rapmike:
Isn't this SammyHoe's property? Or is this person and SammyHoe the same person? Confused here.

yeah, d SammyHoe NL accounted has bin deleted. Here's d new me.

Audinowing:
I noticed that Sammy wanted to monetise his work not knowing some of us are students. how far with the magazine? Hope its been successful?

students pay for recharge cards, don't they? Anyway, tinz just got suspended due to finance but suspension is never termination. The magazine will come someday. How are u doing?

burkutu:
Hahaha..... I get many igbo mugus like chiboy.dem lucky say I no b bad guy. I 4 don dey do dem something tey tey.

Anyway, my name is Sammy and I am not a herbalist tribalist. Is the story interesting at all?

rofemiguwa:
Is this d complete season. D last time I check this story dey season nine..

Wia did u see season nine? I'm sure not in this planet

"Titi don tell me say na Photoshop office be that before nah. If you no blind you go see the Photoshop wey den write for hin body now."

"See, Chibuzor, Photoshop no be office at all, mey I tok truth now."

"Wetin e be?"

"Na one thing wey den dey use do design," hin tok. "I go show you make I run go bring my laptop. Chiboy, you be correct mugu!"

"Na you be mugu no be me!" I tok as Emeka dey rush comot. "Oya, mey I continue my chat with Titi joor!"

Immediately I don continue my FB chat. Na only one thing wey I sabi for internet be that; two jare(plus Yahoo), yet Segun don issue me certificate say I be qualified Phone Scientist.

"Have you seen the pix, Chidear?" Titi chat me.

"Yeah, babe. I see it!" I text am. "Thank you."

"It's my pleasure darl...have a nice day."

E tey small before I get say na big dupe this boy wey hin name be Segun dupe me so o. Na Emeka my neighbour clear me the matter sef.

I vex so tey I enter Segun shop go rake for hin head.

I collect my money back o. Why I no go collect am back when be say I don threaten am with police? E be like say Yoloba people no dey like hear police matter for their ears. Come Anambra nah, you go see strong guys dey drag stuff with police. The one wey funny me pass be one criminal wey police hold tight for hin belt region, that belt region wey be say if den hook you, no man fit put you asunder, but the criminal sef kon do wetin make LWKMD o. Hin too just hook the police for that same region so tey e kon be like tug of war.

The guy dey drag police enter corner, police wan drag am reach nearest police station. E kon become matter of say who get power pass for the two.

Smoking corner no too far, so the guy dey get upper hand. The 'wakasby' just they waka go jejely dey mind their business kon dey use style turn head back dey look who dey win.

The guy get power sha o. Hin don drag the police near the uncompleted building wey hin gang dey before the officer realise say hin don dey near hot soup small small. E shock us wey dey do amebo as the police take leave the guy trouser region kon go down on hin knee dey beg the guy.

"Please guy free me mey I dey go nah! Sebi me don free you!"

"For where?" na so the guy clear am. "You dey follow me enter this Lion's den o!"

"Chai! *Chi mo o! Ka nke a na-eme" the guy begin confess dey shed tears[*I'm doomed today, God]

"*Chineke ga pogi oku!" na so the bad guy curse am.[*God punish you!]

I don see guys for area dey approach that place make den snap pictures small. Phone no too too dey that time, if not, the police for hear am. Anyway sha, den take their cameras snap am small.

E sure me say na fun e go be for those lucky guys o; den go enjoy the fun throughout that week; abi who no go like see police wey wear uniform kon kneedown for civillian dey beg am?

When I later tell my guy Emeka that story, next day hin don bring one picture come wey be like that scene exactly. I say where hin get am, hin tell me say na photoshop hin take do am.

Me no quick get am, so I ask am say where the shop dey mey I fit get that picture put inside my phone too, since hin tok say hin no fit give me the one wey dey hin phone because of copyright.

"Photoshop far o, Chiboy," na so Emeka tell me. Na hin be the boy wey dey run the beke shop where den dey sell rice and beans for my shop side.

"Where hin dey, abi no be inside Naija ni?"

"Na here nah," Emeka tok. "But na Egbeda I go do am come, Egbeda for Sobo bus/stop area. Na there the photoshop dey. That Photoshop na one kind big mansion o. I nor even know why den dey call am shop sef," Emeka tok plenty.

I don hear Sobo bus stop before. That place far from Ojuelegba wey I dey, no be small.

I don dey hear 'kpin, kpin, kpin!'
Na Emeka dey press my big calculator so o.

"Wetin you dey calculate?" I ask am.

"Transport money nah!" Emeka tok. The guy too sharp abeg. And me dey like sharp guys like myself too much o, but e be like say Emeka wan sharp pass me small o.

"For wetin?"

"To take acquire that photo come nah. You know, Chiboy, on the normal parole nah." He wink give me.

