Tag: fiction writing
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Sandra
As I descended the narrow hilly road leading home, I tried to imagine the scene behind me. The shop that was always open and yet I never saw any customer buying anything from it, the fenced land overgrown with weed, the house where funeral canopies, drums and decorations were rented out, and the main road…
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Sunday night drama
I turned to find mother crying. I did not understand why. But I always kept the incident in my heart, together with the storyline of the movie we were watching that day. When I was a child, every Sunday night there was this programme on television by name “Akan Drama”. It happened that on one…
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Her name is Samira
My weakness was that I couldn’t be discreet. Which was why when I fell in love with the cook, the affair was like an open secret. Was it love? I couldn’t tell what label to put on a mixture of lust, loneliness and desperation. She didn’t resist my advances, neither did she give me the…
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fishing in new waters
Flies. They wouldn’t let the sores of a dog be. And the poor dog is forced to stay in motion to ward them off, all along jerking, flicking, tossing its head -all the frantic head shakes its creative mind could conjure. And yet, the savage flies pursue with renewed sadistic zeal. The dog stops and…
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We always smell it from afar
Back then, we knew nothing about sexual harassment. All we knew was that teacher Musah loved Mansa and we all envied her whenever she walked about the school head high like a princess. Many ugly girls in the school winced at the thought of not having half her beauty. That Mansa was a minor, we…
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Red wine
For me, red wine is symbolic of pleasant memories. It was a windy Sunday afternoon in late December. I did not go to church that day. My habit whenever I didn’t have money for offertory. Or felt guilty of a secret sin. Feeling bored, I lay in my room on my little mattress spread on…
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Noise
She keeps talking and distracting my thoughts, and doesn’t seem to notice the cues I keep dropping to indicate it’s not a good time for chitchat. My approach has always been indirect when it comes to telling people things they won’t be comfortable hearing. But in my mind, the message sits there, in its crude…
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Tension
The receptionists were new. I exploited their inability to distinguish guests from staff. Slowly, I approach their desk. A stranger desperate to bypass them without being checked will try hurrying past while they were attending to some visitors, and this usually aroused their suspicions. I’ve been observing all this from a distance. And so, I…
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One Sunday evening
It was a Sunday evening. I was alone in the room. The lights were off, and I lay on the floor, half asleep. Then came a knock on the door. Wasn’t expecting anyone, so I wasn’t particularly bothered about waking to see who it was. Besides, my roommates had gone out. But the knocker was…
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The Outcast (Page 51)
Sometimes when a circumstance wants to strangle you, it invites you in slowly, tightening its grip on your neck gently, gradually. Soon, you find yourself gyrating in pain and regrets. Level 100, we were seduced into believing university life was cozy. And that, like a bus, we could waste away precious time and still find…
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Village river
I remember the river in my village. It was on the outskirts of the village, behind stretches of thick bushes beyond which lied no man’s house. Our house was among the last leading out the village. From our house, you meet a shrine belonging to one uncle, and from the shrine was one old man’s…
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Gloomy night
I heard her. Splashing water into toilet seats. Kicking and knocking washroom doors to be sure no one was in there. Rolling mop buckets. I could smell the scent of detergents, and her grumbling. “So a human being really did this!” she blurted. I’ve always complained about the poor maintenance of the washrooms. Here was…
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The Games
It was a family fun day. But the arrangements under the canopies were not according to families. This was the Body of Christ so every person under each canopy was seen as family. I knew no one. Threading cautiously, I entered the venue, a park. Things were done differently in this new church. There was…
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The Outcast (Page 47)
It was one late night. We were sitting in the dormitory, chatting. This was after preps, a time all students revised their lessons or did assignments. I was no longer a student. But I stayed in the school’s hostel to help a staff with evening lessons for adults. It was the time Blackberry phones had…
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Trouble, brewing
He did not say it, but it was written all over him. If the visitor pushed, Marlon would break from the mother church. The Archbishop was ill and this was not a good time to stir up trouble. There were already rumors that after the Archbishop dies, the church would split. There was a lot…
