Sorry I'm late guys. Life happens, you know.

If you want to also read a short story. Another romantic comedy. You can read it here.

https://www.nairaland.com/7010213/how-met

Don't worry it's already a complete story.

Or you can read it on my blog as usual.

Thanks for the update. Good to have you back. Welcome

Welcome back

Infinite Love 124

Rude Awakening

If anyone had hoped that Commander
Datijo was joking about the painful training, that hope was shattered the very next day.


Barely had the sun rose that they
heard the bingo; it was more like a long whistling sound that was too loud for any man to make. Naturally, the new cadet occupants of both the stallion and the eagle squads ignored this sound and assumed it could be the mating call of some animal in the wild and barely stirred awake. It was a regretful move though, because barely a few seconds after the bingo sounded did, they had cold
water flung into their beds with extreme prejudice.

“GET UP! GET UP! Whenever you hear
the bingo you get up.” Sergeant Seyi was the culprit holding a bucket of water
and using a bowl to attack the sleeping cadets. She flung water to every bed
she came across including Michael’s who already awake but hadn’t gotten up on
time and so flung she smacked him with water right across his face.

“Get up!”

Some of the cadets were already
scrambling to put on their boots and some were already heading to the assembly
by the time she got to Fubby’s bed and flung water heavily onto him but he
barely stirred, she flung water on to his face next but he simply buried it
into his pillow and still didn’t stir. She stood there for a bit in amazement
at him before she finally emptied the bucket onto upon his head and screamed
into his face.

“GET UP YOU MAGGOT! GET TO THE
ASSEMBLY!” before he finally got up in a seated position flapping his hands and
legs about trying to swim out from under the swimming pool that he had been
dreaming about.

“ACK! AH!” he spluttered before
Michael grabbed him and lead him to get dressed and out the hall.

…

Outside, in the early hours of the
morning before even the sun was out they all stood there shaking in their
semi-wet clothes. Michael noticed that even the cadets from the eagles squad
had wet shirts too but not nearly as wet as theirs was. Either their commander,
Sergeant Kamilu was lenient with his water attack or his cadets had alarm
clocks in their brains that woke them up early. He also noticed Zara ahead of
him, she was looking just as sleepy as the rest of them but was otherwise fine.
He had no idea where she spent the night as they were in the same squad but
wasn’t in the common the rest of them had slept in.

There they all were, before dawn
standing at attention, in the cold mountain morning, shivering and waiting as
they made the roll call to make sure they were all there. Afterwards, they
began their march training once again.

“LEFT, RIGHT, LEFT, RIGHT!” they
trained until their bodies warmed up and dried up their wet shirts until
sunrise when they began sweating and barely felt the cold anymore, but still
mists flew out of their mouths as they breathed and evaporated off their bodies
and they trained.

They were already exhausted from
yesterday and many could barely raise a hand so Commander Datijo went around
slapping shoulders and knocking on heads of whoever got anything wrong or
weren’t doing it enough gusto. It wasn’t until even the other sergeants seemed
to tire of barking orders that he finally dismissed them and sent them off to
have their baths and get breakfast.

As they had been dismissed their
initial reaction was to lay down and rest but Commander Datijo who they were
now referring to affectionately as ‘Commander Dirty’, ‘Cee Danger’ and ‘Cee
Dat’ had threatened that whomever was late to the mess hall would have his own
saliva to feed on for the rest of the day.

And, so they hurriedly even with
their tired hands took off their clothes and rushed to their bathrooms where
they fetched pond water to bathe with. The water was still filled with frogs
and tadpoles but for some reason they were all used to that by now. Fubby as a
matter of fact found the frogs athletic and cute and enjoyed watching the way
the scrambled around the water when he scooped out some water but kept his
mouth shut to avoid getting them in his mouth.

That morning Fubby was feeling a
little bit better despite the torture session masqueraded as a march training
that they had just endured. He was feeling better because he had heard the word
breakfast from Cee dat. Breakfast meant food and food was almost everything to
him. Food was the only constant thing that always made him feel better.
Whenever there was good food around. He could always endure anything. Socrates
had famously said that make ‘food thy medicine and make medicine thy food’ but
to him food was both the medicine and the cure.

His parents had learned earlier on
in his life that whenever their son was coming down to an ailment the first thing,
they should try was to take him to his favorite restaurant before taking him to
a doctor. They had often realized that they saved a lot of money on medicine
just by knowing the best cooks in town. His father always said that while his
other children’s first words were ‘momma’ and ‘baba’, fubby’s first words were
‘nama’ (cow meat) and ‘ice cream’.

So that morning he was his regular
chatty self on account of the prospect of good food. His father had told him a
lot about army officer’s mess having all kinds of exquisite food and so he had
imagined they would be dining on something exciting and rare like roasted
mountain goats garnished with potatoes along with all kinds of aromatic spices.

“Hey boss, crazy morning, right?
Mad o!”

“Yeah, it was. Hey are you
alright? You seemed out of it before.” Michael asked.

“Oh, sure. I was totally drained
before and I feel like it might collapse anytime but as long as I have good
food, I’m gonna be fine. I’m great!”

“Okay, I’m glad to hear that.”

“Hey, what d’you think we’re gonna
be having for breakfast?”

“I don’t know.” Michael shrugged.

“I keep thinking something roasted
like…chicken or goats.”

“Goats?”

“Hmm hmmm. Yep, I’m very talented
when it comes to food.”

“Oh, do you cook?”

“Yeah, but I mostly eat. Delish!”

“Why am I not surprised?” Michael
smiled as they headed out to their mess hall.

…

As they filed in their mess hall
they spotted Zara and joined her.

“Hello, Zara.”

“Hey, Zee Mama. How you doing?”
they greeted and she regarded them for a bit before responding.

“I’m fine, thank you.”