E be like say na juju hin put rub face o. I just say "Okay, how much kon be the thing last last?"

"Na 2k o. 2k wey no fit go down by one naira."

"E too cost abeg!" I tok throway hand. "Just to get picture alone?"

"Na five hundred be transport fare to and fro Chiboy. That photo na #1,500 you go fit get am o. Oya nah, calculate am yourself nah."

"Abeg I no want," na so I free am make e dey go. "If you fit gree 1k make we tok."

"You never ready," na so NneEmeka tok waka comot my front.

Me wan even confirm that stuff for my Titi hand, I mean my facebook Titi. At least me don vex for am ontop that matter of impersonation, but she don apologize give me say if I see am for real life, I go see say she even fine pass that Titi wey I dey tok sef. Me sef don believe am.

That Titi sef don send me many many pictures of herself wey she siddon ontop horse, wey she dey barbeach, wey she dey ride inside ferry and plenty like that. Chai! This Titi must be from one fine and wealthy family o, unlike this one wey I don know her house last last, just last week. Na ajepako she even be sef, yet she go dey claim as if say she come from one rich family. Maybe as she don dey work for GTB now, she don big for her own face be that. Mtchew!"

Back to my Facebook Titi jare. Na so I ask am whether she know anything about the Photoshop, hin location and so on.

"Emeks my friend said Photoshop is Egbeda is located," I waka come with my normal grammatical blunder again.

"No, no, no, no," she ping me. "Photoshop is somewhere around Ikoyi where I stay. Is anything the probs?

"But Emeks say is Egbeda it is, Sobo Bus/stop."

"Oh it's true, but that one is just a branch office. The head office is here in Ikoyi where I'm working. I'll send you the picture if you wish to see it--I'll send you the picture of the head office now. It's where I'm working."

"I think you said is Total you working last week."

"Oh, Chiboy, I didn't tell you. My dad was not happy with me over there. He wants me to work with him in his big office, Photoshop, so I have to obey him."

She send one fine 20-storey building picture give me say na the photoshop be that. I even see wey den write PHOTOSHOP on top the building. Wow! So na such big place my FB Titi dey work! I no go let am slip off my hand o.

"Okay," I smile. This Titi don tell me many things about herself o. Guilty conscience don begin hold me because me never tell am wetin I dey do. For my faebook profiles, na just one picture dey there. The one wey I wear suit, suit wey my uncle dash me that year wey me still dey stay with am for lagos here.

Now, make I kuku tell Facebook Titi make he help me get that photo sef. E go even clear pass the one wey Emeka wan give me.

Na so I tell Titi say make she help me get that picture wey I dey tok about for her office. I describe am well well:

Police wey dey kneedown beg civillian.

"Oh, that picture will be too expensive. Can you afford it?" she tell me.

"How much?" I ask am.

"It's just five thousand from here, very clear pix with high resolution, 80megapixels, high definition with a very sound background..."

"Is do okay," I combine tautology with grammar confusion. Me no kuku sabi wetin be megapixels and all the things wey she dey yarn. But the money too much o, five thousand. Chai! But I wan show say I get dough for hand nah, make she fit dey continue follow me until I go fit gather enough ba take dey run better legit business. By then na hin our wedding go come since she don agree to marry me already.

"Send me your account number," I ask am. E no tey at all wey she don send am.

