Efemena_xy:

*************************************************************

Back at the Olatunji's residence, Lola's home was a beehive of activity. Her father had received a call from Kingsley informing him that Lola would be discharged later that afternoon. He had also insisted on personally bringing her home himself, to which her father had been very pleased. Words could not express the gratitude he felt towards this young doctor, who had taken it upon himself to bring his beloved Lola back from the brink of death.

Mama Lola was overjoyed and bubbled with excitement when her husband passed the good news to her. Her infectious happiness had no bounds and seemed to have rubbed off on her grand daughter, Sandra. The little girl had been trailing after her grand mother, getting in the way but that didn't deter her in the least. Picking the little girl off the floor, she started off again singing one of her favourite church hymns.

"Jesus power, super power....super!...super!!....super power!!!..." she sang whilst twirling the little girl in her arms.

"Ogbanje power, powerless power...powerless!.....powerless!!....powerless power!!!...."

Doing a little mini dance, she bent forward adjusting her wrapper with one hand, Sandra in the other, while she took a couple of quick steps backwards, then forward, still dancing.

"Heeeeyyyyy!!! ... holy ghost power... mighty power... mighty!... mighty!! ... mighty power!!!..." She sang louder, doing a sudden frenzied twirl around. Sandra clutched on for dear life, giggling in her grandmother's hands.

"Iya Lola, haba! It's okay now", her husband admonished her playfully. "Yes, we thank God our daughter has recovered and would be with us soon, but we need to prepare for her home coming."

"The lord is good!! All the time!!" She chanted happily. "Amen Baba Lola. Our enemies have been put to shame O!", she continued.

Her husband smiled fondly at his wife. "Iya Lola, give me the child while you go get things ready. Remember we have a guest to entertain too. Let us show our appreciation to the good doctor for all he's done for us and our Lola", he added.

"Yes O!" She replied, handing the child over to him. "You are right. Let me go boil some yams. Lola needs some serious hot, hot, pounded yam and Ogbolo soup with fresh fish, after all pure water they shook my pikin with in the hospital".

"Iya Lola!" Her husband wagged a finger playfully at her. "She was on IV drips not pure water, and nobody shooked her!", he added, smiling fondly at his wife.

*******************************************************

The news of Lola's return to her parents home spread like the proverbial wild fire within Amuludun community. A small group rapidly turning into a crowd of people began streaming towards the Olatunji's residents- genuine friends, busybodies, petty thieves and even enemies all masquerading as well-wishers. Mama Ngozi tapped her friend Iya Samuel as they walked towards the Olatunji's residence... "Iya Samu (a shortened form of Samuel), I thought they said, Lola was dead, how can she have woken-up again?" Iya Samu looked at her friend with a smile... "They didn't say she died, they said she slept and didn't wake-up". "Ehn-Ehn!" Mama Ngozi burst-out, don't you know that someone that sleeps and fails to wake-up is dead? I remember whilst I was in the village, Nduka the palm-wine tapper fell from a palm tree. He was taken to the native dibia, Aluka. Aluka was well-known across the entire Umugari clan as the "life-saver". When other dibia's found a case too difficult, they sent such patients to Aluka and more often than not, those dying patients made a full recovery. In fact, Aluka's youngest wife was handed to him by her father who had been given-up for a painful death by his family until one of his friends brought him for treatment. Aluka identified the illness as cerebral malaria and dashed into the forest to get some special herbs that his late grandmother had showed him as the remedy for the illness. He crushed the herbs and made them into a thick paste after adding some palm oil to it. He ensured that his patient swallowed the remedy in 9 portions over 3 days. By the fourth day, the man was asking for his wife and children to come and take him home as he was feeling almost as healthy as a horse. Pa Chibuka thanked Aluka for saving his life and told him that he would be honoured if Aluka would marry is youngest daughter, Nneka who was 20 years old at the time, Aluka was 37. Aluka had been reluctant about marrying Nneka at first but upon casting his eyes on the beautiful damsel, he couldn't resist. Aluka asked his first wife Chioma for her blessing which is almost impossible to genuinely receive from any woman over such a matter. However, Chioma was without a child after 10 years of marriage to Aluka and when Aluka's mother begged her to give her son a chance to produce a heir who would continue in his footstep as a great dibia, She felt compelled to accept the Nneka as a second wife with the secret hope that the girl's entry into her home would be a blessing to her that might help her conceive too.

