The Thing by Rasak-Oyadiran Opeyemi

The Thing

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My mother had a baby,
The world is in trouble, too.
– Ayoola Oyeniyi

She stares at this strange creature in the cot
With its mottled skin unlike anything she can describe.
The wall clock strikes 10. Her father is somewhere in the
Kitchen searching for her old milk bottles, her mother
Is squatting in the bathroom over a basin of hot water while
Her grandmother smirks.
There is a patch of skin on its thigh that looks brown?
That’s not right.
On the Discovery Channel, a man had gotten bitten by a snake and the
Skin had turned weird too. They had slashed the spot with a razor and
Weirder blood had come out.
She takes a blade off the shelf and makes two
Sharp cuts on the thigh. It stares at her bewildered.
There is red blood oozing and soaking the it’s cover cloth.
Perhaps it is healthy after all. The thing is screaming.
She walks calmly to the kitchen.

‘Daddy, the thing is screaming again’.