Blaze

Blaze

The quest for greatness is innate to every human being

We all strive to make something of ourselves

To get there, we first learn the ropes

Survival!

This was always first a physical thing

We learn to walk, talk, eat by ourselves, and become independent

We learn to think, we learn how to process information and how to do things

Then the quest for survival takes a step further

The mind needed to be reined in

To be taught a skill, a craft or exposed to knowledge

We go to school and/or learn a trade, and develop our skills set

We begin our ascent to the top

Some move swifter than others

Some just keep to their pace

Others got to a point and got stuck

But there is a peculiar breed, with a peculiar ascent trajectory

Nitro fueled, jet speed, time defying progress

Those were the ones they watch out for

They swore a pact, all fifteen of them

To harvest the bright stars, guard the brightest suns and limit the unusual

For every child born in the compound

They would attend the naming ceremony

And see with the third eye

What shall he or she become in life?

Those very close to them would come with appeasement

What shall it take to get the brightest glory for our child?

What shall it cost us?

The day the twins were born

They saw a darkness defying dayspring

All of them saw it

It called for an emergency meeting

What they saw portends both adventure and danger

Like holding a tiger by the tail

Not all glories can be tampered with without repercussion!

Some stars are like the Ark of Covenant

Such stars came armed for battle, ready for war

But leaving the stars as they are means one sure thing!

The twins will be the greatest children in their compound for many generations

Worse still, the twins were born to a family that had steadfastly refused to join their elite group

Something had to be done!

Something crafty!

They spoke to the wind, called for an eclipse

Cover this glory!

That was that!

The twins grew fast, extremely brilliant, extraordinarily intelligent

But the boy was light fingered and the girl was blighted with bedwetting

Though both were the clear best amongst their peers but nobody would entrust responsibility to a thief

The boy once went for a scholarship interview and he picked the pocket of his interviewer

It was innate, the urge to steal

It was his Achilles heel!

Bedwetting killed the confidence of the girl

She couldn’t sleep on a mattress, only a mat

They were both laughing stocks, their glories reduced to shame

A prophet met with their parents, diagnosed the problem but offered no solution

She said “Make sure these children do not go to their father’s hometown or compound ever again! That was where the affliction came from!”

That was all.

They never went to their father’s compound again

And yet, the problem persisted!

They got into the university, both had learned to manage their reproach a little

The campus fellowship organized a crusade

A converted herbalist was the preacher

They sat at the front row

The converted herbalist mentioned their case

“A young man suffering from kleptomania and a young woman suffering from nocturnal enuresis,

If you give your life to Jesus today! Your glory will be restored and time will stand still until you recover all!”

What have they got to lose!

Jesus welcomed them with joy and gladness

The boy began to speak in the tongues of angels immediately!

The next day, he left campus, took a bus to their home town

He arrived unannounced

Walked right into his father’s compound

They rustled up food and drinks for him

He ate!

He drank!

The fifteen came to see him, others too came to say hello

He was but two years old when they last saw him

Now he is in his early twenties

He didn’t come empty handed

He brought bread, milk, provisions and a cheerful heart

The fifteen got together

Why was the young man so happy?

The joined hands, they wanted to see

Was the seal intact? Had the seal been broken?

They called forth his glory!

Kaboom! Kaboom!! Kaboom!!!

The young man went back to school

The fifteen started dying off

One by one!

The compound ran helter-skelter

What sort of strange death is this?

Almost every house in the compound lost somebody

On the seventh day, the last of the fifteen died, after confessing their evil deeds

The young woman stopped bedwetting from that day

The young man stopped pilfering

Their glory rose like the sun

It is still blazing hot!

 

PS: This event covered a period of time between 1985 and 2011

It happened in South-western part of Nigeria

The twins are both Chattered Accountants

They are both married with children