At this point, the two friends had covered two-thirds of the journey to Lola's home. Iya Samuel who had been listening patiently to Mama Ngozi's story now asked:"What happened to Nduka? I thought his story related to what happened to Lola" Mama Ngozi, wore a small frown, she didn't like her story being interrupted but she continued anyway. At the time Nduka was brought to Aluka, he was in a stable condition and was still speaking to people. However, in the dead of the night, he stopped talking or moving. Aluka thought Nduka was dead but he needed to confirm- to do this, he relied on a test. The test involved, picking a special leaf and rubbing it in the mouth of the patient. If the leaf turned black after an hour, the patient was stone dead. However, if it failed to change and retained its green colour, the patient still had traces of life in him. Aluka and the villagers believed that such people could not find their way to the land of the dead and if guided by people in this world, they could be brought back. After repeating the test for 3 days and getting the same result, Aluka felt helpless and asked Nduka's people to take him to the hospital in Onitsha to confirm his death or otherwise in order to avoid problems with the police as Aluka was weary of his rivals accusing him of murder. However, he knew that Nduka was not dead as his body had not shown any sign of decomposition at all.

When Nduka was eventually taken to the hospital by his family, the doctors said that his brain had died. Iya Samuel looked incredulously at Mama Ngozi and asked: "How can a person's brain die? It is either you are dead or alive." Mama Ngozi nodded, the doctors told Nduka's people to go and bury him as there was nothing that could be done for him. That is exactly what they did eventually. Aluka upon hearing this insisted that Nduka could have been guided bad to life but that he lacked the power to do it.

That is why I wonder- how can Lola be alive when she too went into a similar kind of death sleep that Nduka never woke from? Iya Samuel responded, "let us just say it is the work of God. We have reached Mama Lola's place. I beg don't repeat this your fantastic story there o".

maclatunji:

Aluka was well-known across the entire Umugari clan as the "life-saver".

UmuGARI?? Tunji weldone o

Ishilove:
UmuGARI?? Tunji weldone o

Hey! I couldn't think of any other name that won't be controversial. Stop implying stuff jor.

Arrgghhh!!

You've introduced a lot of new characters & sub plots here Mac. Where are we going or gonna do with them? Abeg give me some direction here...

Efemena_xy: Arrgghhh!!

You've introduced a lot of new characters & sub plots here Mac. Where are we going or gonna do with them? Abeg give me some direction here...

I created a detour and I have basically brought it back to the place where you stopped. Lola's parents are expecting guests, guests are now arriving including Mama Ngozi and Iya Samuel. All the other characters in that subplot are no longer active. it is about giving our readers a richer experience. That's what classic African literature is all about, a lot of sub-themes and subplots. Not just wham-slam! Here is the story in a straight line.

Feel free to continue the story as you like . No, I am not angry, just asking you to continue.

Me vex with you? I nor get time jor.

I know what classical African literature is about & sub plotting, etc. I've got no issues with that.

My beef with you is, you introducing these characters and doing nothing with them. Take your honourable Chief Talab a.k.a "heavy duty" for example? Donatus? The gateman at Sandra's school? Or even Shade?

Are they all redundant too? All I'm asking is that you find a way to tie them in with the main story, else we'll have no sense of direction.

If we all start introducing our own new characters each, we'll only end up defeating the purpose of this thread!

Efemena_xy: Me vex with you? I nor get time jor.

I know what classical African literature is about & sub plotting, etc. I've got no issues with that.