“Are you alright? We didn’t see
you in stallion hall.”

“I’m fine, I’m staying with
Sergeant Seyi.”

“Oh, nice!” Fubby said.

“That makes sense. Afterall it’s
just the two of you ladies we have.”

“…fine ladies” Fubby added and she
regarded him once more wondering if she should take him seriously.

“She must be taking good care of
you, right?” Michael asked but she shrugged.

“Ah, of course she is!” fubby
added “I’ll bet you two must be having a blast together.”

“I think things would have been a
lot easier if I was at stallion hall.” She said simply.

“What?”

“No way! I would be in heaven if I
was staying under the same room with Sergeant Sexy.” Fubby blurted to curious
looks from the other two.

“So, are you having things
difficult staying with her?” Michael asked her but she only stared at the women
who brought in food into the mess hall and refused to say anymore.

The woman looked like a local
someone who lived nearby and came around solely for the purpose of serving them
their food. She was aided by a few other cadets from the eagle’s squad who
carried large coolers that she would’ve otherwise not been able to life
herself. Everyone looked on in attention. They had been waiting for food since
yesterday. Most of them had never had to wait such a long time for food before.
Food was something they never had to worry about in their lives. But back here
in the mountain, their lives were different and as well as their priorities.

For some reason Cee dat was there,
he ordered them to form a queue and watched them as they slowly edged on to
collect their meal. Fubby’s eyes were glued to the front hoping to catch a
glimpse of the delicacy that was being served. But noticed that everyone who
went ahead of them to collect their meals didn’t look particularly happy with
their food. In fact, they didn’t look like they liked their food at all.

“But that was impossible, right?”
he thought “I mean, after all the craziness that they’d seen so far the
least they could do was serve them good food? Even prisoners deserved to be
well fed.”

Alas, that would not be the case.
As the three of them got to the top of the line, Michael got it first. He’d
imagined that the old lady would ask give him an option but instead she just
collected a plate from the eagle’s cadet next to dipped her long iron ladle
into the cooler to scoop out noting but a simple sloppy white and boring
tapioca pudding. Michael hadn't seen anything like it before. It looked like colourless pap that had been left on the stove too long. He wasn't sure he could eat it.

“Er…” he said trying to protest but allhe got was…

“NEXT!” from her and the next
cadet beside her simply dripped some milk from a tin can and shoved into his
hands and waved him off. Michael was starting to dislike the other guys in the
Eagle’s squad.

“MINGAO!” Michael turned around to
find Fubby freaking out. “This is TAPIOCA!? SERIOUSLY?! You mean after all the
climbing, jumping, marching and frog water baths, all we’re getting is just
SOME BLOODY TAPIOCA PUDDING? No meat! No fish! THIS IS MAD O!” he yelled again.

“Hey, you. Quiet yourself there,
piggy. It’s tapioca or saliva and if you don’t like it, if anyone of you don’t
like it, you can talk a walk, your choice.” Ceedat said calmly and with that
Fubby calmed right down. Michael now understood why he was around in the mess
hall. He had somehow anticipated some kind of reaction from the cadets.

Since he just stood there, the old
lady simply gave his bowl of tapioca to the cadet beside her who dripped a
meagre quantity of three crowns milk into it and held it out to him. Michael
came over and collected it for him while Zara with her owl along with Michael
escorted him to a table where they started their breakfast.

For a while, Fubby simply stared
at the plate muttering.

“Mad o!” Michael watched with
concern, it was obvious that with his big size Fubby was used to eating large
meals and this was not going to be an easy adjustment for him. He felt sorry
for the guy. Zara watched him too. She hadn’t for either of them before even
after they’d help her up the mountain after everyone else had left her behind.
But after seeing his reaction to the food and watching him just stare at the
plate like that, she was feeling some kind of concern for the loud loquacious
fat boy who had tried to flirt with her yesterday. His sad chubby cheeks
reminded her of the look babies have whenever they fear their mothers was
abandoning them.

Fubby looked at the plate and the
stark reality of the mountain suddenly dawned upon him. With food like these,
he was not going to make it.

“Mad o!” he sighed before
he started eating quietly.

Thanks for the update. Pls keep up the good work.

Infinite Love 125

Grit & Guts

Soon after the worst they got a bland taste of their new lives at the worst breakfast that most of them had ever had. They weren’t allowed a minute to dwell on their pathetic situation, they were herded back onto the field for the rest of the day’s training.

“The motto of the Nigerian Air Force is WAR; WILLING, ABLE AND READY!” ceedat bellowed “DID YOU HEAR ME?”

“SIR, YES SIR!”

“Good. You have to be strong, brave and you must never give up, no matter what. In order words, you need grit and guts. But you people standing out here before me are the some of the worst turnouts of our great nation. Your generation is known for nothing but crying, complaining and excuses. You want everything to be given to you. In fact, you want your mothers to keep breastfeeding you until she dies. You don’t want to do anything by yourself. You cannot even be called losers because you give up way before you have even started. You are just wimps. Lowly maggots, who want what the things that they never work for. But you’re all here now and we are going to teach you the meaning of grit and guts. What did I say?”

“GRIT AND GUTS, SIR!!!” they responded.

“You have to be strong, courageous and you have to persevere. YOU MUST NEVER GIVE UP! We will transform you into something more; men…”

“men?” Zara hissed “that’s not an improvement.” She thought.

“and if you survive this experience…”

“If?” on that ominous tone a few of the cadets; including Jameelu and Michael exchanged looks “what does he mean by if?”

“your own your parents wouldn’t recognize you.” But he continued.

“Mad o!” fubby thought and Michael wondered if they were ever going to hear any kind of positive encouragement from their chief commander instead of the constant threat of gloom and doom, he was giving them.

“NOW GRAB THOSE BAGS AND FOLLOW ME YOU GO MAGGOTS!”

