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Showing posts with label drama. Show all posts
Showing posts with label drama. Show all posts

Thursday, July 31, 2025

July 31, 2025

Femi Osofisan: A Titan of African Literature and Social Commentary

Femi Osofisan

Femi Osofisan, born Babafemi Adeyemi Osofisan on June 16, 1946, in Erunwon, Ogun State, Nigeria, is a prolific Nigerian playwright, poet, novelist, and critic whose work has profoundly shaped post-colonial African literature. Known for his incisive critique of societal issues, Osofisan has produced over 60 plays, four prose works, and numerous poems under the pseudonym Okinba Launko, earning him global recognition, including the 2016 Thalia Prize from the International Association of Theatre Critics, making him the first African recipient.

His Catalogue (of works): 










Literary Output and Themes

Osofisan’s oeuvre is vast, with over 50 plays written and produced, roughly half of which are published. His works, such as Women of Owu (an adaptation of Euripides’ The Trojan Women), Tegonni: An African Antigone, and Who’s Afraid of Solarin? (adapted from Gogol’s The Government Inspector), tackle themes of political corruption, gender dynamics, and social justice. His plays often blend African traditional performances with surrealism, exploring the conflict between good and evil while advocating for societal reform. A 2013 study highlights his focus on graft and corruption, noting that plays like Who’s Afraid of Solarin? (1978) satirize Nigeria’s systemic bribery, drawing parallels with Imperial Russia’s political decay.


Gender and Feminist Perspectives

Osofisan’s portrayal of women stands out in African literature. Unlike many male Nigerian writers criticized for marginalizing female characters, Osofisan’s works, such as Morountodun and Once Upon Four Robbers, depict women as complex, autonomous agents capable of leadership and moral ambiguity. A 2009 study praises his feminist consciousness, noting that female characters like Alhaja in Once Upon Four Robbers and Titubi in Morountodun challenge stereotypes, contributing to his reputation as a feminist ally. His 2000 keynote address to the Women Writers of Nigeria emphasized his commitment to gender equality, advocating for women’s roles in peace-building and conflict resolution, as seen in Morountodun.


Pan-Africanism and Social Critique

Osofisan’s plays, such as Nkrumah-Ni… Africa-Ni and Reel, Rwanda, reflect his commitment to Pan-Africanism and anti-colonialism. A 2018 analysis underscores his advocacy for black unity and Afrocentrism, portraying him as a playwright who uses theatre to arouse revolutionary consciousness against imperialism and oppression. His 2013 play All for Catherine, an adaptation of Cao Yu’s Thunderstorm, critiques neocolonialism in Sino-African relations, highlighting anti-Chinese sentiment in Africa.


Impact and Recognition

Osofisan’s influence extends beyond Nigeria, with his plays performed across Africa, Europe, and the United States. His academic career, spanning 34 years at the University of Ibadan, where he is now Professor Emeritus, has shaped generations of scholars and artists. His accolades include France’s Officier de l’Ordre Nationale de Mérite and the Nigerian National Order of Merit in the Humanities. A 2022 article in The Republic describes him as a leading figure of Nigeria’s second-generation post-colonial writers, noting his “gentle but forceful” voice in addressing Nigeria’s socio-political challenges.



Critical Reception and Legacy

Osofisan’s work has garnered significant scholarly attention, though full-length studies remain limited despite his stature. His plays, regularly premiered at the University of Ibadan, are lauded for their political commitment, with a 1979 Daily Times article calling him an “apostle of social resolution.” His adaptations of European classics into Yoruba contexts, as seen in Women of Owu and Tegonni, demonstrate a dynamic intertextuality that bridges cultural divides. A 2021 lecture by Osofisan lamented Nigeria’s descent into insecurity and dystopia, reflecting his ongoing engagement with national crises.


Conclusion

Femi Osofisan’s extensive body of work, rooted in empirical critiques of corruption, gender inequality, and neocolonialism, cements his legacy as a transformative figure in African literature. His ability to weave Yoruba traditions with global narratives, coupled with his feminist and Pan-Africanist ideologies, continues to inspire and challenge societal norms, making him a vital voice in the fight for justice and cultural reaffirmation.


-Grok & Jodekss 




Monday, December 2, 2019

December 02, 2019

EXPENDITURES by World Barnabas



What will I offer you 
or how should the dialogue begin! 
Fate mixing with records 
a new line 
for the old moon 
mood of blood and wings 
for order and journey 
in route of totem gifts. 
Roots and plants 
leafs that grow in human memories 
and those soliciting the 
melanin of the dead 
bringing to judgment 
praise and fantasy 
soles and seeming sermon 
of unworthy existence of knob-lord. 
Conversion of confession 
to cube of sticky flesh 
hips on earth's crescent 
and pools of magnetic field 
healthy rob of oranges 
in phalanges of sensual assonance 
meeting camel of myriad jinx 
propelling pants with incantations 
reducing mutual multiplicity 
to subtraction of conscience 
into bones and fiery tears
of merciless merchants 
and gracing mat of egbére 
the banking treasury of 
rushing fame and fading constellations. 
Pepperish gnashing 
of diluted technology into 
class of clashy calabash 
forcing cowries out of the 
corridor of olókun sèníadé 
processing innerman with 
dreadlocks of affiliated Samson. 
Casino of lotus 
in sexual images of loins 
party testament 
of foregathered tomorrow 
and woods of Lamurudu's visit 
in Bayero of Goddot 
that can sing and dance 
without acoustic measure of sounds. 
Then he said: 
'I've come for balancing pace
of inks in serpentine folds 
to write on those unborn 
bamboos of golden sheets. 
In our database 
mature minds can borrow 
up to the fifth grades of souls'
machineries with semen covenant
while eating elders will shift 
teller of virtues to the sixth generations.'
Farms and its harvest 
is meant for living footprints 
while soils of nutrients 
are being shared between 
deeds and trends 
shrouds and hidden caveat 
of dead, living, and unborn. 
Backgrounds and foreplays 
are those watery panels 
that change rainbows 
to screens of monochromic attitudes 
where kings of many reigns 
plants with flourishing flowers 
seasons of crimson prophecies 
admit unethical transformation 
to relics from dashing shadows 
and skeleton of six-feet pajamas. 
I will sing of those
unexplainable melodies 
that come through the 
coloring waters from empty mails. 
I will dance bàtá 

Read more masterpiece from/by the same AUTHOR

with symphonies of àgídìgbo 
to enjoy momentary tides. 
We might come 
through the safeties in white garments 
to blend ourselves with world 
of haunted stores to negotiate 
mathematics of living peace. 
WORLD BARNABAS 

29/11/2019 
1:35 PM 





Friday, August 9, 2019

August 09, 2019

My Skit is Committing Suicide



At a backyard –there were stacks of faces facing one another in the face facing the face of the two vying fine young men exchanging words… Fisticuffs were beginning to come as their eyes were beginning to turn from red into black or so sha. The sun was seated in the sky having brought forwards more seats for the comely coming moon to exchange guard as usual. The shadows of every face have long been buried in the faces of the fading day as expected. Then there was an old lad wobbling closer, one pace then the next with his wise staff looking brokenly tired and yet knocking cracking sounds out of the earth as we know it so.

“Ah! I will kill you o… ehn ehn… na me get hanging first oooooo…” Sobbed Okafor. Na me, na me go first hang. I am the first to reach here. Am I not? Hey abi, everyone, is that not?
Come on kweep quiet! “Shouted Ola”. Oh-my-oh-my you don’t know wharisgoingon, you go no eventuarr…. Come on wharisgoingon, wait what can be going on that fit reach my own biko nu… “Interrupted rhetorically Okafor”. Both laughed boisterously with wonderment written bigly on either faces. The rope was dangling dancing to the whistling wings of winds hitting it sideways and the stool was looking at both of them expecting the first to come and go.

