Beware of who?

‘Lying criminal, who ever heard of a two-month old baby having kwashiorkor?’ Maryam asked, hissing in anger.

‘Kwashiorkor? No, I think two months is a bit too early to contract the disease. After all, at that age a child is still being breastfed.’ I agreed, turning the car into the lane that leads to her house.

‘Well then, look at this criminally minded mother. She sold her two months old son and collected money as well as a bag of rice. Yet she had the guts to tell the police that she sold him because he had kwashiorkor and she had no money with which to treat him.’ Maryam replied, holding up a newspaper page to me so I can see the story.

‘She is indeed a criminal and a liar. For one, a child that young is entirely dependent on its mother’s diet. If she didn’t have kwashiorkor, her son couldn’t have it. In any case, as a protein-deficiency disease that manifests through protruding stomach and emaciated limbs, it can hardly be seen in an infant that small. She is just a criminal who would rather sell her child to make money than take care of him. How unfortunate!’ I lamented, driving towards Maryam’s house.

‘Yes, very unfortunate indeed. I mean a mother is a child’s number place of refuge. When she happens to be the one that sells him off to strangers, not minding what will become of him, who then will save him from harm? 

It is so hard to believe that we’ve reached a day and age in which a mother can separate from her infant child because of worldly gains. I mean how can she live with herself after that?’ Maryam asked, rhetorically. 

‘Haba Maryam, you ought to know that only people with conscience find it hard to survive after doing something wrong. A woman who can sell her child has no conscience at all. In fact, my fear now is, the police have given the child back to her. I hope she wouldn’t try to kill it out of frustration that her crime had been uncovered.’ I said.

‘Really, will she be wicked enough to kill her own child? No Bint, I don’t think so.’ Maryam argued, shaking her head. 

‘So you find that hard to imagine? Remember she was the same person who sold him to people who might have bought him for cult rituals. Will that kind of mother not kill when it suits her? In any case, that man who killed a boy and kept his body parts in his car booth for rituals, was also his father. Should it surprise you that a woman could do the same?’ I challenged.

‘A man killed his son and kept the body in his car? When did that happen?’ Maryam asked in shock.

‘I’m not exactly sure when it happened but I received the gory pictures on WhatsApp last week. I even thought you’ve seen them too. Anyway it transpired that a man came home and announced his young son missing. When he involved the police, his brave wife looked at them and said her husband should be queried about the whereabouts of their son because he was the one who took him out of the house earlier. A search by the police produced the boys severed head and other parts of his body in the booth. The police forced the father to pose holding the head and then the body. The most heartbreaking thing is the cute little boy’s picture while he was alive. It was shown following the gory ones. He was about eight or ten years old. Now can you beat this? A father sacrificing his son for rituals and shamelessly raising alarm to cover his dastardly deed.’ I concluded.

‘Kai, but I think it’s true that we have really come to the end of this world. How else can you interpret such crimes? I mean we used to say beware of strangers. Then uncles and house helps became evil, and we began to say beware of them too. Now that parents are the ones causing harm, what do we say to children? Beware of mummy and daddy? Who do we warn our little ones against if their own parents can kill them?’ Maryam wondered aloud.

‘That was exactly what I said the day I heard about the boy. I kept wondering how any parent can be so evil as to kill his offspring for rituals. It’s truly disheartening. May Almighty Allah protect us and our young ones against such people, and may He guide those with such tendencies to desist before they even start.’ I prayed, stopping the car in front of her house.

‘Amin my sister, amin a thousand times.’ Maryam responded before opening the car door to go out.