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The Outcast (Page 46)
Double standards. Same people who educated us about examination malpractices were asking us to make contributions to bribe invigilators because same invigilators who reminded us before the exams rules we were not to break, realized some broken rules could be mended with money. It was a chain and only the dumb ones were fed the…
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It’s a long story
I can’t remember what sent me there that morning. I had assumed she was awake by then. Many of her next-door neighbors were still asleep when I got there. There was one worker who was leaving early to work. He told me he heard her voice so I should knock a little louder. Perhaps she…
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The Outcast (Page 45)
Finally I traveled back to the city to prepare for my final exams of high school. It was the first time I was living on my own. I was to stay in a new hostel. The joy of living as I please without any parental control was overwhelmingly intoxicating. Joy beyond description, beyond measure. Little…
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The Outcast (Page 44)
Our parents’ job requires being constantly on the move. And now that I had reached my final year in high school, they were transfered again, leaving the city for a town I had no idea where it was on the map. Never heard of the town before. There were many popular towns in our country…
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Mark and Tiffany
Mark thought deeply about what he was about to do. Risky, no doubt. But it’s in trying you increase your chances of success. But this trial was no ordinary trial. Failing will be unbearable. He thought deeply, slowly. He and Tiffany had been friends long enough. At first, whenever he asked a girl out, the…
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Shame
The children were all looking beautiful. Even though it was a competition, the children were all happy to see one another, exchanging friendly glances and giggles. To them, it was just one of their usual fun times. To the adults, this was a warfare they were all determined to use any means possible to win.…
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The Outcast (Page 43)
I was about knocking the gate as usual when I noticed something unusual: Voices and laughter emanating from the living room. Then the motorcycle of Mrs. Annette’s husband who should have been away on a work trip. Then the bicycle of the watchman who comes in the evening. What was happening? I knocked on the…
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The Outcast (Page 42)
Youth and foolishness. I’ve noticed no matter how matured a young person looks, there will always be traces of immaturity in a number of things done. Sometimes the microscope just has to zoom in further to find the traces. They are always there. It takes time for many of them to wilt and fall off.…
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The Missing Keys
One Christmas evening, we were returning home after a visit to one of our aunt when I felt my pocket and realized the bunch of keys to our house was missing. “Oh! “ I exclaimed. ” I forgot the keys at Aunt Regina’s place. My big brother was the kind that hardly smiled. And it…
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Fatigue
Traffic jam. I check my time. Probably won’t be home as early as planned. The driver is contemplating changing his route. “Anyone alighting at Third Gate?“ he asks without turning to the conductor. ” One passenger, ” the conductor tells him. The driver seems annoyed by that piece of information. I shake my head staring…
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Ladies on a balcony
They were a bunch of female students, on the balcony of the last floor of our hostel, hooting and jeering at passersby. I hadn’t seen them until I was stabbed with a remark about my clothes. They said my combination was off. It was embarrassing. I took a look at what I wore. They were…
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The comeback
Was she sorry for what she did? A question that constantly roamed Joe’s mind and wouldn’t settle. Where could she be now? He hoped time will teach her a lesson. Time was a fertile ground on which character took root and bore fruits – some a hundred fold, some fifty. He prayed her harvest will…
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Kaiza
A limited market. That’s what this country is. The more people are pumped into the system, the the more the market becomes choked; everyone will eventually go broke. But these idiots don’t realize that. They claimed they’re giving the next generation a chance. Kaiza has always been in his corner, minding his business. He’s the…
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One windy night
It was a cloudy and windy night. The winds were swinging our wooden chapel windows like recalcitrant children determined to drive their parents mad with their foolishness. Even the presiding Bishop was in a hurry for the church service to close, he that never hesitated to tell people to not be in a hurry to…
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The new place
For a moment I thought she wasn’t going to pick up. Perhaps she’s not around the phone. As I psyched myself to give up on dialing her number, I was picturing where her phone could be. Maybe in the kitchen or bedroom, and she’s probably on the compound, busy with some activity. Oh! And then…
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After many years