What about #Freesowore? 🇳🇬

Look, omo ina, I know you are ready to die like am ready too buhhhhhhh, you know, e go take time to die na, it is not kiakia the rope get your neck and the stool commot you go die o, you go choke begging for air and air no go show face, at least I no that for inside movies. Why don’t you just allow make I do mine first before before before… they… their money… the money… yeh… Wo, hmmmm… hey… hmmmmm… Wo come…. See, learn from how I die so e no go dey new to you. “Said quietly into Okafor’s left ear”.
This drama makes no sense to me fellas. “Said a bored educated face whose shoes’ have bent at different sides”. The old lad remained watching both with his eyes fixed into their dead spirits. The third character he must have been, whose part of the script was to remain mute, I guess.
Don’t be bored by this piece my dear learned fellow. There is essence in nonsense even and that is the point my people –seeing sense in all things. This man you see hanging will die committing suicide soon but could the problems life could NOT solve be solved in death? Look at how life is leaving Ola’s squeezed long. Feel the trepidation running through each of his vein and arteries. Hear the loud cries, fading voices of his shattering heart shedding tears in agony. Look at his eyes emitting regret as crimson tear glands are marching down his distorted countenance. What a beautiful ugly feeling. Isn’t it? “Expressed sorrowfully, the old lad”
Okafor, biko show; you have indeed seen how happily Ola left just now right? Alright, now every face here, draw, draw closer. My people, I beg you to draw closer, form an encirclement around me this evening and listen attentively to the words of the wise. Listen attentively to the voice of the universe. The mother earth now cries out loud, can you all not hear her sobbing? She sobs daily as glories of people are being kept in the earth to waste even before their time. She blubbers every midnight in agony because today none is ready to wait a bit more in hopes. ‘OH! YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO TAKE THE LIFE YOU WERE GIVEN FOR FREE. IF HAPPINESS WILL NOT COME, GO AND GET IT YOURSELF –CREATE HAPPINESS FOR YOURSELF. LIVE AND LET LIVE. THERE ARE MANY BETTER WAYS TO DEAL WITH ANY PAIN, CHOOSE WISELY. YOUR OWN PROBLEMS CANNOT BE THE WORST.’ “Said the old lad slowly, lamenting…”.

ᴛʜᴇ ᴇɴᴅ

©Jodekss Gloatkenf

Thursday, June 20, 2019

June 20, 2019

Linda Ikeji Prize for Literature 2019 - Worth 1million Naira


Linda Ikeji who is the most successful blogger in Africa has rolled out a massive opportunity for the African writers. The African Indie Writers Review (AFIRE) journal is happy to announce the 2019 AFIRE Linda Ikeji Prize for Literature worth N1,000,000. (Almost $2,800). This Prize for Literature Award Opportunity is the first of its kind.


Details of the Programme


African Indie-Writers Review (AFIRE) is an e-journal strategically positioned to hold out a hand to new, contemporary and audacious African writers most interested in taking their work to a wider world.

Linda Ifeoma Ikeji (born 19 September 1980 in Nigeria) is a Nigerian blogger, author, entrepreneur and former model. She is known for her blog. Linda Ikeji’s blog is apparently her biggest company. After graduating, Ikeji started blogging in 2006.  She became an active blogger in 2007 using a Blogger subdomain, lindaikeji.blogspot.com, and then received her domain www.lindaikejisblog.com

On August 22, 2016, she announced on her blog the creation of her online television network, Linda Ikeji TV, along with the other brands she founded. Linda Ikeji TV broadcasts a variety of programs from talk shows to reality shows to television series and movies. The network produces some of its programs and also purchases television content.

Linda Ikeji has also ventured into online radio shows. The station is operated by the media office Linda Ikeji. Some of his shows will be broadcast live on Linda Ikeji TV.

Linda Ikeji also opened a music platform called LindaIkejiMusic, launched on November 21, 2016, but rested three months after its launch. Linda Ikeji has launched a social networking platform called Linda Ikeji Social under the domain name LindaIkejiSocial.com.

Ikeji runs a charity project with the motto “I’d rather be self-made; No thanks”. The Initiative is aimed at young girls aged 16 to 25 who had good business ideas and who were ready to engage in the creation of the business. It spent 10,000 NGN during Phase 1 of the project.

The 2019 Afire Linda Ikeji Prize for Literature is aimed at giving Africans the Major Opportunity in the Global Stage. Here are basic details you should know about the Afire Linda Ikeji Prize for Literature.

Eligibility


The Literature Prize is for African Students and Applicants from any African Country. Here are some of the listed African Countries.  Algeria, Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi,  Cabo Verde, Cameroon, Central African Republic (CAR), Chad, Comoros, Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of Cote d’Ivoire, Djibouti, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Eswatini (formerly Swaziland), Ethiopia,

Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia,  Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe

Competition Categories

There are six categories for material to be submitted to AFIRE Linda Ikeji Prize for Literature 2019. Congratulations if you’re talented in these categories.

Fiction, Prose – full-length novels: published, self-published or unpublished.

Fiction, Prose – short stories: published, self-published or unpublished

Non-Fiction – published, self-published or unpublished

Poetry – collections: published, self-published or unpublished

Drama – published, self-published or unpublished

Social media essays – collections: published, self-published or unpublished.



SEE OTHER INTERESTING TOPICS TOO:



Nigerian AGIP Postgraduate Scholarship Award Scheme 2019/2020

NNPC/Total National Merit Scholarship For Nigerian Undergraduates 2019

Apply for NNPC/Addax Petroleum Scholarship 2019 for Nigerian Undergraduate Students

Apply for Nigeria LNG Limited Undergraduate Scholarship 2019

Google Africa Certification Scholarship 2019/2020 For Young African

Apply for Agbami Undergraduate Scholarship 2019-2020

Lagos State Undergraduate/Postgraduate Scholarship Award Scheme 2019

Competition Requirements

Before you submit your Article to AFIRE make sure you meet up to these specifications and Instructions as stated below.

The Applicant must be an African or an African in the diaspora

All materials should be submitted in Microsoft Word file format. Pdf files are allowed for only poetry submissions where the original format is considered a critical part of the aesthetic presentation.

Materials could be of any topic and theme, as long as it demonstrates a clear and undisputable motion for growth and development, enlightenment and humanity on the continent.

New African writers in diaspora holding valid passports of any African country are eligible to participate.

The decisions of the judging panel are final.

Before going further, I want you to read this; 5 Laws on How to Pass any Scholarship Exam you Write

Competition Worth:

The 2019 Linda Ikeji Prize for Literature is officially worth N1,000,000 (Almost $2,800). The Prize will be awarded to the best presentation in the Competition which will be decided by the Judges. This is going to be an annual event.

How to Apply:

Applications are currently been submitted for the 2019 Linda Ikeji Prize for Literature. All entries should be forwarded to afire18@gmail.com

Application Deadline:

Deadline for submission: June 30, 2019. Welcome to the new literary drum on the continent  For more Details follow Linda Ikeji on Instagram Here and Get daily Updates about Qualifications and Disqualifications by the Judges.



Monday, May 6, 2019

May 06, 2019

Wedlock Exhibition by World Barnabas



I will come again
through broken walls of
haunted menstrual tomb
in caveat of mirror and water splash
to cash out death flow chart.

Punches and panties
dislodged some blue tryst
into frame of spilled bliss
for seeds of smith and semen
pilot the masking and tales of almajiri.

In a couple of colorless tension
that disconnect red carpet
into a shroud of arsenal
against a universal phrase
of seeking a windowless conscience.

There are wooden works
and soulless sand of goodbyes
calling unrepentant from a perfect world
into wombs of myriad àkúrákutà
to share the length of Lucifer's garden.

Bridge, time and bastards
filled vacuum of sparrow nights
into cathedral of strained bones and bullets
calling pulse a testament of brass
in unison to perforated ghost-flags.

Through those musical history
of motherless gathering
and painting of liquid misery
a new footprints unite some galaxies
to form a pseudo-gallery of golden skeleton.

WORLD BARNABAS

Friday, May 3, 2019

May 03, 2019

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Wᴇ ᴇɴsᴜʀᴇ ᴛɪᴍᴇʟʏ ᴅᴇʟɪᴠᴇʀʏ ᴀɴᴅ ᴇꜰꜰɪᴄɪᴇɴᴛ sᴇʀᴠɪᴄᴇs...

