I have not written and posted a story here for a while. This is a short story. It has five chapters. I would like you to read it and comment if you seem fit. I hope you enjoy it


It is a work of fiction and bears no real name, time or places attached to it. It is one a work of imagination. It is also my personal work, and I would appreciate if its ownership is not tampered

©2018. Abel Patrick.
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I salute all...
I

CHAPTER ONE

"...and they passed through the wilderness.."- Moses Amram

Wilderness is a dry place. An extremely dry place, lacking in moisture. The land is dry and hard, not soft because it is usually deficient of water. No water bodies- streams, rivers, pool or even a gutter. No collection of water. And because of this lack of water or moisture, the place is often arid and as a result, lack plant life and even if plants are found there, they would be plants that have the ability to survive on very low moisture. Animals too that dwell there possess such ability too the ability to survive on very little water and still live on.

Mark Bila's life can be best described as a desert. This description was not one hurled at him as a insult with the aim of degrading his person, but one which he had personally used for himself. Naturally, a man who looks down at himself takes offense when another does same but that was not Mark's case. Mark cared not. He already knew the state and condition of his life and needed no one to tell him or make a breaking news out of it. He was satisfied with this fact of his life and even when he felt or sensed been addressed thus, he would not feel insulted or angry. It is a fool that gets angry at the truth. One can do nothing for or against the truth. No matter how one felt, the truth would always remain as the truth.

He was dry. He felt dry. His life was dry. Life was dry for him. Everything was. Things were hard like the grounds of the desert- hide and difficult to till. A wilderness. It seemed like every effort he made to improve his life was not working. It seemed like the grounds of his life was so hard that nothing could be done to break it, sow seeds into it and have them take roots, bud and grow. Nothing was working. Nothing.

Mark was not a lazy fellow. He was one given to much use of his efforts to do things. He was what one would call a hustler. Mark hustled. Mark deployed efforts. But none was yielding the results he wanted. At first, he thought that hard work was all he needed to really succeed and so he worked. He did hard jobs because they were the only ones available. He sought for them and when he found them, he kept none of his energy back. And after each day's hard labour, he would come home with body pains and make his food, get medication- pain killers..and sleep off to get up for the next day.

Mark was not just hard working, Mark was intelligent. He was a graduate of building engineering. He was not intelligent because he was a graduate. He in his own case, was a graduate because he was intelligent. He was the best graduating student in his department and the second on his faculty but that was where Mark stopped taking first and second places. Life pushed him hard and down and he almost despired for life. Life in school was not like life outside school. Outside school, one would face real issues- seek for jobs, go for multiple interviews, get promised severally to be called upon when needed and yet may not get to secure a job.

But with all these efforts, trying up and down, his stomach was not merciful on him. He must eat. Man must wack. Food must be put into his body to fuel him physically for more job seeking the next day. And after a while, since he kept spending money, the little money he had to transport himself, to make several photocopies of his credentials to submit, recharge his phone with airtime to call and follow up on jobs that any of the staff was kind enough to oblige him with his or her phone number, he exhausted all he had and gave up on his anxious job seeking habit to get any menial job to keep body and soul together.

Mark passed through the wilderness and did so for a while until he edged to the boundary of it especially at a stage when he had resigned to fate to meet a man who would grant him an opportunity for a fairer life.

CHAPTER TWO

"Most times, the sign posts to the success we seek are just humans. We must recognize and treat them.right"

Mr. Oluka Jones was the owner of the new house that Mark was working on. He was a man of quick action and as such, desired his house to be completed fast as soon as possible. And for that, he would require the people working on his house to come in early and close late so as to make much progress towards its completion. This eagerness and drive of his had made him have issues on several occasions with some of his workers.

One was very remarkable and pronounced because of the involvement of the police.

Okira was his capenter. He was the one to handle the roofing of his house. The money had been paid to get the roofing sheets and they has been gotten. Seventy percent of his labour fee- workmanship had been paid. Mr. Oluka was not one given to owing debts. And after all, it was concluded that the roofing work should start the next day but Okira did not show up. At first, Oluka was angry that he was late even after knowing the normal work schedule at the site but he got extremely angry when after he had left the site to his office, kept getting report that his carpenter had not come and his number was switched off. This continued through out the day- his carpenter been absent and his number been switched off even till the next day and the one following. Three days of delayed work.

