I think I would never be that person who constantly have issues with their neighbors at the slightest chance. There's barely time and chance for that to even happen because I barely set foot outside my room unless I can no longer ignore my growling stomach. Oh, well, I'm not stingy with help; I render it when I have the capability to do so, and when I need it too, I ask rather than choosing to suffer in silence.
This is one of the many approaches I've adopted over the years to disengage from familiarities that can breed contempt. "Once bitten, twice shy," people say. I've been bitten more than once and had decided to shoo away problematic neighbors and neighborhoods at every cost.
My father started life in a rented apartment with two separate rooms in different locations of the house—one serving as the sitting room and the other as the bedroom—with my mom, myself, and my two siblings. That's as far back as I can remember; our little beginning. We had this warm-hearted neighbor, Mama Chidinma. Whom whenever Mom had to leave the house would leave us under her care. There was a time I almost thought she was blood-related to our family, just because of the way she tended to us despite having to care for her own kids too. Now, I can't help but feel empathetic towards her, realizing how much she must have struggled juggling those delegated duties.
"Life has its way of equating everything; you can't only enjoy the good days and refuse the bad days in it."
It was definitely a gruesome day for me, my dad, and siblings. Mom returned home quite late that day, so unusual for her, we all guessed we should attribute it to the heavy downfall that day. In her attempt to attend to our stomach affairs she once again left us with Mama Chidinma so she wouldn't be distracted while she prepared dinner. Not long after, we heard noisy chattering in the corridor, with Mom's tiny soprano voice struggling to be heard. Without hesitation, we quickly dashed out of the house to see what was happening. Mom was already in tears, and my dad was beside her, pacifying her, saying, "I'll go with you, don't worry."
Apparently, a fight had broken out between two of our neighbors. Mom couldn't mind her kitchen business for the night but stepped into the situation to prevent them from harming each other. If only she had known what they would reward her with, perhaps she wouldn't have bothered. They falsely alleged her of taking advantage of the situation by stealing a huge amount of money from one of the fighters' purses.
Seeing how she stood there helplessly and confused with dad's arms wrapped around her neck , I knew she must had outdone herself in trying to clarify the misunderstandings. The accuser was just few steps awag from where she stood, fuming of anger, hurling all sorts of abusive words at her as she asked for a reimbursed of that same amount. Unfortunately for us, Dad couldn’t be of help, both cash in hand and in bank can't sum up to any close amount near the demanded amount as a result of this, the issue finally aggravated to what was beyond us. They went ahead to report the case and cops were already right there, handcuffing her hands.
Mum passed the night at the Police Station and Dad couldn't leave us by ourselves so, we had to retire back to Mama Chidinma's home.
The following day the truth prevailed, and she was released on bail, free. It turned out that one of the fighters' children was the actual thief, but they didn't consider that as theft,lol.
©️Medemausi
All pictures are mine.