BY DESALEGN DAGNEW
“Lord, accept my soul peacefully,” Dani sighed smote by a grief deeply. He tried to show his jaundiced face to God. He had decided to die sooner. “Coming to you soon,” said Dani sincerely pointing his joined palms toward Saint Mariam church seen from afar. His cloudy face seemed to bear a grudge on God. His tongue was glued with his palate. He swallowed a saliva drop to lubricate his shrunk throat walls and tasted his blood. He looked up. The Entoto forest kept threating to engulf him. He again looked downtown. The city was still with its chaos as well as hustle and bustles. Scattered people were walking to and fro and wiggling here and there.
“Goodbye Addis Ababa” he waved bye bye and began a long journey into the dark jungle. His heart was palpitating like a drum. His legs were shaking. His armpit turned a sweat pool, discernable past his white t-shirt. His gray jeans were bearing holes on the left and right legs. Chocolate knees propped out of it as if in search of a peek. He had not changed the trouser for months. A rope is seen protruded out from his back pocket. A hair braid was placed round his waist. He used to wear the braid for half a decade. Scratching his Itching skull he kept walking.
He had no home, no job and no educational qualification like BA. His business had been severely damaged months ago. Soon after his bankruptcy, his family was treating him with a cold shoulder. They didn’t need him to fall back on them. A year ago, he was a millionaire. But now to get one birr, he must dare face the contemptuous face of strange people.
The priest continued preaching from afar, “It is not the will of God for someone to undergo untimely death; God doesn’t let one to die antedate.” These speeches funneled through his ears turning him wistful. They propelled him to the heart of the jungle. He moved arguing with himself whether God has power on his souls or not.
Dani was socially embarrassed because of his addiction. Dizziness had eclipsed his feelings. His knees collided with each other. He staggered like a drunk person. His palms got filled by sweats. Mud plastered his white old sinker up to his elbows. But he kept going; his feet were swaying back and forth in big a shoe.
When he tried to go a step deep into the jungle, his legs held him back. He stopped a while and began to think. He convinced himself that dying is rather better than the life he leads in a hell hole. He kept going, At Shiromeda, suddenly, two youngsters came out from a café on the left side. The one who put on Arsenal’ds jersey run and hide behind him. The other boy swung a closed fist over Dani to smash down his opponent.
The one behind Dani jumping over Dani tried an upper cut. To escape a deadly fist from each other the boys kept hauling Dani back and forth awhile. The kicks Dani on his hips and chin irritated him. In a knee-jerk reaction Dani grabbed both by their heads and clashed them like the way horny male goats fight to get the upper hand .The Jersey-dressed boy’s head knocked out two front teeth of the other boy. The dislodged teeth fell down forthwith. With bloody and burrowed head
the kicker collapsed. Soon a throng of people was formed around the crime scene. Right away Dan’s status got swapped from a suicidal person to a criminal one. Ambulances took the injured guys to hospital while Dani to police station .Dani soon became sober and subdued. Dani’s plan got topsy-turvy— from contemplating suicide to worrying about life behind bars. For many nights he recounted about the priest’s words.
After a month his stepmom came to the prison to see him. His face brightened up by her face. He is relatively amiable with this woman than his father. He was waiting her a while eagerly.
“With your bald head you look handsome,” She unzipped her lips. He tried to not see this woman and other people again. The twist of fate made them to rejoin again. Dani got another chance for his life, “A prison is better than a tomb,” said the woman looking straight into his eyes. “I am not actually in a prison, but correctional institutions,” said Dani and smiled heartily after so many years.
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD WEDNESDAY 26 APRIL 2023