Na continuation be this

Mother Witch soon reached the Dilapidation dwelling place and was pleased to see Hope in the Bads’ grips. “You’ve captured Hope? Good!” she exclaimed in excitement.
“Mother, it was such an easy task for me—the task of capturing Hope,” Badwill replied, smiling.
“Badwill, thanks. You’ve done a great good for us all in the Hurt huts.”
“Yes, Mr. Oppressor will be glad you did this.” Badwill was grinning.
“Mother, shall we leave now?” Badwill said, lifting the unconscious body of Hope to his shoulder to shoulder him, just like a soldier would shoulder a fellow soldier who’d been wounded by enemy soldiers in the battle front.
“Not yet,” Mother Witch replied at once. “There’s one more child to abduct—Standaloof. I knew her name when Mr. Nonsense was christening her last year. She’ll make an easy catch.” The three got into the inner room hastily and found the Blanket of Restriction at one corner of the room.
“She must be underneath,” Mother Witch smiled and bent eagerly to pull the blanket away from Standaloof’s body, but to their shock it was the floor they saw lying aloof beneath the blanket.
“What!” they interjected as if some injection needles had just pricked them. After much futile search for Standaloof, they made do with Hope who was still unconscious as a result of the large pangs he got from the gargantuan bangs on his head by the evil gang. As they were leaving with Hope alone, the rain began to pour. However, they trekked on. On the way to the Hurt, Hope’s eyes flicked open suddenly. Seeing himself lying on a strange shoulder, he was shocked. He was scared the more when he saw Badwill and Mother Witch coming behind.
“Hope, you’re awake?” said Mother Witch.
“Help! Help!” Hope screamed.
“No help for you Hope,” Mother Witch mocked him. “Your parents have incurred our wrath and we shall let them know that we’re capable of hindering Vulnerability from getting to the Island of Greatness.”
“I’ve done no offence, or have I? So, why capture me for nothing?” cried Hope while all laughed.
“We are not capturing you for nothing,” Mother Witch replied jokingly, “But for something—to make Vulnerability lose the ability in him to get to the Island.”
“I can’t understand,” Hope confessed, nonplussed.
“Ha! Ha! Ha!” the trio laughed. “Listen Hopefulness, if we take you away the ability in Vulnerability shall vanish. You are the ability in Vulnerability. And for Vulne, losing you means losing the hope of getting to the Island of Greatness, Hope.”
“It’s a lie!” Hope yelled at them. “How do you know all these?”
“Do you think it’s for fun people call me Mother Witch? Anyway...you’ll learn more about me when you get to the Hurt. Ha! Ha! Ha!”
“Let me alone!” Hope screamed and struggled in pain, in vain, in the rain to gain freedom, but the hurters mocked him. “We shall take you to Mister Oppressor to torture consciousness out of you.” As Hope heard their threats, his fear was kindled and his brain addled, yet he had a slight belief that he would not get into the Hurt with them to be hurt. He mustered all the strength in him to cry for help, but they ignored his yells and laughed him to scorn. All of a sudden, a large silhouette emerged from the Land of Despair where the Doubt’s School of Thought’s foundation was laid. It seemed as though the giant had heard Hope’s loud cry and had rushed to his safety.
“It’s Giant Faith!” whispered the hurters, trembling. Without thinking twice, the duo took to their heels after letting Hope fall from their grips (even Mother Witch hobbled sluggishly after the Bads for the reason of her age) fearing what Giant Faith would do. Giant Faith hopped to Hope and pulled him up.
“Hey, little Hope, I’m Giant Faith,” the giant said and Hope was shocked.
“I don’t know you. How come you know me?”
“I know your name when Father Sage was christening you fourteen years ago. Mr. Nonsense was about to christen you Hopelessness when Father Sage and I arrived your home. Mr. Nonsense quickly dropped you on your mother’s lap and fled for fear. Then Father Sage picked you up and christened you Hopefulness, confessing that he could see the fullness of the hope of getting to the Island of Greatness in you.” Little Hope smiled and replied, “Thanks a lot, Giant Faith. You’ve indeed raised my hope of making it through the River of Achievement.”
