Mindviewers Stories

Around this time last year, and on a very sunny afternoon, I was resting in my room when I heard commotions outside my compound, I stood up and went to find out what it was. On stepping outside, I discovered that it was a thief that was apprehended while trying to escape. He was caught loosening zinc, from the roof of somebody's house in a broad daylight. Then he was caught and beaten mercilessly before being handed over to the police.

Two days ago, in the evening, I was outside my room with my fellow tenants, gisting and having fun with words, when we heard disturbing noise of iron collision, coming from an uncompleted building. We decided to go close and find out what it was, after much inspection, we thought to ourselves that it must be a thief trying to pull out an iron frame from the window of the house. So we waited outside and kept cool, so the thief won't suspect anything.

It was long when we saw a guy coming out of the uncompleted building with an iron door frame in his hands, chiselled out from the wall. We asked him who he was and where he was going with the frame, the guy had a 100% comportment and kept cool as if he had just done something very good and cherish-able. He told us that the house owner paid him to remove and take it somewhere, good thing we knew the house owner and sent for him, while we told the guy to sit in the meantime.

It was at this moment that the guy started begging and confessing, that he was actually trying to steal the item. It wasn't long before the scene was crowded with people, and before the house owner arrived, people descended on the thief in a brutal manner. I recognized the thief as the same thief that removed somebody's roof last year, others confirmed and even added the thief was just released from the prison, and without wasting must time, he decided to go back to his old ways.

This time, the thief had hit the rock, the owner of the house was a retired military officer, the man complained of how thieves have frustrated his efforts in completing that house. The man placed a call for soldiers to come and pick the thief, the thief knew he was in hot soup now, and must pay for damages. Could it be because of the present economy that the guy steals uncontrollably? Where are the parents? Lots of questions in my mind, but honestly if you determine to live honestly, no matter the situation, you will succeed.

My childhood days are the type to remember and give out a heavy laughter, pack filled adventure that was embarked on with fear and panicking, but remembering it now looks funny. I remember tampering with my father's DVD, breaking and repairing items to cover up, in order not to be caught and scolded. If I'm asked to rank the various incidents, I think this one I'm about to say now should come first.

My father bought a DVD and a film disk was included in the pack, the film was full of action; fighting, gunshots, violence. So my dad hid the film so that we will no longer watch it, because I was already displaying some of the fighting moves in the house. But you know kids fully well, my siblings and I searched and found where my father hid it. We only get to watch the film when my parents are not at home, this continued for a while till something happened.

On this fateful day, we brought out the film, and watched it when my parents were not at home, using NEPA light. But NEPA respects no one, they took the light, leaving the disk in the DVD. Fear gripped us, we knew we will be scolded if my father finds out, so my siblings and I launched a rescue mission. We went to switch-on the generator, but we got ourselves into another big problem; the rope used to rotate the engine cut into two.

What a problem! My brother went to buy a new rope, while I loosened the DVD using my mother's kitchen knife. For the first time of loosing a DVD, I didn't know what to do, but I figured it out, I successfully removed the disk and coupled the DVD back. By the time my brother returned from buying the rope for the generator, we figured out how to fix it back, it took us hours, but we finally got everything done.

The things that fell apart to us were put back together, though with fear and uncertainty, but the fear of getting scold wouldn't let us give up without at least giving it a try. I don't think there is anybody as a kid that didn't do anything bad or unacceptable, and then try to cover up. The aim is always not to receive beatings, and the thing is that kids will keep on getting themselves into problems after the other untill they are fully grown up, some of us discovered our talents and what we are good at in the process. Imagine me uncoupling and coupling a DVD, I no reach to be engineer?

A very long time ago, there was this electrician we had in our village, he was the only good and qualified electrician back then, because of that, he had steady inflow of clients. But there was never a time I saw him with gloves, he never wore it, even when touching naked and life wires, which was very risky. I remember my father asking him why he doesn't wear gloves, and how come he doesn't get shocked by life wires he touches. I still remember his reply.

He told my father that if you hold your breath and touch a life wire, that it will not shock you, and that is exactly what he does, he holds his breath while handling life wires. I imagined it to be very risky, how could you possibly hold your breath, what if something unexpected triggers you to breath against your wish. What will it cost to buy a glove, how much is glove that he doesn't want to buy it. He just chose not to bother himself with glove.

I don't think it was up to a year after, when the guy was shocked to death while connecting electricity into his client's house from a pole. There was power supply before he went up the pole, he knew it and decided to implemented his method of holding breath as always, but no one knows how the method failed him. Electricity killed the founder, it's nothing to be joked with, seeing wearing of glove as stress is just like thoughts of suicide.

I don't blame the guy much, he learnt it from his mentor. If you're learning, learn to do it the right way, electricity has standards that must be followed accordingly, any attempts to doublecross it might be fatal. I relate this to things like driving, all rules must be observed, ranging from seat belts to tyre pressure to others, any attempt to bypass any could turn out to be fatal. My friends do nickname me to be a protocol type of guy, but that's just how it should be.

For me, standards must be adhered to, and if your new found standard is lower than the regular standard, then it's not even a standard at all.