Don’t Buy A Stolen Phone - written by Alfred (a short story for kids)

Once upon a time in the city of Port Harcourt, there lived a little 12 year old boy named Justin. He and his younger ones were being raised as Christians by his single Mum; but as far as Justin’s approach to Christianity was concerned, it was just a positive thing and not a relationship he was in.

Justin was the coolest kid in school. He took pride in his title. He had some of the coolest things of all the other kids in school even though his Mum was earning middle-class money from the company she worked for.

Justin even had the coolest phone in school but he wanted the new cell phone that just came out and was being advertised viciously on TV, Radio and on almost half of the billboard ads in the city.

Justin wanted that cell phone badly. He wanted it for all the cool things it could do. He wanted it for its cool apps and its beauty. The boosting up of his rep it do for him if he gets it was just an extremely tempting added bonus.

Justin didn’t even bother asking his Mum for the money to buy the phone because he knew that she didn’t even make up to that kind of money let alone spend it.

In Port Harcourt, there is only one way to get something at a ridiculously low price and that is if you buy it from someone who stole it. There were places to go in Port Harcourt where you could buy stolen items. Not only were these places dangerous, especially for a kid. It was also quite unpredictable.

Justin talks to his best friend about buying the phone from one of such places.

Justin’s friend who was also raised under Christian principles but obviously took it more seriously than Justin convinces Justin to change his mind because not only was it insanely dangerous for him to go there it was also flat out wrong; morally.

The next day, a new guy in school brings along a new phone that is not a higher brand than the one Justin had intended to buy; but had now become the coolest phone in school. The new kid got all the attention in school that day just because of it.

This tragic event in Justin’s eyes rekindled his desire to get the phone.

After raiding his piggy bank and much crossing of fingers; hoping things go well, Justin goes to buy it. As he is going he hears God telling him not to do it. Like many people, he had always taught of that voice as the voice of his conscience but truth be told, even if he knew it was the voice of God it won’t have made any difference. He was determined to get the phone. He needed to upgrade his rep.

10 minutes later, he was glad that he was walking away with the phone in his pocket and nothing bad had happened to him.

The next day, Justin takes it to school and shows off with it. He suddenly became the coolest kid in school again, and the way things were going, it looked like he didn’t have to worry about anyone taking his title from him in a long long while.

The day after that, as Justin hides his phone in his school bag he leaves it on the table to quickly use the bathroom. He didn’t know that his Mum intended to pack his lunch herself. As his Mum opens his school bag she sees it.

Justin’s Mum ended up shouting at him and seizing the phone from him because she knew how he got it. There was only one way he could have gotten it. It had to be from someone who stole it.Justin’s Mum sent him off to school so he won’t be late and she told him that she would punish him properly when he gets back.

When Justin came back from school he didn’t see his Mum. He looks around for his mum but he still doesn’t see her. He called out her name over and over again as he searched all around the house, but there was no answer.

Justin decides to drop his younger ones off at the neighbors so that he can concentrate on finding Mum and move as far about the city as his legs can take him, but as he’s at the neighbors the neighbor’s kid told him that his Mum was taken away by the police and was suspected of murder because the cell phone she had was the only major lead they had in tracking down the killer of one of the most influential politicians in the country. 

The phone had a tracking system installed on it. It took the Nigerian police a while before they could cooperate with the phone company so they could track down the location of the phone.

That was when it all became clear to him. His mother had not implicated him in other to protect him.

Justin knew that the punishment for murdering such an important person in Nigeria is death. His mother had given herself up to die because of him. She had kept quiet so that she won’t see her son go to jail or worse.

His mum was gone for ever. It was just him and his younger siblings. They were now ALONE.

Justin threw his hands in the air in despair and thought, ‘Oh – No! All because I had to have that silly phone.’

THE END.