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Friday, January 25, 2019

January 25, 2019

Tech is tearing us apart 🔞 by Jodekss Gloatkenf

Image may contain: 1 person



Hello! Sophistication could be a curse in a beauteous disguise
In this very age of us handling devices in their hyped prices
As those plastic steals and wired screens bewitch us
alongside the morality via the art of techno-modernity
All these curses are caused cos familiarity's imploded into anonymity
For the genesys of this technology be to keep us together or so
But nay haven't we just come together disjointedly; although
We lie so close, flesh to flesh and our hearts' beats echoing calmly beat
right into the other's with our legs crisscrossing in our façade feet
When it's all been fake for real for our relationships have grown direly dim
Oh dear, tech is the Trojan Horse presented us to thwart our rhythm!

Hallo! Toss up those devices and kick same to one side like letting love lead
Humanity once again has got to regain her affectionate feet
Lest those technology one day have breaths of their own protesting
Sending us all in spic into the hell we have cooked ourselves
Let naturalness regain its formalness yet as I spew as
humanity and machine are better living separately using machine tho'
Technology is taking over and homes are falling apart. Hello! Hello! Hello!

©Jodekss Gloatkenf

Sunday, December 9, 2018

December 09, 2018

Maiden's Cry by Odunayo Adenike

Image may contain: 5 people, people smiling, people standing and people sitting
On one of those days, the sun was bigly up the horizon of the day to the south; it was around a rather calmly sunny Sunday in the month of May when our corn would come in its way with those disgustingly ogrish flies with whose boozing chats would wake a stony dead and bites are as itchy as hell... Before I would note it as I was reminiscing about my usual fantasy of a fact I would want to be recollected of me in future to come as to my ambition professionally, the day had paced quickly somehow into its twilight. 
“Go, get me some water!” Exclaimed, my mum from the back of the hut fetched me back with the touch of lightning into reality!
I understood I had to understand to stand immediately, so I stood immediately lest she would cut through our thatched hut with her dried cane in her left hand to remind me what she echoed in the first place. It is my routine twice weekly though, to go down the stream to get some water for the use of the house whenever or provided my younger brother had left with dad to the farm.
When I got to her, I communicated with her in our local tongue saying “o om it ogb...” Meaning, I understand what she had asked me to do. And she nodded joyfully I am responsible with some costly smile rolling out of her flatly charming lips...
 I picked up my clay pot to my left side and headed for the stream. The stream was a ten kilometre journey from my house; oh! How I wished the journey could last for eternity. As the point is, I think vast on purpose whenever I am taking a timeout working like such.
.... 
Children, they say are blessings from Allah, thus, they must obey every wish of their parents in order for these blessings to rain upon their family. I was born into this so called PHILOSOPHY of life. Every now and then, my parents ensure I memorise this belief thereby making it my favourite quote. I recite it every morning just as I do the Arabic. I went to primary school just like every girl in my age grade and excel greatly in my studies. Being a brilliant chap got me favoured by both my headmaster and my teachers. My parents always rejoice whenever I bring my report sheet home and it’s always a celebration galore in my home since I always come first in every class I’m in. However, I am inconclusive and indecisive about few things I was beginning to see around us then as I began to grow in time.
I noticed every time I bring my report sheet, men and women in our very pastoric milieu always come in numbers to felicitate with my father especially. I never read any meaning to this, just celebration, I thought. So it happened one day when I met Balikis, one of my childhood friends at the stream weeping profusely. I moved to pacify her and inquire what the problem was. 
“My... my... my...,” persistently breaking in tone pathetically... “...parents want me to be married off to one Alhaji...!” It sounded funny so I laughed –“ah ah ah...” – boisterously because I thought marriage is just for the adults since Balikis is just a teenager who just reached her puberty stage. 
Balikis further explained that her parents said that she needs to be married so as to fulfil the norm and order of the community and to serve as a blessing to them. This opens my eyes and made me read meaning to the so called philosophy. Balikis then left me to whatever fate awaits her and also to reminisce on my future too.
I am just another twelve-year old beautiful Fulani girl with noticeable features such as a fair skin, pencilled nose, oval face and since I just reached puberty age, my breast had just started popping out. I aspired to be a doctor and I clearly remembered while growing up whenever I say this, my parents are ‘always laughing’ which made me believe they are ‘happy’ and would support my dream. I negated all thoughts welling within me and declared my parents won’t act like Balikis’s parents. Even with that, I felt insecure since my father had only given birth to just three kids, I myself and my two brothers. My dad is a farmer while my mum sells product from my dad’s farm. We might not be rich at least we can afford three square meals per day which was a great privilege unlike Balikis’s family whose dad was a polygamist. He married three wives and had eight children in all. Balikis’s mother was the second wife and she had two children. This made me think I had better chances of not being married off since my own family was a monogamy family and there’s no struggle for anything.
Days passed, I finished my Primary School and got a scholarship to study in a private Secondary School at a better locality compared, just few more kilometres away from my former primary school. I was so happy when I received news of my Scholarship from my Headmaster and danced all the way home. When I got home, I met my father in company of his long-time friend Alhaji Sambo, discussing. I greeted them and relayed the good news to them. He was very happy and his friend gave me some cash. My Father then asked me to get inside and dress up because he had something to tell me. I went inside still happy ignorant of the news yet to be told. After changing into a nice dress, I approached my dad. 
“My beautiful queen, do you know who that person is?” Asked smilingly, my dad.
I was amused to respond since I had known Alhaji Sambo being my Dad’s friend since I was a kid –“Yes yes of cause, he is your good friend.” Alhaji laughed boisterously and kept quiet almost at the same time and began to smile in his own rather awful gaze. “He always brings gift for us.” I continued. 
“No, not anymore my dear daughter, he is your husband and he has been paying your dowry since you were little... understood?!” 
My world stood still and I gave in to tears. My mother then explained further comely that I had been betrothed since I was a baby and Alhaji had been taking care of me which explains his frequent gifts and visits. She said according to the tradition, a girl gets married at the first instance of puberty. She said it was a thing of honour and had been going on for years. I was embittered by her words since I’ve always shared my dream of becoming a doctor to her and I know the self-acclaimed husband already had four wives. My father then said just as I have learnt that I am a blessing and it is time for me to seal the blessing. I stood there dumbfounded which explains my current predicament.
Nobody told me on our first night as a married couple, I would be raped and beaten by my husband in a bid for me to obey and fear him. Nobody told me that I would be scorned by my husband’s other wives. Nobody told me I would suffer stillbirths when I get pregnant due to the inability of my body to be fully grown before experiencing this fate. Nobody told me I would suffer VVF (Vagina Vertigo Fistula) which would enable me to smell and be treated as a leper. Nobody told me I would be abandoned till I die.
I got to the stream drenched with tears hoping everything happening to me was just a dream. 
“Aishat...!” Called out, a voice.
“Oh, that is my name!” 
I snapped back to reality. I turned towards the direction where I heard my name and saw my younger brother running towards me excitedly ignorant of what’s happening since he’s a guy and the pressure is not on them. Oh! I was already beginning to pray and wish he was coming to tell me that the marriage had been cancelled. Each step he took towards me made my heart skipped in bit. 

“Your husband’s family is around to settle your dowry completely o.” Said he, joyfully.

What a stupid boy he was, I hated him for that but was it his fault? My fate was sealed, whatever! But why?!

Written by Odunayo Adenike
© 2017
Edited by Jodekss Writing and Editing Services
Contact: jodekssgloatkenf@gmail.com or +2348135633977.