And with that last order the cadets grabbed each one of the bags that had been placed in front of them. They were not like the usual bags people carry to school or work. No, these were more like sacks, like the ten-kilogram sacks of rice and garri sold to wholesalers in Lagos but these were not white coloured like the bags of rice, they were brown like the colour of sand and they were literally filled with sand and twice as heavy.

“An airman’s training is the development of grit and guts. You will not survive it, if you do not push yourself past your limits.” Their chief commander was saying as he led them down the mountain on a ten-kilometer hike escorted by the squad commanders.

Michael had never experienced anything like it. They were made to trot down a rocky mountain, and went around the entire sides of the mountain, which was beautiful but they were in no mood to appreciate it. The mountain was beautiful but they weren’t tourists out to appreciate nature, they were new cadets getting into their training proper.

Fubby was so hungry he thought he could see something like goats and chickens on top of the mountain. He tried to ask Michael if he saw them too but he couldn’t speak. All he could do was gasp for breath as he and the rest of them marched, trying to keep up with their commanders who were now getting well ahead of them including Sergeant Seyi who along with the other commanders was carrying also carrying sand bags.

Then they took them onto the main road into town and saw a few of the locals who lived close to the mountain. The locals were laughing at them and some even pointed as they mocked. Watching a marchpast of the any of the armed forces is always an impressive sight but not in their case. All the locals saw were a bunch of young people gasping, panting and hardly able to keep up. They were not an impressive sight.

Nevertheless, they marched as hard as they could but their commanders didn’t seem to appreciate their effort. They mocked and jeered and forced them to march to the rhythm of their silly mocking songs.

“Mama come and see!”

“Papa come and see!”

“Wetin all dis commander dey come dey do for me!”

“Dem no give me fufu!”

“Dem call me mumu!”

“Everyday na suffer suffer I dey come dey do!”

Ceedat would run up and down, in and out, their four columns which was in disarray, tapping and knocking them on the head and elsewhere to correct and bolster them, all the while singing and laughing with his song.

“Uncle come and see!”

“Anty come and see!”

“Wetin all dis commander dey come dey do for me!”

“Dem no give me ponmo!”

“Dem call me dodo!”

“Everyday na suffer suffer I dey come dey know!”

It was a very annoying song and the cadets desperately needed him to stop singing it but nobody dared say anything. For his age and short size, it was a wonder that he had the energy to march up and down, round and round their ranks and still manage to sing. With his wild and bushy brows and moustache, he reminded Fubby of the wild grasscutters that his mother used to buy from the locals that they killed and ate them. He was so hungry that almost all his thoughts were about food.

By the time they got back to the mountain it was past noon and they all looked like a sorry sight. Hiking ten kilometers was always a tough task for anyone but doing so while carrying a heavy sand bag strapped to your back was sometime else. So, they all but collapsed as they dropped their sand bags back into a pile.

“What is the matter? Wetin happen?” Ceedat mocked. “Is it because of the hike that you all collapsed like this? Get up jor!” he ordered but they all merely stirred lifelessly. “You are all maggots! Only a ten hike did this to you? And you are all supposed to be airmen? Do you think flying is all that you’re expected to do as pilots? You are maggots are a waste of space. Get out of my sight. Dismissed!” he barked.

“Hooray!”

“Thank God o!”

“Alhamdulillah!”

“Finally, we rest.” They all cheered as they got up but he called them all back.

“What they hell is wrong with you? What are you saying? WHAT REST? After your lunch, each and everyone of you will come back here to this field even if I have to drag you for the rest of the days training. UNDERSTOOD?”

“Chai!”

“Mad o!”

“Again?”

“ARE YOU MAD?” he barked. Have you forgotten who you are talking to? I said; UNDERSTOOD?”

“SIR, YES SIR!!!” they responded.

“Good. Now GET OUT!” he dismissed them and they herded out to their mess for lunch.

Lunch was another sorry affair for them, most especially for Fubby. He had held out hope that there would be something particularly tasty for lunch. Afterall, they had just finished a ten-kilometer hike with sandbags strapped on them. But when the lunch lady came and serve them. It was another plate of sloppy corn pap with akara ‘bean cakes’ on the side. At least it was a larger portion of it this time. The food was lacking in quality but at least they made it up in quantity. Michael, Zara and Fubby huddled together to lunch quietly. The three of them were making it a habit of sticking together during meals and they ate quietly as a conversation was too tasking to make.

A few minutes later they were huddled back onto the field and made to run drills around the various obstacles on the pitch. They would run, crawl, swing and jump round the various devices put on the pitch. Fubby fell a lot of the time. By evening they were dismissed the third time for dinner where they were given their supper of flat wheat bread and beans. At the sight of the beans he had hope of something warm and tasty but alas whoever cooked those forgot to add salt and so the beans were quite tasteless.

He couldn't take much more of it. He fell immediately into bed and passed out without following the protocol of taking a bath, washing their clothes and cleaning his shoes. He was slowly giving up on his training on the mountain. Michael was getting worried about him. As he was slowly becoming quiet and withdrawn but there was little he could think to help. Their first week on the mountain had sapped all of their strengths and if they were to indeed survive, it would take a lot of grit and guts.

Thanks for the update. I like this fubby character. He is a lively chap and always bringing humour to everyone.

Thanks for the update. I like this fubby character. He is a lively chap and always bringing humour to everyone

I don miss many updates O chai. adeabdul2 how far nah. The story dey go wella make I start to dey read the numerous updates.

Thanks for this story. From the beginning, I knew this is going to be very interesting and I'm not disappointed.

Remind me a little of NYSC camp.

You are doing very well. More ideas to your brains.

I dey oga. How far now?

Eddysilver:
I don miss many updates O chai. adeabdul2 how far nah. The story dey go wella make I start to dey read the numerous updates.