“Wow. People change,” Samson thought, suddenly feeling proud of himself. Samson remembered the first day he saw Angela and the short see-through dress she wore that day. He still remembers her inviting glossy lips that he fought hard to not stare at. And that seductive perfume of hers he kept wondering what brand it could…
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Gossip from the village
Cousin Ama was on a visit. She’s from our village many miles away. It’s been three years since we left. And a lot has happened within those three years that memories of our past lives in the village were slowly eroding. Cousin’s visit revived many of those fading memories. As I overheard the conversation between…
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The Outcast (Page 40)
The most difficult part of life after writing an important exam is waiting for the results. Now that I had checked my results and they were exceptionally good, I could take in a deep breath, smile and eavesdrop on conversations on other people’s performances. Some students’ results were good, others were bad and a good…
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This too shall pass
Was like some sort of rebirth. Finding oneself in a new land, a strange land. Many of the strongly guarded values back home do not hold here. It’s like some new set of rules for living, tailored to the needs of the people, existed here. A stranger, Louis strolls through the streets of his new…
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In search of bread
Early morning. I have somewhere urgent to go in about an hour and half. Back from my morning jogging routine. Very hungry. Forgot to take my wallet. Had to to go to the room to fetch it. The atmosphere in the room is different. It’s quiet and a little stuffy. Outside, there’s so much fresh…
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Memories of home
It became the norm, sad as the situation was. It amazed her that one part of the world could live in such quiet, peace and harmony whereas another part of the world was in chaos, where hope was torn into pieces by bullets sweeping past the ears of fleeing children and mothers and fathers and…
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The New Chairman
It was offertory time. And before a song was raised for us to dance and give out our monies, the pastor read out some information. It was a breakdown of our offerings for each month from the various local assemblies. Apparently, he was pleased with the figures, adding that he didn’t want members to become…
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The Outcast (Page 39)
Back home, I was impatient to show the results to my parents. They had gone out and weren’t back. It was 7pm, then 8…9pm, still they weren’t in. Where could they be? Everyday they were always at home by this time. Today that I had something important to share, they were no where to be…
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The Controversy
It was everyone’s dream and wish that Akweley marries. For she was so kind, humble and generous. She was an interpreter at her local church, helping her town people understand what the English priest said. Even the priest prayed that she find a good husband. On one occasion while she was interpreting his sermon, he…
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The Outcast (Page 38)
Thursday afternoon. I receive a message : the results are in. I stood there still, digesting the message, growing nervous each passing minute.Checking the results of one’s final exams was like undergoing a heart transplant, a delicate affair. “Should I check that same day or the next?” I contemplated. Then I thought of an idea.…
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The Outcast (Page 37)
Slowly I was beginning to make profits. I documented my daily sales. But because I was young and had no one to guide me on making sound financial decisions, I enrolled myself in an ICT training program. Those were the days, ICT was new in our system and many were predicting that finishing school without…
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The Outcast (Page 36)
My parents didn’t want me to be idle while at home waiting for my final examination results. So they got me an old phone and some money to buy airtime wholesale and retail to customers. I went to Kwame Nkrumah Circle, where I bought what looked like a little desk and an umbrella. It took…
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The Outcast (Page 35)
The first few days of my stay at home with my parents were memorable. School reopened and my siblings were off to school. For the first time, I stayed at home watching other pupils go to school. The fun part was that, I stayed at home and no one complained. Usually, mom or dad would…
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The Outcast ( Page 34)
It was a long wait. Soon, hunger set in. I was given some money for my transport and thankfully, I had some change on me. I stepped outside to buy a drink from a shop nearby. A woman in her early forties, sat, doing some calculations on a large calculator mostly used by provision store…
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Boma
Boma doodled on the blank sheet of paper in front of him. He glanced left, then right, head still bowed as if engrossed in some paperwork. But it was all a façade. Deep down he knew, he was only fooling himself. He was illiterate. But he had suddenly been put in the spotlight and he…
