Thanks for dedicating d longest post to me...
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RIDE ON BOSS

I really love the story. I just started reading it.

Cricket6: I really love the story. I just started reading it.

Cricket6 welcome on board jare

To Damex33(3)

story continuation...

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
THE DUPLICITY SCHOOL OF THOUGHT

Hope and Idea met Mr. Cheat in the Duplicity School of Thought. It was the first time they were stepping in there. Idea had in his purse the money left from Seekbeauty’s handful and had securely hid it in his pocket, out of Hope’s reach. Before they would be led to Mr. Cheat, they would be scrutinised to be sure they had nothing malicious with them. A student approached them, offered his hand for a shake and then said, “I’m Dexterity and I’m assigned to search you.”
“Why?”
“Because we wouldn’t know your intentions.”
“Intentions?” spoke Idea with slight tension.
“Yes. You might be possessing Dagger of Danger with which you might have planned to strike our proprietor dead—or perhaps the Wick of Wickedness you might have chosen to ignite on Mr. Cheat’s face.”
“Search us!” they spoke in singleness of heart and spread-eagled for Dexterity to begin the search. Without delaying, the searcher poked his hands into Hope’s pockets at first and Idea’s later. He brought the purse out of Idea’s pocket and paused. He opened the purse and looked into it.
“Perhaps here’s where you’ve hidden the dagger or wick for a hidden agenda.” He found the money and exclaimed, “Unbelievable! You have this much in your purse?”
Idea nodded.
“Anyway, that’s no problem, since cash don’t harm. Keep your purse safe. I’ve found nothing harmful in there.” Dexterity handed it over to Idea who received it in haste and kept in his pocket again.
Idea was highly dispirited and displeased at Dexterity’s revelation, which he was sure had made the secret known to Hope. He began insinuating that Hope would ask him for the source of the cash, but till they met Mr. Cheat Hope didn’t do that.
Mr. Cheat led them through a large hallway, together with many others. The hall seemed to the boys the most commodious they’d ever seen. The arch-shaped fanlights flickered their beauties into the eyes of the audience and ignited the impetus in them to take the risk. The school itself appeared the most attractive of all schools in Happy-Go-Lucky, yet the most affordable. However, an irony stood on the way of the Duplicity School of Thought: students spent more acquiring compulsory notebooks and test-books which they would keep buying over and over again, since their mates wouldn’t stop stealing them over and over again. Such unplanned expenses would eventually amount to two or three times the fees they had paid.
Mr. Craftiness, the student counsellor of the school, had taught the students how to make ‘two’ appear as ‘four’ and make a tree look like three. He’d also made them know how to count their ten fingers and have eight, and how to pick people’s purses and pockets while making the victims feel that they had only been helped. Dexterity was the best in that.
Mr. Cheat had put Mr. Craftiness, an excellent orator, on the podium to give them orientation concerning the journey they would make. At the sight of the crowd in the hall, Hope and Idea developed strong belief in the whole process. They listened with rapt interest as Mr. Craftiness said, “In life you don’t stay stagnant. You need to move forward and vow not to set your eyes upon Doubt. After then can you successfully have your pennies conveyed to the wonder bank. At this point in time, our highway is the Megalowealth way and our destination is—”
“Wonder bank!” all souls in the hall bawled as they balled their fists and fisted the desks before them in excitement.
“Bring two penny, get a million in three weeks; bring four get as much as tens of millions. Only Father Creator knows how much you shall have if a thousand penny you shall bring!” Mr. Craftiness looked around, just to be sure that everyone was carried away in thought. Then he said, “There is a secret. The more people you refer to this wonder-banking system, the more the amount of cash you earn—but this is not necessary. Lest I forget, you may want to ask what we shall do with your money. We trade with them of course! Forest trading it’s called—in the forest of foreigners. We meet the foreigners from the Island of Greatness there and they sell costly goods to us at very cheap prices. Then we enter into towns and cities near here to sell them at exorbitant prices. This we do daily and thus generate such gargantuan sum to pay you in three weeks.”