Thanks boss

efeteb:
Thanks for this story. From the beginning, I knew this is going to be very interesting and I'm not disappointed.

Remind me a little of NYSC camp.

You are doing very well. More ideas to your brains.

I like funny too

hotswagg12:
Thanks for the update. I like this fubby character. He is a lively chap and always bringing humour to everyone.

Infinite Love 126

Obstacles

Nobody could get out of bed the very next day after their first sandbag hike. The bingo had been sounding off to the cadets to gather at the field for more than two minutes but no one stirred in their beds. Just as anticipated their commanders came in and splashed them out of beds with water and screams.

SPLASH!!
“GET UP. GET…UP!”
Even with that it still took them an additional five more minutes to clear everyone out of their beds, because they knew, a wet bed is far less a disturbance than the excruciating pain awaiting them out of their halls. As soon as they were out, they got no mercy from commander Dee.
“Just when I thought you people could fumble any less, you find new and more disappointing ways to mess up. So, you didn’t to get out of bed today? Did you think we would let you hide in your beds? You are cadets of the Nigerian Airforce; I suggest you start acting like it.”
Still, he got little to no responses from them, obviously the hike was a little too much for them and so he said.
“Okay. Alright. If you guys are tired today, we can do something else. No hike today.”
“Oh, thank God.” Zara said and the rest seemed to grumble in acceptance.
“After the morning march, we can stay here, on the mountain and have a light training. How’s that?” he asked.
“GOOD SIR!” they shouted.
“Okay. Okay, then that is what we will do.” He said grinning “Now, ATTENTION!”
As they began their march training Michael couldn’t help but wonder about the sly grin Ceedat had on his face at the mention of the ‘light training’.
“Was he really going to take things easy on them this today?” he wondered.
The breakfast after march was yellow custard with masara ‘corn puffs’. It was nothing spectacular, it was hardly tasty but it did fill their tummies and they slowly for two reasons. Their bodies ached all over and some of them could barely lift the spoon to their mouths without feeling a lot of pains. And secondly, any time they were not spending with their chief commander was a time to be cherished.
Sergeant Kamilu came for them, he herded them out to the field past the assembly ground to where Ceedat was standing with Sergeant Seyi at the west end of the mountain with all the curious looking training equipment. They sight of them filled the cadets with dread.
“As promised” Ceedat began as they arrived “…we won’t be going on a hike today. We will train on the ANTHILL and then the LAVA PIT, if time permits.” He said gesturing to the two longest structures of military obstacle courses.
“Oh, no.” Michael said dejectedly as the morale of the rest of the cadets sank to their stomachs.
“Sir, is this the …light training?” Jameelu asked bewildered.
“Why, yes of course.” He said lightheartedly but then added “Oh, I know it looks tough considering the length of it but allow us to demonstrate. You will not be carrying any sandbags or anything else here for that matter, you merely have to go through the various structures to get to the end of the courses. That’s all. Easy!”
“Ay, mad o!” Fubby muttered under his breath.
“Sergeant, will you please demonstrate how to navigate the anthill for us, please?” Ceedat motioned towards Sergeant Kamilu who immediately sprang into action and took to the obstacle course on the left.
The anthill was not exactly easy. It was a five-hundred-meter course that sloped upwards to the steeper part of the mountain and as sergeant sprang to the starting point, Ceedat directed them to follow on the side of the course to watch how he did it. But when they saw his look all sweaty and dirty after a few seconds, Michael knew they were in trouble.
The anthill starts off with crawling, a lot of crawling of crawling. Under a net not taller than a chicken’s height but twenty meters, kamilu crawled expertly under it for a few seconds and emerged instantly looking dirty in the from section of his uniform. Next, he crossed a few waist height parallel logs without using his hands, only to fall back onto his back and he began crawling on his back under knee high barbed wires for another ten meters. He then emerged dirty, totally from head to toe on his both sides. After that, he had to walk balancing on logs raised to about a foot off the ground.
“Here if he falls off, he would have to go back to the beginning of the course and start all over again after performing twenty reps of pushups.”
“Ehn?” they gasped as they watched Kamilu balance himself on the twenty-meter logs. He then had come across a four feet wooden fence which he scaled using his hands to pull himself up before using his feet to climb over it. Then came the eight feet wooden fence which had ropes attached to it. Since, the fence was too high he had to use the thick ropes knotted at measured intervals to climb the wall. He grabbed the rope and used that to push himself up while he used his legs to walk up the fence like he was doing a movie stunt.
“Are we supposed to do that?” Michael asked baffled.
“No, you can call an Uber chopper to fly you across.” Ceedat retorted sarcastically.
By the time Kamilu reached the top of the fence he climbed across and used another rope on the other side to swing down. Then he ran panting into a tunnel made up of a water storage tank sank into the ground and lined up end to end, he next came out to crawl into a made up of car tires lined up end to end, a few feet apart and sank into the ground a few inches making it a tight fit for anyone to crawl into. It was a tight fit.
“Mad, o.” Fubby swallowed nervously at the prospect of having to crawl through that.
After Kamilu came out of the tire tunnel, he came across four rows of tires stuck into the ground sideways forming round holes into ground which he stepped into as he got across them. Then he came to a sea stomps of wood stuck into the ground with their cut angle raised up to about two out of the ground and he stepped on them, slowly balancing his foot as Ceedat mentioned that falling off the stomps, again meant that he would have to start the entire thing all over again.
Finally, he got to a swinging tied to an overhead beam mounted on two wooden posts on either side but in the middle of it was a puddle of mud. It looked like children's swing set but instead of swing seats it had ropes to swing over the puddle. If executed properly one could have a fun swing over the mud and to the end of the obstacle course but if not, one would get splattered into a messy smelly puddle of mud and start the course all over again.
"See, that was so easy, right?" Ceedat said but obviously they all disagreed but refrained from speaking their minds.

