The Plan of the Bed-Wetter

One summer holiday, when I Was in grade 1, My family and I traveled to the North as we often did to visit our relatives and grandparents. I and my siblings spent all year looking forward to those visits because, life in the North is different- it’s safe, rural and still had vast nature. Anyway, I was a bed wetter. To both my parents, it was a normal phase that they believed I would grow out of. But to some of my relatives, uh-uhn, this was something that needed taking care of- the traditional way. Some of the suggestions given was that: (and this is true by the way)
1) a lizard should be tied to my leg when I’m sleeping. Apparently this was the tradition those days
2) I should drink water in which snake-skin has been soaked in.

And I know some of you might not believe me, this is the Northern Nigerian style. I can still remember the look of the snake skin, haha.

I slept on the same bed in the family house with a cousin of mine, let’s call her “H”. Well, I awoke one night to find out that yet again, I had wet the bed. Not wanting to be the only one guilty of the crime, I arose from the bed to solve the issue. Thank God, the night was well illuminated by the moon. As I clearly remembered, I walked to the fridge and felt for the bowl in which drinking water was normally kept. I slowly lifted it, walked backed towards where “H” was lying, fast asleep, and poured the contents of the bowl on her clothe. With that done, I returned the bowl and went back to sleep feeling good that at least, I wouldn’t be the only one who wet the bed.

The next morning, I awoke to see the outcome of my little midnight plan. It turned out, the so-called “contents of the bowl” which I thought was water, was actually a traditional desert (which is kind of like custard) called koko/Kunu. So instead of wetting “H” with water, I’d stained her clothes with custardy particles which were no where close to water. Then I heard my aunt saying to some tamily member that “H” vomited in the middle of the night and that’s how her clothe got stained. How they came up with that hypothesis, I have no idea. I still want to burst out laughing when I think that everyone thought “H” really vomitted. I mean, come on, I thought vomit had an odor?! But, it was a good thing for me because then, no one knew about the bed-wetter who hatched a plan in the middle of the night. With that satisfaction, I skipped along to visit my grandfather who lived next door.

We still have a good laugh with my immediate family remembering and reminiscing the good old naughty days. And oh, in my defense, if so much pressure hadn’t been put on me, I wouldn’t have been driven to do what I did (just saying) 😉

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This post is In response to the blogging event “Essence of Reminiscence“hosted by The confused young adult.
Thanks for hanging out with (naughty) me, till next time 🙂