Alacrimia | √

Chapter Fourteen

08:26 pm, September 15,
Nsukka, Enugu State.

China Okenwa was a busy woman. Sometimes she herself thought it was a miracle she had time at all to take motherly care of Kanayo.

She glanced at the back seat where the said baby was strapped into his baby car seat. He had his little pudgy hands fisted and was staring right back at her, his large, black eyes innocent and expressive.

'Come on, smile,' she said to him while she herself broke into one. The baby continued to stare blankly at her.

She turned back to the steering wheel. 'Of course, you idiot, he can't understand you.'

Back to her thoughts. Okay, she herself admitted she was getting too busy for her own good nowadays. Her main occupation was lecturing; she lectured in Physics and Astronomy at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka.

She also managed a large poultry, a branch of Okenwa Farm, owned by her and her husband. It included a poultry, fishery, plantations, and the likes. The business was doing very well, even more than her main profession which meant she spent more time on the management. They hardly advertised their products, people made a rush for them once it was made public that they were open for market. And this was all thanks to her Somto, he lectured in the Agricultural sciences department and developed new and improved breeds of plants and poultry — domestic animals in general.

Okenwa Farm was no doubt the best in Nsukka, and the whole of Enugu, if she dared to say so. Their farm siting, management, method of breeding, and production were simply unparalleled.

Enough boasting, she chided herself, then tried to remember what had preceded all these thoughts.

Okay, she was thinking of how busy she was getting these days. She sighed at this and removed one hand from the steering to rub at her eyes. Somto's absence was beginning to tell on her the more. She did miss her husband dearly, it was barely a year now that he had gone and she wouldn't stop wishing his two-year program would end already. She was mostly worried for Kanayo, the baby was bound to start talking anytime soon and she was afraid 'mama' might be the only parent word he'd know. Also, she hadn't been hearing from him of lately, but she mostly attributed that to Nigerian network although Uganda wasn't all that far.

She sniffled then realized the car was too quiet and turned on the car radio. It was dead quiet on this side of the road with only the street lights to keep company. When did she start keeping to late hours like this? Her mother would be shocked to see her driving so late in the night, alone. She chuckled at that, she'd always been afraid of traveling in the dark and always went into hysterics whenever she was in a moving vehicle after daylight, that had meant her family had to leave early if they were traveling somewhere and depart early when going back home.

But then she'd gotten employed into the university, married Somtochukwu, then started a business with him, so, late evening lectures and going to check on the poultry after work had forcefully made it clear that her phobia had no place again and extinguished it.

Suddenly, her favourite song started to play and she sang along cheerily till, seconds later, she realized it was actually her phone's ringtone playing. She palmed her face with one hand then reached inside her bag on the passenger seat. She was so frantic to pick the call before it went to voicemail that, on getting it out of the bag, the phone fell down from her hand unto the car floor.

She sighed and peered at the road to see that it was clear, then bent down to the side to retrieve the fallen phone. She fumbled around the floor, hoping to get the phone but the device seemed to be eluding her.

She sighed and reached around once more, already raising her head. She had to look where she was driving, the phone had long stopped ringing anyways, but she had only wanted to know who had called.

Her head was almost up when her hand came in contact with the mischievous phone. She bent down once again and brought it up, scowling at the phone. Then she turned her gaze back to the road.

A boy was stood smack dab in the middle of the road, waving his arms and she was just a few centimetres away from hitting him. Dropping the phone she braked hard, jolting the whole car forward. The car screeched to a stop second later, throwing her forward.

The second that followed felt like an hour, she couldn't believe what had just happened, it all felt like a dream and she found herself fervently hoping it was one.

She raised her head from where it had hit the steering wheel, dazed. Her ears were ringing and her vision seemed to be swimming.

She stared forward, all she saw was bright light, she couldn't see the child that had been there seconds ago.

Good God, have I crushed him?! Is he dead?! Where is he? What'd happen to me now?

All this thoughts coursed through her mind like a freight train. She was neck deep in trouble if she'd killed someone. Who would believe her when she said he had jumped into the road himself? Even if they did she'd still be held responsible for not looking where she was driving. Oh, how she wished she could reverse the hands of time and go back to that time she was busy thinking of being busy, then, she would have glued her eyes to the road, she would have braked or swerved in time to avoid the poor child.

But wishing wouldn't do anything to the situation at hand, she had to get down and see what she could do to remedy the situation. If she were lucky, maybe the child wasn't dead.

She stared back at her baby. To her relief he looked fine, safely strapped into his seat. She took a deep breath, trying to calm herself and undid her seat belt, shakily reaching for the car door.