“It’s quite clear!” they spoke their minds in sincerity, having had their anxieties demolished by Mr. Craftiness’ comprehensible expatiation.
“You don’t need to pay a penny for your fare because the Van of Vanity is free of charge, being large enough to convey you all at once. Good luck as you embark on this journey. Mr. Craftiness descended the podium with careful steps as he received much applause, but he climbed back there again and said, “I almost forgot. It’s good to entertain your questions, just as we’ve entertained you all.” He hadn’t completed his speech when a young man rose swiftly and said, “I’m Avarice from the Street of the Needy. Apart from getting this wealth, another thing I need is to get to the Island of Greatness itself. I’m dying to be there, no matter the cost.”
Mr. Craftiness giggled and replied, “Did I forget to tell you this? Wonder bank is only a temporary destination. You’ll be having your permanent stay in the Island of Greatness—this time you shan’t get there in the van, but rather through the Airway of Craftiness.” He paused.
“How?”
“I, Craftiness, have crafted a giant bird with iron called the Aircraft of Craftiness. It takes you right into the heart of the island through the air.”
“Really?” they were puzzled.
“Yes! Really! But unlike the Van of Vanity you’ll have to pay a tangible sum to be eligible for the noble flight called the Mobility of Nobility. Why worry, since you’d have been overwhelmed with wealth in three weeks?”
“No worry!”
“No worry. A flight in the air is more of adventure than a swim in that cursed river called Achievement. Here’s the shortest shortcut to Greatness.”
“No worry!” they chanted on as though enchanted by Craftiness’ speeches.
With the chants still in the mouth of everyone, even while leaving the hall, Hope and Idea were double sure of the success of the plan.
When Hope opened the topic concerning the money Dexterity had found in Idea’s purse, he told him a lie again. “I, erm...it was the remainder of the money I stole to get us out of the cell.”
“I see!” Hope replied, smiling.
“What!” Idea yelled suddenly. He had upended the purse after unzipping it, but no money had poured out of it.
“What again?”
“Missing!” he said. “My money’s missing!” He shook the purse.
“Missing?” Hope asked. “How?”
“Don’t know, but I’m sure it wasn’t lost before we got to the hall.”
“Why do you think so?”
“Have you forgotten Dexterity confirmed it?” Idea spoke. “I’m sure someone in the hall took it while we were all lost in the no-worry shouts.”
“It’s possible!” said Hope.
“And it’s impossible for Dexterity to have had it. We didn’t see him do that, did we?”
“We didn’t. He even asked you to be careful.”
Hope and Idea had misjudged the event, giving innocence to the guilty—Dexterity—who had made them believe in what was not. If only they’d seen him in the corner he’d entered after leaving them, they’d be cleared of the truth of the matter.
Hope and Idea couldn’t borrow as much as needed in Happy-Go-Lucky town because the Go-Luckers weren’t that much interested in their explanations. At Idea’s advice they went borrowing in the Avenue of Credulity. This time, their plan was perfect. The credulous people of the town, both young and old, believed them and were ready to sacrifice their widow’s mites since they’d been assured of usury. Gullible even stole her blind widowed mother’s widow’s mite, which she’d left in the blind of her window. He stole more from neighbours and soon had enough to fetch him thirty pounds in three weeks. A week after the visit to the Duplicity School of Thought, they were set to take off, having realised a hundred pounds. Hope had done the arithmetic and had come to realise the hundreds of millions they would have after three weeks, yet they would only have to pay back two hundred pounds to their creditors.
On the eve of the day they would depart, they kept daydreaming throughout the night and the crossover of that day seemed lengthy and still.

