He had few friends not because he was not friendly but since his house was up a hill, it was difficult for anyone to come visit and so most of those he saw at home were patients and once a while when his school friends gotsick, he would also see them but when in school, he enjoyed the company of everyone. When the result of his school certificate exams came, it was not surprising that he passed all his papers and he had already sat for the matriculations examinations so he waited for the results of that too.

The only distraction he got was not from humans, it was from the machinery used by the company to grind the rocks excavated into little bits. From his home, he could see the process and the machines too work. When they first moved in, he was young and used to sit down and watch them for hours but now he was used to them. He even took atour of the whole place once and knew the names of the machines and what functions they performed. The sounds did not bother him anymore rather he got used to their noise and when they shut down on Sundays, he missed the sounds of the machines at work as he was accustomed to the machines.Once a while, when the rocks were running out, they drill little holes and put in sticks of dynamite in the big ones and send messages to everyone to clear out as the sticks explode and break them down into bits. From his house, the effect of the blast could always be seen and whenever he could spare the time, he watches the blasts as rocks go flying in all angles.

Today he read on the board that there would be a blast in about 5 days and he felt his heart beat faster as he got excited. When he got home, he told his father;

“I saw the warning today, they will be blasting the rocks at the hill on the left in 5 days father, it was pasted all over the village”

Ojoade was lost in thought as he was thinking of how to get a rare plant for a pregnant woman and he just nodded. Tunde knew when not to disturb his father especially when he sat down without lookingat anything in particular.

He left and walked towards the kitchen to see if he could get something to eat when he heard his father call him.

“Babatunde”

He walked out with a piece of yam in his hands;

“You called me father”

“I hope you read the warning the company wrote well? I don’t mind you watching the blast but please make sure you are aware of the distance they wrote as if those rocks hit anyone, the person will most certainly die”

He laughed a little

“Don’t worry father, our hill is a safe distance away, the only thing we should worry about is the noise. And we should watch it together too. It will be good for you to get some fresh air and stretch your legs a little. We can take some fruits with us and have a picnic there”

Ojoade smiled and said;

“Are you the doctor in this house or I am? What if I told you I walk more distance everyday than you do eh? Are you aware of that? Besides, I am already bored with those blasts, it is always the same thing; just rocks flying around the place and the ground trembling. I can’t also go because I will not be around. I have to leave in three days time to go pluck some roots from deep in the forest and It might take some time before I get back. You can go spend some time with your mum (aunty) until I come back so you would not be lonely”

Tunde did not like being sent off down there. He like the woman but that would mean he would miss the blast and he did not like that so he said;

“I will be fine here by myself. Besides if your patients come and not see anyone, they might lose some confidence and you have always said that the mind is very important when health is concerned”

The old man nodded again. He knew the boy wanted to stay so he could watch the blast and he had nothing against that. The boy hadgrown into a man and all his life he had worked hard to be a dutiful son. He was not the type to get in trouble so he had no problems with him staying in the house alone.

“Okay you can stay but I will send a message to her that you are here alone so she can send you some food. I would have said you can prepare your own food but you know how protective she gets of you”

“Okay father. I want to go down to the local government office, it seems they had gotten us some new clothes so let me go receive them. They would bring them if I don’t go butit will be rude and I will use that opportunity to say hello to aunty”

The old man gave no reply to this as none was expected. The Chairman buys cloths for the two of them when he wishes and he has always been grateful. Ojoade went back to his thoughts and thought of the plants he plans to get on his next trip. The plants around him was useless now and with time passing, he has to go further into the forest and spend more time there.

are we there yet?

dubem3: are we there yet?

I don't know where there is ooo but one thing is sure. I am hungry

Ollyfad: i am beginin 2 tink dis story is abt ojoades adoptd son.am i d only 1 avin dis tot?

ijebabe:

So is this kid the Tri-Paternal son? His biological dad; Ojoade, who will adopt him obviously. So who's the third? Please come and complete this story!!

You are not the only one

dubem3:

could you please not adultrate this story for us by putting ideas into the mynd of the writter?

We are free to guess. Mynd has a mind of his own haha

I feel Ojoade hasn't lived up to his full potential. He started off with so much promise

Mynd, I love your introduction of Tunde. Nicely done

Mynd_44:
I don't know where there is ooo but one thing is sure. I am hungry

walk into thread :read dis and run out to return with mama orobo beans n bread with chilled u no now for my man mynd

ijebabe: I feel Ojoade hasn't lived up to his full potential. He started off with so much promise

yes! Na Mikel be that.

ijebabe: I feel Ojoade hasn't lived up to his full potential. He started off with so much promise

He never embraced his powers na

mynd fire on i love ur style. More thunder to ur ink.

