MY CRUSH AND I

My family had a nurse when I was very young. My siblings and I called her, “mummy Temi” as her first daughter was named Temi. Temi was an angel in human form, a damsel that needed a handsome boy like me. But who was going to approach her? Definitely not me; I would pee in my pants.

Back then, it was a custom for kids like me to bath outside. I can’t believe we would dance and sing outside shamelessly while taking our bath. We literally did this everyday.

Being the eldest, bathing my siblings was my responsibility while my mom took care of the cooking. We took our bath on this huge rock while constantly refilling the bucket.

Towels? We only used those when we got inside. It was a one minute walk from where we took our bath to our room. Imagine King A.Williams walking with his small “pimpim” to his room? It was a marvelous sight but I did it shamelessly till I saw my crush, Temi.

It was a ritual for Temi to walk past our house to her mom’s store every morning. My siblings understood the drill; they alerted me when they noticed she was coming and you know me; I transform to the Flash in shocking circumstances.

On this beautiful Saturday, my siblings decided to follow our usual routine. We filled the big bucket we used to take our bath, walked to the rock, stark naked and I held the bowl that contained our soap and sponge. My immediate sister didn’t need any help, she took her bath herself.

I had just finished bathing the last of my siblings when I decided to take my bath. My brother, Marvis, was on his way inside when he sighted Temi.

“Senior Williams, Temi is coming”, he yelled slightly.

I had soap on my face and water on my body but that newsflash ignited the speedster in me and I dashed with speed into the house passage. I ran so fast that I didn’t care whether I was pouring sand on my body with my feet.

As I spontaneously appeared in the house passage, my neighbor who was cooking ran inside and quickly locked her door. I presumed she perceived danger. What about her pot? Seems her life was more important at that moment.

“Wetin happen?” my mom asked in shock as she saw how I appeared in the room. I was breathing heavily and my dad had to pull off his glasses to assess the situation. “Ba hin? (In Ishan, what happened?)”, my dad asked.

“How will I explain to my parents that I ran hundred kilometers an hour just to escape being seen stark naked by my crush? No, I wasn’t going to explain that; it was foolish”, I mused.

My siblings entered the room and in no time, I became a laughing stock. Now, my parents were puzzled. Why are they laughing?

“Na Temi make am run like that”, my sister said.

“Make you con do interhouse sports for school now, you go say no but see as you just run”, my mom hissed.

I secretly looked through our window to check whether she was still around. She was gone, I went outside and completed my bath in a jiffy. Anything could happen, I just couldn’t take that risk.

And no, I never expressed my love to her. I was too shy to do that. Besides, how much was I earning? I was a child, my net worth was literally a cooler of food I took to school every morning. How do you expect me to get her gifts?