“No thanks,” replied the giant humbly.
“But...did my uncle send you to rescue me out of—?”
“You mean Doubt?” Giant Faith interrupted.
“Yeah,” Hope responded. “Because I saw you rushing out of his land when I made the cry.”
“You’re very observant, Hope, but it wasn’t Doubt who asked me to rescue you. I came out of there of my own accord when I heard your cry of agony.”
“But what were you doing there?” Hope asked further, wanting to be sure that his new friend (Giant Faith) wasn’t the friend of his old enemy (Doubt). The giant grinned and then responded, “I’ve only entered the Land of Despair to destroy the foundation of Doubt’s School of Thought founded on it.”
“So, have you destroyed it?”
“Oh yes!” Giant Faith replied. “In the presence of its founder, Doubt, your uncle, just exactly as I was sent by Father Sage.”
“Wonderful!” Hope put up a bright smile to reveal his abhorrence for his uncle.
Hope and Faith parted ways after bidding bye to each other. In loneliness, Hope trekked homeward, having the thought of Standaloof in mind.
Standaloof had crawled out of the Blanket of Restriction earlier, just a few moments before Mother Witch and the Bads got in to pull up the blanket: Standaloof, having sensed Hope’s capture, had mustered all the strength in her to crawl by herself, something she hadn’t done all her lives: thanks to the knowledge of how to crawl she’d received from her brother earlier, and for the Nappy of Limitation Hope had unstrapped from her buttock to make her nippy.
Standaloof seemed glad to see herself now crawling. She had crawled across a footpath and had entered a bushy area where she spotted a tortoise which seemed to her as if stagnant—not moving. Standaloof taught the tortoise how to crawl by pushing it along.
Little Hope rushed into the inner room and pulled up the blanket, but underneath it was no Standaloof. “What the hell!” he yelled. Then he saw a tortoise making its way into the house via a wide crack. Still bedazzled by the sight, Hope sighted a head raised behind the tortoise and the mouth in the head uttered, “Ta—ta—ta!”
“Standaloof!” Hope expressed exhilaration when he discovered it was his sister.
It was dark before Hope’s parents and brother returned. They had been soaked by the rain.
“Hoosh!” Limitation yawned as she cupped her hand over her mouth. “What a day!”
“Lim, today’s wonderful,” said Mediocre as the three began to hit the conical orifices of their trumpets against their palms to get rid of the much saliva they had blown into them.
Limitation spoke up, looking straight into Hope’s lacklustre face, “Son, you’ve missed a great sight today on the building site of Miss Endurance where we remained blowing our trumpets unhindered. That celibate short-sighted old woman had to leave her site for us when we kept reciting our loud noise into the trumpets to disturb her Peace.” When Hope wouldn’t budge, she added, “Even the Hurt dwellers couldn’t touch us.”
“But they came here,” confessed Hope. “They captured me, but Standaloof crawled away secretly before they could lay their hands on her.”
“Keep quiet, liar!” screamed Limitation.
“It’s the truth!” Hope argued boldly but his speech did nothing more than eliciting hilarity from his parents’ mouths.
“It’s absurd! Standaloof crawled to safety but you couldn’t walk or run to safety yourself, or didn’t you say they captured you?” Mediocrity said amidst laughter.
“You lied that my baby crawled to safety? Standaloof can’t crawl, not when she’s having the weighty nappy beneath her hips!” Limitation added.
“But I taught her—I taught her after taking off the nappy,” Hope replied immediately.
“Liar!” Mediocrity yelled at him, then Limitation said, “Little boy, can I now ask you how you managed to escape from the hands of your captors?”
“Giant Faith set me free,” Hope replied, but was shunned.
“Ssh! The giant you’ve mentioned isn’t capable of setting you free, because he’s too powerless to face the hurters himself,” Limitation concluded.