ooopppsss!

I was almost going to ask 'Where is Karev_white when I just glimpsed this:

viewing this post: Karev_wite

Sammy Hoe: I was almost going to ask 'Where is Karev_white when I just glimpsed this:

viewing this post: Karev_wite

lol...ma gui na lecturer n skul hide me o...

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
THE GOODS AND THE TWINKLING STAR

Meanwhile Hope and Idea were yearning for the breaking of a new dawn, his old friends, the Goods and their new friend Doggedness were bent on not seeing the dawn of another day in the woods. They had craved to be under a proper shelter and not under the shattered thatched roof of a tent lacking the potency of keeping them warm.
The moods of the goods had turned glum oftentimes, but Doggedness had helped them keep up their good moods, assuring them that they would soon see the light at the other end of the tunnel. Though one-legged he was, he would not stop being amazingly amusing—attempting what only the two-legged could do—kicking at things, amidst many. He had fallen down often, but had found it funny to even himself.
Some nights back, under the moon-drenched cold ambience, the goods had demanded to hear him tell stories about his town and he’d begun after they’d settled down on the hay in a haphazardly-formed circle.
“The Valley of Failure wasn’t so named until Laziness and Procrastination gave birth to Setback their only child,” began Doggedness. “According to the version of history I heard, Laziness was a Go-Lucker, a wife of Melancholy, a Go-Lucker too, who happened to be the great-grandfather of Hopefulness. Melancholy sent her away and made her a public example by publicizing the reason for his action. He’d accused her of being too indolent, doing nothing in her capacity to take care of the house and the children, though she’d been made a full housewife. Melancholy even went as far as saying that she would never get up from bed until noon after her children had endured the pain of involuntary fasting, skipping breakfast. However, Laziness had a thing to argue too, yet in public. She accused him of being too insolent, having a permanent scowl on his face, which had defaced it and had sent her own conspicuous joy packing long ago. She confessed that Melancholy hadn’t for once smiled at her, not even in her dreams—or even in her daydreams. All she had seen were mere nightmares marred by his unsmiling countenance.”
As Laziness began to wander, she came across a gigantic and energetic peripatetic young man whose job was to go every place broadcasting his newly engendered belief to all who would listen. Procrastination had gone places to indoctrinate them with the belief that time was evil, and therefore they should have nothing doing with time—clocks and watches. According to his doctrine, he advised strongly saying, “Cork the mouths of your cocks at dusk and break their beaks to avoid hearing what time of the day it is at dawn. Forbid to stare at the sun in the day to avoid having anything doing with time. Break your hourglasses and restrain from listening to your heartbeats that could suggest what seconds has been spent. Cast aside your shadow for it is nothing but a shadow of times.”
The king and chiefs of the town, the Valley of Valour, willingly accepted Procrastination and Laziness, allowing them settle permanently on their soil, having allotted them a lot of acres of land and had bestowed on them the best of gifts. At the consent of the king, Procrastination appointed some men among the mighty men of Valour and trained them in sleight and theft to go around stealing people’s precious times by performing tricks spanning all day. Even the Valouriens had dubbed them the thieves of time and Procrastination they’d nicknamed chief, being the head chief of the thieves of time, who was very good at stealing everyone’s time by his prolonged speeches. With the assistance of Procrastination, everyone began to admire the beauty of Laziness whose longish hair they had preoccupied themselves in cleaving adoringly with their fingers. Even the mighty men of Valour in the Valley of Valour neglected their farms and ploughs to listen to Procrastination and the thieves of time. They would leave their houses unkempt, weeds untouched, children careworn, everything undone; leaving termites to feed on the green leaves, scorpions to sting their fruit and poisonous adders to add their poisons to their crops.
Mr. Procrastination even criticised the idea of planning ahead of time, thus everyone in the Valley of Valour failed to plan. Before long, everything was failing; such was the year Laziness conceived and gave birth to Setback their only baby girl—ugly from birth, just like her mother. At Setback’s first birthday, same as the tenth wedding anniversary of her parents, Procrastination had the name of the town changed to the Valley of Failure remaining till date. By then, the mighty men of Valour had become mighty in failure and had had their name changed to ‘mighty men of Failure’. However, the Failures never realized that the curse had come upon them because of the discursive speeches of Procrastination they had heeded for a long period of time.
In the woods, Gooddream had confessed that he dreamt of their return to Happy-Go-Lucky town and his colleagues didn’t stop asking “How?”
“By looking up,” he would declare.
“Not again!” Goodwill would scream and wave his index finger jokingly before his face.
“How I wish your dream could come to pass this time,” Goodwish would say. “It’s the umpteenth time you’d said this, yet we obeyed all these times, staring at the hot stares of the sun in the day and at the starless dark sky at night.”
“Baddream’s bad dreams now come to pass faster than Gooddream’s good dreams,” Goodwill poked fun times without end and Gooddream defended himself those times, saying, “What then shall we say of your own wishes, Goodwish, and your own wills, Goodwill? Aren’t Badwish’s bad wishes and Badwill’s bad wills taking effect faster than them?”
Their yammer was full-blown when Doggedness barged in. “Don’t joke this night again. Let’s obey Gooddream again. At least we have nothing to lose by looking up.” At his counsel, the Goods rose up lazily and begun to stare in disbelief at the bleak gigantic sky spread above them. The cloud was overcast and the woods appeared too shadowy for them to deem it possible to find a way out of the dim-lit place.
As they looked on, Goodwill began to say, “My will is to set my eyes on Happy-Go-Lucky tonight and not to remain in the woods till tomorrow. My will is to sleep where Hope sleeps tonight and not in this hopeless woods. My will is to lean my back on the smooth bricks of a gorgeous building today and not against the rough pricks on these rocks.”
