“Too much is disastrous”. I have heard this quite a lot of times in my life and I can say that it is one proverb that I have adhered to. It has helped me to understand that there should be a limit to the things we do so as to maintain balance. It is quite sad that some know this saying but they are not ready to adhere to it.
This was the case of Sandra, a girl in my class back then in secondary school. Sandra was a curious cat and sincerely I abhorred that “nosy” nature of hers. In the class, whenever we are being taught a particular topic, Sandra would be the one who interrupts the teacher simply to ask a question. Sometimes, she gets away with it and at other times, she is ignored and told to wait till after the topic has been explained for clarity.
Fortunately for me, Sandra was an Arts student while I was a Science student and so most of the time, our classes were mostly separate except for general classes like Mathematics or English Studies. I was really glad whenever I didn't have to share a class with her. One day an incident occurred in my school's chemistry laboratory that helped to curb Sandra's curiosity.
It so happened that one day , the Senior Secondary School two students of my school had a chemistry practical to carry out. The practical was on titration which involved mixing acids and bases together to form a mixture. Sandra happened to pass by the lab and after we were through, she came up to me.
“Becky, what was in that cup that you people were drinking in the lab. It looked like fanta. Was it sweet?”
“What do you mean by Fanta? No one drank Fanta in the lab” I replied her.
“You don't want to tell me what you guys were drinking right?” She kept on pestering.
“We carried out an experiment in the lab. It wasn't Fanta you saw. Those were chemicals. Allow me to get to class” I said as I walked past her on my way to class.
I thought telling her that those things she saw were chemicals would keep her off but her curiosity was on another level and she learnt the hard way.
The next day, I got to school only to find some of my classmates whispering amongst themselves. I inched forward so as to get what they were discussing without looking like I was there to gossip and that was when I heard what had happened.
“Toyin, Sandra is sick. Did you hear about what happened to her?” Abidemi asked Toyin.
“Yes, it is such a sad occurrence but this will surely teach her a lesson. I learnt from my mum who is the school nurse that she went into the chemistry lab and drank an orange coloured substance in a beaker. Later on she came complaining of stomach ache” Toyin replied Abidemi.
Abidemi gasped ….
“Oh no. This is bad but I hope she is getting better now”
“My mum said that she will be fine after she took some drugs and rested but I learnt that the pain was severe and she threw up twice too. I hope she stops being overly curious” Toyin said just as the teacher came into the class to commence the lesson.
I was restless for no reason. I could hardly concentrate on the lessons as my thoughts were filled with Sandra. During lunch break, I decided to go see how she was fairing at the healing bay. I greeted Toyin's mum and sought permission to check in on Sandra
“Sandra, how are you and how are you feeling now?” I asked as I saw her lying still and pale on the bed.
“I'm doing much better now. Thank you for coming to check on me” Sandee replied.
“I heard what you did and to be honest I wasn't happy about it. I specifically told you that those were chemicals and not Fanta but you still insisted and went to drink the contents in a beaker. Haba Sandra, when will your curiosity stop?” I asked.
“I'm so sorry for my actions. I now understand the meaning of “curiosity kills the cat”. Now I know better and I'll try to control my curiosity henceforth”Sandra did feeling remorseful.
*I'm glad you have realized your mistakes. Please don't do something so silly again I'm the future okay”.
She nodded and I left the healing bay and headed to the cafeteria to get my lunch. Thoughts of Sandra still filled my mind but I felt good unlike earlier because I trusted my gut instinct that she had learnt the hard way and she would not like a repeat occurrence.
I smiled to myself.
Picking up my lunch tray, I went to join the rest of my classmates and pushed the thoughts of Sandra aside.
Thank you all for reading.
Images were imagined with Meta Ai.
