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Life And A Sixteen-year-old By Lemuel Irabor - Literature (5) - Nairaland

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Gabriel Irabor. Dynamic CEO on the Cover Of Royal Diamond Magazine International / Sweet Sixteen JAMB 2018 / Deeper Than Love- Stories By Sarah Irabor (2) (3) (4)

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Re: Life And A Sixteen-year-old By Lemuel Irabor by NisforNicky: 5:01pm On Dec 03, 2017
talk2saintify:


Graphic Photos Watin Na embarassed embarassed embarassed
chai c as dis one come post off-point comment :|

Re: Life And A Sixteen-year-old By Lemuel Irabor by NisforNicky: 5:03pm On Dec 03, 2017
Op wer is d concludin prt o? D suspense is 2 mush 4 me cheesy cheesy
Re: Life And A Sixteen-year-old By Lemuel Irabor by collinometricx: 7:14pm On Dec 03, 2017
NisforNicky :

chai
c as dis one come post off-point comment
:|


The tin nor tire u?
Re: Life And A Sixteen-year-old By Lemuel Irabor by peropoliet(m): 7:35pm On Dec 03, 2017
Nice story
Re: Life And A Sixteen-year-old By Lemuel Irabor by talk2saintify(m): 8:02pm On Dec 03, 2017
NisforNicky:
chai c as dis one come post off-point comment :|
yhu no go understand my dear
Re: Life And A Sixteen-year-old By Lemuel Irabor by NisforNicky: 9:35pm On Dec 03, 2017
talk2saintify:


yhu no go understand my dear

go joorh
talk2saintify:


yhu no go understand my dear

go joorh
Re: Life And A Sixteen-year-old By Lemuel Irabor by NisforNicky: 9:38pm On Dec 03, 2017
collinometricx:

The tin nor tire u?
wu b dis one? angry
Re: Life And A Sixteen-year-old By Lemuel Irabor by collinometricx: 3:09pm On Dec 04, 2017
NisforNicky :


wu b dis one?
angry

Ur next door frnd
Re: Life And A Sixteen-year-old By Lemuel Irabor by WHOcarex: 10:05pm On Jan 20, 2018
Alright
Re: Life And A Sixteen-year-old By Lemuel Irabor by Smooth278(m): 3:02pm On Jan 21, 2018
Nice story... Hooked
Re: Life And A Sixteen-year-old By Lemuel Irabor by Mhatex(m): 5:58pm On Jan 21, 2018
[color=#000099][/color] winkWish you i could follow ur journal accordingly. Bt my techno T432 is limiting that. Great write up bro.
Re: Life And A Sixteen-year-old By Lemuel Irabor by Lastpharoah33: 8:33pm On Jan 21, 2018
Following..... ur diction and word construction is superb!
Re: Life And A Sixteen-year-old By Lemuel Irabor by AvatarMode(m): 10:21pm On Jan 21, 2018
You are a superb writer man...kudos and thumps up!
Re: Life And A Sixteen-year-old By Lemuel Irabor by LemuelIrabor: 2:48am On Jan 22, 2018
Contd

"Tessy, calm yourself." I puffed, catching my breath.

We struggled a bit and I fought to retain my grip.
Tessy eventually maneuvred her arm from my grip and bolted across the road..without looking!
Needless to say, I was terrified.
And without thinking, I took off after her.


A speeding red cab, whose driver saw her in time, swerved hard to his right, narrowly missing her and almost hitting me. I felt like a deer caught in the headlights (no, not the song) for a few moments. Gratefully, the driver of the cab-- obviously an expert-- managed to avoid me and sped on, blaring his horn for good effect. A bus screeched to a halt inches from Tessy's left leg. It was so close, I could hardly breathe.
The obviously irked driver waved a fist and shouted obscenities in Yoruba. I could pick out the equivalents of 'punk kid' and 'young Casanova'.
Wait.. the man thinks this is some kind of love game? Adults!

