Why Didn't You Tell Me?

It was a cool saturday morning in the month of May. Mummy had gone out, and everyone at home was busy doing something. My brothers were in their room gisting about the odyssey of a popular Nigerian artiste. Dad was in the veranda, meditating on a few scriptures of the Bible. Of course, I was also busy - I was in mum's room taking a full gaze of my anatomy in front of a 6ft high mirror. I was thirteen and growing fast in stature.

I concentrated more on my visage, helping myself with mum's makeups. It was great fun, standing in front of the mirror and exploring with my mom's eye pencil and lipstick. After some moments of exploration, I wiped my face with a towel and said to myself- "makeups are not really good on me. I think I look better when I'm natural. Then I took up the eye pencil and drew very ugly tribal marks all over my face. "Hmm-mm, tribal marks aren't good for me either, thank God I don't have any" I said as I put the pencil back in place.

Rejoice! Rejoice!!

That was dad calling me. "Yes daddy" I answered as I ran to meet him at the veranda. "Go and buy 5 litres of petrol," he said as he drew out a thousand naira note from his wallet. This NEPA people sha, the money I have spent on petrol these past few years is enough to send all my children to school abroad," he said as he hissed. I took the money from him, went to get the keg and dashed out. The petrol station was not too far so I decided to trek and keep my fare for some biscuits.

I noticed people staring. At first, I thought it was the normal glancing. But it was not. I met a woman who was a chorister in our church and greeted her. Instead of replying, she was staring at me with her eyes protrude and eyeballs dancing from left to right. In fact, everyone I met on the way stared. Men, women, the young, the old and I think, the blind too.

I got to the station, bought the petrol and returned home. My immediate younger brother came to open the gate after I had knocked. "What the hell is this on your face?" he asked as he let me in. It was then that it dawned on me that I did not get rid of the tribal marks I drew on my face before dad called me. I ran to the mirror to confirm this and alas it was still ther. I started weeping and blaming everyone especially my brother. "Why, Why? Why didn't you tell me before I went out? But you saw me while I was leaving and you did not tell me. No wonder everyone was staring. Why did you not tell me?," I said amidst tears.

This is a story that leaves you thinking. Life is a mirror. Many people enjoy life in this mirror, get carried away with the pleasure, get painted with consequences and forget to have a clean wash before leaving the mirror. And then embark on the next journey with the ugly marks still on their faces. Then when the facts of the marks are brought to their knowledge, they tend to shift blames on others. Just like me, "Why didn't you tell me?" is the question a lot of people ask others when they ought to ask themselves "Why did I do it?". Sometimes we act silly and blame others. Learn not to shift blames. Accept responsibilities for your actions and learn from them.