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He thanked her, and walked away
Kezia looked at the gentleman in front of her, from feet to toe, toe to feet. A reminder of how low she had sunk. How rich and handsome guys used to pursue her. How she could easily choose them like wine, sip just a little and try the next. It was a privilege for a…
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The Outcast (Page 33)
It looked as if that day will never come. But it did come, slow as it might have seemed to me. During difficult moments, the end of the tunnel can be very blur even when we are standing next to it. It was one cool Monday morning, April 20. I remember the date very well.…
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Sumaru and Jango
At night the two maids retired to their room. Daytime they were donkeys. Nighttime, they were masters of themselves in their own room, where they could fart and sleep naked as they pleased, and eat whatever they could sneak out and buy. Or, if they were broke, confine themselves to whatever their Madam served them.…
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Job interview
Akwele was in so many WhatsApp groups. Nothing sensible ever came out of any of them. Only stupid messages. The goal for creating some of the groups was to remain in touch as coursemates after school, and perhaps help one another whenever possible with notifications of job openings, chances to further one’s education and financial…
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How it all started
I cannot remember what day of the week it happened. All I remember was that I woke up that day with absolutely no idea how my day was going to turn out. I was in my room that morning, probably thinking of what to eat as breakfast.Then I had a call. It was Channel. A…
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The Outcast (Page 32)
I was young. Not only physically, but also mentally, and emotionally. A costly weakness. Diana was into me. I couldn’t see. I couldn’t read. Perhaps because she was about five years older than me, my little mind never interpreted what she did as love. I had no emotional intelligence to play along till my time…
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Not my Africa!
It was at the reading room I first met him. I couldn’t help but stare. At the dreadlocks. Dirty, unusually bushy, on his tiny, skinny skull. He stood out. In his shabby clothes. A sharp contrast to the atmosphere of decency and order and respect in a room filled with serious students. I wondered what…
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Bull’s Testicle
Times were hard. It was the kind of difficulty that forced enemies to collaborate and thrive. My friend Desmond and his roommates frequently fought. But during tough times like these, no one had energy for quarrels. Initially, Desmond phoned his parents. They were tired of his constant complaints of not having money. “What happened to…
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The Outcast (Page 31)
One day I returned from school and discovered that we had a visitor. But this visitor was unlike the others we’ve seen so far. This guest seemed to be everywhere…in the kitchen, living room, even in the bedroom of the head of the house. Who could she be? Then I heard the teenager call her…
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The Outcast (Page 30)
My new house was a relatively quiet one. The only mouth that spoke there was the head of the family. He speaks all the time and when everywhere was quiet, you knew he wasn’t around. It was a house of a man, his wife, a little boy (his nephew) and a teenager ( his niece).…
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The Outcast (Page 29)
I still remember the first day I stepped into that house. It was a Sunday evening. We had finished taking supper and dad asked me to pack my belongings, he had spoken to an old friend and I could stay with his old friend to write my final exams. It would be just for a…
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The last time we saw him
They said it wasn’t his time. That the accident abruptly ended his young life, and great dreams. They said the incident wasn’t normal. That was why the night he was proclaimed dead, no one could sleep in his house, as an invisible hand scattered bowls and plates in the kitchen, opened and closed doors in…
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The Outcast (Page 28)
It wasn’t long before our luxurious life in the city started dwindling. It started with our driver. They said he had attitude. Or perhaps our parents couldn’t afford keeping him any longer. What does it matter? The dog wasn’t liked. Did it matter what bad name he was given or what river he going to…
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The Outcast (Page 27)
On Monday, we started school. Our new driver drove us to school, but dad went with us to ensure that the teachers recognized us and allowed us into our various classrooms. Mom prepared some rice and beef stew. By now, we had new lunch boxes and she served us. We were to take the rice…
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The Outcast (Page 26)
It was Sunday. I noticed everywhere I’ve lived that, Sundays were always different from the other days of the week. The weather was usually cool and calm. The roads were often empty or less busy. And many shops were closed. You find groups of families at restaurants, beaches or on the compound of their homes,…
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Life humbles the young and foolish.
