The Wound

His father’s death was too sudden

One minute he was in a private high school enjoying a lush and posh lifestyle

The next he was at home watching his mother crying her eyes out

His dad had been a strong man

He was educated, rich and a very renowned socialite

How and what killed him was all a bit of a mystery

He went to work that morning, attended the staff briefing, got to his office and slumped

Nobody noticed when the incident happened

A secretary wanted to give him a memo and discovered him lying lifeless on the floor of his office

By the time they rushed him to the hospital, it was way too late

He was admitted at the morgue

The news was broken to his mother

All hell was let loose

The children were all rushed home from school

Family members and well-wishers came around

The burial was swift

They settled to life after his demise

Then the lawyer came with the will

Cinderella’s zero hour came upon them

Their father was owing the bank a huge debt

The house and cars and other properties were taken

The only property they had left was their father’s first house, a three bedroom bungalow built in the slums

The house was occupied by tenants

They found a way to settle the tenants and moved into the house

It was like falling from grace into hell

Nothing made sense anymore

He was moved to a public secondary school

The classes were overcrowded

The students were smelly and poor!

His new normal was worse than a pigsty

His mother took it hard but held on to life firmly because of her children

His late father’s friends and relatives promptly forgot about them

His mother started selling sachet water and biscuits

She was not equipped for the lot role life was demanding her to play in its drama

His two older sisters had it easier

His mother’s aunt volunteered to take them in

He became the man of the house at the age of 15

 He somehow managed to finish high school

His final result was woeful

Who cared?

He got a job as a petrol station attendant

He started earning something to augment the income of his family

While attending to a very wealthy customer one day

One of his fellow attendants whispered to him that the customer’s money was ill gotten

His curiosity piqued

He didn’t care whether “wealth” was ill gotten or not

He just wanted to be rich again!

He asked around for the address of the customer

A week later, at the wee hours of the day, he went to visit the customer

The customer was very accommodating and warm

He told his story

“Teach me how to fish sir”, show me the way!

The customer stood up and looked at him curiously

He sensed that the customer was going to turn him away

He fell on his knees and burst into tears

"Please sir, don’t turn me away! I am ready to do anything, anything

Poverty is worse than death sir

I will prefer to die in the process of getting rich to living like this

Please sir, I will do anything!"

The customer sat down and removed his cap!

Right in the center of his head was a wound filled with maggots

A very foul smell oozed from it

Within seconds, the odour was everywhere

He felt nauseated but bit his tongue and tried not to show any reaction

The customer: I was once like you, I thought money was meaning, I was very wrong.

I went to twenty two different herbalists for money ritual, I was determined that I would do it, get rich and die! Even if I have to be rich for only one day! I had eaten on refuse dumps, spent the night under dangerous trees in a thick forest, done all sorts of juju without success. Eventually I got the right herbalist with the right demons!

I was given this wound on my head by a demon. The more rotten the wound got, the more I grew rich!

I had to wear heavy perfumes to keep the smell of the wound under control! I had buried my wife and three children in the last seven years!

If I sleep with a woman more than three times, such a woman is likely to die!

Every two years, I travel abroad, select such a woman (usually a prostitute) sleep with her three times within a week and return home. Such a prostitute will die a horrible death within seven days of my return!

My family members keep far away from me! They all suspect that I had done something fetish. If I had the opportunity to undo the evil this demonic covenant had done to me, I would.

That said, if you still insist that I must help you that way, I will. That way we can compare notes on who is more miserable and comfort each other!

He didn’t have to think about it. He said his goodbye politely and left

When he got home he took the money he had been saving for the “ritual” and went to enrolled himself in a GCE tutorial lesson.

He wrote the examination and passed

He was admitted to study English in the University

While studying, he started a wall paper and interior decoration business on campus

By the time he graduated the business had boomed

He moved his mother out of the slums

Helped to sponsor his younger ones through school

Today he has a fleet of businesses all around the world

He is also married with children

PS:  This event happened between 1995 and 2018 in Lagos, Nigeria

He went to check on the customer immediately after he graduated, he was him in a bedridden state!

His body covered with lesions and sores

Maggots were all over him

For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. – Paul (In his writing to Timothy) 1 Timothy 6:10