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DonnahVibe:
Weldone baba,i'm solidly behind you

Thanks so much

bikassava:
nice story bro I've been refreshing since thanks for the update

Thanks bro for your comment. I'll dedicate next post to you.

I sight Israellionel. Pls don't leave without making a comment

“So—” Henry’s face got twisted, “how did you get rid of her from my room?”
“I lured her to have lunch with me out there, to keep her away. Before then I told her you don’t love her, just to let her have a change of mind and leave your room but she was adamant.”
“Ted, since the hug in the rain that day I’ve been having a strong feeling of love for her.”
Ted was gutted and impatient not wanting to hear Henry launch into some stories about her now, since that was not going to interest him.
“Will you keep shut and tell me where you’ve been?”
“You should do that first ’cause I returned to Nile to search for you,” Henry replied.
“Looking for me? I landed in the toilet here, rushed into your apartment looking for you.”
Henry exclaimed, “Oh! I should have been patient; almost lost my life twice. Grandwala’s speech came to Henry’s mind: …that’s why magicians are powerless—they lack patience.”
“So… what happened?” asked Ted impatiently.
“When I got back there some men attacked me. They almost got the knife from me.”
“Hope they didn’t,” Ted asked in apprehension.
“They didn’t, but…” Henry was sad, “I lost it eventually.”
“How?” squealed Ted, punch-drunk.
“I escaped by touching the map at random, landed before a black man in another country. He trammeled me at once.”
“Hey, don’t joke here,” Ted said not wanting to believe him. “Didn’t you use the magic or the wine’s still at work?”
“I used it,” Henry said, “It didn’t work.”
“Impossible!”
“It’s the truth. An oath was passed on the land that magic will not be potent enough to act against another,” Henry announced sadly. “I was imprisoned, map collected and torn. I sat in the prison, tears flowing down my cheeks.”
“How d’you escape then?”
“When they were about to execute me I began to sketch the map of the USA on the sandy soil there, fast but perfectly. I got into it and I was here.”
“Without the diamond knife?”
“Yes,” said Henry. “You’d better be glad you didn’t lose me, or am I not worth more than a thousand diamond knives to you?” Henry asked, attempting to put an arm across Ted’s neck, but Ted pushed his arm away in displeasure and said, “Leave me alone. Presenting such a knife in Gyrus could earn us two hundred points apiece—you know what that means.”
Sulking, Henry responded, “I know—” then nibbling his right thumbnail, he added, “but it’s gone already now.”
“Then go back there!” Ted yelled, peeved by Henry’s words.
“Ted, don’t shout on me!” Henry shouted back. “Do you mean I should really go back there?”
“I’m stern. You must go get it back, else—”

Henry was disappointed in Ted, who never showed the slightest feeling of pity for him, whose tragedy could be traced back to his love for Ted. If Henry didn't love Ted he would not have returned to Nile to search for him.
In whispers Henry said, “I don’t know which part of the world I touched in the damn map. If I knew then I’ll not hesitate to get back there.”
With visible peeves Ted said, “Plonker !” as he sent a slap to Henry’s left cheek. Then silently he said, “I reserved that for you. It was from Susie—she gave it to me.” Ted was referring to the slap.
With impunity, Ted plodded out of Henry’s room, leaving Henry gazing around in utmost bewilderment. While Henry was still in the pitiable condition, Ted pushed the door open again, stood just at the entrance. Then he said, “Give me the Power Guard’s wand. You’re a careless fellow; you’ll misplace it.” Without arguing Henry acquiesced, releasing the wand to him, keeping mute. Ted grasp it quick and hurried out of Henry’s room as if the room was still filled with the stench of three days ago. As Ted came out of the room, his appearance changed and he became Harrison. It was Harrison, and not Ted, that had come for the wand. He grinned wickedly as he took the same direction the real Ted had taken earlier.

The villagers, who were once in a frenetic mood, were now frowning and fuming for fear of future misfortune they were insinuating. They were punch-drunk at Henry’s sudden disappearance…

When it was getting dark, Susie began to pester Ted that they should take their leave.
“Enough of wining and dining,” Susie said. “I’ve satisfied you enough, haven’t I?”
“Darl—let’s continue,” Ted flattered. “You know I can do anything for you.”
“Anything?” asked Susie, wide-eyed.
“Yeah!” Ted responded like a nincompoop. “
So lead the way—” said Susie triumphantly, “to Henry’s apartment.” She pushed Ted slightly and the boy began to gallop ahead like a zombie.
On getting to Henry’s door she yelled, “Who locked this door?”
“What!” Ted yelled too, pretentiously. “Perhaps Henry has come to lock his door; you know it was left ajar earlier.”
Susie’s chuckles threw Ted into confusion as he made her a cynosure at once. Susie made known the cause of her laughter by saying, “Ted—you’re lying. I trailed behind you when you said you were going to pay a visit to the toilet, saw you lock the door with a key.” Ted was shocked when Susie said that. He was the more flabbergasted when Susie said, “I’m sleeping here overnight, either he returns or not, so open that door right away.”
Ted had to obey Susie since he had already promised to do anything for her. He put the key inside the keyhole but was reluctant to turn it to get the door open.
“Ted, d’you know something? Life is a ball; it rolls about. Remember, when we were leaving for the café you were the commander, but now I’m the commander-in-chief,” Susie joshed as she waited for him to do it.
After Ted had turned the key, he pushed the door lightly and quickly poked his head into the room to see if Henry had arrived already. Seeing Henry inside Ted withdrew his head and turned to Susie, who was still behind the door. Then it was time for him to lambast her:
“Susie,” Ted called, “I never knew you are such a big fool,” Ted boldly said.
“What!” Susie gushed.
“I have been fooling you around for hours. Henry was all the time in, even before you came for him. He had hid in the inner room listening to our conversations. Everything I told you Henry said about you were false. We’re both privy to it.” Ted chuckled: “Henry heard all your statements—I love Henry, I can’t leave his room,” Ted mimicked Susie’s words in the speeches she had made earlier that day (before they left for to the café).
Henry had already come to the door then, not realizing what was going on. Susie was embarrassed. Not able to bear the shame, she strode away almost breaking to tears. Henry made effort to meet her but Ted posed some hindrances by using his limbs to block the way.
“Susie!” Henry cried but she was gone. “Ted, what’s wrong over here?”
“Never mind,” grinned Ted. “I met that poor thing in here hours ago. She insisted she would tarry inside your room until your arrival. You know what that means, uh?”