My beef with you is, you introducing these characters and doing nothing with them. Take your honourable Chief Talab a.k.a "heavy duty" for example? Donatus? The gateman at Sandra's school? Or even Shade?

Are they all redundant too? All I'm asking is that you find a way to tie them in with the main story, else we'll have no sense of direction.

If we all start introducing our own new characters each, we'll only end up defeating the purpose of this thread!

I honestly thought you are deeper than this- are we not writing a supposed to be "never ending story"? I see that you like to be "in control" of your characters and story. I like to allow them evolve. However, some characters will be flat whilst a few will be round.

Relax jor.

This thread is meant to bring different flavours- continue if you will.

Deeper than what?

Are you calling me a control freak??!!

Efemena_xy: Deeper than what?

Are you calling me a control freak??!!

I mean I expect you to know that a lot of the characters I have created are flat and won't be playing major roles in the story.A few will be round. I don't see why you're complaining so much. That's why I talked about thinking you're deep.

Oya stop frowning all over the place and stop writing. No. You're not a control freak, you just have strong opinions- I can manage that.

You know I am one of your big fans now, no need to get angry. Continue writing.

@Friends: please, can we limit the chatting on our threads.
A lot of members read these threads and probably won't appreciate the derailing and off topic discussions that occur in them.

This thread has a subject matter/title, please, let's keep it serious till it ends.
There is also a chat room for chit chats. Thanks!

Ishilove:
Choi, aaavicky nnwannem o!!! You like story ehn

Lol! No be small.

Am feeling you all,dis is is so interesting and inspiring. Pls kip d flag flying.........

maclatunji:

The news of Lola's return to her parents home spread like the proverbial wild fire within Amuludun community. A small group rapidly turning into a crowd of people began streaming towards the Olatunji's residents- genuine friends, busybodies, petty thieves and even enemies all masquerading as well-wishers. Mama Ngozi tapped her friend Iya Samuel as they walked towards the Olatunji's residence... "Iya Samu (a shortened form of Samuel), I thought they said, Lola was dead, how can she have woken-up again?" Iya Samu looked at her friend with a smile... "They didn't say she died, they said she slept and didn't wake-up". "Ehn-Ehn!" Mama Ngozi burst-out, don't you know that someone that sleeps and fails to wake-up is dead? I remember whilst I was in the village, Nduka the palm-wine tapper fell from a palm tree. He was taken to the native dibia, Aluka. Aluka was well-known across the entire Umugari clan as the "life-saver". When other dibia's found a case too difficult, they sent such patients to Aluka and more often than not, those dying patients made a full recovery. In fact, Aluka's youngest wife was handed to him by her father who had been given-up for a painful death by his family until one of his friends brought him for treatment. Aluka identified the illness as cerebral malaria and dashed into the forest to get some special herbs that his late grandmother had showed him as the remedy for the illness. He crushed the herbs and made them into a thick paste after adding some palm oil to it. He ensured that his patient swallowed the remedy in 9 portions over 3 days. By the fourth day, the man was asking for his wife and children to come and take him home as he was feeling almost as healthy as a horse. Pa Chibuka thanked Aluka for saving his life and told him that he would be honoured if Aluka would marry is youngest daughter, Nneka who was 20 years old at the time, Aluka was 37. Aluka had been reluctant about marrying Nneka at first but upon casting his eyes on the beautiful damsel, he couldn't resist. Aluka asked his first wife Chioma for her blessing which is almost impossible to genuinely receive from any woman over such a matter. However, Chioma was without a child after 10 years of marriage to Aluka and when Aluka's mother begged her to give her son a chance to produce a heir who would continue in his footstep as a great dibia, She felt compelled to accept the Nneka as a second wife with the secret hope that the girl's entry into her home would be a blessing to her that might help her conceive too.