When Goodwill stopped willing, Goodwish began wishing. “How I wish the moon appeared tonight to lighten our path, then the burden of our heart shall depart and lighten our heart. How I wish Father Creator could make a way for us in this wilderness where there seems to be no way, then we shall be making our way out of this bewilderment where there seems to be no ray. How I wish the cloud could clear away for the moon to shine, then our clouds of tears shall clear away from our eyes as we walk our way on a clear path. How I wish the starless sky could produce a star for us to trail, then we shall be glad to meet a human star below the star we’ve trailed to where it stays above the sky.”
After the wishes and wills, the Goods began to have their eyes covered in tears, making it impossible for them to have a proper view of the sky.
“Wipe your tears!” Doggedness kept yelling at them. “Who knows whether the clouds did clear for the star to appear all these days we’ve been gazing up, but we hadn’t seen it since our faces we have had buried in tears?”
The Goods didn’t listen. Notwithstanding, Doggedness wiped his own tears and kept staring up. Just then, he began to see the atmosphere taking a new shape.
“I can see the cloud clearing now, the moon shining and a star appearing in the west!”
“Stop kidding, Doggedy,” the Goods reacted. “We are not seeing anything changing! All still dark!”
“Wipe your tears!” Doggedness yelled excitedly, already hopping frantically. This time the Goods obeyed, but reluctantly, and so they saw the star standing firm in the firmament, its twinkles making them to wrinkle their faces for the enormity of its illumination. Though they’d seen the star standing far ahead in the west as Goodwish had wished long ago, yet they had the mind to reach it before it would vanish at dawn. As they trekked along the paths now made clear by the moonlight, the Goods turned to Doggedness and said, “Thank you Doggedy for letting us know that the star has appeared in the sky.”
“Thanks to you all too for your dreams, wishes and wills,” replied Doggedness immediately. Then they all said, pointing up, “The biggest thanks go to the one up there who has switched on his torch for us to see and has also fixed a diamond in the sky for us to trail.”
For hours, the Goods traversed the woods with Doggedness who kept hopping before them tirelessly. He wouldn’t even let them have rest when they had hankered after it. They walked and walked, looking up intermittently in order not to wander away from their course and depart from the path. When it was almost dawn, they reached the star and had to rest, since it wasn’t moving away. But since the moon had disappeared immediately they got to the spot, everywhere went dark again. Then they found a wall and leaned against it, sitting down as they waited for the star directly above their heads to move on. They slept off!
At first cockcrow, at dawn, the four boys woke only to discover that the wall they had leaned on was the firm brick wall of the Flirts’ flats. Hope and Idea had just left the flats only a minute before then, having had to worry their eyes in the penumbral path at dawn to reach Mr. Cheat who would take them aboard the Van of Vanity. They’d seen the sleeping boys, and due to the partial darkness, had passed them for the Hoodlums who always slept around outside closed doors in the cold, or at most in the Abandoned abode and never in their homes.
The four boys could no more find the star, having intended to say ‘thanks’ to it for leading them the way, but they thanked its creator once more before departing to their home with bright smiles. Doggedness dogged them like a faithful dog.
Hope and Idea reached the Duplicity duplex and found a careworn teenager with tattered attire sitting at the gate, waiting for Mr. Cheat too. They would have passed him for a cadaver if he hadn’t moved his cadaverous body.
“Do you live near here?” asked Idea.
“No,” he responded. The stench pouring out of his stained teeth and hirsute grubby nostrils almost made them collapse. “In fact, I live very far from this town. I stay close to the Valley of Failure.”
“What!” they screamed for shock. “How come you came here earlier than we do?”
“I was here since last night but found the gate locked.” Flies hovered over the boy and licked his putrid sores—the sore around his eyes being the most repugnant ‘eyesore’. He had them aplenty—on his face, arms and all over his body. He hadn’t had his bath for days, and so his matted hair seemed to be infested with lice. His clothes were rag and his hair bedraggled. His tooth gums were covered in some whitish gummy semi-liquid fluffy thing smelling faeces. “My name is Desperate. You might think I don’t love water but I assure you I’ll bath after getting to the wonder bank. I have soaps to wash my clothes and creams to polish my skin, but I have no time to wash now until I’m up there. My teeth I can tend and my sores too, but not until I’m up there.”
As Mr. Cheat approached, Desperate was the first to rush at him, having left the other two carried away with his obnoxious outlook, which had taken them aback.
Throughout the period they spent in the Van of vanity, Hope and Idea didn’t stop daydreaming. Hope even imagined seeing millions of notes having legs and arms with heads made of brazen coins chasing him about. When the cash caught up with him, they caught him and slapped him until he had fainted amidst them. When he woke, he saw some of them tugging at Seekbeauty to get her close to him. The cash joined their arms together with a strong cord of concord and enjoined them to stick together forever as they began to push a large disjointed manmade bird towards them from nowhere. The bird spoke, “Climb on me. I’m the aircraft crafted by Craftiness.”
“The Aircraft of Craftiness?” Hope asked, just to be sure it wasn’t a dream or a daydream.
“Yes I am. You are not daydreaming.” The bird bent its back and Hope mounted on it, pulling Seekbeauty up too. The large bird swallowed few currencies and was ready for a great flight. It spread its wings and soared until it had reached a hill where it perched and allowed the couple to alight. They were delighted as they alighted from the bulky light-feathered bird’s back and were taken aback by the emergence of a genie, which stood right in front of them.
“Who are you?” Hope asked with fear and the weirdo replied, “I am Mr. Goodluck. Welcome. Come over to enjoy unending pleasure in Greatness Island. The River of Haste is worse, the River of Achievement is just as worse, but the Airway of Craftiness you took is the best and fastest of all means.”
Hope woke when the Van of Vanity grounded to a halt suddenly.
“Why did it stop?” Hope asked. “Have we reached the wonder bank?”
“No,” Idea replied. “A passenger asked the driver to pull up here to pick up his friends, three of them, who are wishing to join us.”
“Lucky passenger! He’ll have more cash to slap his face,” Hope chortled as he shut his eyes again. Before long, the van had pulled up before the Wonder Bank.