"And now to the lava obstacle." and he motioned for Sergeant Seyi who promptly got into the starting position of the course directly opposite the anthill course.
"GO!" he said and she took off and started climbing a rope. "The object of this course is to pretend the floor is lava and never touch the ground with your feet or any other part of your body.

What happened next was spectacular. She ran to the starting rope and climbed it up swift as a snake to to about ten feet in the air at the very top and swing down back down to the other side to drop onto parallel log bridges stacked three feet apart and she nimbly stepped across them making it look so simple.

"Wow." Fubby said.

"She's great." said Zara getting excited watching Sergeant Seyi crossing the log roof with deftness of circus performers entertaining them all.

Next she came across a low net bridge split in two ways that climbs up to a point on one side and goes back down on the other side and she did it with so much finese that the cadets started cheering her on.

"Yes, commander go go go!" they cheered and commander datijo allowed it because he knew that watching her would motivate them.
Next she came across another lower balance beam which was much thinner and she had to slowly walk across it using the sides of her feet.

But the scariest part of that course was the monkey roof. It was an open roof with ropes running across it from side to side and so she used one had to grab onto a rope with one hand and swung her body to catch the next rope and so on and so forth until she was across it.

From then she slid down a single rope bridge in a foetal position and used the last rope to swing across the last puddle of mud to the end of the course.

And the cadets went wild.

"WOW!"

"WOO HOO!"

"OH MY GOD!"

"THAT WAS AMAZING!"

"IMPOSSIBLE!"
They all ran up to her and began jumping up around her as if she had won a competition even though it was merely a demonstration.

"Yes, well done, Sergeant. Nice one. Well, I'm glad you all enjoyed that little spectacle because now. It is all your turns." he said and all their faces fell simultaneously.

This their training is very difficult especially coming from the fact that the new intake are ajebos. Thanks for the update and also giving us insight of the training of an air force cadet.

adeabdul2 you are doing great. But fubby ehn, wen him hear wetin Cee dat tell dem he nor suppose xpect beta food nah.

adeabdul2:
I dey oga. How far now?

E far well well o
Wen update go drop?

Thanks boss. But about how air force cadets Training really goes. I don't know. I'm just making stuff up.
Lols

hotswagg12:
This their training is very difficult especially coming from the fact that the new intake are ajebos. Thanks for the update and also giving us insight of the training of an air force cadet.

I'm na foodie now. Funny na foodie. That's why I'm dey expect beta food.

Lol

Eddysilver:
adeabdul2 you are doing great. But fubby ehn, wen him hear wetin Cee dat tell dem he nor suppose xpect beta food nah.

No be update i drop so? Na wa for you o! Lol

Eddysilver:


E far well well o
Wen update go drop?

adeabdul2:
No be update i drop so? Na wa for you o! Lol

E nor belleful me nah

Go drink water join abeg. Lol

adeabdul2:
Thanks boss. But about how air force cadets Training really goes. I don't know. I'm just making stuff up.
Lols

You are doing a good job at the description and besides its almost like military training. Kudos

Thanks boss. But wetin be DPI?

adeabdul2:
Thanks boss. But wetin be DPI?

its a typo error. Meant doing

Infinite Love 127

A few more days more on the mountain and they were running around the field in a fierce frenzy hyped by their commanders, doing drills, climbing up, falling down until they were barked upon to get back up and begin to do it all over again. They were starting to get used to recognize the pattern of their training.

Every day they were made to march on the field after which they will go on hikes while on alternate days they stayed on the mountain and ran the various obstacle courses spread out all over the mountain, after which they would still end the days training in battle mode; the eagle squad would go against the stallion squad in a variety of combat scenarios. The stallions were on a losing streak against the eagles.

Today they were doing drills. They couldn’t tell which was worse. The hike or the drills. This was not the idea Zara had when she ran away from home.

She had merely envisioned being far away enough from her to free herself from his influence in her life.

Most children hear good stories about the time that they were born. They hear their mothers cry for joy on seeing them for the first time. They are told that their fathers love them unconditionally on holding them for the first time. They are told it was a time of love and blessing, they are told their birth brings their mother and father together thereby making their family stronger.

But most people didn't have a father like Abu Zainab.

Zara's birth did not bring happiness and joy to her parents' lives, it did not bring her parents closer together and it certainly did not bring any tears of joy because she was unfortunate enough to be born to Abu Zainab. Not according to the stories told by her Mallam Idris, her mother's younger brother. The closest thing she had to a father figure even though her own father was alive and she knew him well.
Abu Zainab had threatened his wife. He did not love his daughter unconditionally, he didn't even hold her for many years.
Abu Zainab had all but threatened his wife Ameenah not to give him another daughter.

"Two is enough, in fact, more than enough, gaskiya." he'd told her repeatedly but when Ameenah had the third pregnancy, she cried once the scan had revealed the baby's sex to her.

For months she refused to tell him, not after the doctor had told her, not when she had asked double-checked in case the doctor had made a mistake, and not even when her stomach bulged and she had pretended to not notice that she might be pregnant. But by her early trimester, he was relentless, he pestered her incessantly about the baby's sex and demanded she tell him.

She cried incessantly under the stress until she had to have a premature delivery.

"Your stress levels are too much, mallama." the kind doctor Mrs. Lawal had told her "Alhamdulillah that your brother brought you here on time because I
I fear to think what would have happened to your baby. But we must praise God, Alhamdulillah for everything. All is will be well now.

Ameenah with the little strength in her body walked assisted by her brother to where her young daughter had been put under a glass dome with all manner of tubes hooked into her and she cried.
She had failed her daughter.

Haba! Ummu Zainab did you not hear what the doctor said? You have to take it easy, wallahi, for your daughter's sake.

