A Short Story of Love and Sacrifice
This nine year old boy walked to school with his younger sister everyday. It was a thirty minutes long walk.
Their Dad lived in another town because that was where he could find a job. Their mother worked two jobs to make ends meet and often couldn’t do the school runs.
On lucky days, a neighbor who was headed in the same direction would give the siblings a ride to school.
On rare occasions their mother would give them transport fare.
On other days, they were resigned to walking to and fro school.
On this particular hot day, their mother had given them 10 naira each for the journey to and fro school.
The neighbor had given them a free ride to school that morning.
When it was time to go back home, the younger sister having not spent her money had brought it out and given it to the brother so they could take a bike home.
He had asked upon seeing her little outstretched hand offering the money, “are you tired?”
To which she replied yes, then he piggybacked her until they got home.
She wondered throughout the walk home why he would rather piggyback her instead of taking a bike home.
But that evening for supper, they had fish to go with their meal. That 9 yr old boy had returned the money to his mom, so she could buy some fried fish fillets for supper.
The day before, the little sister had asked her mom for fish fillets and was disappointed when told to wait a bit longer until there was surplus money to afford some.
Yes, story of my life. My elder brother remains the most thoughtful and kindest person I have ever known.
Hi, I’m Nguper. I write about relationships, life lessons, poetry and health issues. To see my stories in your feed, I’d love for you to follow me (Terngu)