Tessy kept on running..and I kept following, motivated by the fear that she could hurt herself more than anything else.
As I ran, a highlighted text I'd seen on a Christian journal earlier came to mind.
..chasing after women..
That was literally what I was doing now.
Argh! Never in my dreams did I see this happening.


Thankfully, most roadside vendors had closed shop due to the rain. If not, I'm sure Tessy and I would've knocked down a stall or two in our haste. Theresa turned of the main road and ran down a corner.
What does this girl feed herself on? Darn, she does not seem to be getting tired!

I rounded the bend after her. And stopped.

I was wrong.



Tessy was on the ground, crying hysterically. Her perfectly-combed hair had come undone and her bag lay upturned, spilling her English textbook, some buns (I'm sure she got it from Pierre's), a copy of 1984, a maths set, hair ribbons, hair pins and some other stuff you only see in a girl's bag out.

I gradually came to a halt beside her. It was only then that I noticed she'd fallen and grazed her knee.

I bent down and picked up the items, transferring them to my bag because her's was already soaked. Then, I turned to face her.

She was still crying but was calm now. But as I made to move towards her, the look on her face changed to one of a trapped animal.
I best play this cool.

"Tessy, I'm going to help you up. Can you walk?"

She looked at her bruised knee. "I think so."
Her voice was hoarse.

I walked to her, put my hands underneath her arms and pulled her up. She winced as she tried to flex her leg. I've had knee contusions before, so I knew they hurt. They hurt as hell.
Tessy was still trying t o braue it up, but I could see that she was wincing often. And when I let go of her to pick up her bag, she nearly came crashing.

"Tessy.."

That was a far as I could go before she clung to me so tight I had trouble breathing. Fresh tears cascading down her cheeks.
I couldn't move, even if I tried.


And there we stood in the rain. Two sixteen year-olds.


As weird as it sounds, all that was going through my mind was, ''if your Dad sees you now, you're toast! If Mom sees you first, you're DEAD."


PLEASE SCROLL DOWN

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Re: Life And A Sixteen-year-old By Lemuel Irabor by YINKS89(m): 9:21am On Jan 22, 2018
I wana know wah happened afterwards pls kindly continue.
Re: Life And A Sixteen-year-old By Lemuel Irabor by collinometricx: 1:26pm On Jan 22, 2018
Thanks to divepen1 4 pushing this topic to fp again ooh...
If nt d op don even 4gt d story self ni
Re: Life And A Sixteen-year-old By Lemuel Irabor by LemuelIrabor: 2:57pm On Jan 25, 2018
* * *

When I came down the stairs, Tessy had a plate containing some rice & gravy before her which she was eating from. I didn’t need a seer to tell me that it was Martha who’d dished the food.

Speaking of Tessy and Martha..

Tessy and I had stood in the rain for about seven minutes before she let up enough for me to reach out my left hand and hail a cab. She had been crying all the time.
The taxi driver was a fifty-something avuncular fellow and he didn’t say anything as I tried to get Tessy to get into the car. Our eyes met once as I assisted Tessy into the car, and he nodded in understanding. Cool guy, I thought.
The crying didn’t stop in the cab, although it let up some. I was still trying to figure out what would make Tessy behave the way she was, when the cab stopped in front of my home.

YES, MY HOME!
Why?
For starters, I didn’t know where she lived. And I’d be a big jerk if I left her on her own in this state. She could hurt herself. Or get hurt by someone. Or worse.

Marvel opened the door to the sight of Theresa clinging to my frame. I could fit a handful of pop corn through the gap between his lips as he let us in. Me straining under the added weight. Tessy limping painfully.

“Marvel, who’s at the d—“, Martha said coming out of the kitchen, stopping in mid-sentence when she saw our august visitor. Damn! How am I going to explain everything to them?

But what happened next made me respect my siblings forever..