Henry was still in thoughts when the heavily built black man lifted him shoulder-high, to an unknown destination. He was let down before an embellished structure, whose shape appeared like an upended mortar. The king of the land walked slowly, to have his seat on the adorned object observed by Henry earlier; it was a throne. Two men, in whose hands were two traditionally made hand-fans, accompanied the king. The black man bowed in reverence to the king and they entered into a miniature conversation with one another. Henry knew undoubtedly that his fate was what they were discussing, yet he was helpless. Having chained his two legs together Henry was dumped in a dark hut…
After eating and drinking, Ted suddenly asked Susie to permit him pay a visit to the toilet to pass out urine, but all he did was to maneuver his way to Henry’s place to see if he had arrived already. Frustratingly, Ted withdrew, not seeing Henry in. Ted was grabbed by the thought of leaving for Egypt at once, but the dean’s advice rendered earlier made him to chuck out the idea. However, Ted locked Henry’s door with a key, to make sure Susie never found her way into Henry’s apartment anymore. Ted adjourned to the café again to join Susie in the fun she was having.
At dusk Henry was shoved hostilely out of the prison by the dark-skinned, rigidly-built black man, who had captured him earlier. Being dragged on the floor, Henry was taken to a public place, where a lot of black men and women were dancing and drumming; their bodies were almost concealed with ornaments—bangles, rings, earrings, nose-rings and lots more. If only they were not Negroes Henry would have passed them for Indians. They were using locally made drums, tambourines made from gourds and many local percussion instruments and wind instruments such as flutes. They made much shuffling with their feet and tingling with there ornamented bodies as they twirled and swirled about in dances.
Henry had been put within a wide circle drawn with chalk beforehand, of radius of about five meters. The indigenes of the town danced around the drawn circle, slowly and meticulously, making sure their feet did not get into the drawn shape. The song they sang was of traditional mode and Henry was not able to decode the lyrics because the used language was not comprehensible to him.
Henry noticed that a boy was staring at him among the few ones not dancing; composed mostly of kids. The boy put a finger into his mouth and shook his head sideways in sympathy. From such gesture, he was indirectly able to infer that something unthinkable was about to happen to him.
The king of the land smiled, having sat on his throne placed in the public in a spot directly opposite Henry. He rose eventually to address his people in his native language. The black man interpreted so that Henry could listen. From the translation, Henry understood that he was going to be murdered.
“You shall die by your own knife which you brought here to harm us,” said Henry’s captor as he brandished his weapon before Henry, taking very slow paces to get to Henry. As the executor continuously approached Henry, the boy knew he must need act fast. Henry began to draw something on the sand with the index finger on his right hand. The series of lines on the floor that was making up the drawn shape seemed serpentine in appearance. It staggered Henry’s captor, who was ready to strike Henry, having entered into the circle encompassing Henry about.
“Say your last prayer,” whispered the man as he lifted his knife far above his head with his two hands. Henry crawled into the drawing he had already made on the floor. Just then the man lowered the knife with full force to strike Henry but what he struck was the bare ground. Henry had vanished.

Good morning everybody

pls all ghost readers I want you to register your voices on the thread at this juncture, cos your voices have d potency of tincturing up the latent impetus in me to write more but your indifferences has the tendencies of retarding the celerity at which this celebrated thread progresses by engendering gargantuan frustration in the OP, thus influencing negatively the rate at which the story update flows

Wetin I dey tok be say I need your comments

DonnahVibe:
Nice story you've got here

More ink to your pen

Thanks for your comment. I'm dedicating the next post to you to welcome you on board.

T RY C NTINUES


As Henry arrived the bank of Nile River again he noticed that some men were already waiting there, gazing around as if looking for something. They witnessed Henry’s arrival and surprisingly one of them bellowed, “Here’s the boy! Grab him!”
“Get the knife, fast,” said another gazing at Henry’s clenched fist in which the diamond knife was.
On a whim, Henry stroked the map, not taking time to see where he was touching.
“He has escaped,” said one of the men, who was gazing at the direction Henry was initially standing. They spoke in an accent, which had suggested their Israeli citizenry. They were treasure hunters from Israel. They had heard of the diamond knife too and they were coming for it. Before Henry’s arrival the men had detected that the knife had been taken, having seen the redness of a portion of the river (due to the blood of the dead shark). It was when they were almost giving up that Henry suddenly appeared. In a short moment, all the men had disappeared too, perhaps to where they had come from. Henry found himself crouching in front of a black, hefty man, who was leaning his back against a tall tree. The man was sitting on a wooden chair, perhaps to receive some fresh air. Before Henry was able to rise, the man had taken hold of him fixing his gaze cruelly on his face. He said something, but in a strange language. His fingers were sinking deeply into Henry’s skin, having snatched from Henry’s grip the map. “Who are you?” the man asked at last in English, having perceived that Henry was not conversant with the language he had earlier used. “I’m Henry—” Henry paused for fear. He fixed his gaze into the man’s eyeballs, wishing to make the man go to sleep, so that he could escape. The man noticed the to and fro movement of Henry’s pop-eyed stare and he knew at once that Henry was up to something. Quickly, the black man lifted Henry swiftly from the floor and threw him at the tree trunk. “I said who are you?” the man yelled in wrath, rushing to Henry as he wielded the diamond knife, which had fallen from Henry’s grip earlier, to his face. “Henry White,” moaned Henry in a silent tone as he wriggled in pain. “From the White House, isn’t it?” the man said ambiguously, grinning wickedly. The man’s question had confused Henry a great deal. Indeed, Henry had belonged to the White House when he was in the High School. Also, he was belonging to the White’s family (so the White’s house) since his surname was White. “I don’t understand,” Henry said at last, avoiding being too forward. “I mean are you from USA?” “Yes,” said Henry, who now understood the man’s riddle.
The black man must have been habitually referring to every citizen of the USA as the President of that nation, since White House literally means the official residence of US president. “A magician?” asked the man further. Henry, believing that it will only take a magician to capture another magician, saw no point in telling lies. He rather said, “Yes’ in lieu of the ‘No’ he would have said, having guessed that the man was a hunter of witches.
The man laughed loudly and said, “Fool! In this part of the world, you cannot use magical power against another. You were gazing at me earlier to enchant me, but—it just didn’t work.” Then the man went into the full illustration of what had brought about the inability of utilizing diabolical powers against others. From much of what the man had said Henry’s addled brain was able to gather that such thing had come about by the oath made by the magicians of that clan in the mythical time, that any attempt made by any magician of the land thenceforth to use his or her powers against another, was not going to be successful. Henry was already in the thought that such a law would be good for adoption in Gyrus, where magicians were not a bit at rest, challenging themselves to some fights each time; at the least it would curb such belligerent acts. He also felt that if such law had earlier been exploited in Gyrus, Kim would not have lost his life.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
DOUBLE FOOLS

When Ted got back to Henry’s room, he found Susie there sitting on a chair. She adjusted swiftly as soon as she caught sight of Ted.
“Ted, where’s Henry?” Susie asked frenetically, but Ted only stared blankly at her. Ted was gazing at her in fret, as he was thinking that Henry might suddenly appear in that room any moment. If Susie was present when he arrives then Henry was going to be roped in fresh trouble.
To avoid the insinuated catastrophe, Ted was going to muster all the tricks he could muster to get Susie out of there.
“Henry has gone to see his parent,” Ted lied unscrupulously. “He won’t be back today.”
“Ted, your mouth shakes somehow as you speak. I will not believe you.” Susie gazed upward, at Ted’s face and said, “I’ll not leave until he’s back.”
Ted’s face was dull at that moment. To Ted it was a tedious job to get Susie out of that room by slyness, since Susie was herself a slug. Ted soon came up with a strategy:
“Susie, Henry hates to see your face, I’m assuring.”
Susie was crossed, but she managed to ask, “Why d’you say so?”
Smiling pretentiously, Ted said, “Maybe you never know that Henry hates you with passion.” Susie thought that she had got Ted’s point. She felt that Ted must have been referring to sometimes in the past when Henry was not yet her ally.
“Ted you’re wrong,” whispered Susie. “That was the bad old days.” Then Susie got up and walked behind Ted stylishly as she said, “Since the hug in the rain Henry has been so close to me. Since then he never can do without seeing me daily.”
Ted’s sensitivity that Henry could arrive any moment gave him not a little concern. His fear was aggravated. Then it dawned on him that he had to tell grave lies to Susie about her supposed relationship with Henry, to let her get out of the room to ponder on them.
Ted quickly began:
“It’s deception Susie. Henry has got nothing to offer. In fact he had told me often that he was not going to leave Cynthia alone. He had also told me he would deceive you and dump you at a particular date. I know the date but I won’t disclose it. Henry said he will make you shed tears by teaching you a lesson you will never—”
“Enough!” Susie screamed, but it appeared Ted’s words had made some impacts already, since her body was already shaking visibly in bewilderment.
“Henry told me he was no more in love with Cynthia. He also said he cannot do without me,” Susie confessed back to Ted.
Ted laughed spuriously and said, “But he told me only last night that he’ll have nothing to do with you. He hates you. Come to think of it, he nearly killed you and the other nineteen.”
Susie, who never wanted to believe Ted’s opinion, said, “It was a mistake. Henry never knew I was one of them. And, mind you, it was not intentional. He only did all that for the sake of winning the Halloween gift. I still love Henry despite all he has done,” Susie concluded, apprehensively waiting for Ted’s response. She had no problem waiting long, since Ted was more in a hurry than Susie herself was.
Ted was going to entice her, though he never had any love whatsoever for her.
Utilizing a teetotal simulated somberness, Ted said, “Susie, I love you better. Why not let’s go talk it over in a café in the New York City or—just… just name it?” He yanked her wrist suddenly, attempting to pull her out, but Susie annoyingly but reflexively landed a slap on Ted’s cheek, which had instantly begun to hum some deafening asinine sounds to his ears.
“How dare you?” shouted Susie, but the way Ted held the battered cheek sent a sensation of pity to Susie’s spine. “Oh, Ted—I’m very s—sorry.” She put an arm on his nape as she stared pityingly at Ted’s tilted head, whose sinistral side was cupped in Ted’s left palm.
“Never worry Susie,” Ted said amusingly. “Do anything, because I’m in love with you,” said Ted, managing a smile.
“I’m sorry Ted,” she said again ruefully. “Do accept my apology.”
“On one condition—” Ted said, raising a finger in gesticulation, “That you’ll let me take you out—for lunch.”
“If that will do,” Susie said, “But not in New York City.”
Ted was glad. Quickly pulling her out, Ted said, “Where?”
“In any eatery here in the campus,” said Susie.
“That’s fine,” Ted remarked as the two walked along the passageway to make it to a café.
What the two had played was a trick on each other, but with the present turnout of the event, it appeared like Ted was on the winning track. Susie’s reaction towards Ted after the slap was to blind Ted from spoiling her person before Henry, since Henry had always taken Ted’s advice since she had known them as friends. Therefore, she felt that obeying Ted, at least for that moment, would salvage the hard-earned relationship between Henry and herself. On the other hand, Ted was delighted that he had succeeded in playing a trick on her to get her out of Henry’s place, in order to protect Henry’s secret.

