Kingsley Okeke @kingsleychi

Kelvin burst out laughing when he saw the laptop I had hoped to buy for a low price opened up on my table. I couldn’t help but join in his laughter. The sight was both amusing and a little sad by the way. This laptop belonged to a friend who was eager to sell it after years of neglect. I thought it might serve me well for some simple tasks in the future, even though it was an old model of an older generation with a mere 2 GB of RAM which is far from being up to do with today’s demanding online tasks.

As I booted it up, the old fan in the laptop wheezed, making strange noises as if fighting its existence. In that moment, I understood what I was I was in for, recognizing the irony of my hopeful purchase.

Yet, after our laughter subsided, I began to reevaluate my decision. I resolved to return the laptop to my friend. There was no way I would buy such a device; it would only serve to make me a laughingstock coupled with embarrassment.

A friend of mine visited me, and while he was on his way, he got some food for himself without getting any for me. We are good friends; we see each other almost every day, we share things together, and we are very cool friends. It’s just that he didn’t get my own plate of food while he was getting his.

He claimed he was hungry and had been in school for several hours from morning until the evening when he came and hadn’t had anything to eat. So, I allowed him to eat, but he finished about half of the plate of food. Then, he received a call from his dad and went outside to answer it. That was when I picked up a new spoon and fed myself with the remaining half.

When he came back in, he was puzzled and then just burst out laughing. He knew he couldn't just eat food while I was there and wouldn’t have any, I no go allow am.

I just maintained my seriousness and continued eating. He cannot intimidate me in my own house. By the way, he was the one who came to visit me; he cannot come here, put me in a tight corner, or make me uncomfortable with the good smell of the food oozing all over the place. I couldn't let that happen. I fed myself and when I was done, got some soft drink for the both of us to complement the mood.

We wanted to buy some fireworks for the New Year. Usually, during the New Year, we always launch fireworks in our compound to make it a memorable time. So, we went for a short market trip to get these fireworks about a day before the New Year celebration. I went there with my friend, he was more like a brother. He's my friend, not in any way related, but we were like brothers though.

We arrived at the market with a budgeted amount, hoping that even if prices had gone up, it wouldn't exceed what we had. We were prepared for the costs, but then we were surprised and shocked when we got to the market and realized it wasn't the case at all.

It was as if we were watching movie when the seller called out an outrageous price for just one firework. I looked him in the eye, watching his lips as he mouthed the amount he intended to sell those fireworks for. I tried to negotiate with him, but he insisted it was a fixed price. At that moment, we couldn't help but think he was trying to scam us; fireworks shouldn't cost that much.

Determined to find a better deal, we trekked down to another shop that sold fireworks and other items. To our shock, the prices there were even higher than what the first seller had stated.
With our budget now stretched, we decided it was time to rethink our plans. Instead of buying four fireworks as we had initially intended, we concluded we would only get two, and even that would leave us with little money left. It was a tough decision, but we wanted to make sure we could still enjoy the celebration in some way.

The village people named the river the Echava River, E-C-H-A-V-A. That's where I went to swim with some of my friends. I think I had swum there once before, maybe twice, but this time I was swimming very freely. I had never heard of any rules governing the rivers or anything of the sort, and it was Christmas Day, so we went there to have fun.

We brought along some drinks, delicious cakes, tasty chops, and some chicken, which we enjoyed along the riverbank. Whenever we came to the riverbank, we took a few bites of our food before diving back into the water. It was truly a fun day, and I cherished the time with my friends.

While swimming, I decided to take a very long swim back to the other end of the river. I started off, and all of a sudden, I heard people shouting. At first, I had no idea they were shouting about me; I thought they were reacting to something else happening by the river. But when I looked up and waved, I realized they were actually telling me to come back. I quickly realized that I had made a mistake and had ventured too far. I never knew I could swim that fast these days; it amazed me all the way. However, I was also filled with fear and uncertainty as I made my way back.

As I swam and noticed that I was getting closer to them, I switched from swimming to walking when I reached the shallow end to meet my friends. When I finally got to them, they grabbed me and exclaimed how that part of the river had a history of drowning people and all sorts of bad news.
But such is never meant for me, God's favourite!