“Oh, come here darling”, Martha said as she moved to take Tessy from me. I was expecting to get into another episode of coercing Tessy to go with her, but was surprised when Theresa eagerly went into Martha’s arms.

OK, officially, girls are weird.

“C’mon”, Martha said softly as she led Tessy to the stairs, “let’s get you out of those wet clothes.”
At the foot of the stairs, Martha turned to face me, bearing a look that said “You have some explaining to do.”
Like hell, I did.

When they left, Marvel turned to me, obviously puzzled.
“What did you do to her?”
Huh?
“Huh?”
“What did you do to her?”, he repeated. It sounded like an accusation.
“Nothing.”
Marvel frowned.
“Nothing?”
“It wasn’t me.”
Even as I said this, I had a flashback of the scene at Pierre’s. I really hoped it wasn’t me.
“Alright, bro.”
Marv walked up to me and gave me a “bro hug.” God knows I needed it.
“I believe you. Take it easy,” he said.

What did I tell you? I had the best siblings in the world.

Leaving small puddles of water in my wake, I ran up the stairs to change.

Now, I was back downstairs, standing at the foot of the stairs. I was peering past Marv who was watching a TV program, at Tessy while she ate quietly. Even with all that was going on, she still managed to eat like a lady. Some stuff, my mind said to me.
OK quit it, I told it in riposte.

Tessy must either have superhuman hearing to have heard me walk down the stairs over Marv’s TV show, or some psychic ability that notifies her anytime she’s being stared at; because she stopped eating suddenly and turned to face me. She turned back to her food immediately, acting like I’d done something wrong by just being there.
Argh, here we go again!
I walked up to the dining table and took the seat directly facing her.
She bowed her head, continued chewing for a moment or two, then sighed heavily.
“Martin..”
“Tessy..”

PLEASE SCROLL DOWN

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Re: Life And A Sixteen-year-old By Lemuel Irabor by LemuelIrabor: 3:21pm On Jan 25, 2018
CC:
Mynd44, anochuko01, sureteeboy, rosy4u, Darla, Amefricaa, Seun, queenitee, Vivipop, folakemigeh, IamLucy, Henitan24, dominique, DanseMacabre, decatalyst, eyeon, Modelqwen, lanicky, Talk2Bella, Laveda, AutoReportNG, MissTechy, InsideOut247, OfficiallyMad, badmouth123, EvaJael, Jacibaby422, rosalieene, Dreamofsaintify, BiafranBushBoy, sashx, Prettyhurts, queenitee, GlorifiedTunde, YungTemy, laideo, niyi,Obinnau, VanTee20, pauljustina, greeeneyes, Heromaniaa, rachealfst, amynah94, ruqoyyah27, jordinsparkles, gennysq, Ikdbabie, talk2saintify, Avatarmode, Lastpharoah33, smooth278, mhatex, WHOcarex, collinometricx, peropoliet, NisforNicky, talk2saintify, muhammed50, Afz9095, AminatOpe247, Jbfranklin, skillful01, FreshestManny, Auric, centitan, ftosino, Jhaytee4all, SurestG, EvaJael, Oluwakemi65, HORLADSTAR, Arondizugo, EncephalonPikin, armadeo, Itzmoneyman1, Divepen1
Re: Life And A Sixteen-year-old By Lemuel Irabor by Dayvdblake: 9:56am On Jan 26, 2018
OP.....M waiting ooh....Hope say the story no go end like naija movie...
Re: Life And A Sixteen-year-old By Lemuel Irabor by NisforNicky: 11:23am On Jan 26, 2018
LemuelIrabor:
CC:
Mynd44, anochuko01, sureteeboy, rosy4u, Darla, Amefricaa, Seun, queenitee, Vivipop, folakemigeh, IamLucy, Henitan24, dominique, DanseMacabre, decatalyst, eyeon, Modelqwen, lanicky, Talk2Bella, Laveda, AutoReportNG, MissTechy, InsideOut247, OfficiallyMad, badmouth123, EvaJael, Jacibaby422, rosalieene, Dreamofsaintify, BiafranBushBoy, sashx, Prettyhurts, queenitee, GlorifiedTunde, YungTemy, laideo, niyi,Obinnau, VanTee20, pauljustina, greeeneyes, Heromaniaa, rachealfst, amynah94, ruqoyyah27, jordinsparkles, gennysq, Ikdbabie, talk2saintify, Avatarmode, Lastpharoah33, smooth278, mhatex, WHOcarex, collinometricx, peropoliet, NisforNicky, talk2saintify, muhammed50, Afz9095, AminatOpe247, Jbfranklin, skillful01, FreshestManny, Auric, centitan, ftosino, Jhaytee4all, SurestG, EvaJael, Oluwakemi65, HORLADSTAR, Arondizugo, EncephalonPikin, armadeo, Itzmoneyman1, Divepen1

