“Hay, stop right there, get back, as you should be the last man standing in the queue," an old woman with a red chiffon gown yelled out.
“Mum, are you ok?” I shouted after seeing the condition of my mom going tough. "I was so worried about my mom's health.
“I'm ok, Abi, my daughter,” my mom replied, lying on her bed quietly.
I went to the kitchen and brought out a cup of water and handed it to her. “Mum, I think you need water.” My mom's cough forced out dried cough through her lungs while she responded, “Thank you, my son.”
After observing my mom for about a week, I discovered that her health was deteriorating. “Mum, I think I must take you to the hospital, but I have no cash with me right now. Maybe I have to go to the bank to make some withdrawals.” I was so worried about my mom's health, as she was the only one I had left after losing my dad to a ghastly accident that put my mom into the condition she is in right now.
“I’m fine, son; don’t worry about me; I’m extremely better," my mom said while a tickled cough rolled out of her throat. “You see what I’m talking about, Mom. You are still not better. You need to see a doctor. Just give me an hour; let me go get some money from the ATM boot." I was unhappy seeing my mom in this condition.
After twenty minutes, I got to the bank to withdraw some money. The queue I met was totally avoidable. “What’s going on, dude?" I asked a guy who was in the queue.
“As you can see, it’s a long queue, and we have been standing here for a very long time. Sometimes the network will come, and sometimes it will vanish," he said.
“It means the line is up just because of the availability of the network, right?” I asked.
With the look of things, I was guessing that the line would never end. It will not get to my turn.
“Yes, of course," he replied, standing right in the queue.
David Kouakou
The woman in the red chiffon gown was standing in the line while a young boy of the age of twenty-four, I guess, bulged into the line and found his way into the line somewhere close to the starting point. We all kept quiet while the boy entered the line just because of the rugged look of the boy. “He may be one of these cult boys," I said quietly.
I was not done talking before hearing a thick woman’s voice from ahead of the line yelled out, “You have to stop right there, young man." Everyone looked at the old woman as she continued speaking. “You have to migrate to the back, as you don’t have to change others. At least if you don’t have to fear those on the line, fear my age." This boy made a U-turn and gave the woman in the red chiffon gown a scary look.
I’m the type with a hot temper, especially when it comes to insulting an old woman or an elderly one.
“who’s talking?’ the boy asked aggressively.
I was so angered and raised my voice from behind, “Young man, I kept quiet without saying a word just because I don’t like making trouble, but you have gone beyond your limit.”
“So, what will you do?” He raised his voice as he asked me the question. I was boiling deep inside of me, coupled with the time I had spent on the line without achieving my aim. I also looked back to my sick mother, who was supposed to be in the hospital right that moment. “Who are you to talk to the old woman that way, and how will you talk back at me when I’m speaking? Are you out of your mind?”
He drew closer, and then those on the line began to talk to me to take it easy. “You don’t have to waste your time with this little fool," the old woman on the red chiffon raised her voice from ahead of me.
The boy was very furious, but then I was waiting patiently for what he would do. He left the line, and everyone scattered, thinking he had gone to call his colleagues to fight me. I went straight to the old woman on chiffon; I took her straight to the ATM boot and helped her to withdraw her cash before I did mine. I was so happy that immediately they ran away, and the network was back on track. Everyone started coming one after the other to join the line. I tried to wait for some minutes just to see if the boy would come back, but he was nowhere to be found. The old woman on chiffon was also waiting, and we both left at the same time while she thanked me so much for being by her side and for supporting her.
When I got home, my mother was somehow looking healthier than when I left. “I told you not to worry about taking me to the hospital. I'm back on track.”.
Mum, you still need to go to the hospital for a checkup," I said.
“Let's keep that idea until tomorrow," my mom insisted.
