Emma Wangari Maina

Nairobi

Mama’s Wonder Son 

January 16, 1999,

It would help if I began from the beginning. On March 12th, 1986, a bouncing boy opened his eyes, hardly crying. He didn’t notice the jolly faces of the onlookers above him, who held him and caressed him. He saw flowers and butterflies. The dilapidated ceiling, falling around them, looked like purple jacaranda flowers in bloom. They thought he was looking at them, but he reacted contrary to their soothing words and would occasionally laugh or cry without reason. Odd they said he was as he grew older, but mama would say his view of the world was too complex for the present mundane mind to comprehend.

Once only nine he saw a little fox on the deck, while they were on a cruise, so he hurried to its rescue. But it fell into the ocean. He put his leg over the bar…

His mother saw him and sprung with agility in fear for her wonder son. She threw herself forward, grabbed him by his shirt, yanked him back and… SPLASH!

He stared at the receding ripples, and his mom disappearing in the depth. He stared waiting for her, tears welling up, never was she to resurface. He hung his face and cried, and some ignorant people called him a killer freak who killed his mom. That’s the end, officer.