op abeg why all d PLEASE SCROLL DOWN na? sad angry
Re: Life And A Sixteen-year-old By Lemuel Irabor by NisforNicky: 11:27am On Jan 26, 2018
Dayvdblake:
OP.....M waiting ooh....Hope say the story no go end like naija movie...

c comment wey pezin comment angry

mr man, doez dis luk lyk a nollywood movie? angry
Meanwhile, i tink d op is obviously a half caste cheesy or even a white man sef. :/

1 Like

Re: Life And A Sixteen-year-old By Lemuel Irabor by IamLucy(f): 8:35pm On Jan 30, 2018
Just read this instalment, and it's almost error-free, both grammatically and syntatically; and that's impressive

3 Likes

Re: Life And A Sixteen-year-old By Lemuel Irabor by LemuelIrabor: 10:25pm On Jan 31, 2018
IamLucy:
Just read this instalment, and it's almost error-free, both grammatically and syntatically; and that's impressive

Why, thank you! smiley
By the way, I just love your signature..

Are you by any chance a writer too?

2 Likes

Re: Life And A Sixteen-year-old By Lemuel Irabor by IamLucy(f): 6:01pm On Feb 01, 2018
LemuelIrabor:

Why, thank you! smiley By the way, I just love your signature..
Are you by any chance a writer too?
Thanks tons and yes i do write occasionally.

1 Like

Re: Life And A Sixteen-year-old By Lemuel Irabor by Oluwakemi65(f): 4:12pm On Feb 13, 2018
LemuelIrabor:
CC:
Mynd44, anochuko01, sureteeboy, rosy4u, Darla, Amefricaa, Seun, queenitee, Vivipop, folakemigeh, IamLucy, Henitan24, dominique, DanseMacabre, decatalyst, eyeon, Modelqwen, lanicky, Talk2Bella, Laveda, AutoReportNG, MissTechy, InsideOut247, OfficiallyMad, badmouth123, EvaJael, Jacibaby422, rosalieene, Dreamofsaintify, BiafranBushBoy, sashx, Prettyhurts, queenitee, GlorifiedTunde, YungTemy, laideo, niyi,Obinnau, VanTee20, pauljustina, greeeneyes, Heromaniaa, rachealfst, amynah94, ruqoyyah27, jordinsparkles, gennysq, Ikdbabie, talk2saintify, Avatarmode, Lastpharoah33, smooth278, mhatex, WHOcarex, collinometricx, peropoliet, NisforNicky, talk2saintify, muhammed50, Afz9095, AminatOpe247, Jbfranklin, skillful01, FreshestManny, Auric, centitan, ftosino, Jhaytee4all, SurestG, EvaJael, Oluwakemi65, HORLADSTAR, Arondizugo, EncephalonPikin, armadeo, Itzmoneyman1, Divepen1
After a very long break. Welcome back.