Story continuation


The Power Guard’s wand and the diamond knife were of no value to Henry, compared with Ted his friend. He cast them to the floor when he realized that they were with him. Henry yanked open his wardrobe and scrambled for something. At last he got it—an atlas. Henry fastidiously tore out the page containing the maps of both the North American and the African continent.
He lowered his head and saw those things he had earlier cast to the floor. He decided to take the diamond knife with him, leaving behind the wand, though he picked the wand up too but keep it inside his wardrobe. Henry was extremely chary of the risk involved in touching the map, not wanting to land into the Nile River like Ted. Henry soon disappeared.
Meanwhile Henry was thinking of going back to the Nile, Ted was back inside the toilet from where he had earlier departed to Egypt earlier. He was very lucky that the man in the toilet was just departing when he arrived. If the man, who was at the door already, had looked back he would have caught a glimpse of Ted, and a palaver would have resulted.
Ted hastily had it settled in his mind that Henry’s absence in there with him must have resulted from the separate locations each of them had last left America.
“I must go meet Henry immediately,” smiled Ted. His grin must have been prompted by the thought that he had displayed adeptness in the way he was able to locate somewhere out of nowhere—the US from a blank paper.
Getting to Henry’s room, he found it empty.
“Henry! Henry!” Ted called. “Where has he gone?”
The contemplation that Henry must have fingered a different spot on the map sent a surge of terror into Ted’s head. Tucking his hand into his pocket, he could not find the blank map they had used.
“Then it means Henry is with it,” concluded Ted. Ted began to rush to the dean’s office tumultuously. Not pressing the alarm button, Ted pushed the door with full force. The dean and his new mistress, Rose, jerked suddenly in a way suggesting that they had been hugging each other before then, going by the proximity between the two.
The dean’s gush soon confirmed the argument in Ted’s thought when the man irately said, “You again? Can’t you see I was having fun with my new wife?”
“I’m very sorry,” said Ted soberly.
Vindictively, the dean declared, “You’ll be punished for this. Where’s Henry?” The man’s speech set Ted quizzically glancing at the dean briskly, having the thought that the dean never cared a bit for him, but for Henry all the time. However, he responded promptly, “That’s why I’m here to see you.”
The dean’s heart almost jumped out of him as Ted released the bombshell. The man knew that it was not going to be proper for Rose to hear the conversation that should follow. He then deemed it fit that they retire to the outside.
Professor Wilson, waving at Rose, said, “Darling please give me just a micro—” He had to suspend his speech, realizing that he was not in Gyrus. “I’m sorry, I wanted to say a minute. I’ll be back.” Not visibly perturbed, Rose said, “Okay darling, love you.”
“Love you too,” replied Professor Wilson kissing two of his fingers in a noisy manner. She did that too to her own fingers.
After shutting the door behind them the dean asked, “Where’s Henry? Tell me, is he dead?”
“No,” said Ted, then he remained silent in a moody countenance. His facial expression substantiated the thought of pessimism that was dominating the dean stormy heart.
“So—why do I keep seeing you around all alone without the eerie Henry with you?” The man’s expression lacked the fact that Henry was already at that time normal again.
“I can’t find him,” gushed Ted. “We’ve achieved the second mission, got the diamond knife. His beards are now gone, but… when we touched the map he never came back with me.”
“You sure?” the dean brightened up. “Where’s the knife?” asked the dean in a way that was revealing the teetotal personality of the dean; he had priority for the knife first, Henry second and Ted last.
“I said where’s the knife?” he asked louder when Ted was keeping silent on him.
“It was with Henry,” responded Ted slowly.
The dean was momentarily thrown into silence. At last he spoke after a short meditation.
“Did you guys leave for Egypt through the same spot? No because you left through the toilet,” the dean answered the question by himself. Ted was shocked.
“How did you know that?”
“I got the report that you escaped through the wrecked roof of a toilet, but I’m damn sure it was a trick. You never escaped through that roof, did you?”
Ted was only able to nod his head at a snail's pace in approval for shock. The dean said, “I’m a magician, so I know magic tricks.” Then quickly he added, “From where did he pass to Egypt?”
“Cyprus,” declared Ted.
“But he left America to Cyprus through his room, isn’t it?”
“Yes.”
The man laughed silently and said, “Then go check him in his room. He should be there.”
“I’ve checked,” complaint Ted, “He is not there.”
“That’s serious.” The dean wiped his sweaty face with the back of his hand. Ted said he would go back to Egypt to search for Henry, but the dean advised him not to venture into such adventure, because the two could miss each other forever by so doing.
“When Henry’s arriving, you’ll be departing, vice-versa till thy kingdom come,” explained the man, to back up his excuse of persuading Ted not to depart for Nile again. With the thought that he might land again into the Nile River, Ted agreed to remain behind to wait for him.
Before departing, the man said, “Won’t you thank me for saving your friend out of trouble?” Ted responded through his nose, “T—thank you s—sir,” and inside his mind he said, “But you’ve got all the fame to yourself.”
The man asked Ted to call back at his office with Henry when Henry returns, but never forgot to remind Ted that when next he comes, he must push the doorbell, or at least give the door a knock before pushing it open, “…else—”
The dean got inside again and said, “Darling Rose, I’m sorry, I’ve exceeded the time by two seconds.”
The lady smirked and said, “No, you spent five extra minutes.” The two laughed heartily.

