If you asked me whether I believed in superpowers or some people are born special with the innate ability to do what others can't or do certain things exceptionally better than other, i'd just brush it off, probably would have laughed and told you that those things belonged in novels and Hollywood movies. That was before I fully understood my mother's "gift". Some call it intuition but i'd call it a gift or even a superpower. My mother was not a prophet in any way shape or form, she also did not claim to see visions or hear voices. She was just an ordinary Nigerian woman in her late fifties who sold clothes in the market, prayed every morning, and somehow possessed an uncanny ability to read people.
Growing up, I watched her form opinions about people within minutes of meeting them. Sometimes she would say, "That man is not serious," or "That woman has a good heart," and somehow, months or years later, events would prove her right. My siblings and I often joked that maybe she worked with the DSS in some way or had a hidden database somehwhere.
"How do you know these things?" I once asked her.
She would simply brush it off and say " what an elder sees sitting down, a child cannot see it even if he climbs a tree"
I always dismissed it as mere coincidences, until I met Chinedu. I met him during my first year at university in Abuja. He was charismatic and the kind of person who could make friends anywhere, and could blend in with any person. He always seemed to know somebody who knew somebody who knew somebody to get something done or achieve a result. If there was a party, he knew about it. If there was an opportunity, he had information and before long, we became close friends. In short he was the first friend i made and coincidentally we were from the same state as such when the semester break came, I invited him to spend a weekend at our family house in Kaduna. My mother loved meeting my friends, so I thought nothing of it.
The day he arrived, everything seemed normal of course my mother welcomed him warmly.
"You're welcome, my son."
"Thank you, ma," Chinedu replied.
He greeted her respectfully and exchanged a few pleasantries, the entire interaction could not have lasted more than a minute and while i was gisiting with Chinedu my mother disappeared into the kitchen and a few minutes later, she called me. I found her standing beside a pot of soup, stirring into the blank space, I already knew something was wrong.
"What is it, Mama?" I asked
"I don't like that boy." She said
I laughed it off immediately and asked her
"What do you mean?"
"I don't know. My mind is not at peace with him." Mama said
"Mama, you've spoken to him for less than one minute, What do you mean"?
She lowered the spoon.
"I'm not saying he's evil. I'm just saying be careful around him. Keep your eyes open."
I couldn't help laughing and i just brushed it off.
I left the kitchen amused. Later that night, I even told Chinedu about it.
"My mother has already run a background check on you oooooo," I said jokingly
He laughed saying "Ah, Nigerian mothers. They always suspect somebody."
The first few months after that visit gave me no reason to think otherwise. Then little things started happening, because i was in the circle of friends Chinedu moved with and i was their when they gisted and discussed things, these were people that knew him far better than i did and to be honest i was not very comfortable with the things they discussed but i just smiled and laughed nevertheless so as not seem like the odd one out. I noticed Chinedu often exaggerated stories, he would claim to have achieved things that turned out to be half true. He borrowed money frequently and always had explanations for why he couldn't repay it immediately. Whenever there was trouble his name somehow appeared . Still, I ignored the warning because it did not really affect me directly. After all, nobody is perfect. Then came the incident that changed it all, a close friend of Chinedu was running a business importing phone accessories. This was the business he used to support his aging mother and 2 siblings, one day he discovered that a substantial amount of money had disappeared from the business account. Nobody knew what happened, but the investigations and the manner it was done prompted the police to investigate those that were closest to him and transcations were traced and ultimately it led to a bust in a hotel wherein 3 people were caught with about 15 laptops in there and they were caught to have been participating in Yahoo Yahoo(Internet scams) and lo and behold chinedu was part of them. In short he was the ring leader.
One evening, after everything had unraveled, I sat with my mother on the veranda. We were just enjoying the view and then she asked.
"How is your friend Chinedu?"
"He's not my friend anymore." I said
She nodded.
"I heard what happened."
Then I asked the question that had bothered me for months.
"How did you know?"
She smiled. and said "I didn't know."
"but you warned me."
"Yes."
"Why?"
She took a moment before answering.
"When you've lived long enough, you learn to pay attention."
"To what?" I asked curiously
"To what people say. To what they don't say. To how they treat people they don't need. To the look in their eyes when they think nobody is watching."
I shook my head.
"That still doesn't explain how you figured him out in one minute."
She laughed softly.
"My son, maybe it wasn't one minute."
"What do you mean?"
"You saw one minute. I saw a lifetime of experience meeting one new face."
I sat quietly, letting her words sink in. For a long time , Id say i had had assumed my mother's gift was supernatural, well maybe it was, maybe it wasn’t but whatever it was, it had saved me from trusting someone who did not deserve it and since then, whenever my mother says, "My mind is not at peace about this person," I listen. I don't automatically judge people based on her opinion, but I pay attention.
Image from Gemini (A.I generated)
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