Eye
Good evening Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the Alchemists Corner.
Happy New Year.
Read, Enjoy, Share your thoughts. See you on the other side.
EYE
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from http://www.fantom-xp.com
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If you could see beyond the horizon of what is and into that amorphous realm of what will be, what would you do with the knowledge from your sight? What would you say? Would you tell the joyful mother cradling her son in her arms to love him with all her heart now because it will be difficult to love him when he becomes a murderer? Would you tell the woman tossing a handful of soil onto the coffin of the man she loves to smile because she will eventually find a greater love in the arms of another? Would you tell the man who has lost everything he owns to steady his nerve and brace himself because he will soon lose everyone he loves as well? Perhaps you would just stand there with your lips sealed, silent and sessile as the river of time flowed gently towards it destination, for better or for worse. Perhaps you will do nothing with this gift but wish you could return it.
Perhaps. But I do not like uncertainties.
So, I will give you this gift for a time. I will let you see.
You can see Mrs Koiki standing over her son’s bed watching him sleep peacefully. This is now. You can see the love in her eyes, a tender sparkle in the corner, a sort of constant wetness that threatens to form a tear of joy but never actually does. You see it, don’t you? Good. Now look closer, do you see that constant tremble in her hand and the way her cheekbones resist the upward curve of her cheeks when she tries to smile? Good. That is fear; A severe trepidation of sorts. She is afraid she will lose her son to the disease they have just diagnosed him with. This is now.
Let me show you what comes next.
You see Mrs Koiki pacing up and down the garden of an expensive house which you will soon begin to believe is a palace. You will begin to believe this because its garden is larger than any house you have ever seen. Look around. Now look at the grass beneath Mrs. Koiki’s feet, trampled, their stalks crushed, they will devoutly bow east until they eventually wither and die. Look at them and give their plight no second thought. Think only on the facts and realize that Mrs Koiki has been pacing up and down this particular patch of grass for almost an hour.
She stops suddenly and you see a young girl run out of a door in the house, throwing her feet carelessly forward, her bantu knots making her appear to be about 10 years old but she is 14. You know this because I let you know. I am trying to show you something. This is the gift. The girl finally reaches Mrs Koiki and she falls to the floor, trembling. You can hear her sobbing now. It is a loud, pathetic sound like the pleadings of an angel being defiled by a demon skilled in rape and the theft of innocence. You see Mrs Koiki put her arms around the girl and attempt to comfort her. You can see the way she does this and it tells you that this is a mother comforting her child. Trying to reassure her after something terrible has come to pass. But here, in this verdant court of branches and leaves, before a jury of freshly cut grass and perfectly trimmed hedges, you know she is guilty of a crime against daughter she is trying to comfort.
You know. You can see it in her eyes. She condemns herself.
They remain there for a few minutes until a man in a suit that is one size too small and glasses that completely obscure his eyes comes out through the same entrance the girl did and drops a small Ghana-must-go bag on the floor. He stands beside it, still as a statue and Mrs Koiki pulls away from her daughter just long enough to collect her thirty pieces of silver. As she wraps her hands around the bag, you can see the man say something to her.
“Chief said you should bring her again on Friday evening and tell her to stop crying when he is playing with her. He doesn’t like it.”
You know this because I let you know.
Now, do you begin to understand? Perhaps not fully. Let us skip forward again. You will see eventually.
You can see Mrs Koiki in the cashier’s office of a hospital. She is paying for something with great big wads of cash, fifty naira notes held together with tattered pieces of paper and rubber bands. The cashier is an old woman who is big in the places she should be small and small in the places she should be big. Her face and body would lead many to believe that she is over forty years old but you know that she is actually twenty-nine. You know this because I let you. She takes all the money from Mrs Koiki and hands her a receipt which she takes to another wing of the hospital with a sign above the swing doors that says “Radiology”. The name on the receipt reads ‘Olumide Koiki’ and you know this is not the girl you saw sobbing in her arms earlier. You know this was the young boy over whose bed she stood when I first let you begin to see into her life. He is dying of cancer and she is trying to save him by committing an unforgivable sin.
Do you now understand?
Come back to the beginning with me.
You can see Mrs Koiki standing over her son’s bed watching him sleep peacefully. This is now. Again. You can see the love in her eyes, but now you are afraid of it, are you not? Now look closer, do you still see the fear that was there before? It’s such a small thing now, barely perceptible but you see it clearly now and even worse, you know what it will lead her to do. There are few things that can inspire cold fear like witnessing the birth of what you know will be a great, consuming monster. You know what her fear will lead her to do. You are afraid of the things a mother will do to save her child.
I can show you more. I can show you the future where her son survives his disease thanks to the expensive treatments paid for with Chief’s ransom for her daughter’s innocence. I can show you what her daughter will end up doing on Omega Bank Avenue and Adeola Hopewell Street after she runs away from home on her seventeenth birthday, no longer able to live with the woman who wilfully sold her body to a filthy old, degenerate. I can show you what Mrs. Koiki does to herself, trying to find penance through pain. I can show you, but I suspect you already know enough.
So, what will you do, now that you have seen?
Will you tell Mrs Koiki to refuse Chief’s offer when it comes and let her son die so that she can keep her daughter’s love? Will you reassure her that she will be making the only decision she can to save her sons life? Will you tell her nothing and keep this foreknowledge I have given you to yourself, letting it weigh down your soul like an anchor? Will it even matter what you do?
What will you do with this gift if I give it to you?
And before you decide, remember: Once I give you this gift, you can never return it. Ever.
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Wow!!!!!!!!!my best post this year…….this is a very brilliant piece.mbok,I dnt want the eye….let fate do its job :)
Oh!I am d first!!! :D
Thank you.
