The Tellrhodes Blog

AN EYE Chapter Two. June 2014 Sarah had often wondered how it would feel like to have a man of her own. And for those periods while Jeremy had visited her shop, she had wondered how it would felt like to be dotted upon by that particular man. She wasn't a fool, and so knew that having a man wasn't the main course. Having a man who loved you was it. There weren't too many men like Jeremy in town and of course most men like Jeremy were married. The singles were living their youth, not ready to be tied down. And that's what she wanted, to tie one down. To come home knowing you were not going to be alone. To know that someone was going to be there or come for you. Working at the confectionery shop, she had made friends with a woman named Liv. Liv was much older and more experienced about life. Not in real sense anyways. More about men and how you could bend them to your will. Her words not Sarah's. The irony was lost on her though as Liv had two kids from tw...

An Eye Chapter One Present “A child for a child”. That's what the printed note had said. I trace my hands across it, letter by letter, word for word and that's when everything came rushing in. *May 2014* The first time Sarah met Jeremy Smith, she had just finished high school and had been working in a confectionery shop. In previous years, she had dreamt about going to college, maybe on a scholarship because there was no damm fuckin'way her mother could afford it. Sarah had lived with her mother, her twin brother and her drunkard of a father and while she had loved being close to her twin,she had prayed every to find a way to live the hellhole she had called a house. She hadn't called it a home, home they said was where the heart was and Sarah heart had left that dump ago. She had been a 'A'student, spending most of time studying probably because she hadn't really friends,but then puberty had hit in and the lanky girl had turn into a woman w...

HOME He hadn't seen her in years. Everything about her was changed. Gone was the beautiful, sunny woman who had laughed with all her heart. Her mouth crooked as she told a joke,a glint in her eyes after a little lie. Gone was the woman who had loved him. Standing here was someone different entirely. He wished some much it was just a moment and maybe his eyes were deceiving him,and for a second he closed his eyes and prayed so. He knew when it started,when everything had been good and everything had turned bad. Once upon a time, she had been his beloved mother. In the year 2007,he was a young man becoming accustomed to being an adolescent and how much hormones could make the body functions. He and his mother had lived in a one bedroom apartment facing the London bridge. He had attended school on the weekdays and helped his mother at her photo studio during the weekends. It had just been two of them until Paul had walked into their studio on a Saturday morning. In a way...

SHE A kick to the stomach. That's what it felt like when she had gotten the text. She taught they had been happy together or maybe that's what she wanted to think. They had been together for four years and this past months she had felt like they were moving to the next level. She had met him at in one of her most trying periods. She had just lost her mother who had spent years battling with cancer and there he was; her knight in shining armor, saying the right words, doing the right things. It had been so easy to fall. Looking back, she wondered if she had been lost to have seen it. How dependent he had wanted her to be, how he made sure every decision came from him. She had been happy then, after all it felt good having someone take up all the responsibilities after she had done so much for all other people. It had been so exciting to be free. She had met his mother one year after their first date and she thought maybe he had been thinking of having something ser...

ALL YOUR PERFECTS Everyday you would walk down the street and look to the other side of the road, where little children play their hearts out. Yearning for yours,you would feel the tears as they take over your eyelids. Every new treatment you have tried,from IVF to fertility treatments but nothing seems to stick. Years before the walks, you were a young lady. Bright and sunny eyed. Best of your class,full of life and the most beautiful girl I have ever seen. Those years,you called me baby and I;darling,sometimes rubbing my moustache along your arms which weirdly used to be your ticklish spot. I remember the exact moment we met and even though many would say it's untrue,it did really feel like a Bollywood movie.The slow motion and the sexy way you had removed the hair blocking your face. I remember everything about that day and the days after and never once have I regretted meeting you. I wished you would realize that this pain is not yours alone and that the day I ...

Eat Your Heart “You're beautiful” He always said to them. That word beautiful could bring lot of emotions. Especially when they never felt that way before. He always went to the chubby ones. Those whose self esteem could been found at the bottom of a pit. The ones who felt they had no one and didn't think anyone loved them. It was so easy. Some people actually thought being on social media was safe, and it had been so easy to find those kind of people. The first girl he had met had been on facebook. He name had been “Beauty”. “What kind of parent named their daughter Beauty” he had thought. Especially when she was fat and had acne all over her body. It had been the easiest.The other had come hardier but Beauty walls had been so easy to breached. He had commented on her profile picture,telling her cute her nose was. That was the truth of course. It had been difficult to find a striking feature but her nose had look better than the rest. She had replied with an emoji. ...