At this point, the two friends had covered two-thirds of the journey to Lola's home. Iya Samuel who had been listening patiently to Mama Ngozi's story now asked:"What happened to Nduka? I thought his story related to what happened to Lola" Mama Ngozi, wore a small frown, she didn't like her story being interrupted but she continued anyway. At the time Nduka was brought to Aluka, he was in a stable condition and was still speaking to people. However, in the dead of the night, he stopped talking or moving. Aluka thought Nduka was dead but he needed to confirm- to do this, he relied on a test. The test involved, picking a special leaf and rubbing it in the mouth of the patient. If the leaf turned black after an hour, the patient was stone dead. However, if it failed to change and retained its green colour, the patient still had traces of life in him. Aluka and the villagers believed that such people could not find their way to the land of the dead and if guided by people in this world, they could be brought back. After repeating the test for 3 days and getting the same result, Aluka felt helpless and asked Nduka's people to take him to the hospital in Onitsha to confirm his death or otherwise in order to avoid problems with the police as Aluka was weary of his rivals accusing him of murder. However, he knew that Nduka was not dead as his body had not shown any sign of decomposition at all.

When Nduka was eventually taken to the hospital by his family, the doctors said that his brain had died. Iya Samuel looked incredulously at Mama Ngozi and asked: "How can a person's brain die? It is either you are dead or alive." Mama Ngozi nodded, the doctors told Nduka's people to go and bury him as there was nothing that could be done for him. That is exactly what they did eventually. Aluka upon hearing this insisted that Nduka could have been guided bad to life but that he lacked the power to do it.

That is why I wonder- how can Lola be alive when she too went into a similar kind of death sleep that Nduka never woke from? Iya Samuel responded, "let us just say it is the work of God. We have reached Mama Lola's place. I beg don't repeat this your fantastic story there o".

***********************************************************************************************************

It was nearly three o'clock.

Now fully dressed in her own clothes and ready to leave, Lola sat in the only available chair by her bed while she waited for Kingsley. Although the newly fitted air conditioning made the air in the female ward quite cool, Lola could feel beads of sweat form lightly on her forehead. Her palms felt hot and clammy as she nervously picked at the seams of her dress, while her stomach squelched noisily in nervous anticipation. She had barely been able to eat her lunch served an hour ago and had tossed and turned the food over in her plate, before pushing it away in exasperation. She twitched her nose slightly as the strong smell of antiseptic filled the air. She had never liked hospitals. As she stared blankly around her, she noticed that there were about a dozen beds in the ward, with some of the curtains fully drawn around them while the patients slept. A few others were sitting up in bed, either discussing with themselves or their visitors. The idle chatter of their conversation flowed around her.

Clasping and unclasping her entwined fingers on her lap, she suddenly felt claustrophobic. The walls seemed to be closing in on her. Picking up her chair, she made her way towards the edge of the room and positioned her seat by the window. As she looked out through the freshly cleaned windows onto the bright, sunny streets, she could see tons of people milling out on the dusty pavements, their colourful clothes intermingling with their equally colourful surroundings. Vendors displayed their wares from wooden kiosks on either sides of the street, while hawkers selling everything imaginable item under the sun, haggled noisily with prospective buyers. Even the Okada cyclists weren't left out in the hub of activity as they cheerfully traded insults with pedestrians and bus drivers, each jostling for their perceived right of way on the narrow streets.

I wish I could teleport myself from here onto one of those crazy bikes, Lola thought to herself. That way, I won't have to face Kingsley or explain about Sandra, his unknown daughter to him. She could feel her mouth go dry as she realized her parents didn't really know who or what Kingsley met to her! She remembered her mother's quizzed looks at her when she had regained consciousness, and was reeling from the shock of facing Kingsley for the first time after three years. She had carefully avoided her mother's puzzled stare and hidden behind the cloak of tiredness that morning. She had always known that her day of reckoning would eventually come, but now that it had, she was in no way prepared for it. Sighing deeply, she closed her eyes and placed her forehead on the cool glass pane.