And yes, you are. First comment on the corner this year. Congratulations.
It’s easy to sit and scream at Mrs.Kioki, “you can’t rob peter to pay Paul”. But who I’m I to judge when it isn’t happening to me. In such pain it is human to make misguided decisions. Therefore I want to gift troubling as it is, but it could be the difference between destroying a soul and loosing another. Tis really deep! Deep indeed
Oh Gawddd!
Abeg holl am oooo…. i know sabi that kin gift ooo.. Wetin i wan take am do? Abasi Mbok!!!! keep am.
This is sublime…I couldn't have asked for anything better to start the year..yet the gift is one of choices drawn along what we see.. Our future hangs on the balance of the choices we make…I'll tell Mrs Koiki what I've seen…the choice is her's to make..'.I'l ya rien comme libre de choix' ..
*la liberté de choix* translated as 'freedom of choice' or 'the freedom to choose'
I had to read this three times. So captivating.
"Will it even matter what you do?" This got to me, will it matter if i warn Mrs Koiki about the impending events? Fate will still find its way eventually.
I suppose it will, fate that is. But we most of us still have a desire to see the future if it were possible, no?
Wow! Wonderful. Ds piece is really nice. Wld tell 2 let her son die and kip her daughtr's love
Nic piece!! I think what I do; to tell or not, won't matter cos fate has its ways :)
Great piece…nah, pls keep the gift n let fate play itself.
Really beautiful…….a work of art……I commend u
This piece is amazing!I love the way he went into the future and came back to the present without loosing us in the process….na men I rather not have the gift I won’t be able to deal knowing that it is not a win win situation.
I won't do a thing. I will let thiings play out as they may. Balance must be sustained, by influencing her decision I might cause ripples in time, ripples that might cause far reaching effects. Effects even more dastardly than losing her son.
This is true, but would you wish to see? Even for yourself? You own future?
Ah, fate, such a fickle thing and yet it overrides us, imposing it’s own will. Irrespective of what I do for miss Koiki the final result is still fate. I’d rather just watch.
WOW!!….This is just so…..Wow!
Can't stop reading this post….its just so beautiful. In short,there are no words to describe this….
First words that came to my head? poetry in motion. Then I figured that description really doesn't do it for this piece. Then I tried to find the write (sic) adjective, crisp? articulate? declamatory? epigrammatic? each of those words would fit but not perfectly. So I went with beautiful… this is beautiful.
I am totally awed by this piece, if I have ever read a piece so vivid… it must have been a long time ago. I was enthralled from the very first sentence, so much so that I reckon if God were ever to speak to me directly, this is the tone he would use.
RESPECT.
Such High praise. Thanks.
This is an incredible piece. It offers such a unique perspective in prose, and obviously engages the readers wholly by constantly drawing us in with questions. Its a great way to talk about something that is so underrated in its desperation. Beautifully done :)
Epic is the word… Or better still, dope. I am lost for words, this is the best I have had in ages… It’s da bomb! Omg, I’m thrilled. Kudos mehn! Kudos. But, I don’t think I would want “the eye” o. *deep sigh*
". . .in this verdant court of branches and leaves, before a jury of freshly cut grass and perfectly trimmed hedges, you know she is guilty of a crime against daughter she is trying to comfort"
Bestest Part. Solid Piece.
And yet it contains a typo. I was going to correct it, but I think I'll leave it in there. Flaws give character… or so they say.
Mesmerizing read…. Ms koiku is doomed anyway.
I still want the eye tho
The Alchemist don didit again. But i think i can handle d eye. Pls let's get married, only condition is u write me such beautiful pieces all d time :D
You're far too kind
Wow. Just wow.
Beautiful piece I wuld say.
As for the eye, I’m tempted to take it and make her cherish the daughter and leave the son to the hands of fate. But then, who am I to decide?
…….You know this because I let you.
Nice way to end my day, scintillating piece I must say!
time travel inspired. my thought on some days. reminds me of looper, or just the end of it
Waow.
I know this because you let me. You're a fabulous writer.
ok…so i'm glad i didnt leave….i liked this…it just about scratches edges of a topic that has intrigued me for most of my adult years….sight…gift or curse..
the challenge is of course to pick d best of 2 terrible decisions. but i dare to think its not that straight forward.
i'd say…if i had this new gift, there's no choice but to get involved, but then since u can seeeee, den u'd also know dat telling her different degrees/variations of the truth wud lead to different outcomes,,..one's got to be positive, unless ure telling me its only a one time gift,…then….dat blows
nice one…i think i'll be coming back for more
Of course there will be times when you will be able to tell someone good is coming to them in the future because you will have seen it. Other times, like this, there will be none and it will feel like a curse. and no, it will not be a one-time thing.
Come back, guests are always welcome in the corner.
…..of an angel being defiled by a demon skilled in rape and the theft of innocence…. My best part, how can you call this a gift though? This gift is a curse I certainly don't know if any normal person would want such "gift"
They would want it. As much as they would want to be rid of it if they did have it.
Your writing, always so thought-provoking. Always with under-currents running through. Always deep. Always beautiful.
Thank you for sharing. And consistency. And inspiration.
wow-this is the awed kind of wow u can barely say-wow Alchemist have u considered writing books? Ur amazing, u've won me over for life. Concerning ur story, as much as it would hurt me, I wouldn't have warned her and I certainly don't want this gift, what a burden! the thing is if we knew the future, we would try so hard to change it and make it right that in the process we'd make it an even bigger mess and lose ourselves. Even though u may see the future with this gift, what if sth changes or u misjudged sth u saw? or u missed sth? and u'll go and mess it up and after u'll cry. no! i'm glad the way things are.
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