Mcmooney: 4. Lukewarm

Grace Ezeh: I dey come make I fast 4ward my tym n calendar so dat November 1st go quick reach. Jst cant wait oooo

Grace Ezeh: I dey come make I fast 4ward my tym n calendar so dat November 1st go quick reach. Jst cant wait oooo

Karev_wite: k nw...is alrice

Sammy Hoe:

How tinz?

Karev_wite: gud gud...wts up wit u

Sammy Hoe: apology in advance: due to the ill health of my phone battery, I may not b able to post d story by 12am tomorrow as I thought to do earlier, but I'm assuring it would come your way latest 10am tomorrow by God's grace.

Thanks in anticipation

igwechosen: wow! I got here at last...

Sammy Hoe:
Do you mean you have read it all?

Sammy Hoe: I recognise your presence...
Therefore I'm dedicating this update you...
Who? Dyoungstar

CHAPTER FIVE
THE ENCOURAGEMENT OF HOPE
Hope could not hold up his head straight in the streets anymore because the streets’ children where strictly making life unbearable for him. They were not relenting in poking fun at him all the time. Slander jnr. even beat him up without a reason, Mr. Slander his father, being the proprietor of the Slander School of Thought. The boy was the only son of his father, therefore they had pampered him overly.
“Hope, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Liar,” Slander jnr. slandered Hope when he was walking down the street. “Your father and mother and brother bothered us that he’ll get into the Island of Greatness yesterday, but till today the River of Achievement is still as empty as it used to be. And I’m sure that forever it shall remain that way.” Slander jnr. laughed heartily but Hope nipped his laughter in the bud when he replied, “It shall not remain empty forever because I’ll surely enter in someday.”
“Ha! Ha! Ha!” laughed Slander. “Someday? Maybe your rotten skeleton will be dumped in there after your funeral. Ha! Ha! Ha!” Amidst the laughter, Slander walked hurriedly to Hope and twisted his arms mercilessly. He threw him at the floor eventually.
“I’ll show you how my dad and mum and aunts and uncles welcome new students into the hostel called Hostility in my father’s school.” At that instance, the boy kicked Hope severely with his hard Sandal of Scandal and allowed him to wallow in the sand until he had swallowed some of it.
Vulnerability did not escape torture as well, for he was accosted by Badmouth and Loudmouth when he was walking towards the Flirts’ flats where uncle Doubt dwelled. Since Vulnerability must need to pass before the Slander School of Thought before he could get there, he knew that trouble was imminent. Unfortunately, the school had just closed for the day and the day students were returning home when Vulnerability reached the school vicinity.
“Vulne, come here!” cried Badmouth and the boy obeyed immediately, jittering like the plucked strings of a guitar.
“I—I’m h—here,” Vulnerability confessed cowardly.
“Are we blind not to know that you’re here?” Loudmouth screamed at him, then Badmouth said, “Vulne, one day your brother will bother your father to go farther to murder your mother.” Instantly, Vulnerability began to weep as though the bad speech from Badmouth’s lips was a whip that was whipping his hips. To prevent being made a laughingstock, Vulnerability quickly began to rub out his tears. But another sentence from Loudmouth sentenced his action to death.
“Vulne, far from you lies the ability to get to the Island of Greatness!” Loudmouth jibed aloud. “Your effort in blowing the Trumpet of Imagination with agility few days ago is in futility today and shall remain in futility till infinity.”
“And dilapidated walls shall remain to fence your abode forever,” Badmouth barged in, someone who had been successively emerging the best student overall in the Slander School of Thought for years. “Loudmouth, let’s begin to torture the future out of this vulture,” added Badmouth and immediately they began to thump Vulnerability’s body.
Hope was shocked beyond measure when he saw Vulnerability shedding tears in the little shed behind the house.
“What are these tears for?” Hope asked inquisitively.
“They b—beat m—me up,” Vulnerability sniffed and stiffened like a baby as he tried to stifle the tears.
“Who?” demanded Hope. He was clearing his brother’s unwept tears off his face. The tears were unusually cold. “Tell me who beat you,” Hope asked again, looking into his cold palm.
“Badmouth and Loudmouth attending the Slander School of Thought. They made fun of me and…it pained me the most. They said they’ll torture the future out of me.”
“They can’t torture the future out of you,” Hope assured. “Slander jnr. also beat me up today too, but I had to bear it,” added Hope, helping to wipe the tears off his brother’s moist face. Just when Vulnerability’s teary face was getting dry, he let them get wet again as his eyes gave way for the release of the lachrymal gland beneath. Hope was shocked.
“Vulne, what again? Haven’t I pacified you enough?”
“You’ve t—tried my brother, b-but—but…”
“But what?”
“Badmouth said you’ll bother my father to go farther to murder my mother,” confessed Vulnerability with deep concern, but was surprised at Hope’s indifference. “Hope, are you not saying anything?”
“Well—I guess Badmouth was only trying to do his homework,” Hope replied thoughtfully. “What d’you mean?”
“You see, in the Slander School of Thought, the more you slander people, the more your score gets greater. I’m sure what Badmouth said was a product of the lessons he was taught today in his School of Thought. It’s a kind of homework, I guess.”
