I hate being an only child!

"I don't like someone being an only child, only child in the sense of only boy!" That mind set has always been in me since my childhood. I have always had this fear that something will happen, something tragic and heart wrenching, something the parents may never recover from.

Only child? They always have this reckless tendencies. Correct me if I am wrong o, but that has always been my own stand. I have seen a lot of them to know that it is only the grace of God that keeps them from early grave or destruction. I may be wrong as I said earlier, but when you see more than ten different cases, at different levels of growth, in different locations, you can't be blamed if you stick to this line of thought.

When I was seven, I remember playing with Ekene who will always be a ring leader, and try all those Commando stunts. He jumped once and crashed, he didn't open up on the pains he felt inside or the injury he had. Few days later, he started having this high fever, before you can say Jack Robinson, he was dead and gone! Dead! Dead! Someone full of life, strong and bubbly. What of Chika? We were in the same boarding school, his bed was two beds from mine to the left. We went on long vacation, after resumption his parents came, opened his wardrobe, packed his belongings and took his bed [he was dead and the story wasn't straight! something about village asikwa village asighi!] . Hmmmm!

Tobechi took that space, nice guy, jovial and kind. One day, the vehicle [known as Dynaa] that supplies food to our school stopped on the road after delivery! some students offered to push it, then a freak accident happened. The vehicle started and the man told then to climb in so that he could drop them at the school gate, and eyewitness story has it that as Tobechi was trying to climb in, the vehicle rolled back and his hands slipped. It climbed a part of his stomach, he was immediately rushed to the hospital. We held vigils and prayers, little did I know that the greeting we shared the Saturday morning that heralded this accident was the last, and Tobechi was gone!

I can talk about the youth corp member that fell into a well while we were serving at Osun State or the medical doctor son of Mrs Ojujiofor that just had typhoid and died . I can go on and on and on to buttress my points why I hate only child in a home. The pain of the loss is something I can't relate with, but I have felt some pains at the losses I witnessed at different points in my life because those people were close, very close to me,and at the time it happened, it wasn't funny.

This morning,my cousin who works in the same office with me called me and asked if I have heard what happened at the village. My cousin, an only son whose parents died few years ago had a little argument with a boy living in their compound over snail [imagine! Snail!] and the boy who is an artisan went to his room and picked his machete, came out and slaughtered my cousin. Just like that, he has left a pregnant widow behind. I haven't been able to get my head round this rubbish development. Snail? Don't go behind my room again to look for snail, the other insisted that he will, now see the nonsense that has become the outcome. Uchenna is gone and the boy is now in police custody[another life to be wasted], over what? Snail. I tire o!