1 Like

Re: Life And A Sixteen-year-old By Lemuel Irabor by FreshestManny(m): 7:29pm On Mar 01, 2018
LemuelIrabor:
CC:
FreshestManny

Just seeing this. Thanks for the mention. I enjoyed the last updates and I await more updates thank you. smiley
Re: Life And A Sixteen-year-old By Lemuel Irabor by NisforNicky: 9:03pm On Mar 08, 2018
dis OP sef OP, na wer u dey? i dnt evn knw aw to call yu to post here agn o angry ayaf vex xef sad

(singing)oya na na na na oya na na na na OP ansa my call o
Re: Life And A Sixteen-year-old By Lemuel Irabor by NisforNicky: 9:05pm On Mar 08, 2018
dis OP sef OP, na wer u dey? i dnt evn knw aw to call yu to post here agn o angry ayaf vex xef sad

(singing)oya na na na na oya na na na na OP ansa my call o
Oluwakemi65:
After a very long break. Welcome back.
Re: Life And A Sixteen-year-old By Lemuel Irabor by LemuelIrabor: 5:43pm On Mar 15, 2018
Apologies for the hiatus, friends.

Expect more of Martin's story next week!
smiley

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Re: Life And A Sixteen-year-old By Lemuel Irabor by LemuelIrabor: 11:18am On Mar 29, 2018
We said at the same time. Embarrased, I started again.
“Martin, I..”
“Tessy, I..”
OK, officially, this is weird.
I sighed. “OK, you go first.”
Tessy smiled.
“It’s OK. I should thank you for having me over.
I scratched my head.
“It’s quite alright. I like to have my friends over.”
“But not like this,” Tessy said and sighed.
Yeah, definitely not like this, I thought.
“Yeah, definitely not like this,” Tessy said, echoing my thoughts and making me feel queasy. This has got to be the weirdest day of my life.
“But I guess I owe you an explanation,” she added gloomily..
“It’s OK, if you don’t want to talk about it,” I said, a little too quickly.
OK, maybe I was lying. I was literally dying to know what the waterworks was all about. It’s not every day that Theresa Okoli gets all hysterical on you.

An awkward silence fell upon the house as the TV show ended.
At that moment, my phone rang. I was thankful for the distraction.
“Hello, Martin here.”, I said picking up the phone without even looking at the screen.”
“Duuuuuuuude,” Joe’s voice droned out from the speaker, “where did you keep your phone? I’ve been trying to get to for like..forever.”
“Sorry, man. I got..busy,” I replied giving Tessy a sidelong glance. She had resumed eating and appeared uninterested in our conversation.
“Man, you are harder to reach than the President.”
“Yeah, yeah,” I sighed into the phone. “What’s up?”
Joe tut-tuted. “Not in the mood to talk are ya, eh?”
“You have no idea,” I chose my words carefully.
“OK, whatever. I just called to let you know that I’d be over as soon as the rain lets up. That OK?”
No. No, it was not OK. So not OK.
“Actually, bro. Maybe you shouldn’t.”
“Oh.”
I hate to disappoint a brother. But having Joe over wouldn’t help at all.
“Sorry, man.”
“It’s cool. I’ll hang out at the park instead.”
“What park?”
“The amusement park.”
I choked back a laugh.
“What?” Joe asked with emotion.
“Nothing, bro,” I said cheekily. “Except that I pity those kids whose rides you’ll be hijacking.”

We laughed.

“Get off my phone, Supermart.”
“Hey—”
Joe ended the call abruptly. I dropped the phone.
Damn, what a brother!
I turned to see that Tessy had apparently finished eating and left. A further questioning revealed that she’d gone with Martha into her room. I guess I missed my big chance to talk to her.
Ah, bummer!
I’m gonna have to stop writing now. I have a big headache. I’m dizzy and really beginning to see double.
PS: This has got to be the longest day of my life, and consequently the longest entry I’ve written so far.

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Re: Life And A Sixteen-year-old By Lemuel Irabor by TemmyT123(m): 12:10pm On Mar 29, 2018
Welcome back... Nice update.
I hope you update frequently.

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