Fever

You give me fever

High and low in the days as

Summer drums nigh.

At a Snap – Friday Fictioneers

…slipping away!

At a snap, consciousness nibbles away from my soul like a rat at a pie. A flurry of events whistle across the hollows of memory. Here come the songs, in basses and choruses; the colours, in greys and duotones and the people in masks and stilettos, as I breathe my last.

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This is an experiment with a fifty-word fiction. How do you think I fared? Is the story compact enough? I will like to know what you think.

This is a contribution to the household of fictioneers. A brotherhood that I’ve missed so much.

A Wink in the Dark – Episode II

Dale could not concentrate in class; his fate at break is known to all and apparent for him. He is the least person that wanted any confrontation with anyone worst of all Tosan.

Tosan is notorious for his savagery, and not many want to cross his path even among the teaching staff. Tosan has been a pain in the neck to the school administration with his serial failures and waywardness. His mates are all in SS3, but Tosan remained stuck in JS3 and terrorised every student in the school.

The only people that could bring him to equity are the Man ‘o’ war cadets who matched his pranks, cruelty for cruelty.

The first period was underway, but Dale still had his mind in a maze of possibilities—how best to avoid this confrontation. Apart from the fact that he didn’t want to get into the black book of the school, he had his physical features to worry about.

Soon at break, Iyke crawled to Dale’s locker.

‘Hey, heard you have a score to settle with Tosan, what happened?’

‘Don’t mind those fools. Andrew came up with this prank at the first place. He said he had a dream I had a fight with Tosan. I told him to nip it in the board, but he just wouldn’t let me be.’

‘No one is taking it as if it were a dream; the news out there is that you challenged Tosan for his treatment of Mnegi at dinner on Tuesday.’

‘Who, me? Come to think of it, am hearing this now. Why would I want to do that for her? ‘

‘Seems obvious you have a soft spot for her’

‘Just about as obvious as everyone’s; but is it a good deal to embarrass a girl in that manner?’

‘Well, maybe, some people think your chances are better, so they want you to be battered and disfigured by Tosan. I just want to warn you to be careful around him’

‘This is purely a set up, and I would not allow anyone to intimidate me or denigrate my humanity.’

As this words came out of Dale’s mouth, he looked beside himself to know where it had come from. He was at a loss on what he intends to do in the situation.

‘What do you want to do? Iyke asked in wonder.

‘Do you remember what happened to those who were foolish enough to, stand-up to him? No one is saying you’re a coward, but wisdom dictates you should avoid the savagery of a man who could slap his own teacher.’

The story of Tosan slapping a teacher is almost a myth in Carter Hill School, one of the stories that made even the audacious new classmates of Tosan to revere him. But some seniors who saw the fight gave credence to the story. Iyke vividly remembered how a senior had told him the story.

Tosan had defiantly stayed out of the maths class on that day and rather stoop on a heap of sand on the football pitch.

He heard footsteps approaching him, but didn’t raise his head. Two pairs of legs finally came to a halt at his front. It was Mr Quadri, the maths teacher and Ronke his classmate.

‘He is the one!’ Ronke accused.

Tosan looked up in amusement. Could the maths teacher care enough to seek him out for missing a class? What was it all about. But the teacher descended on him with lashes all over his body.

‘What have I done? What did I do?’ He screamed.

The spanking continued, and a smirk played away on Ronke’s face.

Afterwards, Tosan still asked Mr Quadri what his offence was but he didn’t get a response.

When Tosan got to class, he went to Ronke’s seat.

‘What is it I did to you? What did you tell him I did wrong?’

As she made an attempt to talk a dirty slap landed on her cheek, two hot drops of tears ran down her check. The class stirred in excitement.

Before anyone could recover from the shock, Mr Quadri emerged from nowhere and landed Tosan two successive slaps left and right.

Tosan in disbelief held unto his cheeks but with composure and courage landed Mr Quadri, a swift dirty slap.

The class grew into a graveyard silence.