But Idris what kind of a mother am I, if I cant even keep my own doctor inside me until her full nine months?

No, don't think like that. It wasn't your fault. Hed said as her brother hugged her to comfort her.

But as Ameenah opened her eyes to glance at her little premature daughter once more, the little girl's eyes were wide open and fixed upon her mother with the kindest sweetest expression of love.

Subhanallah! Idris, look!

Allahu akbar! She's awake and she's looking straight at you! hed said in bewilderment.

You noticed it as well, right?

Yes! Wow! She's so…radiant like a flower!

You are absolutely right, Idris. Even with all the wires coming and going in and out of her she's not feeling anything. She's just radiant.

Ameenah named the young girl Zara, meaning blooming flower and she promised her she would never let fail her again. No matter what her father said or did.
But when Abu Zainab did get to the hospital five days later he raised hell and brimstone. He made so much noise that the doctors had to intervene.

Hello, hello mallam. Please you cannot be shouting here this is a hospital and what is the problem?

Doctor Lawal. This wicked woman has done it again! The first time, I didn't say anything. The second time, I didn't say anything too. But this time, I will protest!

Protest what? I don't understand, what is the matter? Haven't you seen your child?

It is a girl! She gave me another daughter after I had warned her several times that I need a son. As the first son of my family, I also need a son and this woman. This wicked woman is only giving me three daughters.

Haba! Mallam, don't say that. Daughters are a blessing from Allah, subhana wa taala. The noble Prophet peace be upon him said that; whoever raises two daughters will be together with him in paradise.

Doctor, please don't quote, prophetic sayings to me.

Allahu akbar, mallam, let me tell you something; when the parents get old it is the daughters that usually care for them the most, not the sons. Allah has blessed you with another daughter and in fact, this one is a real treasure. Just go and see her for yourself. You will be very happy.

Ok, no problem. No wahala. Listen to me, Ameenah. I have asked your brother to pack your things to another house because I am tired of you. I will find myself another wife and you can raise your treasures all by yourself. he said and with that, he took off.

Haba, mallam. Please don't do that. and the doctor followed him begging and pleading for him to reconsider but Ameenah without a word to him simply got up from the bed quietly and went over to see her daughter. And at the sight of the little who was formerly looking pale but was now having a healthy coloration on her skin set her worried heart at ease. Everything was fine as long as she had zara. She was all that mattered now.

And Zara loved to surprise people. The doctors initially thought she might not survive when they first held her small tiny body that was small even for a premature six months old baby but she only got stronger and stronger.

And Zara loved to surprise. She surprised her doctors by surviving after her mother was discouraged about her chance of survival.

She surprised her father himself, Abu Zainab by ignoring him. Most daughters loved their fathers unconditionally, she never acted as if he existed.

But she especially surprised her family regarding her treatment of boys. She was too harsh with them.
She was fearless despite her small size. She never backed down from fighting boys. Whenever her family had their regular gatherings and she meet with her fellow siblings and cousins and they played together, she was bound to end up fighting with any silly smelly little boy who thought he could bully her because she was a girl.
Her aunts would pull her off many a boy so many times and drag her off to her mom.

"Ameenah, didn't I warn you to keet Zara away from my son? What is the meaning of this, gaskiya? Every time, every time! No sooner than Isa is around will your stubborn daughter pounce on top and beat him. Just look at the state of him. Just look at him! He has sand all over him, wallahi! Isa open your mouth." Aunt Salma said and no sooner than the boy opened his mouth that sand fell out.

"SUBHANALLAH! SEE?? DO YOU SEE? She poured sand into even his mouth! WAYO ALLAH. PLEASE TALK TO YOUR DAUGHTER O!"

"Ay, Zara come here." her mother called as she was hiding behind the banana tree as she had only just promised her mother that she would not fight with any more boys at their family gathering. But it wasn't her fault, every time her extended family congregates and aunt Salma brings her nephew, she tries her possible best to avoid the boy so as to keep her promise to not fight with any boy. But Isa was the most annoying boy in the world. He always found excuses to get under her nerves. She had been playing with her sisters when he came around to join them.

"Get away from here! You are a boy, not a girl. Go and play with boys like you." she had said in all honesty but the stubborn boy stayed and joined them anyway and when he tried to take over their game and ruin it for them she had warned him again and even reported him to his aunt who had merely chased her away without paying much attention to her and so she had lost her temper and had to box his ears. She hadn't meant to roughen him up but things got out of hand and she ended up feeding him sand and pushed his head deep into the grass with her hands which was how Aunt Salma found them both and she knew she was finally in trouble with her mom.

"Zara, I said come here!" her mother snapped at here and she never liked it whenever her mom was upset with her and so even before her mother really began scolding her she had started crying at which her mom of course had no other option but to draw her close and hug her tight.

"Oh, Zara. What am I going to do with you ehn?"

"It's wasn't my fault. I didn't start it." she said sobbing into her mother's bosom.

"Shush shush, it's okay. Stop crying dear."

"Aww, is that all that you will do?" Aunt Salma said sardonically.
"That is how you have been spoiling this daughter of yours, Ameenah." another aunt added.

"Fighting with boys all the time is all that she is good for." another mean old aunt said.

"Girls marry boys, not fight them. How is she going to get married, if all she does is fight boys."

"NO, I'M NOT GOING TO MARRY ANY SMELLY BOY!" Zara said emerging from her mother's bosom but all the rest women merely laughed at her.

The synopsis of Zara's childhood was all about all her aunt's complaining about her strange aggressive behaviour towards boys to her mom who eventually learned to listen to take their complaints in stride without hurting her daughter's feelings.

But the biggest surprise that Zara had was towards Abu Zainab her father.

Ever since on one of their family gatherings, he heard the aunts complaining about Zara fighting, he saw his daughter and the sight of her shocked him. She was covered in sand from head to toe, her little hijab was ripped in the middle, her right arm had scratches and her shoes were nowhere to be found.