"Busy out there, isn't it?" She heard that familiar, deep, beautiful rich voice behind her. Her eyes flew open as she turned round to face him. She could feel her her heart flip flopping madly in her chest as she looked at him. Gosh! What's wrong with me? You'd think I'm seventeen again! she thought to herself. Get a grip Lola! She chided herself.

"Indeed it is", she replied, a little too stiffly as she got up from her seat. "And it's not the rush hour traffic though, is it?" She asked.

"Nope, not yet. But it does get worse in an hour or two from now", he answered, while staring at her a bit too intently. She suddenly felt self-conscious and wrapped her arms around her defensively.

"Ready?" he asked, as he stretched an arm to her.

"Yes, please." She responded as she took hold of his arm.

"Cool. My car's just round the corner at the staff parking lot. If we leave now, we can avoid the worst of the traffic before it builds up", he said as he helped her to her feet. Arm in arm, the walked out of the female ward and headed towards the exit lifts.

************************************************

The feel of the hot, humid November afternoon heat on her skin, as they stepped out of the cool hospital building was a shock to her system. Although it was just three o'clock in the afternoon, it felt like it was noonday and Lola could feel herself starting to perspire under the direct rays of the sun.

Away from the confines of the hospital and the constraints of doctor-patient professionalism, Kingsley could let his guard down a bit more. He wanted more than ever, more than the living breath he drew in, to suddenly hold, hug and clasp Lola tightly to himself. He so much wanted to close that one inch distance between them, place his arms behind her waist and pull her body close to him...so close that they could feel their hearts beating against each other as though as one, in perfect unison. The need was so tangible that it hurt and he didn't know how much longer he could bear the torture of having her this close, oh so close to him but yet far. With superhuman effort, he willed himself to hold back. He had only just found her and he certainly didn't want to risk scaring her away from him.

As they made their way towards Kingsly's sleek ivory coloured Lexus CT 200h, hybrid luxary compact car, parked under the shade of a mango tree, Lola let out a surprised gasp as she beheld the item of beauty. She stood rooted to the ground in awe as Kingsley outstretched an arm and unlocked the doors remotely.

"Like it?" He asked, smiling at her as she stared mesmerized by it.

"Er..yes...it IS beautiful" She answered, shyly. He seems to have come a long way in just three years, she thought to herself.

"Thanks". Nudging her gently towards the passenger seat, he opened up the door for her, holding her hand as she settled in the car. Once seated, he gently closed the door then walked round to the driver's seat.

"This is just one of the perks that comes with the consultancy position I hold in the hospital, Lola" he said in a quiet, almost sad tone to her, as they both fastened their seat belts. But all of these mean absolutely nothing to me if I don't have you, my darling, to share them with he thought silently to himself, as he turned on the ignition switch.

As she fastened her seatbelt, Kingley switched on the air conditioning and slipped in AZ's CD rendition of the musical last night. Lola drew a sudden sharp intake of breath as she recognized the sultry tunes of the R'n B hit track. It was the same track they'd both been listening that faithful night their daughter, Sandra was conceived. She could feel the tears hotly sting the back of her eyes as the memories of that passion-filled night came rushing back, flooding her senses.

She half turned in her seat to find Kingsley watching her intently.

"Lola", his voice broke, thick with unbridled passion, as he leaned towards her, gently holding her hands in his again like he had done earlier that morning. "Do you remember this song? Our Song?"

She nodded, not trusting her self to speak coherently as she was struggling to hold herself from breaking down before him. She used all her inner will strength to stop herself from reaching out her hand to gently caress his face. It was a vain effort as she suddenly gave in to the temptation, and gently placed her palm on his cheek.

That was all the encouragement he needed and with a groan wrenched from deep within him, he held both her hands and covered them with kisses

"Lola...my darling...my sweet baby...I've missed you so much..."

************************************************************

Hmmmm. E don dey happen. Wonder what happens next. Kudos, Lady.

