Hello everyone . hope you all are sailing smoothly in this beautiful december. I have had a short story in mind that I have been developing for almost three months. Feel free to tell let me know what you think about it.
Ephriam works at a bar around his neighborhood. He was a secondary school leaver, and getting a job with that level of education is as difficult as a camel passing through the eye of a needle.
He had been desperately in need of a job as his father was a low income earner who worked as a factory laborer. There have been a gross mismanagement of the company's resources by the new administration which had really affected the company's productivity. Alot of workers who were owed salaries were retrenched without prior notice. Ephriam's father although, not among the retrenched staff, have not been paid for almost four months now.
Things were very bad at home as the family were finding it difficult to feed. Ephriam knew that he had come of age, and as a young man, he had to do what he had to do to support his father. Infact, ephriam has always been a very industrious boy from a tender age. After school hours, he engages in selling sachet water popularly known as " pure water" to older boys who play football at a nearby field. He does this on weekdays from 4pm to 6pm. From the proceeds of this little business, he was able to buy some text books, a new pair of sandals and also replaced his old and worn out uniform. His mother had always been very proud of him.
Ephraim's mother was also a petty trader but had been rendered redundant for a while due to a protracted illness. Her legs are always painful. His sister, joy, was in her final class in high school.
Ephraim's family were virtually living from " hand to mouth", but they were all upright people. They never begged nor steal no matter how hard their situation was. They were always hopeful.
Apart from poverty, a major comfrontation Ephraim faced was his ailing mother. Her ailment seemed to defy all remedy. The hospital had diagnosed her with osteoarthritis. Ephraim's father had been spending a lot of money over the years on her treatment, but there seem to be no remarkable improvement.
Ephraim's mom was the first to kick against the continual "wasting" of money on her health. She persuaded her husband to instead spend his money on other productive ventures like investing it in their children's tertiary Education. " As things are right now, we could barely feed", so why bother pouring water into a basket ", she would say to her husband. These words really made Ephraim's father sad and moved him to tears sometimes.
Ephriam too was also heartbroken whenever he sees his mother moving in pains and in great difficulties. Sometimes she falls down repeatedly but she never allows anyone to come to her aid as she was determined never to be a burden to her family.. She prefers to pick herself up each time she falls.
Seeing the woman who gave him life, who gave him everything suffer so much without being able to help her make ephriam wept at nights. But all these serve as nothing short of a motivation to continually work hard ever since he was 17 years old. He had always known that his family was very poor and it woyld be unwise of him, waiting for a miracle to happen .
On his way home, he stopped at the roadside market to get some food items. He had just being paid at the local bar where he worked. He always did this at the end of every month when he receives his salary which was only a paltry sum. But he does this with a lot of joy in his heart and with a smiley face, knowing that his family won't go hungry for sometime.
As he arrived home, he saw a large gathering at their house. A woman amongst The crowd spotted him from a distance and began to wail in a very disturbing and heart wrenching manner. . This was very strange to Ephraim as they almost always never had any visitors since they were poor and nobody cared. So, the large number of people he saw at home immediately told him that something had happened, something had.
When his sister,joy saw him, she ran to him and held him in a tight embrace and sobbed profusely. He couldn't bear this any more, and he pulled her away from him. He asked her immediately, " joy what is the matter? Why are all these people here? Where is Mum and dad?Amidst tears, joy told him that their father had been killed by a moving vehicle, he died at the spot.
He couldn't believe what he had just heard, the shopping bag he had come home with immediately fell from his hands. He became light headed and almost collapsed, but he was held firm by the people surrounding him.
Inside the room, Ephraim's mother was sitting on the bare floor, crying uncontrollably. She was surrounded by a small group of women who were desperately trying to console her. It broke Ephraim's heart to pieces seeing his mom crying bitterly about the loss of her husband despite all the pains she had been passing through.
Ephriam wondered whether his family will ever recover from this great loss. He wondered whether things will ever change for the better. He wondered whether his family will ever smile again......
This is the end of the first episode of the story. Your comments and observing would be highly welcomed. U promise to post the second update tomorrow as soon as I can. Thank y'all so much for taking your time to check it out.
I want to really thank and appreciate you all. My first sponsors: @jasglaybam @freedolo. God bless you!
And to my upvoters: @Princessbusayo @Olasquare @HappyBoy
@LeticiaFelize @FarmGirl @Talecharm @Glory_et_Grace @Kristofferquincy @Maryjacy @Pearlkel @King_Gozie @Kiingsley God bless you all too!!
That was heartbreaking sis, but you made a wonderful story. It was my honor to sponsor you :)