Using the mouth-to-mouth method of resuscitation, Ted laid Henry face-up on the beach, lifted his neck and tilted his head backward in such a way to prevent the tongue from blocking the air passages. Then Ted pinched Henry’s nose shut, and covered Henry’s mouth tightly with his own mouth as if kissing him.
When Henry eventually began to breathe again, Ted left the exercise. While Henry’s eyes were still shut Ted took the knife, gripped Henry’s beard and, without exerting much energy on the knife, got rid of Henry’s funny beards. Never hesitating, Ted began to scrape off the dirt from his teeth, still using the knife. Henry had opened his eyes but was remaining speechless, gazing at Ted who was now looking around to see if no one was around.
“Ted,” called Henry at last.
“You’re awake,” said Ted as he pulled Henry up.
“So—” Henry paused. “I made it!”
“Yeah you did. A shark nearly finished you up, but I killed it with the diamond knife—a single strike. See, the water’s red.” Ted pointed to the splotched portion of the river.
“I see,” said Henry as he looked towards the river. “Hmm! the diamond knife must be very powerful.”
“Indeed powerful!”
“Let me have it,” said Henry. “Quick!” He hurried Ted up. Ted hastily passed the knife to him, speculating what Henry was up to.
“What! My beards are gone!” yelled Henry, who was intending to have them shaved with the knife, unknown to him that Ted had shaved it off and thrown the hairs into the river.
Ted chuckled.
“I shaved the nonsense off you just now.”
“Thanks Ted,” Henry patted Ted’s back. “I’ll forever remain grateful to you—for this.”
“Don’t you worry Henry,” said Ted looking as if he was worried himself. Then he said at last, “What is bothering me is just the thought of how I can get an award for being the best friend of the year.”
“And who’ll ever confer such?”
“I don’t know.”
“All the same thanks,” Henry expressed his gratitude once more. Henry caught Ted smiling quizzically. “Why the smile?” he asked.
“The principle I applied.”
“Which principle?”
“To get you into the river,” Ted gave a brisk grin and continued, “If I had told you there was a shark in that river you wouldn’t have entered in there.”
“And how would you know there was one there if it hadn’t attacked me?”
“It attacked me first—when I arrived. I believe telling you that will not help. For fear of it you would never have got into the river.”
“Humph! What a pretty good astuteness you displayed. Dad told me there are two ways to make someone achieve something seemingly impossible; you used one of it,” said Henry in a serious reflective mood.
“What are they?”
“One, by simply telling someone that the task ahead is just too easy and secondly, by compelling someone to do something, promising to punish such a one if such end is not achieved.” Henry inhaled and said, “You applied the first and the dean, the second.”
“The dean, how?” asked Ted with a tone of inquisitiveness.
“The Professors’ award. He forced me to win it for him.”
Lolloping aimlessly on the beach, Henry suddenly asked, “Those beards, do you keep them?”
“What’s the use?” Ted asked back.
“I wish to keep the hairs for the sake of record and history.”
“I threw them into the river.” Ted revealed. “The diamond knife would do for your intentions.”
“It’s true.” Henry, changing the topic, said, “Ted, you know in my map there’s no US. It’s in yours.” Then Henry remembered that Ted’s paper too was not supposed to have the map of Egypt. Quickly, he asked, “How do you get to Egypt, Ted?”
“I stole a map from the school library. I tore it away from the atlas.”
“Don’t be silly,” said Henry, not believing him. “Don’t tell me we have magical maps in our library.”
“I guess the maps, including the one given to us by the dean, are all ordinary. It’s our extra-ordinary fingers touching the map that’s bringing about the transportation, not the maps.”
Henry demanded to have the map at once so that they could leave, but Ted was only able to produce a soggy piece of paper, of which the ink had been expunged. They stared at each other indecisively.
Ted spread the soggy paper out on the floor. The water had soaked it to an extent that the paper was now gummy. Ted’s attempt to spread it out earlier had made it torn apart readily into pieces.
“We can’t even see the maps in it anymore,” complained Henry.
“Can’t we manage it?” said Ted in a manner lacking composure.
“No it’s risky,” Henry disagreed. After meditating, he said, “Maybe we should go get a plane.”
Ted laughed nervously.
“A plane from Egypt to USA? That will cost a fortune. Well it’s no problem if you have with you such fare, for two, ’cos we’re not sitting on one another’s lap.”
“You’re speaking as if we’ve got no diamond with us here,” said Henry, wielding the knife. “It will cover our transport fare—the price of it.”
Ted laughed and said, “You’re inviting your death. Of course they’ll accept it from you willingly, stab you with it and ask your dead body for the flight ticket.”
Amidst laughter Henry asked, “What then should we do?”
“I guess I know where America was drawn in this map?” said Ted, looking critically at a pieces of the blank, wet paper. Running his finger through it rapidly, he stopped at a point on the paper and said, “Here’s the place.”
“Are you sure Ted?” asked Henry in a fearful manner. Ain’t we going to land in the wrong place? Don’t let’s risk—”
“We ain’t risking anything, or you think you’re the only genius here? I’m a genius too,” said Ted edgily.
“Let’s give it a trial then.” Henry placed a finger on the spot Ted had mentioned and Ted situated his finger on Henry’s own. Desiring to depart, the two vamoosed instantly.
Henry landed alone in his room.
“Where’s Ted? He asked himself. Afraid that Ted never came back with him, Henry was ready to get back to the Nile to fetch him. The fear that Ted must have touched the wrong part of the map was almost scaring him.
“If he had, then I won’t meet Ted there.”

Pofgrace:
it's. A he bro nice story you got here

Okay, a 'he' not a 'she'. Noted. Thanks for your comment.

St ry C ntinuati n




Tramping along after leaving the pyramid, Ted suddenly said, “Henry, if it was you who had left for America yesterday from Selemis you’d be dead by now.”
“Why?” Henry asked inquisitively.
“As I stepped out of your room, flower in hand, my head was thumped with fatal hammer blows. I fainted and was taken to the school clinic. When I recovered I escaped from the clinic. Two hefty fools were sent after me to have me caught again, but I dealt with them and escaped.”
Ted was expecting a sympathetic gesture from Henry as he touched his hurt head, but what he heard was, “Did you die?”
“What a foolish question?” Ted screamed at him. “If I had died will I be here?” Henry smirked and said, “If you didn’t die, why then did you feel I would have died if it was me?”
Henry’s statement ignited a masked anger in Ted. He stopped abruptly, looked into Henry’s eyes, stone-faced and sulked. They strolled towards the Nile River, not conversing, at least for the moment. When they got to the bank of the river, they stood still and glanced at each other. Henry broke the long silence:
“How do we do it?”
“You asking me?” said Ted. “You are the one having a problem, not me. So you’ve got to go into the river while I stay back and watch.” Henry knew it was unbecoming of Ted to have uttered such grievous words that were possessing some gargantuan gravity. His conscience suggested that an apology would do.
“Ted…I’m sorry for not appreciating your friendly assistance earlier. Thanks for helping me get the flower across to the—”
“No problem, just get into the damn water.”
Henry made to enter into it, but stepped back suddenly and declared, “I’m afraid.”
“You shouldn’t be. Do you realize that you’ve got to bath in it to get rid of the smells on you?”
“I can take my bath here at the bank,” said Henry, “not inside it.”
Ted replied, “What about the beards, will you let them remain on you? Remember you can only get rid of them with the knife.”
Ted’s word threw Henry into a deep thought. To hasten things up Ted said, “I came through that water, it’s safe.”
“I don’t seem to understand you,” Henry responded, nonplussed.
“I mean I landed straight into the water at my arrival when I touched the map. Perhaps I had touched the Nile River itself instead of its bank.”
“And you came out unscathed?” Henry asked, goggle-eyed.
“Of course! The river’s free from danger,” Ted lied.
Henry was deceived by Ted’s slyness. He said, “Since you were not hurt I shan’t be hurt too.” He launched himself into the river at once and began to dive into it. Ted bent over the water at the bank of the river, looking at the swimmer, who was displaying some great swimming skills in there.
Ted yelled Henry’s name frequently when he was out of eyeshot in the water. No answer!
Ted waited impatiently for Henry to come out of the river. He had just perceived this particular mission as a wild goose chase, not seeing any possibility in the success of a search for a hidden treasure (diamond knife) which was supposed to be preserved under water. If not found he would have to miss his friend forever.
Ted had been glaring at his watch ever since Henry had got into the river forty minutes ago. One would have thought that the watch was doing him some evils, going by the way Ted was staring stonily at it on regular basis.
Afraid that the shark he had seen earlier had now attacked Henry, Ted felt he was going to join Henry in the river. He was almost jumping into it when he saw Henry emerge on the surface again, moving towards the bank of the river.
“Henry,” Ted waved, but instantly realized that Henry was not swimming at all. He was floating helplessly on the river. With the thought that Henry had drowned Ted jumped into the water to rescue him. The distance was almost fifty meters ahead. Ted soon got to Henry and began to push him along towards the shore.
Ted suddenly spotted the shark behind him, but it was still far away. Ted intensified his do-or-die urge to escape with Henry to land. With just twenty meters away from the bank, Ted noticed an object fall from Henry’s body, sinking swiftly into the river.
“The knife!” cried Ted, identifying the object. The shark was close and the knife was sinking very fast. Ted decisively dived after the knife, leaving Henry to fend for himself, if at all he was still alive.
Since Henry was not active, the Shark got to him and made to swallow him up, but by stroke of luck, Ted was present again, now holding the diamond knife. From below, he impaled the Shark with the diamond knife. The Shark wriggled violently, causing a whirlpool.
The water was red already with the blood of the angry but dying shark. It was a big shock that the shark soon gave up the ghost within a time far less than the one anyone would have expected of something of its physique. This observation gave Ted the impression that the knife was possessing latent extraordinary powers.
Ted hurriedly pushed Henry onshore. He tried all he could to resuscitate the lifeless body of Henry, pressurizing his belly to get water out of it.

