A Collection of Short Stories
Tales-from-the-Other-Side-2015 Tales-from-the-Other-Side-2015
Soogun Omoniyi Whispering Waters hands on her protruded belly. The veins of his neck strained and patterned out as he yelled in silence, “Then let him die already! I’m tired!” Chris, although plagued with Down’s syndrome, could read the signs. Daddy did not want him. How else would you explain the constant meanness, or how daddy had refused to take him to church on Sundays, how he watched only ‘mumma’ scamper to get him to the hospital whenever the chest pain came. She gaped as Daniel swished past the transfixed boy, past the couches- where he flung his bag, past the dining chairs- where his tie landed, past wine rack, into a place her brain got too dazed to register. The words kept echoing in her head. Let him die already. Lurching back to reality, she saw her boy still seated on the floor, unable to speak. She took slow steps towards him and crouched to cup his rigid cheeks in her palms. His flat nose, the slanted and too distanced eyes, the short, stumpy neck; she found him beautiful yet. Marvelous creation. “Mu..mumma, he don’t like mi...” Chris said, pointing a stunted finger towards the rack. Impending tears jutted out from her lower eyelids. She blinked and they dropped on her gown. “My heart, daddy loves you. He’s just stressed this evening. Okay?” He tried speaking again but failed. Tears took the place of his little stutters. Whispering waters; she heard their voices as they glistened out of his unblinking eyes. She heard them say he was scared, that he wanted to be well and normal, that he wanted to play and 115
Whispering Waters Soogun Omoniyi sing and live like other kids, that he wanted an everlasting hug. Without wasting time, she wrapped her arms around him, leaving him only to muffle on her shoulder. It was the best feeling. According to her obstetrician, another joy would arrive through her womb in some weeks. Chris would no longer be alone, her husband would be happy and she happier. She muttered a word of prayer. “I can’t wait to carry this baby, a real child!” Daniel had bluntly disclosed the last time Janet returned from the doctor. She had answered with a hopeful smile. * * * Weeks later * * * “...dust to dust, earth to earth. O God, whose beloved Son did take little children into his arms. Give us grace, we beseech thee, to entrust this child, Chris to Thy never-failing care and love...” A lanky priest recited at the feet of a tiny grave. About seven black robed forty-year-olds hummed very sorrowful hymns behind him. Sorrow hung in the air. Janet watched Father Jude raise his big black Bible to sign a cross over the hole. The same Bible he displayed during Chris’ christening thirteen years ago, the same Bible he prayed to God with during their years of trying to conceive another child. She stared as the wooden coffin got lowered into the earth. Memories of the last two nights streamed to her again. Her son had wobbled into her and her husband in their room, clutching his chest, 116 Tales from the Other Side
- Page 75 and 76: Passenger 13E Aideyan Daniel
- Page 77 and 78: Passenger 13E Aideyan Daniel ‘Bab
- Page 79 and 80: Passenger 13E Aideyan Daniel make s
- Page 81: Passenger 13E Aideyan Daniel bounde
- Page 84 and 85: TJ Benson Pretty Bird The war had j
- Page 86 and 87: TJ Benson Pretty Bird rang out in t
- Page 88 and 89: TJ Benson Pretty Bird She pushed as
- Page 91 and 92: Sour Kisses Jennifer Emelife
- Page 93 and 94: Sour Kisses Jennifer Chinenye Emeli
- Page 95 and 96: Sour Kisses Jennifer Chinenye Emeli
- Page 98 and 99: The Indomie Man Michael Ogah
- Page 100 and 101: Michael Ogah The Indomie Man with m
- Page 102 and 103: Michael Ogah The Indomie Man “I
- Page 104: Michael Ogah The Indomie Man will t
- Page 107 and 108: Wanted: For fear Study Raymond Elen
- Page 109 and 110: Wanted: For fear Study Raymond Elen
- Page 111 and 112: Wanted: For fear Study Raymond Elen
- Page 114 and 115: We only die once Jumoke Omisore
- Page 116 and 117: Jumoke Omisore We only die once “
- Page 118 and 119: Jumoke Omisore We only die once “
- Page 120: Jumoke Omisore We only die once I w
- Page 123: Whispering Waters Soogun Omoniyi
- Page 127: Whispering Waters Soogun Omoniyi
- Page 130 and 131: to the ‘writer’s block’ myth.
- Page 133 and 134: This anthology is a product of a th
Soogun Omoniyi<br />
Whispering Waters<br />
hands on her protruded belly.<br />
The veins <strong>of</strong> his neck strained and patterned out as he yelled in silence,<br />
“Then let him die already! I’m tired!”<br />
Chris, although plagued with Down’s syndrome, could read the signs. Daddy did not want<br />
him. How else would you explain the constant meanness, or how daddy had refused to<br />
take him to church on Sundays, how he watched only ‘mumma’ scamper to get him to the<br />
hospital whenever the chest pain came.<br />
She gaped as Daniel swished past the transfixed boy, past the couches- where he flung<br />
his bag, past the dining chairs- where his tie landed, past wine rack, into a place her brain<br />
got too dazed to register. The words kept echoing in her head. Let him die already. Lurching<br />
back to reality, she saw her boy still seated on the floor, unable to speak. She took slow<br />
steps towards him and crouched to cup his rigid cheeks in her palms. His flat nose, the<br />
slanted and too distanced eyes, the short, stumpy neck; she found him beautiful yet.<br />
Marvelous creation.<br />
“Mu..mumma, he don’t like mi...”<br />
Chris said, pointing a stunted finger towards the rack. Impending tears jutted out from her<br />
lower eyelids. She blinked and they dropped on her gown.<br />
“My heart, daddy loves you. He’s just stressed this evening. Okay?”<br />
He tried speaking again but failed. Tears took the place <strong>of</strong> his little stutters. Whispering<br />
waters; she heard their voices as they glistened out <strong>of</strong> his unblinking eyes. She heard them<br />
say he was scared, that he wanted to be well and normal, that he wanted to play and<br />
115
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