I knew a lady who operated a bar right behind my window. “If you make a complaint at the police station, they will shut it down. It’s against the law to set up a noisy business where people live.” a friend told me one day when he came to visit. The landlord overheard him but…
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The Outcast (Page 25)
We were returning home in the car of dad’s friend who had done a lot in the background to make our admission into the new school a success. While the two engaged in chit-chat, I surveyed the neighborhood in which the school was situated. Burma Camp. The name of the vicinity. Soldiers lived there. An…
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The Outcast (Page 24)
My first day at school. I repeated the words slowly to myself, wondering exactly what it meant while staring at the foolscap sheet on my desk. Could it be the first day I started schooling as a child, or my first day in their school? It could not be the latter. I was trying to…
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A lot has changed
Giovanni, a lot has changed since you left. Mango Street is no more what it used to be. Remember the spot where Alima and Saada fought one New Year eve? We woke up one morning to find a thief lynched and tied to an electric pole there. We did not know how the whole incident…
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The Outcast (Page 23)
Back in my primary school in the northern part of the country, at the beginning of every academic year, there was always news of a close friend that had relocated to some big town or city with their parents. The relocations often happened so sudden that there was hardly time to say goodbye. I and…
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The Outcast (Page 22)
There was a digital clock in the bus. It told the time in red fonts. 1:15 Am. I had set off on this journey high on excitement. Now my tank was low. The journey to Accra was becoming longer than a journey to an illusion. “We are at Suhum….No….yes…say, fifteen to thirty minutes time we…
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The Outcast (Page 21)
As our bus left Pwalugu, the arid, scotchy north was growing dimmer in the driver’s mirror. We raced through stretches of desolated grasslands, meeting fewer and fewer cars, tractors and donkeys. Slowly, we were fading out of wastelands, the whirring of our bus tyres timing our progress. Occasionally, we bumped into police checkpoints. Sometimes, it…
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Sophie
Her job drives her nuts! She tries to keep calm, tries to act normal, tries to blend in with the others, but the cracks in the pretense are too visible. No wonder those who worked there for over thirty years were tight friends with alcohol. At night, it’s hard to stay awake at work. And…
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The Outcast (Page 20)
I sat by the window. Drawing the curtains slightly, I caught the final glimpses of our town as the bus snaked around the station before landing on the highway. The STC station was a collection of nim trees with a shed under which tickets were sold, where passengers and visitors could sit. Behind the shed…
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The Outcast (Page 19)
Our cousin Pomaa lived with us. Mother felt Pomaa had grown too big to be kneaded into her perfect model of a good girl. So, she sent her away. We were going to the city and a lot of old things and old ways had to be left behind. Unknown to us, Pomaa did not…
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The Outcast (Page 18)
Whispers. I awoke. Sitting up, I looked around. The windows were open, cold winds ruffling the curtains. The lights were still on. Can’t remember when we dozed off. I rose to turn off the lights, and in the act caught a glimpse of the clock. 12:15am. The whispering must have been in my dreams. Or…
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Mission Impossible
Sarah and Cliff. They’d only been apart for a week and Cliff already had a new woman hanging off his arm. The news was hard to swallow, but it came from a reliable gossip. Cliff must be out of his mind! We set off to his house to give him a piece of our mind.…
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Pages flipping
An album, pages flipping as its owner narrated the stories. Of how they met, when he proposed, how many times she turned him down even though she liked him, the games and finally the trophy, which is her ring she got for winning. “What about you, Paul”?“Me? ” I asked, stunned.” Yes! “” Tell us…
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The Outcast (Page 17)