Monday, January 1, 2018

January 01, 2018

Love from Antarctic by Jodekss (CHAPTER THREE)


HER HISTORY
That dawn had begun to open for daylight to come with all its lighting glories to channel the course of bliss on the paths of lives that be, city birds had chirped around with each of their serrated wing singing flapping in sounds and shattering the atmosphere into somewhat, picturesque bearing ultimate construct. The city streets had started to bear reddened look as busy legs thronged the faces of the tiled street looking busy as well, as they were approaching their destinations. She felt a bit paranoid and felt it clear in a-head having a real discursive engagement with Barbara as one of the agencies assets at the moment might help. She felt to shed light to the plausible misbelieves she was nurturing towards her right-hand staffer, the Assistant. Wilder was then around, she went oddly as she stabbed other necessaries like kill tasks and asked Barbara to accompany her to the nearest tea shop. She needed a privy atmosphere. I would want to tell you what you might not have heard from no one before about my Assistant. ‘Alright, why not call her by her real name now? Barbara inquired. Wilder pretended she didn't get that. They sat and they were attended to. She began to talk about her --engines passing by had already begun their noises-- the honking especially were intense so they prick ears. These activities nudged her up in bed. She dizzily opened her blue eyes turning glimmering red in reaction she had aversion for sound pollution, she muttered sickly ‘O God! For goodness sake uh!' She said and after an absurd pause, she yawned… she looked 4 foot and 11 in her bed. Someone knocked the door from outside. He knocked lightly at first, but because she was not responding when it was obvious she was in, he continued and knocked repeatedly, hard now. Albeit, he reduced the tempo before long. Her attention was later drawn; she stood as she parked her white hair cut into a bob. She turned to the right and then the left, reluctantly. She packed to the top right of her bed with her two pillow cases, the bed cover and the thick fluffy blanket. She held with her right hand feebly the header cap of her steel bed and helped her legs stand firmly by it. She sighed, her face began to be waspy --she was looking dazed and unstable. She wobbled towards the door to see who it was,
‘…and what do you want you there?' She asked dizzily.
She was close to the door at that very moment but was giving the gestured making signs with her right hand to her forehead, she would love knowing who it was. She guessed roughly who it could be. No forms of reply were given from the other side still. She moved a bit closer further to the tiny hole at the mid of the door to peep through. She loved it observative always.
‘What the heck! So it is… you? Why wouldn't you talk when I asked who it was?' She asked lousily. She closed the door immediately, against him and began to walk, firmly now, back to her bed. She changed her direction, with the intention to get close enough to the sill to see for herself what the Saturday morning looked like on the bigly busy street. Her head was fixing up then. She knew it was going to look busy as usual of cause but was just trying to engage herself in something to clear her head after very awry night rest again. In the same charge, suddenly, she got a nudge it would be the landlord who knocked, a man of few words, she rushed back to the door like the way sea billows pull back in motion. She opened the door and stepped outside. ‘Sorry, for being rude the other time, I honestly didn't... Really, I cannot say I remember what I said. I am just apologizing in case I spoke disrespectfully' she expressed, innocently.
‘Good!' he responded, calmly.
***
He was a man of few words. Gossips on the streets had it that he fought in the two great wars – the great World Wars (nobody knew how true and factual that was though the deep scars on his rough face sure had some story untold) but ever since then, after his arrival, he had seemingly chosen to be a man of few words in his dealings with the peoples in the community. But when he talked, he could do it just as an ordinary civilian would, some other people had seen him talk directly, even with his few words and the ground creaked opened with quakes and all that. Wilder had concluded right in her mind he was one man who was simply highly unpredictably. She looked deeply into his two weak eye balls. All she could read to them were lots of experiences about everything buried deep right in them which had most plausibly affected the way he'd respond and the ways he'd socialize.
He looked at her with no strong thoughts flooding up his mind. He though saw an arduous young material striving real hard to ace through in life in spite of the facts there lied many oddities on her path. This drew in some amounts of considerations and reconsiderations into his heart. In looks, he could be as clear as he could be as confusing. He had trained himself so well that no one would know or get when he was happy or sad for real. He never looked sad nor happy. He maintained, always, a rigid stance between two notions. The thought that he could do that with his face seemed scary.
He had come down to her to remind her apartment rent. But had just chosen to postpone that until next time he would be choosing to pass by or whenever he felt to pass by.
‘I have come, to check on you to see if you are good. You'd remember our agreements. But no worries just yet, I will get back to you soon,' he said whimsically, Barbara shut the door back as he turned back as the sound of his feet began to expire.
‘O…! Thanks. I have you right at the back of my… mind as well. I'll get to you before you know it,' she shouted with the intention he gets all her message. ‘Oops! Damn, that was close,' she exclaimed. She closed the door and walked back to sit in the lone seat in her room. And she began to think it through that they both know why he had come. But in exactness, the reason he had chosen not to utter a word about the money confused her so much. She was broke at the moment and thus could not afford the payment of the house rent yet. He was the landlord in charge of her place and had conversed with her over the phone two weeks prior he would be coming around just because her payment was past due time. At a time, a very light time, she had a quick flash of her mother's figure. That reminded her how she was so caring before she recollected her father –she had missed him very much but would not want to show that as one part of her felt like he did not merit any good feelings from her as he would not turn back to check on her. Her death had become her drive to be a scientist and to find a way around despite shades of challenges. Before the demise of her mother, her father was doing fine but after she popped the cog, he lost it alongside. He couldn't get himself together ever since then until the moment. She came back from the flashes to the reality abound.
She soliloquized that, ‘Oh God! What am I gonna do now… what if he returns in an hour's time? Then, I am doomed and done with. What alternative is left now huh, none...?" She expressed, rhetorically.
'I don't… I don't know when… He said ‘soon, ' and that could be just any moment, maybe tomorrow or next week. If he is going to show up next week, there is no way in this world I would have been able to get around such resource,' she expressed confusedly.
A lot came together to shape who we are and how people read meanings to us defining us in any community. She had always been that good and gentle girl in her own way who was astounding in brilliance and highly intellectual even right from childhood. But times are different now; it almost seemed all those valuable qualities were only rendering her ignobly as time just advanced, to her. Her mother'd gone, and her father'd lost it alive blaming himself for what happened to her mother –her dearly better-half. He had no time for her but spent much of his time and the little resources he has got on beers and sluts whenever he had good cash. They would let him have his way, and still steal the few dollars left in his pocket and pushed him to one side. Rain and darkly hands of the night would beat him until would collapse to one wall, and that would be his resting bed space until sanity would return, to run back to continue as he was a taxi driver for the circle to repeat itself.
All these had come together and were reshaping her in the same community, into one strict, determined and young lass with the hope of better tomorrow for herself, better than her old folks’.
***
Then as she was already twisting forwards her right leg making a 90˚ circling to begin on her path along the next to the one where she stayed was, just to instinctively look back, she who she saw was his father, who had been following her for hours. He did not know how to approach her and ask for forgiveness and to continue together as a family just once again in years of being in talking terms. ‘I knew it, what are you doing father –I am not sure even if you are one anymore to me! Are you stalking me? He moved closer to her and drew her to where she would not be able to make a scene. She wanted to scream but would at the same time not want to fetch the father who already looked tattered much more trouble to deal with. She was though sure he could not be in his right senses. It was surface enough even for anyone to know that he had beyond normalcy as looked like one who had been looking was out to get around redemption for ages.
‘Fuck you very much for that. Why would handle me like that? She said looking right into his face sadly and vexatiously. ‘I am still your father, whether you like it or not…' he said. That sank well reverberating in her brains. There was a prolonged pause as they were looking at each other right in the face. She began to blubber; they hugged as he muttered to her left ear ‘sorry.' ‘You have grown just to look exactly like her you know!?' She grinned in response to that. ‘So, why have you come, this hour…ffff…ff father?' ‘Yes, I have been keeping tabs on you; I have all the late to the most recent developments about you. I have helped you and settled your payment for house rent. I paid him last week's weekend, and that was why he would not pester you nor talk about it when he came visiting the other day. I never left you for once my darling angel, no matter what, I am around just as it used to be.' She began to sob again as that was shocking and least expected, she felt sorry for all the negatives resolves she had had for him right in her psych and mind. ‘I have something to give and tell you. Take this card; you would have the scholarship, I pray so and hope so when you are done with your academics, I am not sure if I would be able to make it till then. That is the reason why I am doing this now, as it is just this moment I have left. Alright, take this card, keep it with your life; give it to the addressee addressed on it alongside with this, he would understand make sure he employs you. She owes me her life. Do this dear daughter and be committed to your studies as you used to be way back when… Mm… I have got to go now. Your dad is still a cab driver as you'd known. He smiled and faded within the crowd before she could know it. It was like some sort day dreaming as she was dumbfounded. She continued on her way down to where she studied to continue to study as she would be tested before long.
Then, as she was going, she tried and imagined the other version of what had just happened twixt her father, Lenny and she herself:
‘Who's it, what's it uh…? And I responded as I turned backwards angrily. And he said he is Lenny. On seeing his face for real and disappointment roused up and befogged my mind and I begin to yell at him and continues by adding don't ever, call me or my name again. Let us say I said that boldly and determinedly as I look close at his arid nose like I meant it.
And he said, please, do not create a scene, my dear daughter… responding in a pathetic way. And I said I am not your daughter, please… And I squinted away and looked at the street and stops a cab closed by to take me away from the scene. And he muttered please, don't leave me, let us have a… and his voice began to fade as I closed and locked the door and instructed the driver to light it and leave on time.'
‘Oh, if it were so, it would have been so cruel of me. I am happy really I couldn't do that… I really missed him.' she soliloquized.
After a few years, she had already finished well as the best students among her colleagues at the college and the same thing after she proceeded to the varsity for higher degrees under the same discipline. Her meritorious excellence all through after weeks of finishing fetched her a job of good pay with Paranormal Dating Agency which happened to be one of the bests in the States and which happened to be the place her father directed her to go to; there she was recognized as one off their best scientists which is committedly helping them up. ‘She merited the job on two grounds, the first she merited it as she was excellent and she merited on the basis of favoritism as I, the General Manage, owed her father one. It was on several bases that made me to make fill should always act in my stead. And, evidently, it is what we all know, she is doing great. You would only complain she is not being that informal as you could be at times.’ They both smiled.
Her father and I got to know each other way back when she was just nobody striving for a jackpot in life and then built something related to what he loved doing the most. She was a scientist of high rank, she finished the best from Harvard in discipline. She was believed to have some medical panacea which was bio related and was kidnapped in the dead of one night. None was there, except for her father, he caught them did that and followed them, risked his life and gave me lib.

