honourable356:
He smile affectionately...

Where are the trending stories?
Has any of the giants drop new stories here apart from Larry?

I don't know where to start from..
Lot of newbies...
And i am guessing there are a lot of uncompleted stories..


Don't know which to click on..

Hope you have been motivating many of these writers orally?

He smile...
Best morning!

pelvicky:
Thank you mr Larry.
I wish basket all the best

Update 10

III

Peter Black stepped into the governor’s office while the guard who had brought him remained at the corridor, just outside the door.

“You wanted to see me, sir?” Peter asked the huge man who was sitting behind a large desk.

“Have your seat, Peter,” the man ordered.

This surprised Black. He was a prisoner standing in the office of the governor, and he had just been told to sit down. He sat gingerly in the same seat Basket had perched himself a few days ago.

“I’m not going to waste your time here, and I don’t expect you to waste my time either.” The man expected to see Peter react nervously but the young man remained nonplussed. At this stage of his life, nothing really scared him anymore. Just like he had told Basket, he was already down, what else could be done to him besides death. And as a matter of fact, Peter was not scared of that either. He believed it was not yet his time to die. If he was going to die young, he would have died a long time ago, especially the time Chief Balewa ordered his boys to have him killed, and after that, he had escaped death on many occasions. And if he was any superstitious, he would have believed that all the people he knew who have died had died in his stead. But he didn’t believe that – well, the only thing he might believe, so far, was that he was probably cursed. Everyone close to him always ended up dead. He had suspected it and Basket had confirmed it.

“What’s wrong, sir?” Peter asked the man.

“I have just one question for you – What is your plan, Peter Black?”

Peter frowned. “My plan? I don’t understand the question, sir.”

“A few days ago, I received the Chief of Police in this office.”

“The Chief of Police?”

“You know him, don’t you?”

“You mean Bas – John Balewa?”

“Exactly. I heard he paid you a visit first before coming to me.”

“That’s right, sir.”

“He told me you were planning to break out of this prison. Well, he had already informed me about that the day you were brought into this prison. Then he came again to emphasize about it. So, I’m asking you again, what’s your plan?”

“I don’t have any plans, sir. I don’t know where the man must have got the idea that I wanted to break out. I am only here to serve my time. I did not come to cause any trouble.”

The man leaned back and stared at Peter, studying him. “So you mean you have no intention of breaking out?”

“Of course I don’t, sir. Even if I do, how would I be able to escape the guards, the walls, the bars, the gates and the wires? It’s simply impossible.”

“Listen to me carefully, Peter. I like you a lot. Regardless of whatever you might have done to bring you here, I still feel that you’re a nice chap. You don’t look like a criminal to me. That is why I chose to look away concerning the benefits you are enjoying. You are smart and intelligent. You carry yourself with grace and honourable poise. There is something about you that sets you apart from most of the other inmates. That is why you are sitting comfortably in that chair in front of me. Someone has broken out of this prison under my watch before, I will never allow that to happen again. I sincerely hope you are not here to frustrate my career.”

“I have been accused of committing a crime; it is only fit that I do the term, sir.”

“Does that mean that you have accepted the fact that you would be spending the rest of your life in this prison?”

Peter Black almost laughed hysterically at the question. If he had not been in this vulnerable situation, he would have laughed so hard that his intestines would stretch. But instead he merely shrugged and said, “I have no choice now, do I?”

“Good, that is what I want to hear. But in any case, you always have a choice. Even thought you might be condemned to this prison, you can still lead a productive life.”

Peter was not ready for that kind of motivational talk. He wanted to end the discussion as quickly as possible. “Concerning that, I wanted to talk to you about something, sir, if you don’t mind.”

“Oh, please talk to me. That is why I’m here.”

“I’m thinking of joining the prison school.”

“Really?”

“Yes. I want to do something productive with my life.”

The man frowned. “I’m not trying to be pessimistic; I’m just wondering what use that would be for you. The programme is for people who have hopes of leaving the prison someday. If you get your diploma here, there’s no company in prison that would hire you. I know I’m not being professional with what I’m saying. These kinds of words should not be caught in my mouth. But I’m being realistic here; the programme is not for someone of your situation.”

“Does that mean that I don’t qualify?”

“Oh no! Of course not! I’m only telling you that you don’t need it.”

“It does not matter if I need it or not, sir. What matters is what I want. And I want to be educated. I want to be certified even if I would never use my certificate.”

The man was silent for a moment, then he asked, “What was your qualification before your arrest?”

“Well, I don’t really have any qualification. The only diploma I have to my name is my primary school leaving certificate. I was writing my Senior School Certificate Examination but was unable to complete it for some obvious reasons.”

The governor nodded. He perfectly understood what Peter meant, and for another reason unknown to him, he felt sorry for the young man.

“How old are you now, Peter Black?”

“I’m twenty-five years old, sir.”

“Well, it’s still not too late for you to achieve whatever you want – it’s never too late, no matter what age you are. In about three months’ time, there would be an SSCE. I will register you for the examination. But you will have to study very hard to be able to meet up.”

