Richard, Ronald and Rick were raised
by their father, who following the demise of his wife, tussled to confer an
average life to his three sons. Sadly, he too met his end a few years
later. Needless to say, kith and kin of
the deceased vowed at the funeral to not desert the orphans; “we shall all take
care of you, our brother’s sons...” they promised. Consequently, their bereavement
was less agonizing owing to their conviction that they were blessed with very
compassionate paternal kinsmen. However, these were obviously sailors’ promises.
This marked the genesis of adversity for the boys. They endured suffering of
all sorts ranging from going without food sometimes and being banished from school
attributed to lack of fees.
Rick, the youngest, had always
been the studious one from a really tender age and notwithstanding the fact
that he adored all three of his sons, their father was always well-pleased with
him. Well, the little man devised ways to guarantee that they were able to
access the basic necessities of life. The most brilliant one was encouraging
his brothers to catch fish from the ponds in their vicinity which they sold in
the village market. This enabled them get by somehow.
Fast forward a few months, he
engaged his brothers in a heart to heart one quiet night and proposed that he
kept selling fish as his elders resumed school since they were almost done with
their respective courses. Luckily, they were receptive and unanimously approved
the idea zealously.
Rick was such an enterprising boy
and being at the prime of his life, acquired other hands-on skills such as
woodwork. He was able to establish his own furniture workshop and by virtue of
his tenacity, humility, forbearance and honesty, thrived.
He saw his brothers through
school and aided the set up of a little business when they were finally done with
their studies. Given that jobs were hard to come by, they ventured into salon business;
this was barely gainful. Conceivably, they would despair sometimes, arguing
that the Most High had forsaken them. However, they soldiered on, prayed and
hoped against hope that He would “fanute” their situation in due course.
One night, whilst Richard (the oldest)
had gone to the fuel station to get diesel for their salon generator; he
chanced upon an old friend from High School. This guy possessed an aura of an
affluent person; judging by the ride he had and the garb he donned. Opportunely,
he didn’t disregard the ragged Richard; he was actually overjoyed to see him
again. Well, imaginably, they arranged to get together and catch up. This was “the silver lining on Richard’s
rainbow”. His friend intimated on how he made headway and offered to help him
out as well. This entailed going overseas as that was where he was based. He
only had to raise enough to get the documents required so he could join him in
the United Kingdom. Richard cashed in on this once in a lifetime prospect. Rick
saved the day, naturally, by raising the money his elder brother needed to
realize this dream.
Heaven must have been smiling
down on him in view of the fact that within just a year; Richard was able to obtain
oodles of money, so much so that he sent enough back home to enhance his
siblings’ lives.
He returned home with his wife; a
girl he met overseas; fell in love with and married. Ronald too introduced his
spouse and they all lived in one mansion as had always been their plan since
they were little i.e. to not ever be separated. Rick’s marital status was still
a mystery though.
Back home, they established a
number of businesses using the capital Richard had accumulated during his stay
in the Diaspora. Since Ronald had always worked at the small salon, it was
developed into the best of its kind in the region. Rick being the go-getter he
had always been opted to expand his furniture business and hooked the juiciest
deals in the region due to the attributes he possessed as I already mentioned
earlier. Richard ventured into car importation trade. They lived harmoniously
as one big family and enjoyed a lavish lifestyle thenceforth.
Nevertheless, issues sprouted
when Rick finally invited his girlfriend to live with them. Rita was a true definition
of a “village girl”. Evidently, Rick being the self-effacing person he had
always been, stuck with his kind. This girl was all fingers and thumbs; a thing
that irked the elder boys. She, akin to her boyfriend Rick had not had the chance
to finish school and hence fell short of so much in respect to etiquette et al.
This sourced scuffles in the
family as they were always picking on their little brother’s girlfriend. They
disapproved of his choice for a woman and demanded that he ditched her for someone
deserving of their now famed family name. Rick disregarded them; they had been
childhood sweethearts and she had stuck by him through it all. She was his soul mate!
One fateful day, something was
amiss with the family furniture business somehow and apparently it was Rick’s
doing. A horrible squabble ensued and the elder brothers hurt him in both
physical and emotional ways he never imagined they ever would. Ronald pushed
the envelope by saying Rick’s illiteracy would be their undoing. What’s more, he referred to him as the black sheep of the family and that their
father would have been awfully upset with him had he still been around. This
was to be the dawning of animosity amongst the brothers!
Rick was dumbfounded; he had
endured so much for his brothers, in spite of the fact that he was their junior.
He was intensely distressed that he packed his stuff and stormed out of the
family house. Unfortunately, Rita oblivious of this incident went looking for
him at the mansion. She was thrown out and warned never to set foot in that
compound ever again.
She was able to find Rick at
work. Nevertheless, amidst all the dreadful feelings he harboured at that
point, he was very spiteful and asked her to stay away from him as she was the root
of the wrangles in his family. She tried to engage him in a heart to heart to
attempt and fathom the series of events leading to his overly iniquitous resolution.