Toͦ beͤ cͨoͦntͭiͥnuͧeͤdͩ...

Sunday, December 17, 2017

December 17, 2017

Love from Antarctic (Continuation of Chapter 1)

After weeks they had been in contact over the phone, he felt it was necessary to check on her on how she was fairing and to also get to know how far she'd gone doing all other necessaries on her own part for sure success to be realized in the upcoming exam. It was on a Tuesday, and the summer sun had been out shining all it's got scorching the heck out of the earth and the earthmen herein. It began to walk the ways it would always do right from the west and making a swaggering down through the foamless skies to rest, and it was at the center of getting there already. Andrew was on his way down to purchase his usual thing, not much further apart from his apartment. Liked ice cream and other things which are sweet to his tongue. These things had piled together to give him the fatty self he had had. He used to eat a lot when he was little. He was voracious and wouldn't be satisfied until he was unconscious and all that. He was born well like just the other babies. Smart and beautiful to appreciate. But as usual, he got over his past much more easily, awkwardly. He was so good at relating factors unrelated in proffering solutions to any problem he was faced with. The distance from the bottom of the feet to the top of the head of Andrew was 5'7.6 or 172 cm. That was not his height and weight actually. The last time he went checking that almost corrupted his right senses. He had got a role model he would prefer to imagine to shatter any jot of regret for his physique. He admired Jackie –his best actor ever as his role model as he'd always cheer him up even when occasion did not call for that in his comics. On that sunny afternoon, it was of cause a tea shop that time but to get for himself a rather expensive ice-cream –Golden Opulence Sundae: $1,000. ‘Ahem…! Please, I am gonna be seated right over there, I wanna see the paper just behind you huh! He said and left immediately. He came back before 30 seconds, hurriedly. ‘Ehm… Make them all count please – the three scoops of rich Tahitian vanilla bean infused with Madagascar vanilla and covered in 23k edible gold leaf. He left back a newspaper; he looked serious as he saw the emboldened word –SCHOLARSHIP. He quickly drew it closer to himself to make sense of the full location on the paper. He read "STUDENTS GET SCHOLARSHIP TO STUDY AT COLLEGE OF PHARMACY" ‘What… she must have been E-mailed, and I must have been, either… Wait…wait…' He quickly flipped through the papers to read the details. He was too anxious to begin from the top and get the details. He skimmed it all from top to the bellow part of it but could not see the names of those that later merited the scholarship on any part of the page. He skimmed the top, the below, the side, the mid and the middle but nothing like lists of names were there. He dropped the paper and went back to collect his ice cream. He collected it and paid and moved back to the papers. He went to the vendor and complained as per the names which are not there as if they were hidden by the man; the man let him check other papers in case of any similitude in tit-bit as per it. He did flip them all through but to naught. Bought the one which he first saw and headed home –it was a few blocks distance apart. At home, he was down with overly with anxiety. Then, he sat his robust seat, which pies looking so good and compelling on the table and one resting to be taken within Jack Robinson on his belly. He picked up the paper on the stool and began to read to grasp the inbuilt messages inscribed. It was then he was able to realize all candidates were expected to check their E-mails submitted during the signing ups. He immediately put the Wi-Fi into use but saw nothing there related. ‘Now, no congratulatory messages here; does that mean that is the end. O, Barbara, she must have learned about it; no, she could not have – she would have put a call through to me informing me; okay, what I am going to do would be to try and call her. No-no-no-no-no no… let me go and visit her in person. Which should come first?'
***
He gave her a call almost immediately, but she wouldn't answer the call. It was not on purpose as she was busy having a rather boring exchange with a neighbor who had come to invite her over to come and have dinner with his family for the first time since they had packed in. She stood right at the center of the door when it was opened with the chain still attached to it stretched a bit around from the flat wooden rampart of the door. Her head was out, and it was to the neighbor as if she was half naked and no choice than to be just like that. ‘It would gladden me if you would later show up. Just a knock on the door we would respond' said in a friendly way, the neighbor. She responded ‘I would really love to come and dine with your family. It had been long I experienced that and uh…that was before my mo… no worries…. Thanks for the invitation. And no offense please I have been in any way rude in my words.' He smiled and said fatherly ‘no-no-no… none taking actually Miss. You… just be good. See you around.' He turned back and crossed the street to the other side. She closed the door to herself and felt embarrassed as she had her back to the door and slipped down stealthily in regret for not liking mincing with new people around. She at once believed it was some phobia of the type she had not come across yet but recently she had got past that in thought believing it had to be must be something else entirely.
Two days back the almost exact same thing happened to her. She was around as it was the weekend of the week. One of the teens on the other side of the street saw her passing by and would be a friend and at the same time wanted her to come around to her birthday party on the following night. She replied sounding honest she had invited over to another party by another friend of hers downtown. It was all a blatant lie cooked up before she could know it. But it sounded way too confusing for her not to believe, so they departed. She walked barefooted back into the room to see that Andrew had called several time. ‘O my… oh my! I am in shit…' She called him back instantly to know what was up.
‘Hello, I was not with…' ‘Shhhhhhhhhhh….' he shushed her right from the other side. And he continued ‘where the hell did you put your phone this time, was it the kitchen again or back at the shopping mall, again…?' She gave her, once-in-a-while smile… ‘Sorry… You'd know some things will never change. Actually, it ain't deliberate. I was… with a neighbor and my phone was put on ‘silent,' again.' ‘You know what girl…You really do not belong to this age. Probably Stone Age would have made a lot of sense for you you know!' Both laughed, and there was a prolonged pause. He swallowed a lump of spittle ‘Ahem! Ya…' ‘So why did you call?' She asked. ‘Yeah, yeah, when was the last time you checked your mail? No-no-no were those even the right words! The names are out now, for the scholarship thing. I have just learned about it, and I felt like you might not know and let you know' he responded. ‘Wow, when was that… How am I to check it? Oh oh, the E-mail… What's up, were you picked? He hung up? What is it with him…?'
She quickly dressed up and left for the internet café to verify from her E-mail account. She bellowed a cab hurriedly and took down to the Café. It was positive for her, and she was joyous as her dream had begun to come into reality. She ran down home feeling extremely eerie as she would be able to study the scientific discipline of her choice. On getting home, all she had was just herself. There was no one else to share the joy with and Andrew had just behaved as if he was not picked. She was with mixed feelings whether to call him and inform about the development and ask him about his. At a point in time at the same spot, she began to imagine how her mother would have been proud of her for her rare and impressive success. ‘Mom would be proud wherever she is.' ‘Loved you mom.' As the topic of her mother came in her joy was beginning to lose weight, but she tried and be positive back as she tried to get something to cool her throat right in her concise fridge at the edge of her wooden bed, painted brown. She felt asleep afterward as she began to relax in her bed.
She opened her eyes reluctantly then. Unconsciously, she waved her right hand and packed her hair which had covered her left eye to the back part of her head. She entered into some sort of daydream with her grandpa repeating over the same tale she had had before, right under the atmosphere –the dusk began to open for daylight to come with all its lighting glories to channel the course of bliss and it greased the earth with them spattered all through the faces of the sky glowing good. Dovish birds chirped no more about with each of their serrated wings, but there was another nocturnal bird on top of the tree beneath, which she and her grandpa were seated. It flapped and shattered the atmosphere with the sibilance of her departure as it clawed away. She woke up, and she gave Andrew a call.

