Saved from Death

THIS STORY WAS WRITTEN BASED ON ONE OF OUR READER'S FAVOURITE SCRIPTURE (Psalm 118:17) ~ For Susan Benerd

BASED ON A TRUE LIFE STORY

Asa was very excited. It was the first day of school. They had just newly moved into the neighborhood - a neighborhood inhabited by people who were just below the middle class, but not as low as the lower class.
Asa quickly settled in with the neighbourhood kids. There were a lot of kids though. Tall, short, dark, fair, fat, thin children; and as she'd found out, all the kids in her residence attended the same school - Handmaids Montessori School.

This particular morning, she had woken up by 3.47am although she couldn't tell the time. She was super-excited and could not go back to sleep. So she lay wide-eyed in bed till the clock struck 6.00am. She could hear Mother busy in the kitchen and Father humming a song as he went about his duties too.
Few minutes later, Mother came to get her ready for school. Asa jumped out of bed and went to the bathroom. Mother scrubbed her clean, rinsed her body with warm water and dried her body with towel. Asa insisted on rubbing the body cream by herself and only ended up smearing it all over herself.

After dressing up, she hurriedly had breakfast and in the twinkle of an eye, she was out already. She looked around the yard. Nobody was out.
"Mother, where are others?" she asked.
"They are not ready. Aunty Mae will take you to school," her mother replied.
"No," Asa started sobbing, "I want to go with other children."
"You will be late if you wait for them," her mother replied "And you'll be whipped on the bum for being late."
Asa frowned. She didn't like the thought of it. She remembered the thick koboko she saw in the Headmaster's office when her mother took her for registration into the new school.
She walked sullenly to the couch and sat down, quietly waiting for her aunt to take her to school.

Few minutes later, she was already at school. It was a short distance from the house. No wonder all the kids at her residence schooled there.
Contrary to her expectation, Asa was timid. She literally curled up behind her classmate during the morning assembly. Things were different at her new school. There were more pupils here. The teachers did not look as friendly as her former teachers, and she couldn't take her eyes off the koboko which the Headmaster kept swinging lazily.

After the morning assembly, she marched on with her classmates to the Nursery 2 class. The day started in earnest. Her class teacher was a lovely young woman. She was beautiful and friendly. She was kind to them and before long, Asa settled in comfortably. They played games, learned the alphabets, learned to count using bottle caps, sang songs, learned poems, and danced a lot. Her class was beautifully decorated with educational wallpapers, wall hangings, and some toys.
She enjoyed the break time more because by then she was very hungry, so she hungrily devoured the fried yam and egg her mother had packed for her.
After about an hour, she was in for the surprise of her life! Two women walked into her class, each holding a tray of cups. Each pupil was given a cup of tea and "puff-puff". Yummy. She enjoyed herself. "I really love this new school," she thought.

After all the day's activities, Asa was tired. She started dozing. She was not the only one. Other pupils were feeling sleepy too. Not long after, her teacher asked them to lay their heads on their little tables and sleep while she prepared their homework.
The school bell rang and Asa jumped up. School over! She ran to the end of the class and picked up her schoolbag. Before she could make her way to the front of the class, someone held her by the arm. She looked up. It was one of her neighbour's kids - Helena. "Asa, let's go home. We're going home together," the young girl said.

Helena had a twin brother, Patrick. They were older than her, and also attended the same school. Patrick and the other kids were waiting outside for her.
"Smally, how was school?" Kelvin, one of the other kids asked in their vernacular
"Fine," Asa replied.
They chatted as they trudged home. Asa excitedly told them about school. Everyone was talking at the same time. They were such a noisy bunch.
Before long, they were all at the highway, waiting to cross the road. Asa noticed an older boy standing beside her. She had never seen him before, and was obviously not one of the kids in her yard. He had a queer look. He looked deformed, but she didn't know what sort of deformity. Was he blind, lame, dumb?

She was so caught up in trying to understand what it was about the strange boy that she forgot about crossing the road.
Then she turned and just in the nick of time, she saw Helena, Patrick and the rest on the other side of the road. She was confused. She looked left and saw a blue pickup truck speeding towards her. Without thinking, she ran across the road. She was too afraid of being left behind. And it seemed like the other kids were shouting at her. She could hear so many people shouting, "Run.... Don't cross.... Stop... Be fast..." She was confused.

The next sound she heard was a big thump and screeching wheels.
She shut her eyes and lost consciousness. The truck had hit her.
She kept her eyes shut. She didn't feel like she was on the ground. She was standing. She couldn't feel any pains on her body.
More shouts.
She opened her eyes and saw people running past her. She was confused. Her small mind was mumbled.
The truck had not hit her. She turned around and saw a crowd had gathered on the tarred road.
She saw a figure lying on the road. The truck was a little bit off the road. The crowd of people made a little gap between them as two men lifted the body from the ground.
The body wore a pair of Navy blue shorts. "Patrick?!"

Someone yanked her out of the way. "Stubborn girl. Did you want to put us in trouble?" Helena was shouting. The other kids were shouting and saying things she did not understand.
Just then, she understood.
The deformed boy had been hit by the truck. When she zoomed off across the road, he must have joined her, but was obviously not strong enough to make it across the road quickly.

She cried. Someone else had taken her place. She was too young to have experienced this. It was just the first day of school. Why?

Tears streamed down her eyes as she trudged home with the other kids while the adults took the boy to the nearest hospital.

What if that was her body? What if her life was cut short at such an early age?

"I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the Lord." -Psalms 118:17

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