Usually, he paid little attention to the matters of his daughters, they were merely precursors to the golden sons that Allah, the Almighty was going to give him, and then he would consider himself a real father. But the sight of the girl was infuriating and so he left the men's gathering and marched immediately towards the women and bellowed;

"WHO DID THIS TO ZARA? ANSWER ME! I SAID WHO DID THIS TO MY DAUGHTER?"

The women couldn't tell what was more shocking, his temper or his rare concern in the affairs of one of his daughters, particularly the last one for which he separated from and got a second wife.

"She…she was fighting with Yakubu." one aunty said eventually.

"AND WHERE IS HE? CALL HIM FOR ME!" he continued.

"
But on seeing the much taller much fatter Yakubu in a bigger mess than his much smaller daughter his anger dissipated and his curiousity got the better of him.

"Subhanallah! What is this? Why are you looking more banged up than Zara?"

"That's because your little Zara who is crying over there pretending to be all innocent is truly the one who caused my son such pains." the mother said bitterly.

"WHAT?" he gasped "Are you playing on my intelligence?" he said with disbelief "How can my own Zara who is half the size of this fat boy be the one who beat him so?"

"It is true, gaskiya, mallam." another aunt chipped in. "While Zara may be small for her size, she has in fact gotten very tough from fighting with even bigger boys than Yakubu. His size is nothing compared to her fearlessness."

"Yes, that's the truth, wallahi." they chorused and Abu Zainab's heart filled with rare pride in his daughter and he couldn't contain it.

"You, fathead! Are you not ashamed of yourself?" he said smacking the boy on his head.

"Ah ah, mallam please stop that!" his mother protested.

"You are calling on your mother to defend you from a little girl like Zara, abi? Come on, getaway and hide your face in shame!" and he smacked the boy on his bum one last time to send the boy flying away squealing in tears.
"hmph, I can now see clearly where she gets it." the mother mumbled.

Abu Zainab went proudly to his daughter to hug her but to his great dismay. She ran away from him and since then she never looked back. She never wanted anything to do with him. Even as a child she could tell how cold he was towards her and that it was because of him that after every family gathering Mama would be crying and she would use her little fingers to wipe away her tears until Mama would smile from her effort.

Wow Zara is really a special child. Thanks for the update.

I know right? You're welcome.

hotswagg12:
Wow Zara is really a special child. Thanks for the update.

Infinite Love 128

However, anyone who thought that Zarah’s androphobia would disappear with age was sorely mistaken because her dislike for the men folk only got worse as she got older.

Under the caring gaze of her mother shegrew up focused exclusively on her studies and caring for her mother much to the chagrin of the rest of her family.

“Mama, salam aleikum.” Zaniab greeted her
mother coming in.

“Ah, waleikum salam warahmotullahi
wabarakatuhu, my dauther. How are you today? Oh and what of Hamza?”

“He’s right here, mama. Come in quickly
Hamza, don’t delay.”

“Oh, my young prince. How big you’ve
gotten! Come here.” And she picked up her grandson to sit on her lap, playing
with him. “How are you? How is school? I hope you are not being naughty with
your teachers o?” she asked as the shy little boy shook his head.

“Oh, mama. Hamza is fine, please is there
anything to eat. I’m very hungr…I mean Hamza is very hungry.” Zunaid said as
she lazily fell in the cushion.

“Oh, bintu. I’m sorry but there’s nothing
to eat in the house for now. Even me, I am waiting Zarah to come back from
school to come and make something to eat. So, there’s nothing o.”

“Ah! And very hungry, gaskiya!” Zainab
wailed dramatically with her hands raised and failing back onto the cushion.

“I thought you said it was Hamza who is very
hungry?” Mama said with her right eyebrow raised.

“Erm…yes…but so am I. The boy will eat and
so do I. Or can’t I eat again?”

“If you say so.”

“Afterall, I may be married but I am still
somebody’s daughter.”

“If you say so.”

“Where is that Margerat Thatcher, anyway?

“Zarah
will be back soon. Her classes ended a few minutes ago. And I don’t want you
arguing with her this time o please. She having exams and I don’t want anything
to throw off her concentration.”

“Argue with her? Mallama, why would you
tell me such a thing. As if I come here to look for trouble.”

“Hmm hmm.” Mama said suspiciously.

“But If she starts anything with me, I will
not keep quiet, gaskiya.”

“Subhanallahi! Zainabu! Please, I have told
you I don’t want…” Mama Zainab was cut off by the sudden entrance of Zarah with
provisions to cook food.

“Oh, mama. I’m so sorry. Traffic was
something else, wallahi! I don’t know why the men with the biggest cars always
have the smallest brains, wallahi! Nonsense!”

“What have men done to you again, ehn Zarah?
Mrs Margaret Thatcher!”

“Zainab, dan wahala! At least let her sit
down first before fighting with her!” Mama scolded.

“Ah, mama, what have I done again?” Zainab
opened her palms innocently.

“Oh, good. Zainab is here” Zarah said dryly
with zero enthusiasm.

“AUNTY ZARAH!” little Hamza screamed
jumping down from Mama’s laps and into Zarah’s arms.

“Hey, my little prince!” she carried the
boy and hugged him dearly. “How are you? Oh, look at you. You got very big!”

“I said the say thing. Wallahi, he is growing
faster than a sugarcane tree!”

“Yes, and very soon, you will be big and
strong and taller than all of us, in sha Allah.” She said kissing the boy’s
cheeks and pinching his nose slightly.

“Yes, yes, now please take those foodstuffs
inside the kitchen and prepare something for him because he is very hungry and
while you are at it, you can make something for me as well.”

