It seemed her tailor hadn't finished making her clothes even though she had given her two weeks before.

As she got ready to go to the market to get the last thing needed for her trip, she called on me, I quickly ran to her because one thing I have learned is never to anger my mum more whenever she is angry.

"Mummy Shaki said she will send her apprentice to deliver my cloth by evening, make sure you collect it and keep it in my room", She said while tying her hair with a scarf.

"Make sure you take care of the house, I don't want to see you playing about" she gave me a stern warning

"Yes Ma" I responded as I waited patiently for her to leave so I could start my rounds of play for the day. I already knew she would come back late because the market she was going to was very far from where we were staying.

As soon as she left, I waited for a while, had my bath, and ate my food before I visited my friend who was my neighbor. We started playing and It wasn't long before other children came to join us and we played all sorts of games ranging from ten-ten game, tinko tinko game, after round one game and many more.

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Out of all these games ,the one I enjoyed playing more is called the Hopscotch Game( we call this game suwe in my dialect). I can play this game from morning till night if I am allowed. It was a fun game for children back then and I am always looking forward to playing it.

I was already playing this game as usual with my friends in my backyard when I saw a girl bring a polythene bag that contained my mother's clothes and she told me she was sent by her fashion boss. I remember my mom told me the tailor would be sending one of her apprentices to bring her cloth.

I quickly collected the cloth and because I was the one playing the game at the moment, I told my friends to give few seconds so I could quickly drop the cloth at home. As I rushed to drop the cloth, the thought of going round to the front of the house, unlocking the door, and dropping the cloth inside seemed like a waste of time as I was eager to get back to my game. So I opened the window to our kitchen and squeezing the cloth through the burglary, I threw them inside the house, closed the window, and hurried back to my game.

After playing to my fill for the day, I decided to head back home since it was getting late. As I opened the door, I went to the kitchen to take the cloth I threw inside so I could keep them in my mum's room.

As I entered the kitchen, the sight before me made color drain from my eyes, my heart ached and beads of sweat dripped down my face as I wiped them off with the back of my hands. My stomach churned as I felt an inner turmoil.

There lies some part of my mum's clothes inside an oily pot on the floor. I had soaked the pot that day after scraping the last portion of porridge and the water in the pot is to allow it to soften, so it would be easy for me to wash.

Now my mum's clothes had fallen into it. To make matters worse, it is a white lace and the stain was so visible on it. I knew there were no mincing words as I was done for.

I quickly took it and thought of how to salvage the situation while visibly shaking. I tried my best to wash out the stains but some part of it remained. I could not do a single thing afterward. I wished I could just turn back the hands of time and not be in this kind of trouble.

I lay down quietly on the bed, all traces of the joy and happiness I felt while playing the game were long gone as I awaited my fate. I knew without a doubt that I would be seriously dealt with.

My heart almost jumped out of my chest when I heard the sound of a door opening and closing. My mum came into the room and from my countenance, she knew something was wrong. When she asked what the problem was, I knew I couldn't even attempt to lie because that's one thing my mum hated most.

I told her all that happened and she was so angry, she asked to see the clothes and the sight of it angered her more. She beat the living daylights out of me for disobeying her by going out to play and also soiling her clothes. I cried so much that I couldn't eat even when I was presented with food.