Next....Chapter 4

Hurriedly, Hope pulled the blanket off her. She was in a deep sleep. He tapped her back severely to wake her up but she remained like a lifeless soul, someone who could sleep for twenty hours in a day, no thanks to the Milk of Limitation she would spend her active time sucking and the Blanket of Restriction, which Limitation would always wrap her in: the blanket was believed to be possessing a sleep-enhancing scent that would ensure that the sleeper never got up from his bed on time unless someone else pulled it off him.
Hope shook the baby out of sleep. The girl burped, drooled into her bib and cried, but the boy petted her with a clay toy. Though Standaloof was a year old, she could not sit up on her own—all she could do was to lie down dozing all day. Hope made a smile as he deemed it great opportunity to redeem the pledge he had made to himself that he would help her be on a sitting posture someday. Being conscious of the time Hope sat Standaloof down but she fell backward. She whined. Quietly, Hope observed the rhythm of her cries; her first yell was long, and coming after it was a brief silence, such that Hope thought she had given it up. Then her subsequent yells came quickly, one after the other, without a significant break. Then he realised that the silent moment after the first yell had only been used to gather momentum for the rest of the yells.
“Don’t cry, baby don’t cry,” Hope pacified until she was quiet again. However, Hope didn’t back out, instead, he kept trying to make her sit without an external support. Just when Hope would give up the hope of seeing her sit, he remembered the first stanza of Father Sage’s common poem whose structure the pillars of the temple were fashioned after:
Step by step, such is life
But if you stop, then you die...
“Yes! I’ll make her sit up now and later teach her to crawl, stand, walk, run and—fly.” Hope yelled “Oops!” when he remembered that humans do not fly.
After much trial, Standaloof was able to sit on her own. She was smiling excitedly as if she was enjoying her new posture. Hope soon proceeded to teach her how to crawl. Having set her on all fours, Hope left her to herself but she fell and struck her head on the floor. Instantly, she began to cry again.
“Don’t cry, baby don’t cry,” Hope petted her once more. She gave it up after a while. Hope refused to give up on her. He would make her crawl by all means. Unfortunately, both of them succumbed to sleep. Two hours later, Standaloof got over the absentmindedness brought over her by the presence of sleep. She slapped Hope’s laps to get him out of sleep. Waking up, Hope yawned like a lazy pawn and it dawned on him that he’d spent two hours sleeping.
“What?” Hope yelled and rose to his feet immediately. Standaloof raised her hands to Hope and he bore her up. Hope could feel her weight—too much for somebody of her age.
“My baby, you’re awake,” Hope said, not realizing she was even the one who woke him from sleep. Hope nuzzled his sister and gave her a kiss on the left cheek and left a wide hickey on it, but she struggled in his grip as though wanting to be on the floor. Hope was confused at first, but soon realized what she wanted—she wanted to be helped to crawl.
“So you want to crawl?” Hope said, letting her down. The baby grinned and revealed her toothless gums. She tried to crawl but was unable to move her legs, yet remaining on all fours. Hope wondered why she could not move her legs. A thought occurred to him. Putting his thought into action, he unloosed her pant and took off the old mucky brown nappy he found underneath, whose weight was as heavy as Standaloof herself. The nappy had turned brown by reason of age, for the selfsame nappy was the one Limitation had worn while she was a baby under the care of Hindrance her mother. Then it was white. The handmade Nappy of Limitation (for so was it called) had been knitted for the intent of retarding the mobility of newborn babies, and it was to be worn by the unlucky baby until he or she had clocked the age of two.
Now she was half lighter than when she was having the nappy on. As Hope stooped to help her crawl, he heard a stump of feet approaching the house. Fearing that it was his parents, he quickly wrapped Standaloof up in the Blanket of Restriction as she was before. Then he rushed out to see who they were.
Hope fell into the headlock made by Badwill who was lurking in a corner for him.
“Let me alone!” yelled Hope but Badwill thumped his head so hard with his fist that he was concussed. “Badwish! Mother Witch! Come over, I’ve captured Hope!” In a flash, Badwish rushed to the spot and spotted Hope in his brother’s grip, unconscious.
“Wow! Badwill, what a good job you’ve done here!” Badwish commented gladly.
“Where’s Mother Witch? Weren’t you two coming behind me?” Badwill asked curiously, but Badwish replied at once, “She’s remaining behind to hear more of the trumpets of Mr. And Mrs. Mediocrity and their son Vulne.” Badwish paused as he swallowed his spittle. “I wish Mother Witch’s here to see this scene,” concluded Badwish.
The Bads would not have come to the Dilapidation dwelling place if the Mediocres (also called Mediocritys) had not entered into the streets to blow their trumpets into every ear, not knowing which is which and which is witch and which is wishing them good or bad. With the Trumpet of Imagination in her mouth, Limitation had hollered, “All you people of Happy-Go-Lucky, listen carefully to what I shall now say. Father Sage has dreamt that my son Vulnerability scaled through the River of Achievement to the Island of Greatness and brought with him the long-awaited Mr. Goodluck.”
Madam Pickoffence squinted her pale face while Mrs. Jealousy frowned at Limitation’s news.
“Limitation isn’t literate,” soliloquised Madam Pickoffence. “Therefore the issue that her issue got to the Island of Greatness shouldn’t crop up at all.” Mrs. Jealousy whispered to herself too, saying, “How can Limitation’s son get to the sunny Island before my own son, Stubby? I must do all in my ability to stop Vulnerability from getting there.”
Limitation asked her son to speak into his own trumpet too, for every ear’s hearing. He obeyed, shouting, “My mum has said the truth concerning my journey to the Island of Greatness. Old Father Sage in the Dotage cottage has told me that he could spell out the ability in me, Vulnerability, to get into the said Island. Then I shall bring Mr. Goodluck down into this town.”
“You’ve heard it all!” yelled Limitation into her trumpet. “My son shall get there and no one shall be able to stop him—not even anyone from the dreaded evil huts called the Hurt huts near here,” she shouted, pointing toward the old ugly witch called Mother Witch, who sat on a rock in front of her huts. She was a hunchbacked crabby old woman whose flaky skins, wrinkles, tangled teeth and suntanned craggy face could scare life out of an average person (especially the kids of Average Street). They feared her face so much that they detested facing her directly whenever they had had the cause to come across her. She wore rings on her nose, on her wrinkled pinkies and on each toe of her pigeon-toed legs. The teeth left on her gums were just four, for dotage had plucked out the rest, yet she had made the four teeth golden with the aim of prettifying her ugly being. At Limitation’s maligning statement, Mother Witch thumped up from the rock, feeling mocked. Immediately, she unlocked the door of the Bads and informed them of the aspersion Limitation had cast at the Hurt. Being agitated, Badwill and Badwish pulled out their Daggers of Anger in readiness to attack Limitation, but Mother Witch advised them otherwise. “Keep your Daggers of Anger, my boys. Instead of an open confrontation, why not let us get out of here to kidnap the children they’ve left behind in Dilapidation dwelling place?” Gladly, the Bads, with the exception of Baddream, agreed to follow Mother Witch to Dilapidation dwelling place to capture Hope and Standaloof. Baddream could not join them because he was fast asleep then, dreaming.