To be continued... Love from Antarctic by Jodekss
... continuation of CHAPTER ONE.

After weeks they had been in contact over the phone, he felt it was necessary to check on her on how she was fairing and to also get to know how far she'd gone doing all other necessaries on her own part for sure success to be realized in the upcoming exam. It was on a Tuesday, and the summer sun had been out shining all it's got scorching the heck out of the earth and the earthmen herein. It began to walk the ways it would always do right from the west and making a swaggering down through the foamless skies to rest, and it was at the center of getting there already. Andrew was on his way down to purchase his usual thing, not much further apart from his apartment. Liked ice cream and other things which are sweet to his tongue. These things had piled together to give him the fatty self he had had. He used to eat a lot when he was little. He was voracious and wouldn't be satisfied until he was unconscious and all that. He was born well like just the other babies. Smart and beautiful to appreciate. But as usual, he got over his past much more easily, awkwardly. He was so good at relating factors unrelated in proffering solutions to any problem he was faced with. The distance from the bottom of the feet to the top of the head of Andrew was 5'7.6 or 172 cm. That was not his height and weight actually. The last time he went checking that almost corrupted his right senses. He had got a role model he would prefer to imagine to shatter any jot of regret for his physique. He admired Jackie –his best actor ever as his role model as he'd always cheer him up even when occasion did not call for that in his comics. On that sunny afternoon, it was of cause a tea shop that time but to get for himself a rather expensive ice-cream –Golden Opulence Sundae: $1,000. ‘Ahem…! Please, I am gonna be seated right over there, I wanna see the paper just behind you huh! He said and left immediately. He came back before 30 seconds, hurriedly. ‘Ehm… Make them all count please – the three scoops of rich Tahitian vanilla bean infused with Madagascar vanilla and covered in 23k edible gold leaf. He left back a newspaper; he looked serious as he saw the emboldened word –SCHOLARSHIP. He quickly drew it closer to himself to make sense of the full location on the paper. He read "STUDENTS GET SCHOLARSHIP TO STUDY AT COLLEGE OF PHARMACY" ‘What… she must have been E-mailed, and I must have been, either… Wait…wait…' He quickly flipped through the papers to read the details. He was too anxious to begin from the top and get the details. He skimmed it all from top to the bellow part of it but could not see the names of those that later merited the scholarship on any part of the page. He skimmed the top, the below, the side, the mid and the middle but nothing like lists of names were there. He dropped the paper and went back to collect his ice cream. He collected it and paid and moved back to the papers. He went to the vendor and complained as per the names which are not there as if they were hidden by the man; the man let him check other papers in case of any similitude in tit-bit as per it. He did flip them all through but to naught. Bought the one which he first saw and headed home –it was a few blocks distance apart. At home, he was down with overly with anxiety. Then, he sat his robust seat, which pies looking so good and compelling on the table and one resting to be taken within Jack Robinson on his belly. He picked up the paper on the stool and began to read to grasp the inbuilt messages inscribed. It was then he was able to realize all candidates were expected to check their E-mails submitted during the signing ups. He immediately put the Wi-Fi into use but saw nothing there related. ‘Now, no congratulatory messages here; does that mean that is the end. O, Barbara, she must have learned about it; no, she could not have – she would have put a call through to me informing me; okay, what I am going to do would be to try and call her. No-no-no-no-no no… let me go and visit her in person. Which should come first?'
***
He gave her a call almost immediately, but she wouldn't answer the call. It was not on purpose as she was busy having a rather boring exchange with a neighbor who had come to invite her over to come and have dinner with his family for the first time since they had packed in. She stood right at the center of the door when it was opened with the chain still attached to it stretched a bit around from the flat wooden rampart of the door. Her head was out, and it was to the neighbor as if she was half naked and no choice than to be just like that. ‘It would gladden me if you would later show up. Just a knock on the door we would respond' said in a friendly way, the neighbor. She responded ‘I would really love to come and dine with your family. It had been long I experienced that and uh…that was before my mo… no worries…. Thanks for the invitation. And no offense please I have been in any way rude in my words.' He smiled and said fatherly ‘no-no-no… none taking actually Miss. You… just be good. See you around.' He turned back and crossed the street to the other side. She closed the door to herself and felt embarrassed as she had her back to the door and slipped down stealthily in regret for not liking mincing with new people around. She at once believed it was some phobia of the type she had not come across yet but recently she had got past that in thought believing it had to be must be something else entirely.
Two days back the almost exact same thing happened to her. She was around as it was the weekend of the week. One of the teens on the other side of the street saw her passing by and would be a friend and at the same time wanted her to come around to her birthday party on the following night. She replied sounding honest she had invited over to another party by another friend of hers downtown. It was all a blatant lie cooked up before she could know it. But it sounded way too confusing for her not to believe, so they departed. She walked barefooted back into the room to see that Andrew had called several time. ‘O my… oh my! I am in shit…' She called him back instantly to know what was up.
‘Hello, I was not with…' ‘Shhhhhhhhhhh….' he shushed her right from the other side. And he continued ‘where the hell did you put your phone this time, was it the kitchen again or back at the shopping mall, again…?' She gave her, once-in-a-while smile… ‘Sorry… You'd know some things will never change. Actually, it ain't deliberate. I was… with a neighbor and my phone was put on ‘silent,' again.' ‘You know what girl…You really do not belong to this age. Probably Stone Age would have made a lot of sense for you you know!' Both laughed, and there was a prolonged pause. He swallowed a lump of spittle ‘Ahem! Ya…' ‘So why did you call?' She asked. ‘Yeah, yeah, when was the last time you checked your mail? No-no-no were those even the right words! The names are out now, for the scholarship thing. I have just learned about it, and I felt like you might not know and let you know' he responded. ‘Wow, when was that… How am I to check it? Oh oh, the E-mail… What's up, were you picked? He hung up? What is it with him…?'
She quickly dressed up and left for the internet café to verify from her E-mail account. She bellowed a cab hurriedly and took down to the Café. It was positive for her, and she was joyous as her dream had begun to come into reality. She ran down home feeling extremely eerie as she would be able to study the scientific discipline of her choice. On getting home, all she had was just herself. There was no one else to share the joy with and Andrew had just behaved as if he was not picked. She was with mixed feelings whether to call him and inform about the development and ask him about his. At a point in time at the same spot, she began to imagine how her mother would have been proud of her for her rare and impressive success. ‘Mom would be proud wherever she is.' ‘Loved you mom.' As the topic of her mother came in her joy was beginning to lose weight, but she tried and be positive back as she tried to get something to cool her throat right in her concise fridge at the edge of her wooden bed, painted brown. She felt asleep afterward as she began to relax in her bed.
She opened her eyes reluctantly then. Unconsciously, she waved her right hand and packed her hair which had covered her left eye to the back part of her head. She entered into some sort of daydream with her grandpa repeating over the same tale she had had before, right under the atmosphere –the dusk began to open for daylight to come with all its lighting glories to channel the course of bliss and it greased the earth with them spattered all through the faces of the sky glowing good. Dovish birds chirped no more about with each of their serrated wings, but there was another nocturnal bird on top of the tree beneath, which she and her grandpa were seated. It flapped and shattered the atmosphere with the sibilance of her departure as it clawed away. She woke up, and she gave Andrew a call.