“That’s not going to be a problem as long as I have the right materials.”

“Don’t worry about that. I will provide all the textbooks you will need.”

Peter bowed his head in gratitude. “Thank you, sir.”

“Come back to me in three days and all your textbooks will be ready. If you can pass the examination, then you will be able to join the tertiary class. What course would you like to study?”

Peter thought for a moment. Then he suddenly smiled and said, “Law.”

The governor laughed. “That’s not going to be possible. Felons cannot study law.”

“Then I will have to think of another course.”

“I will give you a brochure that would help you select the right course to study.”

“Okay, sir. That would be very nice of you.”

“It’s my job.”

Peter started to rise. As he got to the door, the governor called him back. “There’s one finally question I need to ask you, and I would appreciate your honest reply.”

“Of course, sir.”

“Look at the image of the man on the wall by your right. Do you recognise the person there?”

Peter directed his gaze to the picture. He had met a lot of people through the journey of his life. His path might have crossed with this person but he couldn’t recognise the face. This might be one of the people he had robbed in the past, or someone he had helped.

He shook his head. “No, I don’t know him. Who is he?”

“Are you sure you don’t know him? You should take a good look at him.”

“Am I supposed to know him?”

“Are you? I don’t know. Chief John Balewa seems to recognise him. and by the way he’s so devoted to your cause, I’m thinking you might know the man too.”

“I don’t think I know this person.”

“Maybe you might recall him by name – does the name Khalid mean anything to you?”

Peter shook his head immediately. “I don’t know anyone by that name.”

“Are you sure?”

“I’m very certain, sir. If I did, I would tell you. I don’t know anyone named Khalid.”

“I’m just wondering why Mr Balewa would claim to know him. He seemed to believe that the man had some connection with you.”

“Who is the man, sir?” Peter asked. “He’s wearing a prison uniform. He must have been an inmate of this prison.”

“You’re right. He was once an inmate of this prison. He was the prisoner who escaped.”

Peter became suddenly interested in the man. “Really?” He was inspired by the person. If Khalid could successfully break out of this prison, then he could too. He decided that he was going to learn as much as he could about the prisoner. Knowing about this person might help his plan. What he would give to have just a five-minute discussion with the man. People had always called him, Peter Black a legend – but he had just found a greater legend. For him to be able to break out of this prison, he must have been a highly-intelligent person. He must have been almost as intelligent as Maria. Peter had never known anyone as intelligent as his late wife.

“If you have any information about him, please do not hesitate to let me know.”

“How would I know anything about the man? I don’t know him.”

The governor shrugged. “Maybe you have met him without knowing. He escaped when you were still outside. Perhaps you two met each other in the criminal world, no offense.”

“I would definitely have remembered meeting someone like you.”

“Anyway, you can return to your cell now.”

As Peter closed the door behind him and was followed by the guard, he kept thinking about the prisoner. He had heard that a prisoner had escaped the prison before but now that he had seen the man’s picture, he was very much interested in him. When he got back to his cell, his cellmate was reading a book. They hardly talked to each other; each had always kept them himself since the first day they met each other. But today, the cellmate was reading Peter Black’s favourite book – Things Fall Apart.

“That’s a wonderful book you’re reading,” Peter said honestly.

The cellmate looked up from the book at Peter and said, “I know. This is not my first time of reading it.” he looked at Peter curiously and said, “You seem to have read it too.”

“I have read it about twenty times. I know every word of it.”

“You must be exaggerating.”

“Twenty times is just an understatement. I have read it a lot more than that. For many years, it was the only literature I was reading. Believe me when I tell you that every word of the book is etched in my brain.”

“That’s interesting,” said the man, “You seem like a very interesting fellow yourself.”

“And you seem knowledgeable.”

The man smiled. “Appearance can be deceiving.”

“Talking of knowledge, are you familiar with a prisoner who went by the name Khalid?”

The man stared at Peter suspiciously. “Where did you hear that name? And what makes you think I would know the person?”

The sudden questions surprised Peter. He suspected that the person must have known Khalid personally. He decided to answer the man’s questions honestly.
“I saw his picture in the governor’s office. The governor was asking me if I know the man.”

“And do you know him?”

“How am I supposed to know him?”

“Then was the governor questioning you about him?”

“Well, John Balewa, the man responsible for putting me here, seemed to know him. And the governor thinks that there may be a connection between this Khalid and me.”

“Did you just say it was Officer John Balewa who put you here?”

“Well, he’s now the Chief of Police. Yes, he’s the one responsible for my incarceration.”

“Well, he put me here too?”

“Tell me you’re kidding.”

“I wish I were. My name is Solomon Kalu. I used to bear the name Solo. Officer John Balewa put me and Murphy in this prison.”

Peter frowned. “Who is Murphy?”

“Murphy Khalid – the prisoner who escaped.”

samtoolz:
Larrysun, master of twists. This is where you see the word INTERMISSION in bollywood movies.