Creativenonfiction#66 || The Missed Detail

In whatever we do, it's paramount to pay attention to every detail as one small detail can make you lose out on something.

Some years back before she got married, there was a lady named Cynthia who sometimes pay a visit to her friend named Bisi in our neighborhood. Since they are both older than us, my sister and I do add the prefix Aunt to their names which is used to give respect to someone considered your senior.

"You girls are looking very smart and beautiful", Aunt Cynthia would compliment us, making us smile coyly.

We love her so much and always look forward to her visit with her friend, Aunt Bisi who is our neighbor.

My sister and I were at Aunt Bisi's place one day when she mentioned that Aunt Cynthia's birthday was fast approaching and told us the date.

When we got back home my sister and I decided to surprise Aunt Cynthia for her birthday. We don't have much so we decided to give her something we can afford and one she would like.

We consulted Aunt Cynthia and we decided to get a beautiful frame, one which will include her picture.

"Will I deliver it to her on your behalf or you will wait till when she visits me?" Aunt Bisi asked us.

"No, we think it's best if we give her ourselves on her birthday. We want it to be a surprise", I told Aunt Cynthia and asked her to describe the way to her house since we would be walking down there.

She gave me a description of her house. "Would you write it down?", she asked.

"No, I think I would remember it", I said giving her a wide smile.

We could have gone with Aunt Bisi to her place but the day happens to be a school day and I have to wait for my sister to get back from school before we go together.

On the day of her birthday, my sister and I set out to deliver her gift. We started the journey to Aunt Cynthia's place and I was replaying the description Aunt Bisi gave me in my head and it seemed all was going well till it got to a point that I couldn't seem to know the way anymore.

We walked further into a road made a turn to the right and started walking down. After a while, I noticed we were in familiar surroundings, it was then I realized that we were on the way back home.

"Did we just go in circles?", my sister asked looking around us.

"I think so", I answered already feeling tired from walking around.

We didn't have a phone at the time so there was no way we could call Aunt Bisi to give the description again. So we were left with two choices, Go back home or try again.

We decided to try again and this time, go the other way instead of the turn we took initially. We got to a place and then I remembered Aunt Bisi mentioned a church that seemed to be a landmark close to her place. Seeing the church I knew we were already close.

We walked further down and when I saw the black gate, I knew immediately that we were in the right place. We knocked on the gate and we heard Aunt Cynthia's voice as she came to open the gate.

Seeing us, she was so surprised that she enveloped us in a tight hug. The smile on her face made it worth the whole trouble we went through. She ushered us in and we saw Aunt Bisi in her sitting room. We sat down on the chair and Aunt Cynthia gave us some refreshments.

"Bisi, did you know they are on their way here? ", Aunt Cynthia asked her friend.

"Of course. But I didn't tell you because it was supposed to be a surprise ", Aunt Bisi replied.

"Hope you didn't have a hard time finding your way?", Aunt Bisi asked us.

We broke into laughter and relayed how we missed the turn and ended up going back home before setting out again.

"Oh, once you miss that turn, you will miss your way here", she said and I realized that indeed the devil is in the details.

I have learned ever since to get all the details needed whenever visiting a new place even if it meant writing it down.

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