Good day y'all. Happy Sunday.

]“Henry!” yelled Ted, his voice concurrently sounding with the “Ted!” Henry had shouted too. For the following few seconds, the two were silent, mouths wide agape and eyes gawking at one another with shock.
“Ted, you’re here,” spoke Henry at last. “How d’you know I’m here?”
“Your footprints and the wheel prints,” Ted replied. “Who tied you here?”
“Two Egyptians,” replied Henry, gasping for breath. “They’re intending to have me killed today. I’ve been here since yesterday. I’m glad you came at the right time.” As Ted moved closer to have Henry loosed, he noticed the dogs lying lifelessly at Henry’s feet. Ted was shocked.
“Hey, what are these for?” Ted asked.
“Guards, ensuring that I’m securely captured over here,” said Henry whimsically, but the relaxed state of the dogs baffled Ted.
“They’re not moving,” Ted remarked. “Do dogs doze on duty?” Then he added, “You used the magic on them, isn’t it?”
“Magic!” Henry thumped up in astonishment as he genuinely said, “I never remembered I had any magic power at all since my arrival here. If I had known that I would have used it to defend myself against my captors from the onset.”
Ted, setting Henry loose, said in disbelief, “So—why are these dogs sleeping if really you never used the magic on them?”
“They came too close to me,” said Henry. “They licked my feet and died.” Henry’s word sounded absurd to Ted, who asked quirkily, “Do you mean your legs are poisonous? I’ll advise you get them amputated with immediate effect.”
Ted’s statement educed a brusque laugh from Henry, who, amidst the laughter, said, “That’s not what I mean. What I mean is, the dog inhaled my body smells and that must have killed them all.”
“As it killed the twenty back on campus—huh,” said Ted with a superficial veneer of seriousness on his face. Henry was scared, having got up to his feet, since Ted had completed setting him free already.
“They died?” whispered Henry in an exasperated manner.
“They live,” said Ted, whose words elicited a hug instantly from Henry.
As the two were about to leave, Henry asked, “But why did I forgot I possess magic power?”
“The wine of the Island of Forgetfulness is still intoxicating you,” Ted replied as he exerted all his efforts on kicking one of the dogs away like a football.
“It’s true,” admitted Henry. “But I’ll never forget to remember not to forget that you must need remind me of the forgotten seventh question.” Barely had Henry completed his speech when an ear-piercing noise diverted their attentions. It was the voice of a man who must have been undoubtedly angered by something. They saw the man. It seemed the dead dog Ted had just kicked landed on his face and that was unarguably what had engendered the cry.
Henry pointed at the two figures standing at a very close range ahead and said, “Ted, they’re here.”
“Oh, it’s these two lazy men,” said Ted, as if he had known them somewhere before. “I’ll deal with them without the magic,” Ted boasted.
The two men, who were now standing in awe, were wary of Ted’s approach towards them. As Ted came close, he threw a kick at them, but they ducked it and one of them grabbed his thrown leg. Ted hopped with the other leg for two seconds and, like a good striker, swooshed it suddenly towards the men, to send them a kick, but like a more experienced goalie, the other man took hold of Ted’s swooshed leg. Ted hit his head on a pile of sand. After swirling with him for ten seconds, the men threw Ted away.
Henry was already coming for his friend’s rescue, but Ted shouted, “Back off!” while still on the floor. He tried to get up his feet but the sensation of vertigo would not allow him. Like a toddler, Ted fell twice before finally regaining himself. Getting to his feet at last, Ted drooped towards the men, having pushed Henry backward.
“Let’s use the magic,” advised Henry.
“Stay out of this—uh,” Ted said. “I will deal with them physically.”
The two men began to move towards them again. Ted leisurely waved his right hand at them and they soon began to sleepwalk.
Henry was dazed.
“Ted, did you use the magic on them?” queried Henry in wonderment.
“Why should I? Maybe they’ve just smelt your body,” lied Ted. “It makes twenty-two persons your body smells have killed.”
The way Ted had just presented his speech sent big fear into Henry’s spine at once. Henry was prompted to speak:
“Ted, tell me… are the twenty dead?”
Ted laughed and said, “It’s only a joke man, Haven’t I told you earlier that they live?” Hearing this, Henry received not a little relief, which he was depicting with smiles.
Knowing little about the use of magical power, Henry was surprised at the dexterity Ted had manifested in making the two men go to somnambulism. At last the sleepwalkers fell before the boys like a jellyfish, sleeping and saw logging continuously like babies.
Henry asked, “The sleep—how long?”
“I don’t know,” Ted replied and instantly changed the topic, “Henry, do you have a knife with you?”
“No?” answered Henry. “Why—?”
“To mummify them,” said Ted, placing his hand on a sarcophagus right inside the pyramid, which was the same the two men had intended to put Henry into after embalming him.
“Let’s leave them alone,” Henry said passionately. “They’ve learnt their lessons.”

Pofgrace this is for you for your comment.
Welcome to EBIAG where Every Body Is A Genius




In the lavatory, Ted shook his head sideways, glad that he was going to escape at last. Without further ado, Ted pointed his wand up to the ceiling and a portion of it was broken, therefore creating an opening in the ceiling, which was wide enough for Ted to escape through, but Ted’s gimmickry was known to himself alone, because he was never intending to escape through the opening he had just engendered. Instead, Ted touched Egypt lightly in the map and he disappeared from the toilet.
“Get outta there!” shouted the hefty men in vain. They sent a lot of kicks to the door, which had not offended them, and eventually the door was forcefully opened.
Greatly astonished by the emptiness, they yelled, “What!” in fright, but the fret soon gave way to suppression when they later gawked at the ceiling.
“Jerry,” Tom called, having noticed the breakage on the ceiling first.
“See… he must have escaped through this,” he pointed at the ceiling.
“Gush!” shouted Jerry.
“This mad fellow is very wise.” Then on a second thought Jerry said, “Tom, are you sure this guy was mad at all?” Then Tom replied, “If he was not then we are the mad ones.”
The two ‘wild goose chasers’ unanimously agreed to the latter statement as they traipsed dejectedly out of the toilet. They turned and skulked gently away from the elderly Professor they had seen earlier having ‘fun’ in one of the toilets. The old Professor had just emerged from the ‘White House’ having ended his laborious moment of defecating.