Nevertheless, he was aloof by virtue of all the hurt and emotions overwhelming
him.
Rita was an orphan as well and
had moved to the city at his request; asking her to go was disheartening since
she had nowhere else to go. She belonged with Rick. When night fell, she went
sneaking into the mansion and fortunately bumped into Richard’s wife who was a
good hearted woman. She explained the situation and they agreed to have her live
stealthily in the guest bedroom until they both found an enduring solution.
In the wee hours of the night, a
scream as loud as a police siren
engulfed the house and piled one and all out of their sleep. It was Rita; the
happenings of that day had caused a really bad dream;
In her quest for vengeance against this family for hurting her so much,
she poisoned their meal and whoever partook of the food died; save for
Richard’s wife who was asleep. She found Rita laughing out loud at her
successful revenge while hurling insults at the lifeless bodies and without
much as a second thought, she stabbed her with the knife she had been using to
peel her apple.
Rita awoke in a sweat!
It was utter disarray in the
house as all and sundry sought to ascertain the origin of the racket, what it
was and who/what had caused it. Rita was shaken by the nightmare and as such was
breathing so heavily that Ronald picked up on the sound. He pushed the door
open and found her bundled up in the washroom like a frightened little cat.
They were in astonishment and angered by the fact that she had crept into the
mansion and managed to slumber in the guest room. They pounced on her, hurled
insults and pushed the envelope by ousting her in the dead of night.
She beseeched for mercy in vain; braved
the streets and opted to take shelter by the overhang of a half-completed
dilapidated building with hope of proceeding to wherever at the crack of dawn. Here; she napped, oblivious of the fact that it was a spot for
vagabonds. Alas! They found her; unaccompanied and hence powerless; took turns
at sexually assaulting her and left her for dead after the disgraceful act.
When she came to at dawn, the poor girl was in a hospital bed. Reminiscing on
what had befallen her the previous night shredded her entire being.
Rick got wind of this; was deeply
wounded by his brothers’ deed and naturally, set out to reproach them. He was besieged
with anger. The animal in him came out this time and on getting to the mansion,
bashed all his brothers’ cars. They engaged in a very nasty brawl amidst
screams by their wives. However, Rick was overpowered by his elders who
clobbered him to pulp imposing hospitalization.
While recuperating, he took time
to soul search, made a few mental notes and decisions. Consequently, he opted
to leave and seek a clean slate in a far-flung city. Tony, the same benevolent
person who helped Richard, took him in and helped him bounce back.
It wasn’t long before Rick was thriving
again. It was bound to happen owing to his willpower and assiduous temperament.
Subsequently, he married his childhood beloved Rita and jointly, they started a
novel beautiful family.
Back at home (in respect to his
brothers), the state of affairs was distressing. The furniture business had
collapsed; only Rick had the prowess at that stuff; Ronald’s wife was an
irresponsible woman who squandered the husband’s wealth and to top it off, Richard
started to lose lucrative deals in his car import business.
Richard and Ronald were due for their
rude awakening! It is amazing how humbling such moments are! They discerned
their faults and attributed their failures to how badly they had treated their
little brother. They vowed to stick it out and make things right by him no
matter what it took. The first step was to find him and with their tail between
their legs atone for their past slip-ups.
Nonetheless, he was still too scarred;
recollections of all they had put him through flooded his mind and immobilized
him from keenly taking them back. On the flipside, the leap of faith had been
taken; they had sought him out! This significantly warmed his heart. The trio buried
the hatchet; they comprehended and appreciated the reality that at any rate, family
matters the most!
*Deep sigh*
I suck at tale narration! Nevertheless,
I had to give it a shot this one time; inspired by a whatsapp chat I had with a
rocky buddy a few days ago. She was distraught owing to the fact that a supposedly bosom friend she bailed out a number of times had disregarded her in the worst of ways when
she needed some help. I was like “My dear, if ever you feel obliged to do
something for anyone, anything at all, never expect reciprocation. Do it by
virtue of your big heart and immense desire to have the world smiling. Yes, a
good turn deserves another, however, that is just as far as the adage goes; it
is simply that; a saying”
Many a time, if we’re ardent
enough, we get the knack of significant life issues and are profoundly enthused
by the most plain of things. It could be a movie, mate’s experience, songs, novels
et al.
Well, here below are my lessons drawn
from the story;
- Benevolence shouldn’t be in anticipation of rewards and/or reciprocation.
- Yes, trust; however, there will be treachery. It is archetypal of humans
- Forbearance will come in handy; whatever you do
- Desist from making promises you don’t intend to honour. Makes you lose credibility
- Blood is thicker than water, hahaha...so the old adage goes. Take note
- Commit to memory people that aided your success. You just never know!
Wishing you a fruitful February,
2015!
