DEADLY TRIVIALITIES

(If you eat food, then you need to read this)

Sunkanmi watched and listened to Baba Otunba as he spoke in his shrine…His son’s healing was dependent on that.

‘That bottle contains a combination of goat’s blood, the eye of a black and white bird and the tongue of an agama lizard. The other one with a red cover has the grinded liquid from the body of a decayed vulture and the blood you got from that dead girl... While the calabash in between them is where you mix both contents when you want to use them. It is a sacred calabash’ Baba said coldly.

‘Yes sir’ Sunkanmi nodded.

‘Make sure you rub these contents in your hands before you buy any food or fruit sold in an open place… which is uncovered. That means your hand MUST touch the food or fruit directly without any hindrance. Things like roasted corn, pea, roasted yam, roasted plantain, agege bread, I am sure you know what I mean’ He probed.

‘Beeni (yes) sir, I understand perfectly’ Sunkanmi replied

‘The target is to touch up to 11 of such items and go your way’ Baba added.

Standing up and facing his gods, Baba Otunba made some more incantations and turned sharply to face Sunkanmi and said ‘If they eat whatever you touch, they get afflicted with a part of your son’s sickness, it will be a gradual affliction but will be so subtle and untraceable that it will be hard to grasp until death comes….. hahahahahaha. Trust me, his healing is so SURE!’ He concluded.

Sunkanmi could not contain his joy, ‘Amin! Baba’

Suddenly remembering something, Baba Otunba spoke out ‘There is a BUT in all that I have said, if anyone buys, then prays to ‘The Holy One’ before eating anything your hands have touched after rubbing the mixtures I gave you… There will be a negative bounce back. So go to the places where the type of edibles I said are sold during rush hour, when people are too tired to think of praying. The rest is a settled case’ He smiled with a wicked glee.

Two days later, Sunkanmi waited until 4pm before rubbing some mixtures in his hands as he set out on the busy Oshodi road in Lagos, today his son’s healing would begin. He looked at the environment carefully and walked to a place where a woman was selling roasted corns.

Seeing him, the corn seller said ‘ Na fresh corn oga, N100 only’

‘Ah, ah these small corns?’ Sunkanmi asked as he would pick up one corn rub it well and take up another. He did this to 4 corns there, afterwards he pointed at one and gave the woman N1000 hoping she would not have change.

Seeing the amount involved the woman protested ‘Oga abeg change no dey!’ hissing she turned to another customer
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Sunkanmi left her stand gladly and walked to another area where roasted plantain was sold. He touched 4 pieces of plantain there as well. The seller did not even notice him because she was haggling prices with two other customers. So he left without even pricing.

He kept walking for a while before stopping at another place where a woman sold boiled corns and wanted to start his ‘ministrations’ on the corns there, but the woman noticed after he touched the first corn and scolded him.

‘Oga abeg I no dey allow people to dey touch market wey others go still put for mouth.. If you wan buy, buy. If you no want, abeg dey go’ She said angrily.

‘See me see trouble o, I even wan manage buy this your hard corn, abeg I no dey buy again jare! He hissed and walked away. In his heart he was relieved the woman did not notice anything unusual about him.

‘This annoying woman did not even allow me to touch up to 2 corns in her stand…’ He thought to himself as he crossed the road to a woman selling Agege bread.

‘Bread elo ni (how much?)’ Sunkanmi asked as he picked up the first and second bread loaves frowning.

‘N150 sir’ the young girl answered enthusiastically.
‘This your bread is too hard o. And they are white, I prefer brown bread’ Saying this, he walked away from the bread seller.

He went home that day content and happy, hoping against hope and begging the gods of his forefathers that none would take time to pray before eating any of the things he touched.
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Interestingly enough, no one bothered to pray.

Uju bought two roasted corns as she was going to get a bus home, in her hunger she ate both in the bus hurriedly without praying.

Bidemi had eaten one roasted plantain and was about to begin with the second when his brother Akande came in and dragged the plantain from him… both ate without praying.

Mama Sola bought Agege bread for her neighbor’s children; Mummy Bayo.
Mummy Bayo thanked her for it and after she got into the house, hastily gave her children to share because she didn't want to miss any part of the movie series showing on the screen. Her 3 children ate without praying…

Like play like play, everyone who bought those items Sunkanmi touched ‘forgot’ to pray.

And like water put in a pot to boil, their ailments came little by little, in such a subtle way as Baba Otunba had said. All because they took the foods they ate for granted.
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Some things we call trivial are Deadly Trivialities… As Christians, let’s stop taking what we put into our mouth for granted!

Stop to pray before eating and teach your children to do the same.

Remember, the fastest way to poison a man is through what he puts in his mouth.
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Inspired by the Holy Spirit.
Written By Chinazo Ike.

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