To be continued...

Monday, December 11, 2017

December 11, 2017

Diary of a caged teenager (Chapter Six) by Hassan Pelumi


The fifth turn.
The sun had vanished from the sky at 7:05,only its rays gave light. And like every other twilight, Sunshine estate was gradually illuminating with street lights. Toni never missed an evening to sightsee the estate, but today was no day for an hobby. Toni was worried and scared,four hours gone and still no calls or news from the fivesome that went to get Peju. Toni looked around and saw that just a neighbour and Okeke Family were left of the earlier crowd,he sighed."I should go to the police station now. It's been four hour,and no news. I can't stay here and do nothing." Toni said as he walked out of the house. Jasmine and Amaka ran after him."We're coming with you",They chorused,"I will drive"Amaka declared and he shrugged. They left the house with Mrs Okeke and Bose.
    Simpson street has always been quiet and empty, save today. Peju groaned with pain, everything seemed to be against her. She had sustained injury from her jump. She landed on stone, but she was in luck it affected her ankle alone. She didn't waste a minute to nurse her pain, she sprung up and hopped out of the building, with one hand she held her diary and with the other she held a stick for support. Cursing terribly as she limped, She felt a sharp pain at the side of her stomach, she knew it was hunger. Since that morning, she hadn't had water. "I can do it. You can do it girl!! Just keep moving forward", she told herself. Hitting her good foot against a stone, she collapsed, she couldn't take it anymore,not minding if anyone was around,she screamed rolling on the floor for about ten minutes. "God why? why?", she whimpered. "Why is this happening to me? Dauda is gone,and I am so lost.", she sniffed and with anger she shouted "Is this what you want?! For me to be so miserable and tired of living?!", throwing stones into the sky, she broke down again hugging herself. " I'm caged, even on an open goddamn street", She said picking her diary up,"Keep moving girl!",She yelled at herself again,but this time she replied with an innocent voice,"Okay! I'm moving. Just help me up, please.","Grab the stick girl!" she replied herself harshly again. She gasped surprised at herself, but took the stick and her diary,she recited "I'm not crazy,not yet" as she limped.
    "Okay!! I can't go any further,my feet hurts."Mrs Adegbesan staggered down. Uncle Thomas ran towards her,"A woman of 79 shouldn't be engaged in this.",he said smiling. " We've made three turns,if we walk faster, we can reach the remaining three turns of Simpson street. ", Akani calculated, "And find Peju.", Folake added. "You people should go immediately. I'm fine.", Mrs Adegbesan advised. Uncle Thomas disagreed," I'd carry you if I have to,we are not leaving anyone behind " he dictated,Mrs Adegbesan laughed. Luckily, she had a very small stature so uncle Thomas gave her a piggyback.
    It wasn't until it was completely dark,that they got to the fourth turn. "That was a pretty long road!", uncle Thomas complained breathing heavily and put his mother down. " I think we should rest a bit." Folake too was breathing like she had just ran a marathon . "We can't rest here,its very dark and we only have that little phone to brighten our way", Akani replied. "Bode, what's the time?", Mrs Adegbesan asked. Bode looked at Jasmine phone and shouted for joy,forgetting that they were weary,they gathered around him waiting for the good news. "There is signal! Network signal!", disappointedly, they all chorused; "Then Call Toni!!"
    "Calm down?! I've been waiting for two hours to report the same case I reported this afternoon, now my parents, my uncle,my grandma and my sister is missing!!! it's 9:55!", Toni argued with the police officers who kept telling him to calm down. He was frustrated, "Bros,I say make you calm down ojere,we will attend to you,calm down!" an officer replied. Toni turned his back at them furiously with a sharp cry of;"My God.". His cellphone vibrated in his pockets he checked the caller id,it was an unknown number "Network! don't try shit with me!",he exclaimed and rejected the call. It vibrated again, he rejected it again, before he could put it back in his pocket,it vibrated again,"Come on!!!",he yelled. Amaka took the phone from him before he could smash it, "Network don't call as frequent as this",she said and picked. "Toni! bri... t.. car t. Sim..on street! ..mspon str..t! Go t. the police station. No g... sig..l. Be fast!!" and the line went off. "Simpson street? Its your dad!",she said running towards the officers. " Please, you have to drive us to Simpson street, its an emergency!!. They nodded and within five minutes, they were set to leave. Toni began to wonder how Amaka did it...
   At 10:56, the front lights of the police car shone on the fivesome. Toni alighted from the vehicle before it stopped,he ran towards them like a little child,hugging them, "Mum! Dad! uncle Thomas, Akani! Grandma!!" he looked around, "where's Peju?", no one replied. " Mum,where's she?", "The search continues, we haven't found her, we will find her",uncle Thomas answered. "How are you sure she's alive?" the first officer asked. "She's alive!", Bode almost shouted. "She should be alive, but alive or not,we must find her we've checked all four turns in Simpson street,we hope to find her on the fifth turn", uncle Thomas replied. The policemen nodded and they all got into the car. The ride to the fifth turn was a very moody one,no one said anything, everyone was scared. Jasmine eyes were misty, 'Peju could be dead?', she tried to imagine the world without her best friend. "Oh God!", she whispered turning to face Amaka;"Peju's alive,right?", Amaka didn't know how to answer, she held her sister; "Its alright Jasmine,it fine.", she whispered. The thought that Peju might be dead was very disturbing, even uncle Thomas wasn't as cool as always.
However, the policemen were determined to have fun with their job. "So, what can be the worst scenario of this case?", the  second officer asked the first in a very low voice. "We find the child's corpse and take lots of ladies to the hospital or a psychiatrist.", he joked and they both laughed. "Stop the car!!! Stop!", Toni shouted. Jumping out of the car, he ran towards a little rock,or rather that's what they saw. Folake let out a cry of; "TONI!", "What is wrong with that boy?!", the policemen wondered. Anyone could have mistaken the body on the side of the road for a rock, but Toni had good eyes. They stopped the car. Slowly,Toni observed the body, "Peju!! its Peju!!" he screamed as he carried his sister. Everyone alighted running towards him. "My baby!!", Folake cried,"She's alive, right? Tell me she's alive!!",she was going crazy. Bode got to Toni first, he grabbed her from him,trembling with fear  he tried to check her pulse."Relax dad!" Toni voice shook, he was crying. Soon everyone was around Bode,he took a deep breath and checked her pulse again, he felt slight movement, "Her heart is beating...", he whispered. "she's alive! SHE IS ALIVE!!", everyone jumped for joy,even the policemen. Folake and Mrs Adegbesan broke down, shedding tears of joy, Amaka, Toni and Jasmine were laughing and crying, thanking Jesus,while Bode carried Peju to the car.
   At 11:58, they were out of Simpson street. And Peju was taken to the hospital.

