Between The Bear And 2 Snakes

Hello Yesterday

I won't say that I had the perfect textbook upbringing. I didn't. But what I got was better than what a lot of people got, and I think it's OK. 

We lived in this state, in a small town called Ket. I went to school there. I hardly traveled because my mom had no siblings, and my dad had only one sibling - a brother, Francis - who lived outside the country with his family. So I didn't have any place to go during the holidays. It made me feel lonely in some way, and I envied other kids who had other places to go. Whenever we were back from vacation in school, it would be a shit storm of essays about our vacations, people we visited, places we went to, and I would sit there looking absolutely clueless on what to write. It was so bad that I would start making up stories. Nobody would know. Also, when I was in the midst of my friends and we gisted the things we did during the vacation, I would be in their midst, absolutely fucking quiet, because I had no story to tell. And when your competition is from people who travel out of the country, or out of the state, or people who have gone to different beautiful spots in the country, it isn't a good idea to run your mouth when you have nothing. 

I blamed my parents at the time for not attending to me but focusing on their work, but as I grew up, I learnt to stop blaming them. The responsibilities they had were just too much. My dad was a police officer and had risen quite well in the ranks. He was the deputy superintendent - in charge of our state. Little wonder he chose to live in a town that wasn't inhabited much, and everyone knew everyone. He believed in sticking together, as he is in an occupation where people that perceive him as a threat would possibly try to hurt him by hurting his family. The nature of his work didn't allow time for us to randomly go on vacations or leave the state at will. We didn't have that luxury. 

My mom on the other hand worked in a bank in the next town. She was a front desk cashier and would sometimes return home late. My company in most cases was our neighbor's kids who were always nice to me. Whenever I got bored, or I was alone at home, I would go over to their house and stay with them. Their parents were nice to me as well. Because I always went there, my parents got to know them and eventually, they became friends as well. 

When I was about to enroll into the university, my father decided it was time for me to move out of the state. I was nervous but excited at the prospect of seeing the world. I was nervous because I hadn't been out of the state before. It was a new experience for me and I didn't even know where to start. But I had to go anyway. 

My mother cried when I was leaving. My dad didn't because he fought back his tears successfully. I knew they would heavily miss me and I would miss them too. But I had to go. Seeing my mom in tears made me decide that I was going to return  twice every year and spend time with them. 

I studied criminology in school. Watching my dad commit to his work made me love it. But I didn't want to be just any policeman. I wanted to study crime, the motive behind it and how to spot a criminal. So I spent four years in school studying Criminology. My dad would call me sometimes to test my knowledge on certain things. I would get some correctly, and fail some. But my dad never verbally beat me for failing. He kept teaching me things that the school wasn't teaching me. Because of that, I was ahead of my mates in class, maybe not in knowledge, but in application of knowledge. It was a way I kept bonding with my father. I would speak with my mom occasionally too. It was always sweet and I would end up feeling sad for her and how much she missed me. 

We kept that up for two years. I visited them at the end of each semester and would go back to the school when the new semester was about to begin. We kept doing that until one day, in my third year, I got a text from my dad saying that I should stay away from Mmone for the meantime. He didn't mention any reason. He just said to stay away. I was worried because he's never done something like that before. I tried calling him but I couldn't get to him. I tried calling my mom too but I couldn't reach her. I was so worried. It ruined my whole day.