Been a man given to quick action and quick anger, he told the matter to a police neighbour and friend of his, who suggested that Okira should be immediately arrested on sight for stealing since he received payment for a job and disappeared without doing it. It seemed as if luck was in favour of Oluka and against Okira because he casually walked into the site on the fourth day after missing work for three days only to be nabbed by the police men waiting and several slaps and more followed.

Anyway, I am not here to talk about Okira and how he ended up with the police and what followed, I just wanted to point out the kind of man that Mr. Oluko Jones, the owner of the house where Mark was working was. But he was also a very observant man and he observed and noted that whenever he lost his temper and got to shouting and nagging and fretting such that by nature, most of his workers would respond rudely, Mark never did that. Mark always kept his cool and never lost an atom of calmness whatsoever and still remained respectful.

Whatever was the reason for Mark's calmness remained unclear to Mr. Oluko. Maybe, he was an extremely calm person, he thought. Maybe it was his home training that had such deep effect on him. Maybe he was scared but he immediately debunked that, he wasn't. He had never seen fear in his eyes and so one day, they got talking.

Mark had his reason for not reacting in such ocassions. It was simple. It wasn't so much of respect or what. It was tiredness. Mark was tired of all of the stress of his life and was not ready Ro add another man's own to it. He was not yet through with his own. He was not in to argue or frown or get irritated. Mr. Oluko was not a problem to him and would never be. He had allowed so much problems in his life already and this new 'boss' of his wasn't going to be added. And so, he held his peace. He was just in for his pay, for the money. Not to correct the man or point out to him how he was wrong.

That conversation they had turned out to lead to a path that would help Mark out of his daily labourer's job to apply to work with the fire service. Mr. Oluko had connected him to a friend who was a big shot in the fire service and he landed him the job.

Mark became a fire man.

CHAPTER THREE

"Whatever your hands find, do it with all diligence"- King Solomon

An opportunity many times is one factor that can have a distinguishing effect. Many times, it could determine what becomes of a group of persons at an initial equal level like classmates. And even in some cases, opportunities decide to some extent, the different levels to which equally talented people can get to. Some of the singers, artists, painters, writers, public speakers, preachers, leaders and more who attain certain dignified level or position of recognition do not because they are more gifted, talented and superior in personality than those who haven't. Opportunity makes a difference many times and often times, the prayer and desire for an opportunity is what the gifted unrecognized and poorly accomplished ones seek for. That had been Mark Bila's desire. A desire for an opportunity.

Yes, an opportunity to labour and earn fairly for his efforts. Not to work his life out with less than peanuts to show for his labours. An opportunity to afford for himself and the people around his life needed things. An opportunity to pay his bills, put food on his table and do more things. Send money home to his parents and siblings. An opportunity to provide for his lady- this one who had come to love him not for what he has but for who he is. He needed to give her things..appreciate her..provide for her..and one day start a family with her.

And soon as he found this opportunity, the fire service job granted to him, he gave in diligently to it. He held back nothing. He spared nothing. He ensured to report to work early and keep to his shifts and leave work with his report for the day submitted before leaving and in a matter of weeks, his diligence and dedication was noticed. And that was when he was promoted to field operations- going out with the fire service truck to attend to calls for help during fire outbreaks.

At first, he could not because burning houses always brought to his memory of how he lost his closest sibling- his twin sister Maryann. She was sleeping when the fire broke out in their home. Their parents were not around. It was a new year's eve and everyone had gone for the service except for him, his twin sister and his aunt and uncle. Cell phones were not common back then and there was no way to reach out to his parents immediately. It took several minutes to get to them because one of the neighbours had to drive down to the church to tell them. His uncle and some of their neighbours had tried their best to rescue him but they couldn't rescue his sister early. Her aunt was rescued with severe fire burns and had initially refused to be rescued until Maryann was. And after much persuasion, gave in but she later jumped in to help in searching Maryann but it was late already.

The fire service men came in late, complaining of lack of electricity (NEPA light) to pump water into their tanks.