THE DISABILITY OF
VULNERABILITY

Vulnerability soon entered his home, the Dilapidation dwellingplace and eagerly declared to his parents how Father Sage had spelt out that the ability to get to the Island of Greatness lay in him.
"You mean Father Sage told you this with his lips or it slipped out of his lips accidentally while he was feeling sleepy,"Limitation lisped, doubting her boy. In apprehension Vulnerability replied, "He told me he saw me get into the island in his dream."
"Wonderful!" exclaimed Limitation as she turned to her husband and whispered, "Med, did you just hear with your ears what your heir has just aired here?"
"Sweet Lim, I heard it vividly," Mediocrity replied enthusiastically. "But I don't know what to say," he added.
"What to say?" spoke Limitation loudly. "There's nothing to say now because the Sage has the final say. All we need do is pick our Trumpets of Imagination and roam the streets of Happy-Go-Lucky in the gloaming to blow them." She turned around and found around Vulnerability's rough round face some roughly-round wrinkes defacing it.
"Why the frowns Vulne?" she belled in annoyance. "I know your fears Vulne. You are not buying the idea of blowing the trumpets, isn't it?"
"Yes mother," Vulnerability replied out of fear. "Father Sage warned us that we shouldn't--"
"Don't worry Vulne," Limitation cut in. She pulled him lightly and said, "It doesn't matter. Whether we blow them or not destiny can never be reversed. Since Father Sage has confessed dreaming it be rest assured you shall surely get there."
"But wouldn't it be best to take to the priest's instruction, because--?" Hope's voice came up but his mother let it go down as she yelled, "Shut up Hope!" Limitation picked a long trumpet made of clay. "Vulne, Med, little Hope, pick yours too and let's enter into the streets," she commanded strictly and all but one obeyed.
"Hope!" she screamed. "Won't you pick your trump--?"
"I won't!" Hope barged in stubbornly and retired to his room.
"Let's go," said Limitation to the two left at her lefthand side. Then she added, "Three trumpets should be enough to overwhelm the street of Average and Happy-Go-Lucky town as a whole, isn't it Med?"
"It's the truth," Mediocrity responded. "More so, Hope's voice is not loud in the Trumpets of Imagination as such, therefore he'll surely not contribute to the loudness and soundness of the Sage's message we shall now be passing across to all passersby in Happy-Go-Lucky as we pass by its streets."
Limitation led the way, Mediocrity followed but Vulnerability lingered behind with the trumpet entwined in his fingers like a singer. Hope came again to the parlour to meet Vulnerability, having peeped and beheld the exit of his parents from the inner room earlier.
"Vulne," Hope called with a soft tone and Vulnerability responded "Yes."
"Drop that trumpet and remain here," said Hope. Hope's words appeared to have had great impact on the boy, who instantly let the trumpet slide off his grip to the ground. Suddenly Vulnerability heard his mother's voice, which was having it's source from a spot behind the holey walls, "Vulne, will you join us right away?" Out of fear, Vulnerability picked up his trumpet again and fluttered out to join his parents. All that was left for Hope to hear was the sound of shuffling feet fading away from the Dilapidation dwellingplace.
The house was empty but for Hope who was peeping through a crack in the wall to look at the backs of his departing parents, and for Standaloof who was lying aloof in an inner room. When they had gone out of eyeshot, Hope adjourned to the room where Standaloof lay sleeping. He found her swathed in a knit blanket which was far from being neat, called the Blanket of Restriction, handed down to Limitation by her ancestors. To Hope, the manner with which his sister had lain seemed as if she had been slain, having sucked much of the Milk of Limitation (her mother's bosom milk) which was known for its terrific soporific effect on sucklings. It was great battle for Hope those days while he was a suckling too. Those days, he would struggle to abstain from the bosom milk which he had great aversion for, but she would force it on him. When Hope could not win his mother over to wean him off the sour soporific Milk of Limitation, he resorted to the 'tit for tat' of tearing her teats apart with his teeth. Then she had no choice than to let him be and thenceforth began to feed him with the sincere milk extracted by Mother Kind from Father Sage's dairy cows daily

Je suis continons par me histoire de Esperer et le Island de Greatness...

Chapitre Trois

Who is reading this story

Monday came and Kate was set for school. Since the day the two had first hugged each other, it had become a routine for them to keep doing such, but always in the absence of their parents. Henry had eagerly been waiting for the advent of that Monday, when that apparent cordial relationship would be checked.

As it had been for three days, Kate hugged Henry once more as she was set for school that red-letter Monday morning.

“The last hug,” thought Henry, smiling benignly in an attempt to conceal his evil intention. Their parents saw them in such state for the first time and the sight staggered them. However, they controlled the urge to intrude into the matter until Kate had left for school.

“Who used the spell—” said Mr. White and paused briefly. Then he resumed, “between the two of you?”

“Which spell?” said Henry, pretending as if he never had any idea as regards what his father had just asked. His father expatiated, “I mean, when did you start to like your sister?” Henry grimaced suddenly and snapped his fingers (both the ones on his right and left hands) as he said, “Like her? Never!” They were confused the more, looking at their son with poker faces.

Mrs. White soon found her voice, then she said, “Why the embrace then?” in an inquisitive manner. Henry chortled and said, “Just pretending, so she won’t suspect what’s going to happen today.”

“What?” sounded the four-letter word from their lips, synchronously, in a humongous mode, having been amplified by the synergic effect of their voices.

