The Queen Lived (Satire) by; Gbadegesin Adedoja R. Ashabi

The Queen Lived

By; Gbadegesin Adedoja R (Ashabi)

Word got out, from the beak of crows at dawn. Screams of a maiden in the dark alley, footsteps that resound in our hearts. Knocks on our roofs and the bangs on our doors. Symphony of snores from the young and old. The only lit window is in dark street, 7a, where the Queen lived.

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Who would save the queen. She keeps falling sick, it seems she would die. Out came the maiden, beautiful and meek, ready to redeem. "I have hopes that the queen would live" she said with a bright smile. When the maiden came she was fair and sweet, took the Queen's care and it started to look like the Queen would live again. Then the dark clouds came, with fear it shook even the maiden, ripped her of the fairness and all things sweet. Now the maiden snores loudly when she sleeps and her skin isn't fair no more. She couldn't save the Queen.

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The Queen is sick with fear, her skin peels off, hair on her head all gone. We need to save the queen! Then the big man came, strong and dark, no darkness can consume the big man we all hailed. The big man is huge and he owned a lot of arms. "Save the Queen from this sickness and the darkness too" we murmured. The big man used his arms on the darkness, "to protect the Queen" he said. Sometimes his arms might  harms us, we dont know how to complain because we need to save the Queen. The big man eats a lot, noting is left for the kids or us to eat. One day the big man ate and couldn't stand up, so we killed the big man in his sleep. But the Queen is ill still. Who will save the Queen.

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Businesses are booming, the rich are now so rich they could save the Queen, we asked the rich "save the queen. So our world would get better" the rich laughed like the crows would do at dawn. Who needs the queen when we have all  the money we could ever need. So they beat us and locked us in cells as we didn't stop begging to save the Queen. The rich never dies, they own the health that could raise their skins even in death. Now we have to worry about the queen and the rich who beats us when we ask for food and health of the queen.

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Our offsprings are many, our hair are turning grey, it seems the Queen would never be saved and the rich would never die. So we asked our kids to go to school, there to learn how to save the Queen and we can become rich too. Then we would all be happy, the Queen would be saved and we would have food on our plates. So we worked harder on the farms and hunted deeper into the woods. We hunt mares and hares but we couldn't sell it for a prize at the modern market, the rich don't eat hares no more only leaves and soft sand that makes the belly swell and the cheeks fat. We went back to farm to bring them leaves, but they only gave us meager sums for the huge leaves we brought.

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Our kids come back with faded trousers and rumpled shirts, they didn't learn to save the queen, only how to make figures look better while making meaning to what the world was like before our fore fathers. No one to save the Queen, it seems the queen was born to be sick and never die. When we almost lost all hopes, our kids rose in revolt against the rich and the darkness that looms. they put figures and words together, they reached out to worlds beyond ours. They made laws that kept all including those rich in check and for once in a life time our world was safe, Queen smiled as she admitted she feels better.

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The rich and us, we smiled and slept in peace, and one day, we woke up to knocks on our roofs and bangs on our doors, maidens screamed in the dark, the footsteps were as heavy as the pounding in our hearts, the whole world was quiet, even the birds stopped singing. The word got out! The Queen had died and she told us to live, for it is the only way we can be happy.

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The Queen died and we all lived happily ever after, with darkness looming over our heads and the rich taking our foods and our strengths. We lived in fear and we smiled like the queen told us to do.

So long lived the Queen in our hearts forever!

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Satirical piece by Gbadegesin Adedoja R (Ashabi),
It explains our dear country Nigeria by reflecting on phases it has gone through after independence. I hope you have a good read. Thanks for stopping by!