Whatever invisible hand that was behind the mysterious incidents had an audacious motive: crush the head, render the rest of the body powerless. Our father was the breadwinner of the family. Mother did odd jobs to support, but the income was fickle. I and my siblings were still young, and even most of the extended…
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The Outcast (Page 16)
We had a new headmaster, a retired district education officer. It seemed the most important lesson he’d learnt during his active years of service was that pupils ought to know hymns. “Gentle Jesus, meek and mild!…” he intoned. He sang it like it meant so much to him. I and my friend Karim would look…
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Missing cigarettes
I used to steal from my father’s pack of cigarettes. I hid somewhere to smoke. I remember the sensation as smoke escaped my lips, into the air. It felt great. Especially the effect of the heat on the tongue. This went on for weeks. Little did I know that the old man was aware but…
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The Outcast (Page 15)
One day, I was in class seated beside the window, reading a book, when suddenly someone appeared behind the window. “Patrick! Patrick !” a voice whispered, slipping a little paper into my hand as I turned. It was a boy. Before I could open the paper to read its contents, he vanished. A love letter.…
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Renewable marriage contract ( Published at The Writers Club)
I am pleased to announce the publication of my fictional piece “Renewable marriage contract” by The Writers Club. I am deeply grateful to the Editor and the team at The Writers Club for showsasing my work. Here is the link to the story : https://greythoughts.info/clubpieces/renewal-marriage-contract
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The Outcast (Page 14)
School resumed today. We resumed to dusty classrooms clogged with cobwebs. To old friends who couldn’t wait to share their Christmas experiences. To newcomers around whom we had to act civilised till we were comfortable enough to display our savage side. There were petty quarrels here and there about who owned what desk. But Master…
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The Outcast (Page 13)
New year morning was quiet. Many were tired. School would resume in a few days time but already, I had heard a lot of rumors. That the headmistress had a heated argument with the school proprietor and was sacked. That Willie’s parents had been transferred to the capital Accra, hence he wouldn’t be joining us…
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The Outcast ( Page 12 )
Pastor Elvis realized that most of the congregation struggled to stay awake. A lot had gone into preparing a special sermon for the last night of the year. Prayer. Fasting. Waiting on the Lord. And it hurt to see people snoring and not paying attention after such efforts. So, in the middle of his preaching,…
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The Outcast ( Page 11 )
People talked about the current year as if it were some comet, slowly transporting us into a new year, a new planet where the sun’s rays switched from yellow to green, where perhaps poverty, sicknesses, and death were no more. A new year comes, and same old faces, same neighborhood, same life, same misery. And…
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The Outcast ( Page 10 )
Christmas day. The fresh breeze and the bright blue morning light of the tropics looked like a simulation of a fairy world. We woke up to fireworks, amidst “Feliz Navidad” and “Jingle bells” from different corners of our neighborhood. Our first task in the morning as kids was to sweep the rooms and our compound.…
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The Outcast ( Page 8 )
The day all pupils looked forward to after exams was the vacation, the last day of school popularly known as “Our Day”. When exams was over and teachers were busy marking and recording exam scripts, we used papers to design all kinds of objects to decorate our classroom. The good artists in class drew scenes…
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The Outcast ( Page 7 )
A few weeks after my election as class prefect, we had exams. End of term examination. All desks were spaced out. No copying. And we were to take our bags outside the class. Our teacher invigilated. Before every paper, he would write the subject and the duration of the paper on the board. In the…
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The Outcast ( Page 6)
The noisemakers in the class wanted someone lenient, forgiving and easy to persuade as the leader of the class. Their long awaited opportunity finally came one morning during ‘silence hour’, when the headmistress burst into our class. The class was alive with mischief, chaos and noise. Surely we were going to be punished. Severely. Make…
Diary of a Wanderer 