Henry had given up, since it was already the next day and therefore his death day. Still held fast by the bounds all Henry was left to fiddle with was the thought of doom. He was neither wishing that his captors should return nor was he wishing to remain there for a couple of seconds more. Henry tried not to magnify the surge of hope that had just crept into his line of thoughts. It was the thought of Ted coming to his rescue. Not wanting to chase after a wild goose in his mind, Henry quickly doused the mustard-seed-sized feeling of hope in him, by bearing in mind that Ted’s coming to Egypt would never be of help to him, since the boy in question wouldn’t be able to locate him let alone rescue him. The deadened feeling of auspiciousness resulted into fear for Henry, whose heart was now pulsating at a rapid rate. Ted landed inside the Nile River. Back in the toilet on campus what Ted had intended touching on the map was the bank of the great river Nile, not its heart where he had just found himself in. Despite the fact that Ted was not a good swimmer, he swum fast this time in the river, moving at a rate far swifter than that of the greatest swimmer of those days; thanks to the great shark which had appeared to Ted, therefore making him swim away from the mighty creature at such great velocity . Ted managed to get onshore when the shark’s nose was only two inches away from him. He heaved a great sigh of relieve but his breath was heavy. Ted suddenly looked frustrated when he remembered his mission. He never knew if Henry had arrived Nile already. There was no way Ted could communicate with Henry, since Henry was not with a communicating device, having known earlier the task of swimming he would have to face in the Nile River, so deeming it fit to keep his cell phone back in his room on campus. Ted himself was not with one; their mirrors were not with them either. Waiting for Henry at the bank of the river, Ted was not at ease at all, feeling that the great shark, which had just chased after him, must have devoured Henry earlier. “I must go find Henry in the water,” Ted thought as he got set to dive into the river again. He changed his mind when he had another thought came haunting him. “Henry’s such a coward,” said Ted. “He will never enter the river all alone.” Reasoning in such a way, Ted turned back and made to leave the river. Having slogged few meters away from the bank of the river, Ted noticed some footprints, which were very conspicuous due to the nature of the earth on which the impressions were made in. It took Ted not long to recognize who the owner of the prints was. Hunkering before the impressions, Ted said, “Wow! Here are Henry’s shoe’s heels. I can vividly recognize them.”
In tandem with his discovery, Ted noticed other impressions. They appeared to him like the wheel of a vehicle. As Ted traipsed along, he noticed that the impressions of the wheels were getting closer and closer to the footprints he was initially tracing. Along the way the footprint vanished, but the wheel prints continued. Ted, like any one with a common sense, had no problem concluding that the carriage must have borne Henry. Ted was having some ambivalent feelings concerning what he had just seen. After giving room to the notion that Henry would be safe if he had made use of his magical power, his fear was allayed. Insinuating that the ideated vehicle must have travelled far already, Ted exerted more effort, walking faster along the paths the impressions had followed. Ted’s heart missed a beat when he spotted few meters ahead of him a decrepiting pyramid. Ted said out of fear, “Pyramid!” with gibbous eyes. “They’re used for burying the Pharaohs. Henry must have been interred there.” Intensifying his celerity, Ted was not aware that he was already running, though his eyes were still set to the ground, looking at the prints. As earlier envisaged, Ted was led eventually to a pyramid by the mystifying prints he was following after. He prowled around the amazing structure for few minutes before summoning the courage to get into it. Taking furtive steps, Ted got himself into the pyramid. Henry’s heart lurched as he heard the stamping of feet. Thinking that it was his captors, he lifted up his eyes, but caught the glimpse of Ted.

Pofgrace:
it's. A he bro nice story you got here

Thanks so much. I'm dedicating the next post to you for your comment.

]CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

It had been decided between them. We would visit the court of appeal, but there wasn't enough money to do that.

My class teacher promised to run around to see how much she could raise; my aunt would do the same.

"Hannah cannot go to jail, God forbid!" my classteacher said.

To bring up the case in the court of appeal we had to pay a certain amount. To also hasten up the case we paid another huge sum. Then the case was heard in the court of appeal first week of August. It was adjourned till the month of September after they had rendered my aunt and my teacher penniless.

My class teacher bought the clothing material I would need on my graduation day. I loved it so much. She said she couldn't wait for that day to come.

The elites had been invited to the graduation ceremony. Even the incumbent governor of the state would be there. It would just be great.

To say that I was sad would be an understatement. What should I be happy about? My mother would be absent, yet she was the one always reminding me of the great event before me.

For the first time in my life, I did some attachments. My hair(or perhaps someone else's hair) settled on my shoulders. One would think I was a goddess. I had also dabbed my lips in a pink ink. My eyelashes were made purplish. My class teacher had smeared the inner part of my dimples with red rouge. The earrings on my ears, they were like the size of the bangles worn on my wrists. She said I looked like a river goddess.

I appeared like a bride. I paraded myself before my aunt.

"Aunty, am I not beatiful?" I asked her. She gave a cold response. I knew why- she doesn't support excessive make-up. She'd have preferred I appear natural.

I smacked my smooth lips as the event unfolded. I was going to present my poem. My face was no longer a smiling type.

Someone was at the high table--Honourable Daniel as I later got to know. His eyes weren't looking in the direction of the graduands. His mind had wandered far. He stood up eventually and made for that spot where my aunt was sitting. He pulled at a seat before her and I could see them speak.

My class teacher was the MC of the day. She announced over the microphone that I had a poem to recite. I was welcomed upstage with claps. I wouldn't know if the sound was thunderous or not, since all I knew was lightning and never thunder, except for the fact that I've seen it in books that thunder comes after lightning.

I began my poem in sign language. First, I pulled off my graduation gown, scattered my hair and scrubbed off the paint on my lips. Then tears came in drops. All heads shook. They must have thought that I was going to present an elegy.

The DJ offered me a microphone. Everybody laughed. It took a little while before the ridiculous DJ could realise his folly.

With my hands in the air, I began:

Beside me sat a gaze
Her hands tied with rope
Then tears down my face
There seemed not a hope.
What could she rather say?
How would I hear her speak?

Darkness around us,
Light takes long to come
No offence, no defense,
Darkness prevailed for long.
The only sound to hear
Was gnashing of teeth.

For nothing we did
We suffered indeed
And in the end,
In prison she ended.
Better I had been dead
Than be at dead end.

Who have we offended?
None, yet we're not defended
My mother remanded
Myself left upended
My father's bad deed
Was what his wife demanded.

Nobody cared, nobody cared
Not even my God.
Judges in the court
Saw not beyond their noses
Convicting the just
Vindicating the guilty.

Is God for real?
Where was he when
The innocent suffer
And the guilty laugh?
There is never God
Or maybe God is an idol

He created me deaf
And dumbness with me
In the smoke of the earth
I stood to face terror
If there is God,
He is a partial one

I had broken into tears as I threw the sheet of paper away, dashing out of the stage. I was running out of the place. The whole place was in pandemonium.

My class teachers' lips had gone inches apart. She never knew my poem would end in a note of blasphemy. She must be feeling guilty now that she had used her voice to support blasphemy since she was the one interpreting my poem in voice language.

