A Gift Of Foresight

Tara is one of my favourite cousins, whom I consider to be a genius as she has a very high intelligence quotient and also a very high emotional intelligence.

She could tell when something was wrong even from a mere chat on WhatsApp, down to the tone of your voice, but I didn't know that there was more to it.

Five years ago, I remember spending my vacation with her while she was still on campus. We had our meals that evening, noodles and eggs to be precise, with a chilled soda. She was seated on her couch while I was on the floor when we began chitchatting for a while. We talked about random stuff until we talked about family and our favourite uncle, Uncle Zubby. We shared so many fun memories of him with so much enthusiasm until we finally retired to bed at about 11 p.m.

Tara woke up screaming at 1:00 am. As I remember checking my time, I was too scared to the bone because she lived in a very remote area, and if anything went wrong, I surely wouldn't risk going out to call anybody for help. "Tara. Tara.. Are you okay?" I managed to ask as I was fidgeting. Tara was sweating profusely and remained quiet for a moment.

"Tara, are you okay?" I asked again until she broke the silence. "Amie, I am scared. Uncle Zubby is in danger or something. I dreamt about him in a very bad condition. I don't want anything bad to happen to him." She began to sob.

"Tara, I don't think you should believe everything you see in your dream; sometimes it's just a mere imagination. Remember we talked so much about him before we slept?" I tried to convince her that it was just a figment of her imagination.

"No, Amie, I don't dream often, but when I do, it always comes to pass!" Tara replied with so much conviction, and truth be told, I began to be scared for a moment, but I still convinced her, "It could be malaria. When last did you treat yourself of malaria?" She looked at me with so much disappointment, and then we both prayed before we went back to sleep.

Five days later, we got a call that Uncle Zubby was involved in a ghastly motor accident but was hospitalized as he sustained a lot of injuries. "Amie, I told you the other day, didn't I?" She began to remind me of her dream, and since Uncle Zubby lived in a state far from where we were, we couldn't visit him at the moment. We kept calling and sending funds until after a few months when we felt well again.

Whenever Tara brought up that incident, I kept convincing her that it was a mere coincidence because I don't believe in dreams.

Just early last year, I got a call from Tara again, telling me how she dreamt about a distant aunt of ours, Aunt Tomi, getting married that year.

Aunt Tomi was almost 38 years old and had given up on love and relationships. Most times, finding a guy at her age seemed to be a barrier. It was almost impossible to believe she would get married so fast, as I don't remember her introducing any man to us as her fiancé.

"Tara, the prophetic dreamer!" I teased her once again. I could bet with my life that Tara didn't have the gift of foresight, as it could always be linked to coincidence, but whenever I did, she always felt disappointed. "When would you believe in my dreams? I saw it. Aunty Tomi will get married this year. Just watch and see.."She concluded with conviction yet again.

This time I assured her that if Aunt Tomi gets married in 2023, I would believe whatever foresight she had to share with me.

Around September, Aunt Tomi came home with good news: she was getting married. Honestly, I was left in awe that day when she spoke to my mom about the whole thing, and before I could say anything, Tara was all over me, reminding me yet again about her gift of foresight.

"You win! Now I believe in you, Tara."I owned up because this wasn't a coincidence in any way.

Last month, Aunt Tomi tied the knot with the love of her life, and all I and Tara did on that wedding day was talk about who's next to get married in our family. Haha

I felt very happy that I had someone special as a member of the family. I hear about such things in the news and see them in movies, but having them in my family was a top-notch feeling. Tara was truly a special breed who has succeeded in convincing me that there are gifts and there are gifts, and the gift of foresight is one of them she possessed.