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I've seen a lot of people react negatively to meaningless words said to them. I mean words that are very common and used for jokes. It always makes me wonder a lot, but I can't blame anyone because it's how they're cultured.
Way back in my village, my dad, in his not-huge stature, has a large number of people that hang around him due to how he relates to people and also because he is a well-rooted son of the soil.
He's the leader of one particular Association consisting of people from different walks of life, and some of them were not indigenes of the land, especially Mr. Yakubu, the policeman among them.
They observe their weekly meetings every Sunday evening in our house, and it's always beneficial to us whenever they come because stipends will come to us from running errands.
On a particular Sunday evening, they all gathered for their meeting in our house, feasting on palm wine and dry gins, which got some of them intoxicated but were under physical control, but their tongues never rested from spilling out words.
Then, Mr. Yakubu's wife passed by with her protruding stomach (pregnancy), and Mr. Festus (one of the members of the association) couldn't keep his mouth from talking. He went on to admire the wife and ended his alcoholic powered 'jagons' with, "This woman is going to give birth next month." ( He said that in our local dialect).
Mr. Yakubu doesn't understand our dialect, but he sensed that Mr. Festus said something about his wife's pregnancy, so he jumped off his seat and went to grab Mr. Festus on the collar of his shirt, asking, "What did you just say?".
Mr. Festus and everyone of us became totally surprised at why Mr. Yakubu's action.
"Officer! Officer, please, what's the matter?" My dad asked him and used his hand to try pulling off Mr Yakubu's hand off Festus's neck.
"Didn't you hear him when he was saying things to my wife?" The Mr. Yakubu replied in a very harsh tone.
"What did I say? I only complimented your wife and said she's going to give birth next month because she looks due". Mr. Festus said beggarly, hoping that his words would clear the air, but the policeman became more fused up and dragged him up, saying he's going to lock him up and he'll sleep in a police cell tonight.
"Haaa! This is overly serious, na!" Everyone began to voice their opinion, and the scene totally became chaotic.
Before we know it, Mr. Yakubu has started to make calls with his phone for his colleagues to come with a police van to pick up Mr. Festus.
My dad got angry at how the policeman was reacting and wanted to slash him too, but we had to calm him down and approach the situation with softness.
He went to meet the policeman at the spot they were and said, "Officer, I still don't understand why you're taking this seriously. If it's what he said concerning your pregnant wife, we don't take it seriously here; it's just a mere word."
He looked at my dad with a surprised face and said, "If you people don't take that seriously here, that's your own because in my community, we don't joke with words from non-family members directed at a pregnant woman."
"Okay, I get it now, please calm down. Trust me, he meant no harm with what he said. Yeah, trust me," my dad added, and surprisingly, the boiling heart of the policeman came to calmness.
My dad was able to talk him through the differences between our way of words and theirs, and he understood.
He went to beg Mr. Festus for overreacting with a bottle of beer, and Mr. Festus easily accepted the plea with the drink, and everything became normal.
Suddenly, the police van drove in, and Mr Yakubu got up to meet them and explain the already resolved issue to them.
The policemen in the van stepped down and joined them for merriment with alcohols and they all became happy.
This was originally published here
Under influence or not, people should please cut their mouth short.