Testing
Test2
Test3

not working......I don die....please people how do I write in itallics?

Mynd_44: Testing
Test2
Test3

not working......I don die....please people how do I write in itallics?

You did it right Mynd, ask Cuddles.

firestar:

You did it right Mynd, ask Cuddles.

Oh.....then I guess my phone does not show them as Itallics then....I used test....this should show on a PC as itallics then....

Thanks ma'am and good morning

Ojoade had 3 days to prepare for his trip and he only packed the usual things he packs when going. His staff for support, clothes, and a wrapper for spreading on the floor when he wants to sleep. He never liked the idea of shoes so they don’t come into play at all. He never liked them and he prefers walking with his barefoot. It is Tunde who like the idea of wearing shoes and he had at least 8 pairs. Ojoade never asked what he used 8 pairs for after all, they were bought for the boy and it made him glad. He set out early in the morning after giving Tunde strict instruction to leave a good distance away from the hill when it is blasted so as not to get hurt and also to make sure he went for his meals with his “aunty”. She came uphill to see him the previous night. She did not raise an objection to Tunde staying in the house alone she just insisted that the boy came down for his meals 3 times every day until Ojoade returned from his trip. She realized that the boy is grown up and in certain families, he would have a farm to himself which he will be entrusted with.

Tunde too was happy with the arrangement. He could stay up by himself and watch the village from his hill, run around the house and do as he wished without having anyone supervise. It was not as though he got into mischief but the thought of independent thrilled him and got him excited. H already planned how he will live with his father gone,he planned his trips down hill for meals and maybe go around the village on the market day to see what was on display. He rarely bought anything from the market because herarely handled money but he usually love just looking at the items and seeing what cultural artifacts were on display.

Early in the morning, Ojoade woke the boy upafter washing and checking to make sure he had everything packed. He did not eat because he was not a fan of early breakfasts (They made him frequent the toilet. And the boy helped him carry his stuff which was neatly wrapped in his blanket incase it gets cold. He did not know where his trip would lead him but he was sure he would spend not less than 7 days and that was assuming he could get all the herbs he needed. He had to get the herbs in bits as even if he got a whole load of them, they still lost strength as the time they spent around grew longer. He once thought of taking the boy with him but there was no point. He chose not to involve the boy in issues like this and he would keep it that way.

At the edge of the forest, he stopped and said;

“You can go back now Tunde. I suggest you go to your aunty’s place from here and have breakfast before heading home instead of wasting your strength going up and down that hill”

“I wished I could father but I have not brushed my mouth and I don’t want to eat without doing that first”

“Must you brush boy?”

Ojoade looked to his side and cut off a branch from a bitterleaf plant. He handed it to the boy and said;

“Use this on your teeth, they work better thatthe brush and paste you use every day. They will make you tongue wake up and your tastebuds will be more receptive than ever”

The boy looked at the plant and shook his head.

“I will rather go up the hill and do it my way. Thank you”

Ojoade shook his head, smiled and told the boy to keep his distance from the blast then turned around and started his trip. He did notknow where he was going but the plants always called to him. now their voices were silent but once he got to a distance, the voices will come faintly at first but they will surely come and since each plant has its own voice, his direction will be decided by where the voice of the plant he wants is from. He out the bitterleaf stem in his mouth and chewed. The bitter taste hit his tongue and he wondered why the boy hates the plant but prefers his brush so much. He had been using the plants since his birth and his teeth were still white and strong. Lost in his own thoughts, he walked on using his staff for support and his baggage tied around his neck so it rested on his side.
****************************************************************************************
Lekan got out of his office, he had got a call from the engineers at the blast site that they were encountering some problems and that pissed him off. Problems needed solutions and solutions might take time which means there will be delays which means a reduction in output. He hated down time. Filling it has never given him any joy either. He had tried to ask what the problem was but the engineers just said he will be needed at the base of the hill where they were inspecting the charges.

The charges were laid the night before and computer analysis had already shown the section of the hill that will be blown off. Everything was calculated and nothing was left to chance. That’s how he loved doing his things

The notice had been served and he saw the Local government chairman as well as the traditional leaders to make sure everyone gotthe message. He even paid for a town crier to go around telling people when the blast was going to happen. As a rule, the blasts were done in the afternoon.

Daylight is compulsory so if anything went wrong, light would not be a problem so as he drove there, he wondered what the problem could be just 2 hours to the scheduled time.