Going down memory lane, I can still remember this very night. I was lying in my sweet bed, but I had chosen not to take my evening bath. My mom always said that taking a bath before bedtime was important, but there was a movie on TV that I found so interesting that I just couldn’t leave the seat. Taking to take my bath will cause me to miss a scene which I wasn't planning to.

As I lay there on my bed dozing soundly, I felt something strange on my skin. I didn’t know what it was, and it scared me a lot. I tried to ignore it, but soon the little stings turned into a swe that made my skin feel itchy. I just couldn’t help it so I started to wail loudly.

I called for my mom, who hurried into my room. I told her about the stings and how I thought there might be a little ant or bug in my bed and pointed to the blanket, tears streaming down my face. As I waited for her to find the evil ant while I suffered the sting pains.

My mom gently lifted the blanket and looked around my bed, but we couldn’t find any ants or bugs anywhere. Maybe they were hiding really well, or maybe it was because I didn’t take my bath and the dirt got mixed up with my sweat. I don’t know, but it was such a long night, very scary and painful all together.

As the minutes turned into hours, I kept crying. My mom sat with me, rubbing my back to help me feel better and I could still remember sleep creeping back on me as my wail reduced and died out as I entered the wonderland. Till date, I do not miss taking my bath all evenings.

I have known Chinedu quite well since childhood. We even went to the same secondary school, and all the time that I knew him, he had no beard not even a strand of hair under his chin. We all knew this until he traveled three months ago. Then, upon returning last week, he looked so grown up and manly, with a full grown beard that even looked wild. It was as if he was born with it.

I asked him for the secret behind those hairs, those beards under his chin, but he wouldn’t say. He claimed he was already growing them before he left, but I knew within myself that he wasn’t growing those hairs before he left.

It was until yesterday, when I visited him after he took his bath, that I discovered the truth. I was alone in his room when I saw the kit. It was an oil kit that contained a hair booster, a beard booster, whatever. When he came out from the bedroom and saw me handling the oil containers, he let out a laugh, realizing I had already caught him. But before he could make any statement to justify his reasons or whatever, I had already scrubbed a good amount of the oil in my hand and dabbed it on my chin too. Who doesn't want that kind of beard

We had a special church program to celebrate each member of our church. The idea was to gather together and surprise each other with gifts, and it was something I had been looking forward to for weeks. During our last Sunday service, we had all gathered to discuss the plan, and each pair of us was assigned to provide a gift for the other. I was paired with a beautiful looking girl from our congregation, and I had already decided on my gift for her.

As the day of the celebration arrived, we began with our regular church service. We sang more deeply and and joyfully to God and enjoyed the spirit of Christ's blessings in the air.

When it was finally time to exchange gifts, my heart raced. I handed over my carefully wrapped box, inside was a beautiful necklace and matching earrings. I had chosen them with love, wanting to give something special that she could wear on occasions to remind her of this day.

Then, it was her turn to give me my gift. She handed the a box to me, it wasn't wrapped and I immediately knew not to expect anything fancy, but my jaw dropped in amazement when I opened it. It was a designer watch, Hublot to be precise I couldn't believe my eyes. The fact that it was the first time that I received such type of gift and it was a girl gifting me surprised me more.

I was overjoyed that I grabbed and hugged her tightly that drew attention.
She was also happy with her marching jewelries

When I woke up very early in the morning. I was so excited because today was a special day! I had written a story, and I was going to get some money from it after staying awake the ladt night to place a withdrawal. I couldn’t wait for the money to come at 2 PM.

All morning, I thought about what I wanted to do with the money. I wanted to cook delicious food, it had been over 4 days since I had a proper food, been surviving on concoction all along. When the clock finally hit on 2 PM, I looked at my phone and behold the alert! My face was lit in visible joy.

I quickly wrote down a list of things I needed to buy from the store, these days, without making a list first, you might end up buying only a bottle of oil with all your money.
I went to the grocery store. When I got there, everything was a little bit expensive, but I remembered that I could buy the things I wanted because I had won the money. I had to add extra money to the one i won, but I couldn't complain, can I?

I got home and immediately started setting up things to make my long awaited meal as I sang happily all through.
Today was fulfilling all because of you all who engage my posts, and I say a very big thank you to you all.