Creativenonfiction #152 - Landing In Trouble

This prompt reminds me of something that happened when I was young and I had to face the music.

I have always been warned about not being too engrossed while watching movies. Whenever the TV comes on, my eyes will be glued to it. I don't concentrate on anything else around me.

On some occasions, when the electrical power comes on, my mom would call my attention to what I am doing and tell me to focus because while my hands were probably busy doing what I was asked to do, my face would be facing another direction.

This habit of mine always earned me a stern look from my parents, my mum especially and when I notice that facial expression, I would quickly turn my focus on the task given to me.

Sometimes, they forbade me from watching TV and I would beg them, promising to change my habit but it doesn't take long before I would go back to my default setting.

Then, something happened one day that changed that bad habit of mine for good. My uncle, who was staying with us at the time asked me to help him iron his clothes.

Normally, he irons his clothes himself but that day It seemed that he had an urgent call and he wanted to go meet a client.

He called me in the process of watching my favorite cartoon, Tom and Jerry. I was smiling and laughing sheepishly at how Tom always makes a full of himself and Jerry also performing different tricks to get Tom in trouble.

My uncle came in, handed the clothes to me and asked that I quickly iron it while he makes other preparations.

I took the iron, plugged it and switched on the power socket. I set down the clothes and started ironing.

I knew that I was supposed to focus on what I was asked to do but I didn't heed to the voice of caution.

I first ironed the trousers and I was ironing the shirt when a funny part of the cartoon came on. I quickly stood up to watch it better forgetting that the socket was still on and the iron was placed directly on the shirt.

It took the familiar smell of something burning to snap me out and I quickly rushed to pick up the iron but like you guessed, the shirt was ruined as a part of the front has already peeled off.

My uncle must have perceived the smell as well as he came running into the sitting room and saw what I had done. His face immediately turned to a shade of anger.

“What happened?”, he asked, examining the cloth to the the extent to which it had burned.

“I.. I… “, I stuttered, as I struggled to form a sentence.

He faced the direction of the TV and knew without being told what had happened. I wasn't paying attention to what I was doing and ended up burning his shirt. He didn't say anything else and just collected the trousers from me. He also took the burnt shirt and went inside.

I stood there, I couldn't even watch the cartoon anymore as I began to regret my actions. "If only I had concentrated on doing the task I was given, If only I had paused the movie, If only"…..

My uncle came out some minutes after, wearing a casual cloth instead. He didn't even look in my direction and left.

I knew I was in trouble for what I had done. My uncle not even saying anything leaves me with no idea of what my fate would be when my parents got back from where they went to.

After he left, I switched off the TV, locked the door, went into the room and curled on the bed. I began thinking of what the consequences of my actions would be.

I stared at the ceiling as I thought of what my punishment would be. The clothes looked expensive. Would he demand that my parents pay him back? How can I even pay him back when I don't have a penny to my name? I pondered on all these thoughts before sleep claimed me.

When I woke up, I noticed my parents were back. They must have used their key to come inside since they didn't wake me up and I didn't hear any knocking.

I greeted them before going to sit at the far end of the dining room. I searched their face for a clue of them knowing what I had done but found nothing off.

“Did he not tell them? Or has he forgiven me and wouldn't inform my parents?" I wondered.

Since my uncle was not yet back, I decided not to count my eggs before they hatched.

About twenty minutes later, my uncle came in and my heart began racing.

As he came in and he greeted my parents while I waited to see if he would rat me out but he didn't say anything. I greeted him and he nodded before going inside. Nothing happened that night till I went to sleep and I thought it was over.

The next day, I heard him talking to a street tailor popularly known as “Obioma” or “London tailor”. He went in and brought out the burnt shirt and another fabric almost the same color as the burnt one and started talking with the tailor.

I believe he was trying to find a way to amend the shirt. My dad came out and met him in the process of negotiating with the tailor and asked how the shirt got burnt. That was when he told my dad I burnt it.

Immediately I heard my dad call my name, I knew I was done for. I quickly ran to him and he inquired what I was doing that made me burn my uncle's clothes. My mum also came out and heard what happened and all eyes were on me.

I struggled to find words but found none. When my parents found out that I was watching cartoons while ironing, I knew I was going to face the music.

My dad told me immediately that he is banning me from watching TV till further notice and whenever the power comes on he doesn't want to see me anywhere near the sitting room.

I thought that was all until my mom dropped another bombshell. She told me my uncle had given her money some days before to pay for my upcoming school party but she wouldn't be paying it because of what I had done.

I immediately started shedding tears and began begging my mum but she didn't budge. That day I knew I had disappointed them a lot and no one but me was to blame.

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