My name is Jerry, I'm the only boy child of my family. I've four sisters and they love me very much. My mother's name is Jessica and her sister's is Mabel. I love Aunt Mabel because she buys me candies.
Mummy tells stories of how I started liking candies but I never get to hear it to the end.
One day, Aunt Mabel came to take me out and we had a nice time. I was so happy we were going to visit the candy store. She saw the excitement and decided to shake my expectation.
We were supposed to take a right detour towards the candy store, but instead, we took the left. She saw how suddenly my mood changed. I struggled to maintain a smile.
Then she stopped abruptly and asked me, "David, would you like to visit the candy store?" I screamed "Yes" and off we went.
After the whole day's fun, we got home. I could sense the curiosity on her face to know why I loved candy so much. I knew she was going to ask mummy so I decided that that day was the day to know too, so I clung to her.
"Sister, why does little cousin love candy this much?" Aunt Mabel asked.
"Well, it's not a story I like to share often, because I almost lost my handsome son that day. Remember that housemaid I fired a long time ago?"
Mother asked Aunt Mabel. "How can I forget? You fired her right after that fire incident. Come to think of it, you never really told me what happened, I was just happy then that you all survived.
"It was on the day of the fire accident. Earlier that day, Jerry's dad and I had decided to go sight seeing in celebration of his promotion at the office. We left Jerry with the house help. We were still at Olumo rocks admiring the beauty of nature when a caring neighbor called to tell us that our house was on fire. We ran back as quickly as possible. Getting home, we saw neighbors gathered outside trying to put out the fire. The fire had lasted for about 15 minutes. I asked about the whereabout of Jerry from a neighbor. Imagine my shock when he said they thought Jerry was with us. The foolish house help had forgotten totally about Jerry! I ran in as fast as possible with tears freely dropping. I searched for Jerry frantically, couldn't find him. I was then refusing the thought that I might have lost my only son when suddenly I heard gigglings in the bathroom. I checked and found Jerry with a packet of chocolate candy smiling. I felt so relieved. He had followed a trail of the candy that our careless house help dropped en route to the bathroom. When he got to the bathroom, he stayed there enjoying the candy." That's the story, mom concluded.
© Ben James and Anene Ebubechukwu Anthony
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