IF I HAD KNOWN…
Part 1
There’s this popular niche that reads “what an elder sees sitting down, a child wouldn’t see even if he climbed an Iroko tree.” This literally means that an elder’s position is key and should be followed with all seriousness. While some people adhere to it to a very large extent, others think it’s futile and otiose.
Two days ago, while playing Ludo with some friends, kizito left the game half way and intended leaving the house. “Where are you going to?” Peter asked him. “Junction” he retorted. The junction wasn’t wasn’t too far from our house. There, you could find shops where virtually everything was sold. Kizito wasn’t going there to buy. He was going there to patronize BET9JA, an online bookmaker company that offers betting on major sporting events operating in Nigeria. It is a gambling site.
Kizito always thought playing Bet9ja a good thing.
My elder brother didn’t fancy the idea. Many young men had lost focus and spent money recklessly by thinking they’d play games on BET9JA and win. While some spent their school fees in the bet shops, others had stolen to play games with the hope of winning and still lost.
“No go” Peter said in pidgin.
“Why?”
“Bet9ja no be good thing.”
“No be true!” Kizito gasped.
There was a little silence till he said, ‘Na the same Bet9ja Japheth use buy motor for him father oo. No forget”
Immediately he said those words, the vision of him living a good and better life (a life out of poverty) opened before him. For a minute, he contemplated the vision. He lived in it alone. It was just there, a very future…
“You no go go anywhere.”
To Kizito’s ears, those words sounded like God saying “go to hell, my son.” He couldn’t believe them. Manchester United was playing against Liverpool. Manchester United was given 4 odds against the 1.2 odds of Liverpool. This was his chance to win big and better his life. If only his elder brother understood. After thinking for some seconds, he decide he’d go to the junction and play his game, even if he needed to fight his elder brother to get the chance. He didn’t see the possibility of his elder brother beating him up. 😂
“Brother that thing wey you no talk no fit happen.” He paused and looked his elder brother in the eyes. With anger, he added, ‘ na my money I deh go use. No be your own.’
I noticed the tension increasing and stood up to swiftly come in between my two elder brothers and separate them if a fight broke out. Kizito had never spoken this rudely to Peter. It meant he was really angry. Peter had never stopped Peter and I from leaving the house or asked why and where we were going to. Perhaps, he had a bad feeling about this particular outing. I could not understand why Peter decided to stop Kizito today. Maybe a child could not know such matters. They were too deep for me.
If only anyone of them knew what they future had in store, they shut up and let the other party’s wish be done.
By this time, Peter was at the gate, trying to lock it up and keep Kizito away from leaving the house.
Silence followed.
TO BE CONTINUED…
