It was 5.30pm on a Wednesday evening, dad drove in through the gate looking all worked up and moody. Mum wasn’t home yet from work and so dad just walked past Sarah, Casimir and I into his room. I made way to the kitchen and in less than twenty minutes, his supper was ready. All efforts to get him take dinner proved futile as he never said a word to all three of us. The look on the faces of my siblings was not encouraging at all, at some point they cried, and at the other point they tried calling mum whose number became day. switched off after several attempts to reach her. I decided to send Casimir to dad’s room to see if dad would talk to him being that he’s the man of the house. But in less than ten minutes, Casimir came back to the sitting room saying dad wants to be left alone. This unusual behavior really appeared strange to us owing to the fact that our parents always looked forward to being with us after close of work each We were a happy family even our neighbors’ complemented mum and dad on a daily basis, in church we were the perfect family , in our school my siblings and I were always addressed as lucky children as mum and dad were always the COUPLE OF THE DAY for every end of term activity and end of years’ party. And so this recent silence by dad was really telling hard on us. At this point in time, Sarah and Casimir were already in tears I tried so hard to pet them but for every five minutes I pet them, I cried for the next ten minutes. It wasn’t long before we heard the honk of mum’s car and all three of us rushed out to the gate but we received the shock of our lives when mum reacted the same way as her husband. She said nothing to us as she walked straight to her bedroom. She didn’t even carry Sarah who happens to be the youngest of us. At this point Sarah and Casimir increased the frequency of their weeping, I used my hands to cover their mouths so as not to invite our neighbors into our home. I led them into their separate rooms but none could sleep. And so I took them to my room and I put them to bed. While they slept, I walked straight to the kitchen to tidy up. As I cleared the plates and placed a call to my maternal grandmother. “Hello granny, how do you do” “I’m pretty well my dear” my siblings used in eating, my mind travelled far and wide. I picked up my phone “Hope your parents and my babies are fine” “Yes grandma, everyone is fine.” I quickly hung up on grandma. I wasn’t actually missing her but I wanted to know if she was alive, probably her death was the reason why my parents were all moody and with teary eyes. After hearing grandma’s voice, I concluded that my parents’ current state had nothing to do with our extended family. My paternal grandparents were long dead and my maternal grand mum just spoke to me a while ago. So what then could be the reason for their teary eyes and silence? I walked to sitting room and switched on the television. I tuned to a Nigerian station, waiting to hear the crash of a plane and probably the list of persons who boarded the plane. When I found none, I tuned in to CNN, but I found nothing again. Which means our relatives home and abroad were actually safe, so why the mutual moodiness? I switched off the television and sat on the tiled floor. I had never seen my parents in this state and so I knew that whatever must have kept them like this must be very serious. I quickly sat up and prayed for my parents, I was just ten years of age. While I sat on the floor, I just muttered somethings to God and I knew he understood every bit of all I said. him to stop my parents from crying. Mum had told us during our night devotion the previous day that God loves little children. And so I told God that since he loves me, that I loved him too but I needed Did God really stop my parents from crying?
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