( Short Story)
“I don’t know what you are talking about,” said Jifar wiping his bald head sitting under the shade of a tree behind his house with his friend, Melaku.
Melaku, his friend, looked down to earth trying to find a way how he could tell Jifar about what he was trying to say.
My friend doesn’t have a hint of current events. He is oblivious of what’s going around. Now, how can I put it to him? he pondered.
“Melaku, please tell me your story in the language I can easily understand? It is strange to hear such a thing happening in our country.”
Looking into the eyes of Jifar, “Now I know that you have not heard anything about what I am going to tell you.”
Melaku, after a pause of contemplation asked, “Is it only me or others, too, who do not know about it? Why have I not heard anything about it?”
“Do you live on the moon, my friend? How come you say you have not heard about it at all? Let alone you, a young man, even elderlies are well aware of it and are doing everything in their capacity to protect themselves and others.”
“What do you mean? Protect themselves,
and from what? You are making the issue even more complicated. To tell you frankly, I am really confused,” snapped Jifar.
These two have been intimate friends for long. They live in the same neighborhood and their parents were friends too. In fact, Jifar’s mother is Melaku’s aunt. It would sound better if they were referred to as relatives. Obviously, cousins love each other more than brothers do. They share secrets and neither hides anything from the other; what one of them knows, is also known by the other. Their sundried clothes were hanging from cloth line. That day, they both rose early in the morning and went down to the river to wash their clothes as the Easter holiday was to be celebrated in a couple of days. Excited by the soon coming event, they rushed back to the place where they always loved to be – under the tree. Nevertheless, the occasion was not exciting as usual because of the corona virus pandemic. Immediately coming back from the river, they did not bother going to their homes for breakfast. In Africa, anytime is meal time. Nobody makes so much fuss about it. After putting their clothes on the lines, they lay on their back in the sun. Soon, the sun, after going through her early morning evolutionary change, was soon ablaze, and as they felt the tinge of the sunbath, that was when they decided to move to the shade of the tree.
“Have you ever heard of virus?”
“Not at all, what is it all about? What has it got to do with what you are going to tell
me?” said Jifar, rather staring at Melaku.
“Well, my friend, it is a poisonous element causing the spread of infectious disease,” replied Melaku, coolly.
Smiling broadly, “Now you speak well,” remarked Jifar.
Having regulated the feeling of his friend, it did not take Melaku too long to plunge into the main issue.
“As I have previously told you, there is a strange virus that recently emerged from somewhere unknown. Its name is quite difficult to pronounce. They say it is called novel corona virus or as it is commonly referred to by epidemiologists as COVID-19.”
More confused than before, Jifar enquired , “What about it? What makes it so special?”
“Well, Jifar, my friend, it is not easy to understand it easily. Let alone those of us who have little knowledge of science, even the famous scientists are not close to fully understand what it is. They are grappling with it to find out if there are means to make a stop to its contagion.”
Jifar could not utter a word. He had heard that there was a kind of disease killing many people. But he did not know that it was such a deadly type to make all people panic.
Jifar and Melaku had only sixth grade education. They, both, dropped out of school simply because their parents could not afford to pay for their school registration and learning materials. So the children fully engaged in assisting their parents by working in the field and at times herding sheep and cattle. Melaku was smart and could grasp ideas better than
Melaku, being the last child, his parents loved him more than his brothers and sisters.
His father, Ato Yismaw, always trusted him more than his other children to send him on errands for him. Melaku, too, proved his merit by absolute obedience. His mother Ade Chaltu, loved Melaku no less. Born in Selale, she, too, was the favorite child of her parents, and Melaku, being a blend of the two noble cultures, no wonder turned out to be what he was.
‘I wish I had enough money to put my son back in school. It is a tragedy to see such intelligence being wasted just like that,’ he said to himself with regret.
“They say people living in town are not supposed to walk close to each other. There should be a distance of at least six feet between them. I think, one person told me that such practice will come to our area soon. It will not be too long when we cannot sit side by side like we are doing now,” said Melaku to Jifar who was taken aback by the bad news.
“What are you telling me, Melaku? Is our companionship going to tragically end like that? How about our families? Tell
me the truth, please,” pleaded Jifar, tears welling up in his eyes for fear of losing his siblings and a friend, Melaku.
As the discussion between the two friends was heated up, Jifar’s father, Obo Lamesa, a man of noble mind came to where the boys were. The boys sprang to their feet as a gesture of respect and Obo Lamesa blessed them both, and allowed them to sit down according to the demand of the culture,.
Then he cleared his throat and with his soft voice asked, “What are you boys doing here? When I heard your voice from distance, it seemed to me that you were in the middle of a hot discussion about something very important which I am eager to hear.”
Hesitantly, Jifar said, “Well Dad, Melaku tells me that there is a disease, its name, which I have not yet learned, is being spread fast. To me, it was shocking and I could not believe him. It is while he was trying to explain it to me that you came.”
Obo Lamesa, having heard what jifar said, turned to his Melaku, “What is it that you told Jifar? It is new to me.”
“Sir,” said Melaku, “it is true. Many people are
suffering from the disease and many are dying, too. There is no cure for it. The only remedy for it is that all of us should strictly follow the guidelines and restrictions given by the government. Sir, the worst side of the disease is that it is contagious, moving fast from person to person. There is no age limit to be infected by it; every person of any age and social status is vulnerable. ”
Obo Lamesa, too, was shocked to hear about the deadly disease. Of all, what bothered him was the lack cure for it. He thought of the safety of his wife and children. ‘I’ve never imagined such a curse would happen in my life time,’ he thought.’
“If that’s the case, what do you think will be the solution?” asked turning to Jifar. Desperation was clearly visible on his face.
“The only solution is abiding by the rules the government has laid down as a measure of tackling and surmounting the problem eventually,” interjected Melaku.
It did not take Ob Lamesa too long to instruct Melaku to convey this information to his parents.
Obo Lamesa, a tall and slender man, came to the area from Nekempt, and his wife W/ro Tiwab, from Wollo, whose irresistible beauty chained him to her, mothers Jifar and Temesgen.
“It seems we have already formed a team to create awareness in the people of our village to combat this deadly virus,” suggested Obo Lamesa, to which the boys agreed.
“What should we do now?” enquired Meleku.
“Why don’t we go into the village and tell them about the virus and ask them to cooperate with us in fighting it suggested Jifar.” After all this is not difficult to do; it is very simple. All we have to tell them is to keep distance between one another, wear face mask, wash hands with soap regularly and avoid being in a big crowd. This way, we can minimize the risk of losing lives. The problem with this pandemic is not only killing people but also weakening the economy of countries, drastically increasing unemployment, and destroying the social fabric to turn human beings into beasts, the inception of the survival of the fittest. It has shamelessly subdued the great powers of the world for which they have lost thousands of their citizens. Their efforts to come up with vaccines is not possible a foreseeable future. The merciful intervention of the almighty is what the world should cling to,” they all agreed.
The Ethiopian Herald May 17/2020
BY JOSEPH SOBOKA
