My first slaughter
Twelve years ago, when the world over here was still innocent and hospitable to the western region in my environment. Jobs were easy to find, there were more givers than takers. Even an average individual could rise to stardom just by showcasing their talents in one narrow corner. The good old days, this is how I remember life twelve years ago.
The trending mobile phone over here was Nokia. People loved the infrared feature and the then new cutting edge feature of the bluetooth. People enjoyed playing games, competing for download speed, sending files and device portability.
Public holiday periods were the best. In a city where most dwellers were from different tribes, a territory of no man's land. People from different walks of life hustle doggedly to make ends meet and after the hard work and at the end of the year retire at their respective place of origin to spend their holidays with loved ones.
Twelve years ago was the year I committed my first animal slaughter. Yea, I didn't plan for it. I just found myself in that position and had to take that decisive action to wield a knife.
As usual, the holidays was neigh and my parents gathered everyone in the house for us to deliberate on what we should cook as the festive season was approaching. My elder brother gave his opinion, my three little sisters gave their opinion, I also gave my own opinion. After a short discussion, we arrived at a concord to prepare this and that. Took into consideration the cost, people we will dish out food to, visitors who might come and fun to indulge ourselves in.
The day came, my dad and elder brother journeyed to a distant market to buy live chickens and other unavailable recipes at a thrifty price. While my mother went to the nearby market to buy the main recipes left on the list. My mom was the first to arrive home afterwards my dad and brother also returned from the market. It was a family team effort.
On getting home my dad couldn't find his nokia phone he bought at an exorbitant price. He was enraged. He had to go back to the market to see if he could recover his phone, his instincts recalled he must have forgotten it on the table of one market seller while paying and luckily for him, the seller kept his phone and delivered it back to him in good condition when he went back for it.
On his way back home, my dad was involved in an accident. Thankfully, it was nothing serious, just a little sprain to the right leg and minor scratches to the face. At that moment, he had to put a phone call through to my elder brother to come pick up at a pharmacy store where he was receiving treatment.
My mom got the news of my dad's light accident but couldn't delay it anymore and began to cook. I was the only one left among the males in the house. She needed someone to slaughter the live chickens. She said I should do it. I was scared, something I haven't done before. I begged her to invite our neighbors staying next door to help us out. She refused, she disliked the courtesy of inviting our neighbors to kill the chickens because they were not on good terms.
Since my dad and brother were stuck at the pharmacy, she encouraged me to take the bull by the horn. She said I can do it.
She said; "I know you love eating chicken, so don't tell me you can't kill this one, do it like this and you are done" — it sounded easy in the ears but for a first timer it was a struggle.
The tone in her words gathered some guts in me, I don't know when I took the knife from her hand and killed the live chickens. Till date, the experience of killing those chickens in one swoop, I wonder where it came from. Maybe it was what my mom said or maybe it was because my mom debriefed me of the rancor between our neighbors.
Anyways, 2008 was the year I killed a chicken for the very first time in my life. I know it's not everyone that eats fleshy stuff, so no offense to the vegans.
Thanks for reading.
attention: images are from pixabay.com