A story

Just a short story I wrote...

Nkosi’s journey

It was a dark night when 12-year-old Nkosi’s mother called him inside the kraal. Nkosi had been playing with the newborn of his favorite cow and was disappointed that his mother had found some work for him. He did not want to spend time inside the kraal, in which his older brother Mbele lay sick. Mbele had been sick for a long time now, and even the doctor from the next village had said that he would never recover. Nkosi’s mother asked him to run quickly to the next village and fetch the doctor. He set off at once, realizing that his brother must be really ill for his mother to get so frightened.

Mbele had been in the city for many years before he decided to go back home to his village. One day, when he returned from grazing the cattle, Mbele complained of sickness. He seemed to have a fever. His mother treated him with the traditional medicine, but he just seemed to be getting worse. The doctor from the next village visited him and said he had diarrhea. He gave him medicines but Mbele did not seem to be recovering. The doctor had then said that Mbele had a bad illness and should be taken to the city to be cured. But Mbele had refused. He did not believe in the doctors in the city, and felt that he would be cured in his home itself. Very soon, Mbele started getting thinner and complained of swelling in his glands. He started coughing a lot and his chest gurgled when he breathed. The doctor said he had pneumonia and it would take a lot of medicines to make him better. But he never got better.

Nkosi returned with the doctor, sitting on the pillion of his bicycle. He saw his mother despairing at the door to the kraal. The small lamp inside threw a faint glow around his brother, who lay motionless in the corner. Nkosi comforted his mother while the doctor checked up on his brother. He came out and announced that his brother was no more. Nkosi quietly helped the doctor with his things and saw him off. He saw his mother sobbing beside his brother’s lifeless body and had no words to console her.
Nkosi went back to the calf of his favorite cow, wondering if his brother would have been alive today, if he had gone to the city to be treated by the doctors. The doctor had said that AIDS had killed his brother. Nkosi wondered what it was and decided he would ask his friends about it.