Zarah straightened up with tension running
down her spine. Her eldest sister, Zainab was always had always been her
biggest headache. Self-centered and bossy, ordering her around to make food
without the slightest hint of offering assistance.

“Zainab what are you still doing here?
Didn’t we escape your wahala when we married you off to Mallam bako?”

“Mama, did you hear her? As the eldest
daughter of the house, should she be talking to me like that?”

“Ay, Zainab, Zarah please let me rest today
now.”

“For your information I am still a daughter
of this house and I can come and go as I please, don’t you know that? And they
all say that you’re the smart one but you’re just the stubborn one.”

Zainab was seriously pushing her buttons
today. She wanted to ignore for Mama’s sake but she just couldn’t resist.

“I know. But why is it that you only come
to eat all of our food? As a married woman shouldn’t you be cooking all of your
own food? Or are you the lazy one as they say?”

“Aw…listen to you. You are not even happy
that I come to visit. If I don’t come to visit you two, who will? I am only
looking out for the welfare of you two.”

“Hmm, it shows. Thank you for your
concern.”

“Yes,
I am the eldest after all. The welfare of our family is my utmost priority.”

“As well as that of your big stomach.”
Zarah let slide.

“Mama, did you hear that?” Zainab snapped.

“Peace, you two. Please, let there be peace
for Allah’s sake.”

“Let me inform you. The completion of our
family is always on my mind. Reuniting Abu Zainab and Mama at the very front.”

“Nothing’s wrong with our family. Mama is
fine here with us; she doesn’t need anyone. I will take care of her even if you
or no one else helps me.”

“No! That is not the best thing for our
family. Mama and Abu need to reunite…”

“…please please Zainab if you have come
here to eat let me go and prepare something but don’t bother us with your
aimless words.” She cut in.

“Zarah!” that’s enough.

“Did you hear her again, Mama? And…by the
way? When are you going to start thinking of settling down?”

“You better not start that with me again!”
she warned.

“Unfortunately, I have to since mama is not
bothering you about it. First you said you had school, now it is masters you
are doing, in engineering for that matter. Tell me, what is your problem?
Nobody even knows how you are thinking but will you at least think of our
family if you are not thinking of yourself? Fighting any man that so much as
come close to you. How will any man even think to propose to you? Don’t you
know what people are saying? Do you want to bring shame to us? Don’t you know
that you are getting old? At your age I was already married and with my first born.”

“Well, don’t blame anybody for that. You
brought it on yourself. Was it not you who wanted to marry Mallam Bako before
barely finished secondary school?”

“MAMA! DID YOU HEAR HER? Will you just sit
there and let her insult me all day?” and with that Zainab dramatically
collapsed into the couch sobbing dry tears into the edge of her dress.

“Auzubillahi Minna Shaytaani Rajeem! Peace
peace PEACE! That is enough you two! Zarah, don’t say such to your sister, ever
again! She is your elder, do you understand me?” Zarah dropped her head, she
didn’t like upsetting her mother despite her sister’s foolishness. “Now,
apologize!”

“I’m sorry.” Zarah murmured.

“Oh, all I want is for her own good,
gaskiya ne!”

“That is enough, Zainab. Now, Zarah take
your school belongings inside and I will bring the foodstuffs into the kitchen
and get started on the food.

As she was going in, she heard “Mark my
words, I will get you married soon enough, wallahi!” Zainab swore and Zarah
completely ignored her and went inside.

The next day. As Zarah went to school, her
sister’s words echoed ominously in her ears.

“Could Zainab be planning something against
me? Would she dare? I am still her sister after all but could she be so upset
with me to try to force a marriage down my throat?”

She managed to go about her class unfazed
however. When you have a day filled with classes like fluid mechanics, metallurgy
and material science, it has a way of using up all of your concentration. And
she remained focused on her classes until Engr. Yamah announced the new student
who would be joining the class. Some kind of transfer from another department
which was unusual but as she did with things which was none of her business,
she discarded it and after the student entered the class, the forgot all about
it.

Except the student looked, vaguely
familiar. But still she ignored the attractive looking slim man who later
walked in that the lecturer called Isa. He had one of those dark skins of a
stallion, not that she cared, she was just observing, as in purely from an
engineering perspective. He did have one of those adorable little curly
moustaches that were irresistibly cute but what did she care, she didn’t, she
merely noticed it. He also those devilish eyebrows and curly eyelashes that
were so attractive and made him look like he was flirting with whomever he
looked at but she wasn’t interested in things like that in a man, or in any man
for that matter. She was just noticing that he didn’t have an ugly face that’s
all, good for him. Who cares?

But then something weird happened. He came
over and sat to the next available seat which was next to her, as usual. As her
mostly male classmates avoided her, and with good reason too.

‘Well, he’ll soon find somewhere else to
seat soon enough.’ She thought but then something even weirder happened he
looked at her and spoke to her.

“Asalam aleikum warahmotullahi
wabarakatuhu.” He said and she looked at him in shock for a minute or two.

“Name is Isa.” He said again and she
couldn’t figure out why she was so speechless. She couldn’t tell if it was
because of the shock of his beautiful face in such close proximity to hers or
whether it was because she thought she knew him somehow or just from hearing
someone address her in class other than the lecturer. Either way…

“Waleikum salam warahmotullahi
wabarakatuhu.” She responded but only because it was considered impolite to not
respond to an Islamic greeting in full and not because she was thinking about
how small and soft his lips were at all.

Any ways she thought her stiff and cold
responses would finally give him the signal to stop disturbing her over the
course of a few days. She would come to class to find him seated right there on
the right side of her desk, bright and early as the first one in class. Which
was deathly annoying because she was usually the first one in class.

Zara is falling for isah already. Thanks for the update.

Of course. Fine fulani boy like that. What do you expect?

You're welcome bruv.

hotswagg12:
Zara is falling for isah already. Thanks for the update.