“Music practice at RENDEZVOUS of course!” said Henry and the two exclaimed, “Huh!” remembering it.

“It’s true, today’s Monday,” said his father with a loud voice.

“Henry, you’re small devil,” added his mother jokingly.

Henry spent his time at home that day thinking of how the outing would go.

“She’ll run at our sight, but I’ll chase after her,” thought Henry.

“No, she’ll not see us at all,” he argued all alone. “She’ll be engrossed in what she’s doing, so she won’t be aware of our presence. Dad and Mum will tie her; her friends will scatter; their plans will be shattered.” He then smiled. “Me? I’ll pinch hell out of her body when she is taken to the Black Maria, because a cop will be involved.”
“She will be dumped in the prison. Yes, got it.” He left the front of the large mirror in the lounge where he had been all the while, speaking out his mind.

At noon, Henry’s father arrived, almost around the same time with his wife’s arrival too. Henry never remembered to greet them. He said,

“Dad, Mum, let’s get going.”

“Ain’t we going to have little rest? It’s only 12.45 pm,” said Mr. White, pulling the button of the collar of his shirt. Then Mrs. White said, “Gaby, were you granted permission?”

“No, I sneaked out. I pray my boss will not discover.”

“I’m lucky,” said Sally. “I was permitted, unlike you.”

They set out some minutes to 2pm. At Henry’s advice, two cops escorted them. They had truncheons with them—something Kate wouldn’t want to be hit with. Their cars pulled up in front of the place. It was then few minutes past two. The Police officer got inside the edifice. They combed everywhere but could not find Kate and mates. Henry suggested that they waited for her in hiding.

For forty-five minutes, they were in a corner, peeping to see if she was coming. Just when they were about to give up, Mr. White’s phone rang.

“Dad,” Kate spoke. “I’ve been waiting here for the past one-hour. Henry’s not home, so I can’t get inside, since he’s with the key.”

“Kate, where are you?” asked Mr. White.
“Home,” she said. “For the past one-hour now,” she had exaggerated, having arrived only few minutes ago. She could be justified since no one was around to gainsay the claim.

“Alright, very soon we shall be home too,” Gaby said, feeling highly embarrassed. Henry was looking here and there like a vigilante.

“Henry!” screamed Mr. White. Then his phone rang again. It was his boss this time. He smelt rat instantly. Trouble!

Reluctantly, he picked it.

“Where are you Mr. White?” Gaby’s employer spoke instantly without any salutation coming before.

“Em—I- I…” stuttered the man in reply.

“Alright—” said his boss, “just consider yourself suspended for three weeks.” The man at the other end cut the call. The police officers said, “What’s going on?”

“Sorry for everything,” apologized Mr. White.

“It’s this boy; he misled us all.” The man gesticulated as he spoke. “Thanks—you can leave now.”

“Leave!” they screamed, “Somebody must be arrested!” said the cops in fury for the time they had wasted in laying ambush for a ‘wild goose’.
They all went silent. Mr. White spoke:

“Well…you can take him. He caused it all.”
Henry’s mother was in full support of her husband’s decision. She said, “Yeah, go with him.”

Henry could have raced away, but he knew it was not feasible, rifles being pointed at him. They led him to their vehicle.

“Come for him with a bail whenever you are ready,” said the more elderly of the cops.

Kate was not as foolish as Henry had thought. Since Henry had disclosed to their parents that she was in a music club, she knew he was also going to tell them about the rendezvous for practice, (Rendezvous Guest House) so she had informed her friends of this, therefore the earlier scheduled meeting was annulled.

When Henry was trying to pull the wool over her face by the pretentious hug and the chocolates, she was not deceived at all then. While Henry was busy with the gruesome thoughts, during the hug, Kate was thinking too. It seemed she did see him with a knife then, intending to stab her. She was convinced that Henry’s attitude to her at that moment was a bogus one, when she heard him laugh loudly immediately he had entered his room that day after the clinch. Having discovered the truth, Kate had immediately called for the cancellation of the earlier scheduled rehearsal.

Mr. White never had any feeling of compassion for Henry during the periods he did spend in the cell, chafing at his wife often during her several attempts to inveigle him into releasing their son. His extreme annoyance could be traced to the fact that Gaby had detested the manner in which his superior had humiliatingly dished him the suspension. He had never loved to be home idle when a lot of work was waiting to be done by him somewhere. It pained Henry’s workaholic father that he would have to be home for three weeks, doing nothing.

Eventually, Mrs. White pleas stopped falling on deaf ears. Gaby agreed to get Henry out on bail, but he had spent one month already in the dungeon without being paid a visit by his father.
Undoubtedly, Kate’s halcyon days were those days Henry was away, in prison. She enjoyed every thing both of them should have had to share—money, meals, merriments and lots more. She gained a great deal of weight within that period. She wished Henry never returned, preferring to see him dead in the cell. But contrary to her wishes, Henry arrived, lean, wan and feeble, face pallid, hair bedraggled and mouth smelly, since he did not take care of his teeth properly while in gaol.