nice_one

got something to discuss with you. @ sammy

woooooooaaaaahhhh!!! sammie! go check it out...we made it 2 d frnt page.

wow...we made frontpage.am soo happy for u sammyhoe...congratulations

Am I dreaming?
#***faints***# Am I dreaming?
#***faints again***#

Sammy Hoe: Am I dreaming?
#***faints***# Am I dreaming?
#***faints again***#

lol...na water we go tk wake u abi stick?

gameboy727: Congrats for making front page bro. How things dey go na?

Things are going fine jare. Hw Ur side nah?

Karev_wite: lol...na water we go tk wake u abi stick?

I don wake already nah! Karev, u were the sustainer of this thread. Thanks so much for sticking close to me all thru.

[quote author=Sammy Hoe]
I don wake already nah! Karev, u were the sustainer of this thread. Thanks so much for sticking close to me all thru.[/quote u wlcum man...lts kip it rolling

Congrats for making front page bro. How things dey go na?

gameboy727: Congrats for making front page bro. How things dey go na?

Things dey go fine o. Hw Ur side too? Thanks for being a part of my success story.

kenchukscole: wow...we made frontpage.am soo happy for u sammyhoe...congratulations

Thanks so much o. Without Ur motivations my story would have ended in the garbage instead of FP. Thanks.

waoooooh,sam u jus amazed me.my 2nd coment here cos of u.nice story.

Sam.we need to talk

Congratulations Sammy,nice story.

helensharpay: Congratulations Sammy,nice story.

Thanks, thanks, God bless you. How are you.

helensharpay: Congratulations Sammy,nice story.

Thanks, thanks, God bless you.

sammy its lyk ur lst update has bin earsed n mre ova watn apin 2dai no update ni?

Karev_wite: sammy its lyk ur lst update has bin earsed n mre ova watn apin 2dai no update ni?

Thanks Karev_wite for your observation...I'll post it again.

Boss wassup with you......don't keep us waiting or you want me to start following you like a plague*********(troublemaker)

Sammy Hoe:
Thanks, thanks, God bless you. How are you.

Am fine thanks.

sambroose: Boss wassup with you......don't keep us waiting or you want me to start following you like a plague*********(troublemaker)

God's grace 2mao unfailingly i'll upload smthn. thanks so much & how was ur journey?

Sammy Hoe: God's grace 2mao unfailingly i'll upload smthn. thanks so much & how was ur journey?

bros e no easy, I was nearly devoured by some hungry lions