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Peter Akinwunmi
Houston, Texas USA
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My Nike Scar.
I got the scar sometimes back in Nigeria in 1982. I was fifteen and I was in high school. It was a cool summer afternoon and the school has just ended for the day. I knew my parents will come late from work and I decided to go with a couple of friends and get some fruits from the garden behind the school.
Back then; it is customary for us to help ourselves to fruits from the many variety of trees growing around our school buildings and houses. Because my part of the country is tropical, people plant trees mostly fruit bearing trees around buildings to get some relieve from the tropical heat and kids and even adults are always welcome to help themselves to the fruits.
Once in the garden, we started rummaging through the leaves and grasses looking for ripe mangoes that must have fallen from the tree. My friend and I both saw the snail - a shelled animal, at about the same time but I got to it first because I was probably a little faster. We started struggling for the animal. The next thing I felt was a sharp pain on my left thumb and then I saw blood running down my wrist from a slash on my thumb where the sharp edges of the snail shell had ripped through my flesh.
We were all afraid, but somehow, we managed to stop the blood and clean the wound. I decided to go home because the school clinic was closed for the day. When I got home, I went to bed early so that my parent will not notice.
The next day, I went to the school clinic during lunch and met the nurse. She was very nice and gentle, she told me she cannot stitch up the wound because it is no longer fresh. She dressed up the wound and gave me some antibiotics to help in case the wound was infected. She also gave me a shot against tetanus just to be on the save ground.
I call the scar from the wound "My Nike Scar" because it looked like the check mark used by Nike, as it's characteristic trademark logo on commercials and products.
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