As if Henry had not been humiliated enough, Kate, upon his arrival, aggravated her brother’s condition by her words to him.
“Your chocolate is yummy in my tummy,” she had said, wrapping it up with ridiculous smiles. Such statement was the regurgitation of Henry’s mocking expressions in the past, whenever he was forcing himself on Kate to get her chocolate. Now it was Kate’s turn to pay him back in his own coin.

Henry was silent. He did not say a word to anyone at home. He had got a whole month to spend before resumption, having spent the first half of his holiday in police custody.

Three days later, Henry was missing. His parents feared that he must have gone out to kill himself, but Kate knew such could never have happened, suggesting that he had gone back to school. His parent’s visit to the school confirmed Kate’s thought. He had left secretly for school.

.......He felt a touch on his shoulder, which jolted him out of his reverie. It was the dean’s hand.
“Henry, you must have thought about it—”said the dean, looking directly into his eyeballs, “long enough.”

“Uhm,” Henry said, “Maybe.”

“So…” said the dean, gesticulating, “D’you want this power?”

“Em—sir what’s going to be my profit?”

“Don’t let me repeat myself. You’re going to have power—to control whatever—see the future.”

“I’m interested,” accepted Henry. At least he was going to have the power to control his younger sister.

Mr. and Mrs. White soon arrived. While they were still behind the door, Henry had reported Kate’s deed to them. This he did within a minute, but his parents were able to grasp the information just as if Henry had spent an hour in relaying it. It seemed as if the ability of Mr. and Mrs. White to do that had been brought about by the fact that what Henry was explaining to them was music-related; something that would catch their interest, since they wouldn’t want to buy the idea of their children involving in it.

“Kate! Come over here!” they cried as they stepped into the large lounge that was being aerated by some air-conditioning systems that were put in place around the house long time ago. They were never allergic to cold.

“Yes, I’m coming,” she responded from her room. Kate could tell from the way her parent had shouted her name that Henry had informed them about it. She was with them a couple of minutes later.

“Why d’you flout our instruction? We said don’t join music club,” her father asked, gazing at her, expecting to hear something.

“I didn’t,” she responded without delay, face wrinkled. “Who said I did that?”

“Henry,” replied her parents immediately.

Henry’s anger was kindled against her sister for the lie she had just told. He tried to suppress the vexation by keeping silent, but the urge to speak made him burst out:

“Yes, Kate you brought your friends here and played the music you’ve recorded. Then you danced and danced and—”

“Hey—Henry you said you’ll tell lies against me and that’s what you’re doin’ right now.” cried Kate in a convincingly acceptable manner. An outsider would have believed her if one was present at such moment. “Just because we didn’t give you our candies,” she added unscrupulously.

“Liar!” cried Henry jerking forward to give her a slap on the cheek, but Mrs. White held his arms back. He wriggled unsuccessfully in her grip, but soon gave up, seeing she would not permit him to do it.

“Kate—” said Mr. White. “Candy! Where did you get it from?” Kate’s father had warned her several times against the consumption of candy, fearing tooth decay. Kate had once suffered tooth decay while still very young. Back then, she was always spending all her pocket money on candies, pilfering cash sometimes from her mother’s purse to get the goodies.

Kate appeared morose instantly when her dad asked her the question, yet she was only feigning the bad mood. With the way Kate had made her countenance to appear, her father was convinced that she had really taken some candies as she’d confessed, yet that was what Kate wanted him to believe. She never took any candy at all—such display was a mere cant, just to try diverting the reality of the matter.

“Kate, did you just say that you took candy?” Mr. White yelled at her in anger.

“I’m sorry dad—” she said deceitfully, “It was my friends who brought the candies. We—er—ate them together, Henry begged us to give him some, but we refused. Then—”

“She’s lying!” barked Henry furiously, but no one was paying a bit of attention, already engrossed in her sister’s foxy tale. She spoke on:

“He threatened to tell a lie against us about joining a music club—” she paused and looked piercingly at her father’s eyeballs, “and that’s exactly what he’s doing now,” concluded Kate slyly.
“Liar!” shouted Henry persistently, violently struggling to break loose from her mother’s grip, but the opportunity was not given to him, otherwise, Kate would be in ‘soup’.

Their parents made protracted attempts to resolve the issue, telling the two parties to forget about the issue. They assured themselves that the truth would be revealed soonest.

Kate made eyes at Henry scornfully, exacerbating Henry’s hatred for her. He felt like gunning her down instantly, damning the consequence.

“Lying Kate!” he whispered to her hearing when their parents had left the parlor. Kate replied, “Thank you.”