After she was brought out, she had lost consciousness and her lungs were filled with thick, dense and black smoke, the doctor had said. And after three days, Maryann died. And her death broke him. He fell sick afterwards for several weeks and saw her severally in his dreams, and his parents feared that he would die but he survived. Their God had helped them save Mark, they said.

Since then, he developed an awkward dislike for the power situation in the nation and a fear for fire since he was inside it too.

So as soon as he was asked to join the team that go out with trucks to put out fires, he felt fear- intense fear. He was a man with a huge scar. Sometimes, he wondered if it was a scare or a wound because he sometimes feel the freshness of the incident and also dream about it irregularly. But then he felt his twin sister's words in his heart encouraging him to go ahead and save someone from the fire lest such gets lost to the fire just as she did. And this made him take it to heart to avoid anyone from dying by domestic fire accidents as far as it was within his utmost power to help. It was his new found way to honour his twin sister. She would smile on him from heaven, he thought. He however knew that he would not be able to save everyone from burning and that made him feel bad, nevertheless, he would start with one. A journey of a thousand miles begins with a step. And with a renewed diligence, he went to work.

CHAPTER FOUR

"...and others save...pulling them from the fire..."- Jude Joseph

Chief George Duke Edi is one of the wealthiest men in the country. He was big on business and spread his business tentacles in different sectors- textile, oil and gas, agriculture especially cocoa farming, telecommunications as well as banking. The only sector he decided not to have his interest and hands in is the political sector. It is not that Chief George is not interested in the affairs in the country, quite on the contrary, he is so much interested but not to the point of standing at the front line seeking to gain political favour, opinion and positions. To Chief George, some changes are best made from a distance. You don't save a man in the well by jumping down into the well. That was Chief George's philosophy on the nation's politicking system. It is like a well. People get lost in it. The good as well as the bad. You can't trust yourself until you have joined it and handled power then we can really know if you are as good as you publicized and campaigned yourself to be.

Many politicians have sought for him severally especially when they have seen political ambition. It was key what the rich and mighty say about your political aspiration. If he or she stood and smiled, shaking hands with you and nodding his head in approval, you can as well calk it a Christmas. It was the rich and might that matters. Whatever he said matters. The poor, the masses are no sought after. They have their use. Not in deciding who to be put in power or who to be sponsored for a political position or who to be approved or not. Their place is simple- come out with your voters cards and vote. They are needed to cast votes. They exist for that. Not to choose leaders but to provide an evidence that a voting was done via the abundance of voters cards and long queues at polling units. The result of the election probably must have been decided before hand.

With all the power, wealth and affluence that Chief George has, he found himself in a position where all he had could not help him. He looked at the situation and at his money, companies, political as well as business and international friends..and none could help him in his predicament. And for the first time in his life, he felt weak and helpless and alone. Nothing would console. Nothing would comfort. He felt needy for the first time and a prayer arose for his soul and he cried out to the firemen around his home, "please save my granddaughter" as he stared in shock at his son's house on fire.

He had been at an event on the stage speaking, when his personal assistant got to him. At first, he was angry. Whatever it was ought to wait. What could be so serious to disrupt such an event and interrupt him? Didn't his personal assistant notice that he was addressing key questions from selected top investors in the country? Didn't he notice that it was been broadcasted live? He was surely going to deal with him and might put him out of his job as his personal assistant. And he would see to it that he felt his anger.

"What is it?", he asked with a tight mouth

"Sir, your son- Sam's house is on fire and Sophia your only granddaughter is still in the fire. She is yet to be rescued"

As soon as he heard that, he lost it. He lost his decorum. What was that to him? What was it anyway? He was a wealthy man and his greatest politeness was not any decorum but his money. It was not what appropriate social behavior that he had that was why they had gathered to see him and listen to him speak, it was because he had succeeded at a tremendous level financially and as far as it is for their good, they would plead for another evening with him. In as much as he wanted to help them, he wanted to help his family first. He would not stand there talking to them while his only granddaughter was stuck in fire.