My aunt's face had folded up in disappointment where she was seated. She didn't come after me, knowing quite well that the security men wouldn't let me leave.

I was at the gate asking for allowance.

"You can't leave this premises, Rose," the boys scout at the gate told me. He was one of our school boys scout. I knew his medicine--give Jackson a hundred naira note and he would pave way.

"Jackson, what do you want from me?" I asked.

"The usual," he replied. He tilted his head to one side of his lopsided neck. He was fond of that posture. Jackson is just about six feet tall, with a nose I would call oblong. He is slender and handsome.

I didn't hesitate. I handed Jackson a hundred naira note. He gave me way.

It was the first time to be on the road all by myself. I couldn't hear any sound. How would I know if a car was coming behind me when I wouldn't hear them horning. Someone pushed me out of the road. I had just escaped being grinded to slurry by a gallivanting 'Molue'. The conductor was enraged, shouting. Who knew what he was saying?

Everyone just minded his or her business on the busy road of Ejigbo market. The only thing I had to cope with was their jostlings. Someone would just push you aside from behind.

Egbeda was my destination, but how would I get there? I couldn't even hear the conductors speak. How would I hear them? How on earth would I get to my destination right now?

Everyone I approached to ask them to show me the way didn't afford themselves a little time of patience. I scribbled what I wanted in a sheet of paper. I would give it to whoever cared.

The sun was hot on my head. It also drizzled alongside it. A tiger must be hiding somewhere in a labour room, I thought superstitiously.

A young boy of around eighteen came close to me. He was putting his mouth to use. I did what my mouth could do--sounding out my gibberish!

The boy was astounded, going by the look on his face. He was having a blue bag strapped to his back. He unzipped it and gave me a paper. He pointed to the paper and handed me the pen.

I wouldn't need it, I gesticulated and gave him the one I had scribbled earlier. He read and nodded.

He took me by the wrist and began to walk me to the Egbeda park. I didn't like the way he held me like a baby. I am twelve for Christ sake!

I turned my face down and saw that the boy was in a big white pair of canvases. To me then, everyone in canvas was rich. It was Kitto people like me wore to school. Not that my father couldn't afford something better, but only that I had no father, or did I have any?

Rain began to come down in torrent. The young teenager held tighter to my wrist and fled with me. He wouldn't even care if I fell and got injured. We couldn't get to our destination--we just had to pull up under a shade to allow the rain stop.

Somebody's image flashed through my eyes. It looked like Toyosi's. She had just passed off like a shadow. It must be my imagination because I didn't see any Toyosi around. All I saw was a bike fleeing past me with a passenger sitting at the back.

Ebiag soldiers, watch out for Pofgrace, arrest her if she leaves without commenting here

Expectantly they heard, “Are you crazy?” from the ‘laboring’ and peeved man, but the chasers quickly shut back the door to avoid being noticed by the walrus mustached man in the ‘labor room’.
Pre-planning it the two chasers went the opposite directions to one another. One was coming close to the poorly lit corner, which was presently serving as Ted’s den. Ted was peeping at the sinewy human who was making Ted’s direction his course. He was expecting to utilize whatever slim chance he would have.
As envisaged, the gigantic man came close to Ted’s asylum but Ted’s legs, wittingly stretched towards the seeker’s direction, made him stumble and fall. Ted spotted a rope fall from the man’s grip, which the man had initially intended for tying Ted up. Before the poor man could gather himself up again, Ted had put his opponent on headlock, like an experienced wrestler. He twisted backward the two arms of the restless man, who seemed not to have a wrestling experience, and tied his hands together with on end of the tough long cord. Then he wrapped his entire body with the remnant of the rope, like a dead body, which had undergone mummification.
“I’m not mad,” said Ted. “Don’t come after me, okay.” He whispered to the man’s ears as he was preparing to leave him there. The trammeled man was left alone to twiddle on the floor.
Ted rushed out of his corner striding away for safety with long and fast paces. However, the other hefty man noticed him as he skulked out of the chamber where he had left the other chaser. The man dogged patiently after Ted like a bear. When Ted eventually noticed his presence he took to his heels and the man chased after him. The chaser had to wait behind when he heard the sound of agony made by his counterpart.
In a flash, Ted was in the school library. He hurried to the catalog, stealing a quick glance at it. Then he rushed away and was soon with an atlas of about twelve centimeters in length and a width of almost eight and half centimeters. Ted flicked through the book and stopped where the map of Africa was drawn. As if not having any conscience, Ted unscrupulously tore out the page, not minding that he had just flouted one of the most paramount rules governing the smooth running of the school library:
“Do not mutilate any library book or material in any way.”
Ted crumpled the torn pages and concealed it snugly in his left shoe. He ran into the hands of his seekers. They cruelly bundled him up and made jest of him as they made for the clinic.
“We’ve got you at last,” said Tom, who had been conquered earlier by Ted. He was pulling hardly at Ted’s hair, inflicting pain on him.
Jerry pulled up Ted’s coat and noticed the wand jutting out from beneath the upper part of Ted’s trousers. Jerry pulled it out rapidly.
“What is this stick inside your trouser?” said Jerry as he waved the stick to Ted’s face. Ted, totally scared that the Power Guard’s wand would automatically begin to display again, gave Jerry a head-butt, which landed on his stomach. The hefty man was not able to resist the momentous blow as he fell backward, letting the wand fall from his grip but not deliberately. Ted smartly freed himself from their holds. Picking his wand, Ted fleeted away, but they fleeted after him too, shouting, “Catch him, he’s mad!”
If Tom and Jerry had known beforehand that such expression was going to facilitate Ted’s escape, they would not have uttered it. Those who heard the shouts had only taken it as a timely warning, avoiding Ted like a plague. No one was ready to catch a mad fellow.
However, Tom and Jerry were persistent, not ready to give up the chase. Ted made a toilet, a place for dumping organic refuse, his refuge, locking up himself there. Tom and Jerry stared at one another, winking and smiling.
“He’s set a trap for himself,” said Tom gladly. “Let’s get to work.”

And I can also see one Mrufai44, Ebiag Soldiers, pls track and arrest them if they don't leave their comments

There's an Illustrator on this page. The Ebiagites are out there watching you. If you don't comment they will arrest you o.