He pulled up to where the car could reach and he started walking the rest of the way. He was trying hard to suppress his anger as he heard a sudden noise behind him. he turned to see a large Rattle snake coiled up on his left hissing as though it was just told there will be a delay in it’s plan. Lekan looked and said;

“I can feel your frustrations too. I hate delays and I guess I am getting in the way of your meal. Well feed well and try to get out of here fast or else you might not live to eat another meal”

He moved his eyes and as he was walking away he heard a voice. Cold and unnatural. The voice did not in any way sound human and it sounded more like a hiss than actual voices. The voice said;

“You will do well to take your advise youngman as you might be the one who will end up not having another meal after the one you had last”
Startled, Lekan looked back and saw no one, he looked to where the snake was and discovered that it was gone. His face broke into a frown but he dismissed the voice as anassumption of some joke being played by someone hiding around somewhere. He did not even leave the chance of some unnatural voice at work as he kept walking towards theblast site. As he got closer, he saw the workers standing around themselves as though they were looking at one thing.

“This better not be another sacrifice else I will be having the chief engineer’s head for dragging me here”

He got to them and saw that apart from the engineers and staff, there was also three men dressed in traditional clothing just standing there waiting

The chief engineer came to meet Lekan and said

“Sir these men said we cannot carry out the blast until they meet with you”

Talking snake...hmmm.

When are we expecting the next update Mynd? Lest I forget, that's a nice work u got there.

Nw this is awesome!

Waiting for more!

Mynd_44:
He never embraced his powers na

I know but his chapter feels like its come to a close. All that promise gone to waste. I weep

Perhaps Lekan was speaking Parseltongue to the snake?

quite interesting...can handly wait to see more

Nice one,mynd, oya tell me more oliver twist.

Damex333: Nice one,mynd, oya tell me more oliver twist.

30 mins....and please nobody should post a reply with the next 30mins I will say when I am done. I take God beg una

Lekan cursed under his own breath. He knew he should have envisaged something like this happening but the previous operations around here has been without any problems so he had assumed all will be well. The men however looked nothing like the chiefs he had meeting with infact if he was asked to describe them, he would call them witch doctors.

They had on the uniform of cults
of the old days and he has been in villages long enough to know what they looked and dressed like. Their faces showed they were old and their eyes were almost shrinking intotheir sockets. He shook his head at the engineer and asked;

“Why did you not handle this yourself? Why bring me all the way here when you could have just told them to go away that you could not stop the blast?”

“I am sorry sir but they were determined to see you”

“I have to do everything around here” he thought to himself and he walked towards the old men

He looked back towards the men and he nodded, telling them to give them some space; the men might want a bribe and as much as he was not prepared to give them, he was not interested in disgracing the old men in front of his staff.

He greeted them and said;

“You asked to see me sirs. Is there a problem? You do realize that this place has been marked off limits for the main time as any moment from now we will be blasting this rocks and if anything goes wrong, we don’t want any causality”

One of the men spoke up;

“I hope you realize what you are doing young man. I hope you know the consequences of what your actions are”

Lekan said;

“I am aware sirs be rest assured. By blasting this section, we can grind them into little bits and they will be used in construction sites, to build roads and they will generate funds. Funds which some of it will be used to develop this place more. It will go into building new classroom wings, help with the water supply, provide more jobs, help the government supply you with fertilizers and farm implements for your farms, and send the intelligent ones of your children to universities to come back and add more valueto the life around here. If those are the consequence, my good sirs, I am fully aware”

The old man smiled at the young man’s intelligent and said;

“This hill has been marked by our ancestors as forbidden and no one is permitted to take even a piece of rock from it else there will be disaster. This danger has been there since the days of our ancestors and the three of us have been charge with the protection of this hill. It must not be opened”

Lekan was not new to stories like this, he was actually expecting to hear them say something like the hill was inhabited by a god who protects the village or perhaps that a village lives inside the rock or another silly story but this man was not hitting the point. He was in no mood to be delayed anymore and so he asked;

“Is there a reason why the hill is off limit? There has to be a reason and besides, we have taken pieces of the hill when we wanted to analyze the properties of it and nothing evil happened so I don’t get your point”

The old man said;

“This is our warning and message, leave this hill and go for the rest or you will regret your actions. Heed the words of the wise or end up in your folly” and they turned around and left.

He stood there wondering and thinking

“That’s it?” No “we would not leave here and if you will blast, you will blast us with it”? This was the first time he would encounter resistance so easy and he liked this village for that. He turned around and called the engineer.

“Do you have a security guy you can spare?”

“Yes sir we have some we can. Is there anything wrong?

“No just that we will need two men to follow those old men and make sure they are out of the protected area before we blast. I don’t want some old person dying on my watch.