“Hmm!” Vulnerability said. He was now grinning. “Hope, let’s go inside to continue our talks so mum wouldn’t come close to hear us.” Without further ado, the two got into the house through a wide crack. They had not entered in for long when Hope said, “Vulne, you’ve disappointed me. And ultimately, you’ve disappointed Father Sage who had predicted seeing you in the Island of Greatness.”
“I was scared,” Vulnerability said remorsefully. His greasy face was creased with sorrow. “I couldn’t stand with mum to withstand her commanding tone, her tons of stony words, her blistering glance of lance and the pains of the rains of the abuses I would get if I disregarded her instructions.”
“You don’t need to be limited by mum,” said Hope. “If you’d performed everything the Sage wanted you do, I’m sure by now Mr. Goodluck had been here constructing the Bridge of Influence that will link here to there.”
“Is that so?” Vulnerability said with a beaming face and Hope gestured in the affirmative. “If that’s true, Hope, then I shall never give up on the island,” Vulnerability vowed with enormous strength of character, but his audacity bowed out for cowardice when they suddenly caught a glimpse of Limitation in the room.
“Vulne!” screamed Limitation. “What have I just heard you say?”
“I—em—er—uh, I—I—”Vulnerability stuttered uneasily.
“Don’t you know that our walls are special ones?” Limitation said critically. “They have ears and mouths—dilapidated walls—they tell me everything you’ve both discussed.”
“Walls don’t have ears!” Hope faulted. “You definitely heard our voices through the cracks on the walls.”
“Shut up!” Limitation yelled as she loosely whacked the jug before her and reached for Hope’s jugular. Then she turned to Vulnerability and said, “Vulne, it’s best to give up on the Island of Greatness today to avoid borrowing the Arrow of Sorrow tomorrow. Be content with the content of the dilapidated garden eggs in this dilapidated garden and forfeit the feat you are not fit for—the feat of getting to the island.”
“Yes! Yes! I’ve given up on the island already before Hope raised my hope just now. Mum—I shall now permanently forget about getting to that island,” Vulnerability promised passionately.
“That’s a very good decision my son.” Limitation hugged him. She soon left Vulnerability and came to Hope to speak soft words into his head. “Hopeless,” she addressed as she caressed his nape as though she cared for him. “There’s no place like home. Your home is Dilapidation and it will be best for you to remain in it. As you know, there are enough rooms here which your future wife can indwell with you. Stay alive here with your mother, brother, sister, together with your father, rather than taking the risk of travelling to a never-existing island where those aspiring to get to have ceased to exist now. Therefore, my son, it’s safe for you to dwell among the Mediocre family in Dilapidation dwelling place in Average Street in Happy-Go-Lucky town forever. Have you heard?” she concluded with a soft tone, expectantly.
“I have heard,” Hope replied sombrely and his mother smiled mildly. “But I’ve not accepted,” he added, sending to flight the light smiles on her cheeks. In a flash, Limitation’s white eyes had turned red and her grinning face green as she held Hope by the neck again, shoved him terribly and threw him at the floor. Then she went low, pinning him down with her heavy arms. Hope howled incessantly and struggled like a camel overburdened with loads as he tried to free himself from Limitation’s trammel. The more he struggled the less his strength was becoming. Her attention was soon diverted when Mediocrity rushed in with Standaloof, both of them wearing happy faces.
“Why are your dimples so deep into your cheeks this way?” she asked irately.
“It’s good news, Lim!” Mediocrity replied. “Standaloof can now stand on her own! She just did that now!” Without further ado, Mediocrity set her down and she stood on her feet unaided, to the shock of Hope and Vulnerability. Seeing his sister now standing, Hope rushed to her, crouched before her and pulled out a hand to beckon on her to come closer, but Limitation did not reckon with his idea, therefore she yelled in annoyance, “Stop! Stop! Stop!”
“But why?” asked Hope dauntlessly.
“It’s enough for Standaloof to stand only. As such, she’ll be living to fulfil the meaning of her name—Standaloof, not Walkaloof. Don’t try to turn my daughter into a toddler. I mean don’t teach her how to walk.”
“Hmm!” Mediocrity sighed. “What a wonderful wife I’ve got here! You have foresight!” He was staring at his wife with admiration.
“You’re right, Med. I foresaw the danger in allowing Standaloof know how to walk, so I shall forestall it. She’ll walk aloof aloft the pink river and then sink suddenly, drinking a whole lot of the messy water to death before getting to the brink.” Mediocrity nodded to her statement. However, Hope’s face remained stony. In anger, Limitation said, “Hope is the black horse in this house. He’s trying, each second, to influence Vulne’s personal interest. But I shall now put a demarcation between them.”
“But how’s that possible?” asked Mediocrity with interest. “Remember, their rooms are linked to each other by the numberless cracks on their wall. So, they’ll always communicate through them.” Limitation smiled and replied, “Sweet Med, trust me. I’m Limitation, therefore trust me to set a limit.”

Dyoungstar:

Thanks so much







I am highly honoured, didn't see this post in time, thanks for the dedication Sammy... for this reason I must read all your stories.

larride: nice one, enjoyed it while it lasted. Meanwhile sammy while didn't u continue with this story?