OMG!!!

This evening, i drove to my neighbourhood market to buy some veggies i needed for dinner. I had been out all morning through to the early hours of the afternoon and so i felt i owed my family a nice homely dinner...i wanted to make this new Beans recipe i got from my fine Calabar friend Meerandah earlier in the day.
Anyways, there i was in the market pricing fresh catfish {for Sunday rice tomorrow} and smoked Titus fish {for dinner tonight}. For some reason, i turned to look behind me....and froze. It was when i noticed people were looking at me funny that i realized i had been screaming, “OMG! OMG! OMG!” 
If you live in Lagos, you’ll know that most neighbourhood markets are usually on the road. Mende Maryland’s is exceptionally busy because Anthony Village bound traffic passes through that market. At the very moment i turned to look behind me, i saw this 3 year old girl child being hit and flipped through the air {as if she was a rag doll} by a bike that was blowing jejely along the road. My goodness, it happened so fast: one minute, the girl’s minder was carrying her on her hips; the next minute, she was lying on the road...nearly lifeless! Apparently, the minder had been carrying the girl on her hips but as her load became too much, she put the girl down so she could gather all her purchases together. The minute she put her down, the girl skipped across the road....and the bike hit her and hard too! Her footwear was found in the gutter 2 blocks away from the scene of the accident. I kid you not!
While everybody was still shouting, “Take her to the pharmacist!”, i bundled both minder and children...alongside their bunch of ripe plaintains and wet toddler slippers into the car and asked the minder to point the way home. Reasons: [1] Someone other than the help needed to explain to the child’s mother the need to get the girl medical treatment ASAP and [2] It was NOT the minder’s fault...her Madam should know that!
I’m like the worst person to break a bad news to anybody especially this kinda news. How do you tell a mother her child was hit by a bike without it sounding like her child was hit by a bike? In her panicked state, she asked what happened. My people, i did the worst thing ever...I STARTED CRYING!!! From the point i saw that little girl somersaulting in the air until when i saw her mother, my head had been telling me that was my daughter Zi. Both girls look so alike except one is 3 and the other is 1+. If that was a car, the girl would be a corpse now! My emotions were so raw! I’m still shaking!
Her mother said she had a misgiving about sending the help to the market with the child but she had just gotten home from work and could not spare the extra energy to juggle the child antics alongside the headache she has been nursing from work.
I left her as she entered her car, hospital bound....panicked but trying to calm her even more panicked husband on the other end of the phone down.
Question is...Should i go back and check on that child tomorrow or should i leave them to their lives???

10 comments:

Onyinye FaFi Obi said...

Omigosh!!
Please.. Go back and check on her.!
I can't even imagine the pain the little girl would feel.
Jesus! Did the okada man hit her and run away? Gosh! Nigerians!! *sighs*

Hazel said...

Onyiiiii!!! I'm still shaking. The okada man did stop. Wont really lay the blame on his shoulder...the little girl ran into the road!!!

Anonymous said...

OMG. Pls go back n check and insist they do a CT scan of the head if it has not been done.

Sisi Yemmie said...

Please check on them. Oh no!

Yankeenaijababe said...

OMG!!!Very sad, it is only by his grace that we are all alive today! One must pray everyday for God's protection, may God be the strength of this family! SCARY!

Honest said...

firstly, that was really a sweet and thoughtful deed you did by making sure you took all of them home!

You can be sure that now she's with her mum she's in safe hands. If you really are probed by the whole thing then you can go and check on her again, but I say to you, well done!

Fifi said...

Sad story!Thank God it wasn't fatal,must commend u on ur bravery at that point.Pls spare some time and check on her and i do pray she's really ok(both internally n phsically).

Anonymous said...

Please spare sometime and check on the little girl!
On a lighter note, were you able to prepare dinner for your family?

Your calabar friend,
Meerandah!

RQ said...

you are a truly rare breed. that was near heroic what you did. nice blog too.

Unknown said...

WOW!! You did a good thing oh, taking them home. You can go check on them nau, it's not bad. Kids and busy markets on the street DON'T mix

Adiya
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