Hope The boy at the park had called her beautiful and for some seconds, she had stare at herself inside the fountain, trying to see what he saw. All she had seen was her lost self. Once upon a time, she had called herself cute. Not beautiful, but her long dark hair could make her stand out. Back then, she was the wife and the mother. Back then, she had felt loved. Maybe, a tiny bit. She had met Tony in her engineering class in the University. She had been one of the few ladies who were studying the course. And while most of her female counterpart carried the nerd look, she had been different. Lively, fun and so on.... I guess that was one of the things that had made the guys in her class attracted to her. Tony on the hand had been indifferent. She had learned he had come from a low-income family and came in through student loans. At first, she had found it difficult to get his attentions. But then, she had learned the tricks. She had study as hard as she could and when ...

Vow's When he approached home, he was full of remorse. All he felt within him was sadness. And apologies, all he had constructed on his way back home. He was going to start with the gift he had bought and then go down on his knees. He would plead until she forgave him and this time he promised himself, this time things would be alright. He opened the door with care. Moving quietly, not doing anything that would disturb her. When he entered, it was silent. Their house had never been silent. It was either she was cooking while humming to herself or listening to her favorite artists. Songs of Lana Del Rey and Halsey. Most times she would sing along and one couldn't help but feel the longing in her voice. Those times, he had felt sobered. Not knowing how to help, not matter how much he had tried. This time it was not what he expected, and even though he didn't want to admit it to himself, it felt peaceful. Once upon a time, their life had been like a fairy tale. N...

PEACE (FICTION) His hands were freezing. The moment I took them in mine, I knew he wasn't alright. I didn't say anything. I just let the silence envelope us while I waited for him to talk. This didn't happen for up to an hour and within this moments, I was getting annoyed. I couldn't tell if it was at him for not speaking or me for not engaging but that moment, I just felt this hardness within me. “He slapped me” he finally said. I waited for him to continue and he did. “The boy that works at the junction”. The anger in me was tenfold. I didn't know what to do. I didn't have the strength. If I had gone to the junction, I would have received mine too. “I'm sorry” I said. I knew he understood what I meant. I have said it over a hundred times, almost every day. I drew him closer to me and I wept in my heart. ...... Bello and I were two years apart. Him, the older. I was ten when his parents moved to my area and looking out through the window, I saw th...

SAVAGE. Uhuru. This is only thing you remember of your former life. What it mean, you don't know. You don't know who you were, you don't know who you are now. . You have dreams, deep dreams. In your dreams, you see three people in shadows. You can tell it's a woman, a man and a child. The woman and man look so much in love. It's not something you see but feel. It throbs, it growls at you. You know you are the little child, the couple with no face smile and laugh with you; you feel loved. You don't know them, you want to; but you do not see them. The couple are always in the shadows and the dream remain the same. . "Sold" you hear Moon Shine shout. He's your master. You have been with him for four years. He's the fourth master you have been with in this life. "Bad Omen, sold to Mr. Ryan" Moon Shine shouts again. The name shame you but you raise your head proudly. You feel the tears in you, you let your heart cry it out. You...

THE VOICE That's what I named the little sweet, soft whisper inside my head. It had came to me in my time of struggle, papa and mama were having marital problems and papa was going to take all his wealth and leave us with nothing The voice had helped us find evidence that papa was the offender and wife beater, the evidence had resulted in papa being charged with wife battery and his cheating arse had been sent to prison. . The voice had helped me in my math test in my form one in high school, I had been sick the previous week, the voice had helped me go through it. i had come out with a B, not an A but better than an F. . The voice had saved me from being fooled, in my last year in the university. I had caught my fiance with my friend in my room. The voice had helped me during the breakup. It helped get a job. It became part of me and there was a time I could tell it loved me. ------------- That was before it became aggressive. it all started with it telling me who to b...

PEACE 1. Death, it made you feel cold. Powerless, breathless, empty. You watched your father go down like a bag of potatoes. You watched his breath slip out of him, his eyes blank. You didn't cry, you couldn't, you only whimpered. You released a ragged breath, you knew who was next. It was you. . They dragged you to the hang-rope, your legs bruised, your feet sore. You watched a man stand on a podium giving orders. You felt the rope on your neck but your gaze were glued to him, your eyes to his, unblinking you whispered "I will be back for you". You felt your soul leave your body, you felt cold, empty but you eyes remained glued to the man's. . You watched your body fall down from one side of the room, your bruised knees hitting a board. You felt something on your face, "Do spirit cry?" you wondered as you brushed the feeling with your palm. . You stared back at the man who caused you and your family pain, you felt angry, darkness burned with...

