The Year We Were Forced To Stay Home

The twin year

Ten,nine,eight,seven,six,five,four,three,two,one...Happy New Yearrrr!.

We shouted together before we started to hug and greet each other. The melodious sounds from the choir resounding in the night like singing
angels.
You could feel the overwhelming joy and peace in the atmosphere. It was a new year. A new year for new plans, new dreams, new friendships, new asperations, new resolutions . We were alive so yeah we could do it all.

School began again by the second week in January. I was so looking forward to seeing my students. I could not go too long without missing them. Yes I was one of those teachers.
After decorating my class with my welcome back decors and snacks we officially started. It was good to be back but after the first day back to school this overlying tiredness would just creep up on you. It was like all your energy was used up. It was good tired though because it left a smile on your face .

Everything was going as expected.

I was the decorator for my parents function so my schedule was full. Everything had to be detailed , from the colors, to the items that would be used ,to the venue,to accommodation for the foreign guest, just about everything.
This was my side hustle so I was in my element. My mother and some of her invited foreign friends
had explored my work on my business facebook page and had liked and reviewed my many decors. They have never experienced this side of me physically because we lived in different countries. This was my time to shine and I was going to put my everything in it after all I do have a reputation to protect.

One evening I came home and cut my TV on as usual. I sat in the couch with my husband and children eating my dinner of curried chicken and white rice. It was a favourite meal of mine.
The local news came on with the usual political fuss , home violence and robberies before it came to an end and the International news came on.
I sat up straighter in my seat. The word epidemic was the first word that caught my attention, the second was the name of a country namely China.

It was now being disclosed that there was an outbreak in one of the famous wildlife markets in Wuhan,China and that 40 persons out of 47 were now victims of a ferocious disease that attacked your respiratory organs causing high fever and lung failure. There was no name to it yet.

It was unknown , a mystery, a hidden secret that couldn't be kept in hiding any longer because it was uncontainable.

While this news was in some parts of our memory box. It was still of no concern to us. After all we did not eat wildlife so let them deal with their own issues. Even though whispers about the eating of some of these animals began to draw stigmas. No one dared to say it aloud. It was not our burden to carry so we carried on with our lives.

Things were getting pretty exciting at home. There was a gleeful buzz in the
air and I was looking forward to my mother's arrival. She would be the first one to arrive ,three weeks before the event. I was so looking forward to the many things she would pack in her barrels for shipping to her home . New clothes,new shoes,new household items and toiletries. Yes I could not wait.

A loud ongoing sound echoed outside our home one night from across the road. The neighbors had three houses situated in one yard.They were all family. It was pitch black outside even though we had lights all around. There was no lights on that particular part of the road and the irritating moanful sounds were coming from there.
It was frustrating because nothing could be seen and the distorted jumblings were getting louder. I came to a conclusion that it was a mad person ranting on the road who  was near the houses and would soon  move along. I began to fear and I prayed this mad person did not venture near our yard. Even though we had two dogs who were faithful watchers I still hoped.

It was about ten minutes later standing at the window ,while trying to assemble some sense of what was being said by this so called madman. My ears perked up at the words !

She dead !She dead! Can't believe she left me! in the most painful and heartbreaking way.
Nooooo! I screamed in silence as I began to recognize the voice.

Seconds later my phone began to ring and my mom's face popped up on the screen. The news she related was not good. No! I cried quietly. That was no madman down the road,pouring out his heartwrenching, bleeding soul to everyone that would stop to listen.The men who stopped to hear his heartbreaking cries were his friends who ran the same route with him. They were his co- workers,taxi men. That man was no mad man ! That man was my neighbour!

He felt ,hopeless, lost ,heartbroken,torn
because his wife of 10 years had just
lost her battle with kidney failure.

The week that followed was one filled with mournful and hopeless disbelief. There was this unwelcoming acceptance that she was gone. The family was inconsolable.
Her parents took it hard and was only comforted when we sat with them at nights to share memories of this nice ,quiet woman .
It was an uncomfortable upcoming weeks for me and my family. We felt a little guilty knowing we were two weeks from our event which was going a head full speed because there was no way we could postpone an event that more than 15 foreigners had already booked their flights to attend. There would be chaos.

I had the best neighbors and I always tell my co- workers . There were the parents ,three adult sons and two spouses ,three adult daughters and one spouse and two grand sons. They were helpful, kind,very quiet, mind their business and was very respectful. From the oldest to the littlest.They were the best and they were Jehovahs witnesses.
The kind of Jehovas witnesses that accepted that their neighbour's religious beliefs differs from theirs but we all could live amicably.
It was through this respect that they pushed back their daughters funeral a week later so we could go ahead with my parents celebrations. We couldn't ask for better neighbors. They were a special breed.