Dedicated to Mavchamp

Henry arrived Egypt. Being weak and famished, he traipsed along in the arid region like a hobo, appearing not a bit interested in the journey he was making. He was nursing the insinuation that Ted never got the flower across to the dean, so the victims were dead.
The hotness of the desert caused a rapid increase in the rate at which transpiration was taking place through Henry’s skin. He perspired persistently under the scorching sun. As if Henry’s condition never deserved pity at all, two men on chariot rode after him to have him captured. The men had already alighted before Henry lifted up his head and discovered their presence. Henry could see how firmly they had begun to tie some thick pieces of rags across their noses. He could sense that they had done such because of the odor coming out of him.
One of them spoke harshly in his native language but Henry never understood him. Going by the gesticulations made by the taller aborigines Henry knew he was asking a question.
“Can’t understand you,” replied Henry in trepidation, then the man spoke again in an adulterated English, “Who you, bogeyman?” Henry felt that telling them he was an American would sound facetious to the men, thinking that his long and untidy beard would give him away if he said so.
Henry’s silence made the men to suggest that he was possessed of something evil.
“He smells,” said one of them and the other fallaciously said, “He is mad.” Trammeling him quickly by tying his hands and feet, Henry was lifted unto the carriage, which the men drove quickly away as soon as he was bundled into it.
Henry was not sure of the action to take but he said facetiously, “You will regret this.”
“Regret what?” asked one of them in an Arabic accent.
“Your actions,” said Henry. “Don’t you know who I am?” he raised his voice but one of the men gave him a slap on the face.
“I’m Pharaoh,” Henry said stroking his beard with the back of his tied hands. His speech did nothing other than eliciting hilarity from his foes. As they drove along Henry never had the thought of putting his magic skills into play to save himself since he was not remembering that he was a magician, probably because of the effect of the journey he had made earlier, through the Island of Forgetfulness.
The men halted before an ancient structure, a pyramid, whose facade was only suggestive of the fact that the structure had been there before 50bc. The pyramid of great antiquity was now dilapidated for the reason of age.
Henry’s sweaty face beamed great fear when he was being led into the pyramid and tied down somewhere inside the structure. What had exacerbated his fear the most was the metallic coffin that he saw in the pyramid. He heard the men speak Aramaic as they pointed to the pyramid. Already conjecturing what the men’s intention was Henry trembled, then his tremors received more vigor when one of them suddenly whispered into his ears and pointed to the direction of the coffin Henry had earlier spotted in the pyramid.
“Tomorrow, you we shall mummify,” they chatted with each other as they spoke to Henry. Before Henry was able to make meaning out of what they had said, the men had almost gone out of the pyramid. However, Henry screamed, “Please! Please! Don’t do that!” but his pleas fell on deaf ears or perhaps on the backs of the earlobes of the unconcerned men. Henry knew so well the meaning of the term “mummification” which the desperate men had agreed to put him to.
Henry had read in Egypt how corpses were mummified, not knowing then that he was soon to face such. Henry’s sweats were thick and smelly. He made attempts several times to get himself free from the bounds but his trials had only caused him more hurt, yet he never for once gave the idea of using the magic a thought. He gave up eventually.
As if the bounds were not efficient enough to hamper Henry from escaping, the men came with three large dogs, whose eyes was barely visible having been covered with the folds of their skins around the head regions. The dog had short necks and long tongues, which had stuck out ferociously all the time.
As soon as the dog owners released them, they ran enthusiastically towards Henry as if to tear him apart. They seemed to him as the Lion of Truth the way they were fleeting towards him, so he screamed, “No! No!” never wanting to believe that he was about to be chewed up by ordinary dogs, but he was wrong as they were not coming for such weird intent. The well-trained dogs surprisingly rushed to Henry’s tied feet and lay silently, looking unconcernedly at their owners as they departed.
Henry twirled frightfully as the Rottweilers suddenly began to lick up his feet. His twirls angered the dogs, which had retaliated fiercely by barking out threats at him. Henry in turn had to stop the twirls and return to a tranquil state.
The stubborn dogs, which had deemed it fit to make Henry’s feet some chocolates to lick up, put their thoughts into practice again as they resumed the licking with ineffable avidity and agility. Pitifully, the activities dealt a blow to the dreams of the dogs bright future (if they had had any). The dogs fell dead because of the humongous quantity of contaminated air they had absorbed from Henry’s body.
Henry’s feeling towards the ‘dead’ was animal-like, not humanlike, since he was trying to stick to the rule; give to Cesar what belongs to Cesar.
“Dead animals deserve animal-like pity,” he whispered, not having any remorse feeling. However, Henry unintentionally kept silent for one minute (which was tantamount to a minute silence observed in honor of the dead dogs) and later said, “Did Ted make it or am I a murderer of twenty already?”
Since the way Henry was postured was in the horizontal manner, he had no problem acquiring sleep early enough, something that wouldn’t have happened if the dogs had not died.
When Ted’s eyes flicked opened, he was on a bed inside a place that appeared to him like a hospital ward. Ted had no problem recollecting the event that had led him to such a state—the hammer blows. Quickly gazing at his wristwatch, Ted discovered it was morning already, next day. His body made a jerky movement instantly and he felt a pang on his head at once.
“Dang!” Ted said touching his swollen head, which had received many conks just a day ago. Ted had his mind on Henry, so he said instantly, “I must see Henry, now.”
Meanwhile a nurse was busying herself more than the rest of the practitioners in the clinic, looking for the way to get Ted out of his coma by all means, but the nurse never realized that Ted was now conscious.
At last a thought lingered in the mind of the nurse and she had it settled in her mind to give such thought a trial. The nurse had picked up the used syringe of the dean and found out that a flyspeck quantity of the liquefied rose flower was remaining in it. The goodwill nurse carefully pricked Ted’s skin with the needle with unexpected propitiousness. It came unexpectedly to Ted, who had shut his eyes beforehand, when the nurse was approaching so as to make her hold the belief that he was still unconscious then.
Ted yelled loudly, “Aaaaaaaarrrrggh!” as he jigged up from bed and darted for the door.
“Gush! It worked!” hollered the nurse in excitement, but she was overwhelmed with glumness when she eventually realized that her patient had vamoosed. The nurse impulsively began a chase after Ted, screeching along.
“Catch him! Catch him!” she cried. “He’s running amuck!” Before anyone could volunteer to help join in the chase Ted was already out of the structure, taking a course that would lead to Henry’s place. He got there as fast as possible, pulling the door to see if he was in. Not seeing him in sent a sensation to Ted that Henry was yet to arrive.
Ted picked the wand of the Power Guard from the floor of Henry’s room where it had fallen while Ted was receiving the deadly hammer blows. He tucked his hand into his pocket to produce the half-torn map which would serve as his aircraft to Egypt, but unfortunately, there was no Egypt on it, since it was in the other pieces with Henry.
“Gush! There’s no Egypt in here,” said Ted. “I must get the dean.” Ted wrenched the door open swiftly as his head oscillated to and fro to see if anyone was monitoring him. He rushed out, heading for the dean’s office.
The nurse had not relented at all. She now had two men to her assistance who were perambulating around her in search of Ted.
“We don’t know where he has entered,” a male voice spoke.
“We must find him,” the nurse replied as they marched quickly along, determined to get Ted caught.
Ted made some furtive moves until he was right before the door of the dean’s office. Exerting much pressure the dean’s door flung open and Ted, uninvited, jumped into the roomy office.
“Hey, are you mad?” shouted the gutted face of the dean. “You nearly damaged my door.”
Ted gave the man‘s word not the slightest thought, saying, “I need a map—a map.” Then he raised his voice, “I must need see Henry now.”
“I’ve got no other map here with me,” explained the dean. “How d’you get back to America without the map?”
“Not at all!” responded Ted. “We tore it into two; Henry took the part where we have Africa and me, America.”
At last the dean advised Ted to get to the library instead, to get another map, since there was no map left in his office. At first the boy stood, gazing at the man, with the thought that the man was only trying to be funny, because Ted never imagined that the university would have a magical map kept in the library. He moved away at last, but until after the dean had asked, “What the hell are you still standing here doing?”

While Ted was in the dean’s office, the nurse and her accessories were making plans on how to have Ted caught and referred to the psychiatric hospital, since they had already taken him for a mental patient. Two hefty men were helping her to keep vigil.
“Listen guys,” said the nurse. “Grab him as soon as he comes out of there.” They had seen him enter the dean’s office already and therefore were waiting for his exit.
“Yes, we are ready,” said the two hefty men whose statures were making them seem analogous to their interest in the job they were carrying out. It was fun to them performing it.
“But, please be very careful, you know he’s mad,” warned the nurse, but they seemed to be unflurried, having the feeling of over-confidence instead. “Can you hear me?” the nurse asked but they shrugged in response.
“We are mad ourselves too,” said one of them. “You can count on us.”

All of a sudden, Ted skittered out of the dean’s office and the two men spotted him from their hideout. They were going to ‘get him alive’. As if he had perceived their intents, noticing them Ted swerved swiftly from the direction of his foes. In a quick move, Ted had hid himself away from the twosome laying in ambush for him. The men began to roam about wearing out themselves in looking for the smart guy. They made ajar every closed door in the process, setting open a toilet where an aged Professor was passing the time in the agony of passing out stubborn and indurated stool.