PEARL HARBOR December 7th, 1941 . Pearl Harbour. . The winds blows towards the east as the girl behind me braid my hair. Her name is Kate and she's a nurse under the United State Navy. She tells me about her fiancee; John. I'm not really interested in her conversation. My body is here with her while my mind is sitting on a stool close to the fish monger watching as Mama yells at Tom for the type of friends he keeps. "If you keep going out with those boys, you will leave my house" Mama says from afar, her voice is getting louder and I think almost all the neighbours are listening. Why would Tom go?, maybe he should listen to Mama and stop going out with those guys. . "Where would you been in ten years" Kate ask me . I think she's must have noticed I'm not here with her and is trying to divert back my attention. "Ten years?" I whisper silently. I stare at the sea as my best friend Rachael and her father walk hand in hand. I turn...

OUR SECRET (Fiction) Jude!! I’m standing close to the window in St. George hospital. My gaze is outside, watching the commotion as a woman kneels on the ground in front of a doctor. My heart on the other hand is here in this room. It’s dark, cruel and very angry that mother is soothing your head with a towel. Tears slip down her face as she cleans your eyebrows. I stare at her with disgust. Bile forms in my throat and I look around for a trash can to throw up. I suck it down after I discover there isn't any. It goes down slowly, then the burning pit in my stomach swallows it up. “Olorun ran u” mama says while staring at you. She raises her hand in a prayers like position. “God do not help monsters” I say under my breath. I wish you would just die. I wish you will wither and feel no more. I wish for your lips to turn blue and your body lifeless. I wish this and more bad things for you. I want to thank Angela, your wife whose lover smashed over you with his car. I never...

PERSPECTIVE I had quite a scare about a month ago. It was four in the evening and I was coming back from work. When we passed Abacha Barrack, Abuja. We saw motor vehicles and passengers standing on the road side; everyone still,  worried looks on their face. After talking to a few people, we discovered it was Shiite sect. A sort of Hausa organization hiding under the banner of the Muslim community. It was terrifying. I've had stories about this set of people and none good. After standing for hours, we were later told the road was free to pass. If I could have thought of various ways that would have gone down, imagine what the few hundreds standing along with me could have thought. On the way back home, I couldn't  help this one word "perspective" from finding it's way into my head. We humans find it difficult to look at things from different angles. We always think we know the right way. We hold on to this ways, never reaching or looking for alternatives. ...

Are You Ready? My parents were married for six years after my birth. For those years, my dad was on transfer to another part of the country and seeing each other was only during holidays and sometimes when he had little breaks. I cant describe their relationship with each other that much. I was a little kid back then and i could swear that the first thing on my mind was food ; still is (guilty and not ashamed). After my mom died six years after my birth, my dad stayed unmarried for years and if there was one thing that could show how devoted he was; that was it and of course how much he showers us with his love. I'm one of those that live vigorously through other people relationship. I invest my time in them. I've never been in a real relationship. Of course I've been in plenty fake ones. Am not a saint, even though my face says otherwise. When two people i know and really likes starts a thing, i automatically becomes the middle man. I don't know it happens, it j...

Patriotic, you say! Welcome to the 24 day of 2019 and congratulations to everyone who made it. It's 23 days to election and i guess while some people have chosen sides, some others are still on the fence. This piece is for all of us. My immediate elder sister is a Burharist. When election was conducted about four years ago, she had to go collect our neighbour's radio because ours was faulty and there was no power. Up till this day she has been loyal. You could see evidence of this on social media as she is like a lioness protecting her cub. My other siblings and i often joke she should change her surname to Buhari. Sometimes i believe she's quite crazy but it makes me respect her more. For her to believe even when others aren't and keep going through this path is something am envious about. When that election was conducted, i'm going to be honest and say i wasn't in support of anybody. I was this and still young guy who wanted the best for his count...

Good morning people, hope you all had a lovely night "self esteem”, a little something we work with everyday. We wake up every morning and there we are feeling one emotion or another. Finding one place in the society can be quite difficult at times. First of all you, you’re born into a family, you are someone sister or brother. If are only child, it might be easy. But a large family requires you to take a position. You may be crazy one, the dependable or the quiet one.  All these positions requires you to act a certain way.You hear a parent say “Not you too Bob!, I expected such a behavior from Sarah, not you" then you begin to wonder how it came to that point. When you enter in the society, you try to carry that position you had earned in your family into it. Sometimes the group you find yourself may need that dependable or crazy one which you are and sometimes the crazy one may already be there before your entry. Then you begin to find yourself again. And som...