He called at the old men and asked them to wait as he walked towards them

“Sirs, as you are aware, there is a range at which you are allowed here and I will have two of my men follow you. They are not going to do you harm, but to ensure that you are safely out of the protected area so as to avoid any complications”

The old men did not utter a word but turned around and kept walking at their pace

Two men were drafted to follow the old men.Not force them but just to walk behind the old men and report back when they got out of the perimeter.

Lekan looked back at the engineer and asked;

"How are we doing? Is everything in place?”

“Yes sir, we are good to go and we can even still blast at the time we wanted to in the first place. All we need is the all clear by the men behind the old men and we are good”

“Okay, I will be watching from the office and don’t forget that you and your men also have to leave here. I know it is a silly reminder but just get out before you blast”

He turned around and walked towards his car while calculating the tons of rocks he was expecting from the little part of the hill to be blasted

Ojoade had walked most of the last two days and it was beginning to have a toll on his legsand feet. For food he had fruits and tubers from the forest itself and he drank from the rivers and streams he passed through. After half a day of walking away from his village, heheard the first calls from the plants as each ofthem has a particular voice and he heard them first of all faintly then louder until they were almost screaming. The stream also had a voice and so did edible fruits and tubers. He however made sure he did not touch any fruit or food which he thought was planted deliberately so as not to steal from another person’s farm.

He had started collecting plants and he was almost done but he needed one more thing. Just a particular plant whose voice he had notheard since he walked out of the village. He needed the plant to cure the pregnant woman and she was one of the reasons he came to pick the plants. Just three leaves will be enough but he could not even hear it’s call.It was almost as though it was dead. He felt tired and knew he needed to rest a little as the sun was high in the sky so he found a huge tree whose undergrowth was free of weeds of spread his blanket on the ground.

He made a circle with Taba seeds as this kept snakes and other reptile away due to it’srepugnant smell and he laid down on the cloth. Before long, sleep took him as he drifted into a long dreamless rest.

He woke up what felt like hours later to feel a shadow covering his eyes from the sun. A shape that did not feel like a branch was standing over him blocking the dun from himand even with his eyes closed, he felt it’s presence. Instinctively, he felt the powers he had always had come alive in himself as he felt a bolt on his fingertips ready to rip out and lash at whatever it was that was in front of him.

Slowly, he opened his eyes to see the shape of a human being in front of him, the human appeared to be a child as Ojoade got into a sitting position but still the lightning was in his fingers, even his eyes felt like it could emit flames the way they burnt. He had heard that the God Sango could do that but he never could do for reasons he did not understand.

The human appeared to be a child not more that 13 but something about the child made him uneasy. The boy did not have any cloth on. Instead, it had a dressing made of dried woven together to cover its privates. The head was a little deformed and the stomach was bulged.

The human appeared to be male and in his hands was a little mat. Ojoade need not be told what was standing in front of him. it wasa bush baby. An human child whose mother had died in her pregnancy. When pregnant women died in Yoruba customs, they would be taken deep into the bush to be buried but sometimes, spirits wake up the child in them and they are born and raised by the spirits until they are able to fend for themselves. The only possessions they have is their mat whichthey never part with. It is also rumored that anyone who can collect a mat from them will be rich as the mat will deliver money to the person daily.

Ojoade eased up a little as creatures such as this have not been known to hurt mortals without provocation which is mostly when the mortal try to steal the mat. Ojoade knew the creature would be far older that the age he calculated perhaps older than he himself. He looked up and asked;

“Good afternoon, what can I do for you?”

The creature looked towards him and spoke in a low voice;

“You are sleeping in my sleeping place and I want to sleep”

Ojoade looked around and said;

“Apologies, I am just a traveler looking for a plant, I did not know this is your space” he got up and started packing his blanket when the creature spoke again,

“You would not try to take my mat from me would you?”

Ojoade looked and said;

I don’t need your mad, I have mine and it is comfortable for me, you can have your space, I will go find another place to lay my head and hide from the sun. Again, I am very sorry”

And Ojoade packed his blanket inside his luggage and started going away without looking back until the creature called him back.

“Old man, what plant did you say you were looking for?”

Ojoade said the name and the creature replied;

“Follow the voice of the river. She is the reason you can’t hear the plant as the voice of the river hides it. On the banks you will find the plant you seek”

Ojoade nodded and said his thanks and followed the river as he was instructed with the hope that he would find the plant he seekand go home to his son

Thank you......

Next update coming soon. If PHCN no eff up oooo

Mynd_44: Thank you......

thank you what? Come back here!!!

brokoto: thank you what? Come back here!!!

Come here ke? Why na? Wetin happen?

brokoto: thank you what? Come back here!!!

Greedy boy

Mynd_44: Thank you......

See as everybody disappear to give you chance
Thanks Myndi