More, more, more!
Efe, more power to ur elbow!

Arrrrgh, Efe you are goooood!!!

So this is a romance story? I now know why I haven't been motivated to continue...I am not a fan of romance .

^^ Lol! Thanks Ishi

Nope, it's not strictly a romance story. Come to think of it, the theme could be anything, depending on whatever catches your fancy / interest.

Feel free to contribute my dear. As long as you're comfortable. The important thing here is consistency & a seamless flow.

@ avicky & infamous, thanks for the compliments...you both both make me blush.

Nice one all!

More, more! Pleasseee!!

^^ Easy tiger.

Nnaa...U're such a wonderful writer.Kudos!!!

Amaka impatiently beeped her horn as she waited for Hassan to unlock the massive gates that led to her home.

Heck! It was just gone past six-thirty and she had quite a lot of preparatory work to do before the arrival of their guests. Although her day had started off a bit slow and sluggishly, things had gradually picked up shortly after Uche's phone call that morning. Her stint at the hair dresser's beauty saloon had been eventful. A bit too eventful for her liking.

Against her better judgement, Amaka had decided to try out a newly opened saloon, situated at one of the posher ends of the city, on Kemi's recommendation. The beauty saloon had been teaming with an unusual large number of customers that afternoon and having only an hour of her lunch break to spare, Amaka had been pressed for time. She had stood undecided at the doorway, contemplating making an exit to her usual hairdressers, when the proprietress, a friendly lady in her mid thirties walked up to her.

"Hello madam, welcome to simply divine. Can I be of assistance to you?" She asked in impeccable English.

"Er, yes. I was hoping to have a quick wash and set with some hair conditioning too. But I see it's really busy here and I've only got an hour to spare", she answered.

"Ah! On your lunch break then, are you?" The lady smiled sweetly at her. "Not a problem madam, I'll ask one of my girls to assist you", she added.

"Thanks, that would be nice", Amaka responded.

"Here, let me help you with your coat and bag. Would you like to have your hair steamed too?" She offered, looking at Amaka's hair. "You do have beautifully long tresses" she added impressively. "I bet they would look even better with a bit of dry steaming", she continued. "And it won't cost you a Naira more, as it's part of our special promotional offer", she added.

"Ah! Now you've got me hooked. Yes, that sounds good to me, as long as it won't take more than an hour", Amaka conceded.

"Nope, that won't be a problem" the lady answered. "By the way, my name is Stella but most people call me Iya Samuel" she added, stretching a friendly hand to Amaka.

"I'm Amaka, and it's a pleasure to meet you", Amaka responded, accepting the the handshake.

*******************************************

^ Hehehe!

Emmandus and Splendblex, thanks for your comments - much appreciated

I see you Mac...

Continue pls,keep up d good work.

^^ Thanks dear.

I am tempted to continue, but I think at this point, it's only fair that I stand back and give others the chance to contribute too.

Don't want to come across as a selfish writer...

Efemena_xy: ^^ Thanks dear.

I am tempted to continue, but I think at this point, it's only fair that I stand back and give others the chance to contribute too.

Don't want to come across as a selfish writer...

no, u aint selfish. Pls cont.

Hoyeenz:
no, u aint selfish. Pls cont.

yes,please continue...

Efemena_xy: ^^ Thanks dear.

I am tempted to continue, but I think at this point, it's only fair that I stand back and give others the chance to contribute too.

Don't want to come across as a selfish writer...

Feel free to continue, somebody else might get encouraged to join you.

Oh! The story ends here , that i hope not ,kudos to all the contributing authors . You guys wrote quite a tale.

Pls continue d story o. E don dey sweet :-)

Hoyeenz:
no, u aint selfish. Pls cont.

No.

Splendblex: yes,please continue...

No. No.

maclatunji:

Feel free to continue, somebody else might get encouraged to join you.

No. No. No.

Lyzbet: Pls continue d story o. E don dey sweet :-)

No. No. No. No.