Burn It Down!

Curiosity is a part of us, there is nothing we can do about it. And as long as we are humans, we’ll always have that urge to know more, to find out more, or to find out just how much more they can do. But then, what separates us is that we try our very best to curtail the curiosity because if that does not happen, it could most likely kill us. Or at the very least, get us in trouble.

What am I even saying? Curiosity gets even the best of us into trouble from time to time and if we’re not careful we could be easily overrun.

As for me, I’ve been curious about a myriad of things multiple times. There were times when I pursued my curiosity and got to the bottom of whatever held my mind temporarily captive. However, there were also times when the curiosity lasted only for a short while and soon faded away.

I’m thinking of one episode during my childhood that showed me what kind of trouble curiosity got me into. Yeah… I’m talking about a time I almost burned down our house.

Okay… I wouldn’t say burn down per se, but I’ll let you come to that conclusion yourself.

I was still young back then, around eleven or thereabout. That night, I was bored and had nothing to do. It was just my Mom and I inside the house, while the rest of the family were outside receiving fresh air. right now, I can’t remember why I wasn’t out there with them.

Anyway, I was the only one in the living room while Mum was engaged in another area of the house. Then suddenly, I got the bright idea to see what flames would look like if they burned off the curtain. I thought that it would be quite simple; I put it on and it stays on for a while and then dies out. Just like a match stick. However, things were not going to work my way that day.

To satisfy my curiosity, I lit the matchstick and took it to the curtain. For some reason, it suddenly seemed as if the curtain had been doused in combustion fluid. The flame licked across the curtain in mere seconds and I knew immediately that I was in trouble. I grabbed a book from the center table and slapped the flame repeatedly until it died out.

The threat was gone, but the thick unmistakable smell of burnt clothes filled up the air. And before I could even attempt anything, my Mom appeared at the door, demanding to know what was going on. I didn’t tell her of course, I’m not a snitch. That didn’t slow her down though, it only made her all the more angry even. She traced the smell to where I was and saw a gaping hole in the curtain. At that moment, even if the ground did open up to swallow me, I still don’t think it would have saved me from what was to come that night.

My Mom turned me inside out that night, or as we’d say in pidgin, she beat me wetin no good. After a while, I didn’t know if she was flogging me because of almost burning the house, or destroying one of her curtains. I no longer knew.

Anyway, after that night, I never attempted something so silly again. I guess I was exorcised from such a spirit of horrible curiosity. Thanks to me, I could have thrown my family into a huge debt. I know that I averted it before it could get to that point, but even at that, there are just so many ways it could have gone wrong. So, I’m happy that didn’t end badly for my family and myself.

I have only the good kind of curiosity now.