Sunday, November 12, 2017

November 12, 2017

Shakespeare Vs Jodekss '15

"No, by my honour, madam, by my soul,
No woman had it, but a civil doctor,
Which did refuse three thousand ducats of me
And begg'd the ring; the which I did deny him
And suffer'd him to go displeased away;
Even he that did uphold the very life
Of my dear friend. What should I say, sweet lady?
I was enforced to send it after him;
I was beset with shame and courtesy;
My honour would not let ingratitude
So much besmear it. Pardon me, good lady;
For, by these blessed candles of the night,
Had you been there, I think you would have begg'd
The ring of me to give the worthy doctor."
--Bassanio from "The Merchant of Venice" (5.1)
Shakespeare's

"To bargain this milestone to minute thing I will tell to you through me
To this far me ugly be that far beauteous
I have been a moo's shit in cake
Light I darkly see
Shame shines my glory
The fame they expect to come swift comin' slowest
So the shots of shoo-shoo so yew-yew be your yanky yam?
Blame be the same thrown they tagged a trust-betrayed game
The fact be
What had been concluded come to begin no this time
My difference is far too different a closed clam
Look up there the heaven be dearly darkly blue but same shows
As hyssop cleanse
Then we call same morn this is..."
Jodekss's

Sunday, May 7, 2017

May 07, 2017

ONE BLACK MORN


 
It happened back in the year 3014 AD, when technology started cooking us finer  feeding us and helping us with our filth whilst walking on the streets sides. We did not need water closet in those days though; it was viably available, technically built to cook one's best dishes than the best man chef one could ever call to... I had a ‘keke maruwa’ that could fly then, it used to use nothing but just water and with little salt. I flew away with it to... The morn was darkly, with the race of those funky fogs lacing the season so, patching on each side of each hole on my skin, leaving my living dying and my paled-up look shivering like a chick amid furious pats of Antarctica hot cold call. I haven't taken anything that dawn and the yuletide mo is near so, I cuddled up fate, I had faith, I decided to go to my bestie, one
I couldn’t do without.

Jeje :
“knocks” "hallooooo! Good morny, Jaja, it's Jeje, please open your tall black iron door it's cold really out here".

He opened the door unto me after several seasons of knocks on it, he lived in some rented apartment with nada rooms, just a stone’s throw from mine. The knocking back parts of my fingers almost got peeled to the bone. He loved sleeping, not even death with all his glorious dearth could wake this one the moment he lies. That's why he was named Jaja of all sleepers I supposed.

Jaja:
“said out of angst” "Aaaaah ah! What ehn, what now this dawn, it is too early you know!

I was still at the door, he stood holding his iron door with his left hand and his right on his hilly hair, with confused facial expressions. I noticed his electricity bulbs were on, he wasn't really sleeping, he just decided not to answer me when I was knocking, perhaps adducing I would leave when there is no response. It was quite unusual that he would do that to me, me of all.

Jeje:
"Can I come in please? Abi, what is the meaning of all this now! You don't want me to come in right, okay, you have another slut around right, I should come back right?"

He let me in after my words, I guessed I did the right construction.

Jaja:
"Ah ah ah, sorry, you you can come in, yes coming!  So very sorry buddy!"

I had this tingling that something not right was going on in his apartment but I had the nudge at the same time I needn't fondly ask but to patiently pretend. I knew him quiet well of cause, knew what he could do and even knew what he didn't know about himself I thought. We knew each other far too well to my understanding then.
I sat down on his one-harmed chair, the television was on and the android TV game we used to play together was still plugged on, the game was paused. The game he was playing was World War II –a very strategic and bloody one. The game came out immediately the world was with the intent to start the III one, to remind the world at least to some degree, the evil in fighting wars.

Jeje:
"“Seated” So..."

On  his chair, filled with kinds of sophisticated devices, mainly androids, common to adult that were not yet 30 back in those days.
Jaja stood, very alarmed and sweating profusely when I was feeling badly shivering-up.

Jeje:
 Sit guy. What is wrong, are you all right, why sweating oddly this way, wait, are you sick or something?

Jaja:
“still standing, filled up with body waters as if he was just back from jugging the sun”
Ehm, buddy, you need to leave now!

Jeje:
“With looks of surprise at first... but later hissed, a prolonged one” One of your serious jokes again right? Look, if you won't tell me what is wrong with you I shall tell you one of the things that are wrong with me. You know we discussed we have nothing to do the yuletide seasons that are about catching us unawares, what do you suggest we do, that is why I have came this early, to discuss it and other things if time permits!

Jaja:
“He yelled, the whole of his two big eye balls almost fell” I said leave... and I mean now.

I didn't concur; I smiled in the stead and rest my back better on his seat. Suddenly, some men came out with of his second room, locked n’ loaded with giant guns, highly sophisticated ones, ones you could shoot here, even if the target dwells in the 29th planet which was just discovered, it would hit one and that is the end, the person decomposes instantaneously, no remedy. My skinny skeleton slid out of my slim body seeing that. Immediately, I knew within me I was at the wrong place at the wrong time.

One of the armed men: “with thick and serious voice!” Let him be Jaja, since he won't leave because he is so deaf and far too obstinate, he shall go with us, we leave now. It is his destiny to be part of it.

I started peeing on my boxer and myself.

Jeje:
“Vibrating” ew whe when... when “breathing uneasily” when did you become a soldier?

Jaja:
I am no soldier Jeje, it is just...

Another armed men: “intercepted” Boss, let's leave!
Jaja: Boss?

The slimmest and the most furious of them all: Okey-doke, we leave now, eh wait, “faced the one at the door, hope you have intercepted all those wall techs. we want a clean shot this day”!

Jaja: Yes of cause, he’d done that, you guys are good to go.

The slimmest and most furious of them all: No, all of us are going together, we hunt together, we can't risk leaving most especially this one, “pointed straight at me, his hand almost touched my flat round nose” he might cause us hell, no loose ends, that is the rule.

Still Vibrating where I was seated, rolling up and down, backwards and forwards hesitantly in the seat.

Jeje:
“Smiled wrily” Ahem! I have a serious phobia for hunting besides, I have never hunted before since it is hunting you all have planned to go and do!

The last of the armed men: Sire, he must go with us, plus him “he said emphatically, facing the rest of the gang about Jaja”.

They forced us out of Jaja's, into their black cars, after some minutes, we stopped, perhaps it was a bank they need to rob, but on our way, I have inferred they were heading to cause menace in their words. I was fettered in the boot with chains and my face was veiled. Suddenly, I started over-hearing exchange of gun shots, after few minutes, silence took charge , nothing again but the footsteps approaching, leaving me almost dead in the body, the boot was opened and was hauled out into some thick bush.

Jeje:
“Curious” wait, wait, what?

I was watching television, quite after 25 years in the year after the death of our Lord Jesus Christ – 3039. On the screen, I noticed someone who resembles that friend of mine. One week after, after I was done with my jail term, my memory came back to life and I recollected it was him, I said, I knew him, I knew it was him, Jaja Papilo, how could he change his name to John James. John James had become a tycoon and a business man within 9 years. I went on an adventure of having his number and after months of trying to get it I got it and gave him a call.

Jeje:
“Dialing” Hallo...!

John James:
 Hi!

Jeje:
“Swallowed spittle hurriedly…” Ahem ehm! Sir, this is a party member calling, I watched your campaign to be the governor of this state for the third time, really, you were amazing, I mean your speech was a wow. I am a fan!

John James:
Eeeeh! Thank you my friend, I appreciate that.

Jeje:
But sir, the moment I saw you on the TV screen, you brought back some long memories.

John James:
“Amazed” really, how do you mean?

Jeje:
Thank you, I have you heard of the name Jaja before?

John James:
“Reminiscingly” h mmmmmmm… Jaja?

Jeje:
Yes!

John James: I am not sure for now, you know a man  of my status knows a lot of people. So, what is up with Jaja, another good fan right?

Jeje:
No… sir, not that, Jaja was once my best friend before we... Well, my name is Jeje...! Thanks for answering the call sir anyway, lots of luck.

John James:
“Curiously” You said your name is what again?

Jeje:
Jeje.

John James:
Jeje, as in J E J E right?

Jeje:
Yes of cause that is the spelling.

John James:
“Laughed boisterously...” Aha aha aha aha…, Je...je... “Hanged up”.


THE END.

 JODEKSS
2014