CHAPTER FIVE

"The greatest risk in life is not taking risks"- Benson Idahosa

As he rushed down out of the conference hall, he remembered how his son, Sam and his wife had stayed childless for five years before their daughter came and she took on his wife's face that they couldn't help but name her after the love of his life, his dear late wife, Sophia Duke Edi. He had missed her so much when she died of cancer and as soon as his eyes set on his granddaughter, he thanked God for sending his wife face back to him because he had lost that beautiful face of hers to the face that of her last days face that was ravaged by cancer. He needed to remember her always not in her sick and disfigured form but in her beautiful angelic form that he had met, fallen in love with and married. And from the start, he fell in love with this little angel and now, he was panicking. Was he going to loose her as he lost his wife to death? Why was death interested in the people that he loved dearly? Why was such befalling him? What was his wrong? Where had he missed it? Why was God letting this to happen to him? All these questions ran through his mind as he was driven fastly to his son's house.

As soon as he got to son's house, he went after him and his daughter- in- law to be sure they were alright. And then, after staring at the huge flames engulfing the house despite the fire service's effort, and the cry of his Sophia, his only Sophia in his heart, he cried in despair, "please save my granddaughter".

The officer in charge of duty on that night was Mark's training officer who had did most of the training for him and his fellow new recruits when they got employed. He had told them that there is a particular temperature to which a fire would attain that it would not be possible to go in and rescue anyone that was stuck in and come out alive. Apart from the temperature, others like intensity of smoke as well as clarity and oxygen level as well as carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide levels were also factors to be noted and as Mark stood before the flame dressed in his fire service fighting gears with his water hose in his hands, he knew that he was facing such kind of fire. He had faced it before, on the night his twin sister Maryann died in the fire. This was that killing fire, that murderous fire and it was exactly the type he was taught never to go into. The same fire out here to claim the life of another innocent girl like it did his twin sister. He was but a boy back then and couldn't do much..he had blamed himself that he couldn't save his twin sister who he has supposed to protect. He was but a boy. A seven year old boy. But now, he is a man. A young man and he would not let what happened before repeat itself. He was not going to live with himself if he did not take this risk. His sister would not be happy with him. And it would be another time that fire had won. He was not going to let that happen not while he can help. He pulled out his phone from the truck and sent a text to his sweetheart, "Meet me at Green Avenue as fast as you can. I love you"

And without informing his superior officer, he entered the fire from the back side and called out to them when he had climbed up for the young girl was in a room there and off he went to save her, one at a time. One at a time, he said to himself. We can't save all but we can save one..at a time.

First Roll Call..


Olomose001,OlufemiWhit,aries26,paqman,ahmedbanj,Pinkberry5,EvangelOdoyi elyna,Sussybae,oroolorun,just2day,ceecane2,donblazer10,LazyNairalander,samkpanam,Richimills,Geophilip,Enzyme,Cowhard,Emmydann,Smazlexander Sotadegrt,debbycreamy,SarcasticMe...


Welcome..fellas...

More Roll Call...


Giwman9 , timmy1329, babz574, Tpresh, m003 , valirex, SynCityNg , GloryIsaac, sammuelbs, Brainssyl , onome442 , Ofez , DanieBlinkz , FemiSpencer, danwa25 , Kendollar696 , azfwesh , Feanah, Wayneju , opomulero101, Goodness142 , lukfame ,scarra , freeze105 , steph270 , sheyman45, yusfatedeeprof , Abovee122 , erayo2GCA , jarmew , Franasoan , cerowo, nairaland20 , Pearl05,kalemy , lanray88 , ejiko4ng , Obodo999, Debbietiyan, jenas0

Wow. U took ur time to write a lengthy post before invitin us nd so far so gud d story is very excellent. More ideas to ur brain dude

[quote author=ceecane2 post=71244766]Wow. U took ur time to write a lengthy post before invitin us nd so far so gud d story is very excellent. More ideas to ur brain dude[/quote
Thanks bro...

Wow!! Interesting write-up. Please continue

nice Write Up More ink To Your Pen Mention Me For The Next update

steph270:
Wow!! Interesting write-up. Please continue

Thank you Steph

Smazlexander:
nice Write Up More ink To Your Pen Mention Me For The Next update

Thank you

Thumbs up bruv

Tbekz:
Thumbs up bruv

Thank you