The Tellrhodes Blog

 Finding You 5 For a while after Ben and I had became a couple I had thought of introducing him to Sarah but the right time never came. Grace had been the only one who had gotten the opportunity. Probably because she had been in the same room with me and also my department mate. She and Ben had bonded over their love for sports. Grace had grown up with five brothers. She had been practically a tomboy during those periods. I want to say I’m surprised he’s here but if I’m being honest with myself, I expected this. I wanted this. The last time I saw him was when my heart felt like it had been shattered into thousand and one pieces. It has healed from that, hasn’t it? Seeing him again would confirm that. I hadn’t heard much from him after that but I’ve been conversations where his name had popped up. Of course I tried to be the better person, talking about him as a beautiful memory. Most of the people I talked to hadn’t wondered why most information had came from them, if t...

Finding You 4 Ben had collected my number that day. It had taken a while. Me trying to play hard to this guy that made me feel excited all over. And him? Whatever he was thinking that day, I have no idea. He had texted me a simple message “hi”. I had stared at it for a while thinking of a proper response. I replied with “hello” after three hours. Then I had laid on my bed thinking what his next message was going to be, he hadn’t texted that day and the next day when he had, I had rushed towards my phone like it was Santa with my Christmas gift. It had been him asking how I was and how my Saturday was going to look like. Ben and I had started hanging out after a while. Thinking about it, I don't we made plans to. It just happened. For a while it was just as friends.  Honestly, I had been confused. I had thought he was interested in me romantically, and there he was treating me like a sibling. But then it had changed with the “do you have a boyfriend” question. I was excit...

Finding You (3) After I resumed studies at the university, I was a little terrified. I knew I had siblings who were there, but that still didn’t stop the feelings that wanted to drown me. I was antisocial and staying in a place with people from various walks of life didn’t sit well with me. Grace, my roommate and also departmental mate had been a life saver. Through her help, I had learned to let down my guards a little and explore the walls of the institution. In my first year, they had been all sorts of events, especially for us fresher and even though I hadn’t felt like attending any, Grace had pressured me to. “A right to passage” she had called them. It was in one of these events I had met Ben. They had called it “fresher’s night” and after hours of cajoling from roommates, I had agreed to go. Another reason was because I didn’t want to be the only one in the room that night. I had worn a dress mother had gotten for me and it hadn’t been fancy, mother was not known for her f...

Finding You (2) My father had been quite different from my mother. While my mother had been a force of nature,father had been quiet.He had been in the military and one can’t help but ponder how he coped there. I mean one had a ideal view about the military, being so brash and forceful, everything so authorative but there was father, an exact opposite. Mother would have been best suited. Father had died that year I wrote my jamb exams. No one had seen it coming. No one ever saw death coming. It had been accident and for a while the whole house had been bleak. Mourning period had come and gone and I guess we returned to our own kind of normal. “Aunty Jane, grandma says food is ready” I hear a voice say behind me. I turn to see my niece; Beatrice. Beatrice is Sarah’s and clocking ten next month. She’s the older of the two and quite got a mouth on her. “Thanks darling” I say with a smile and draw her closer to me. “Is that grandpa?” she asked shyly and I acknowledged with a n...

Finding You *Ping* A text from my mother and all i could feel was the jolt that travelled around my body. It says “don’t forget lunch this Sunday”. As if i could ever. This text comes up every Friday and even though i have told her severally that was no need to keep sending me such messages, she still hadn’t got the memo. “You are always working” her words not mine and if you are a good code breaker, there are several lines after this that says “that’s why you haven’t found a husband” I come from a family of five, seven if you are counting the parents and while I’m not the oldest, i aren’t the youngest either. You could find me in the third place in the family tree, between a boy and a girl on each side. My eldest sister, Sarah is married with two kids while our youngest just got engaged. The more reason why all faces has turned to me. I mean severally, I’ve heard aunties question my mother why the youngest daughter has to get married before her eldest. My mother had been lo...

FICTION PREY ........ 1. The widening of the zinc from the sun couldn't hold my attention. I could still hear her sobbing. I try my hardest to concentrate on the noise but it seemed my heart had a mind of its own. Hours from now, she would stop. She would enter the bathroom, pour a little water on her face, wipe it up with a face towel. She would come outside and smile brightly at us. We would do the same. This is what it is. She would go into the kitchen. She would prepare the evening meal. She would call me to come serve his food and i will go down on my knees and as i stand in front of him, i will bow my head and leave. It will happen tomorrow again. One time i had asked her why she didn't leave him. She had told me no one had ever treated her better. She had told me about her parents calling the devil. Trading one prison for another i had thought. "Your father only beat me because I'm disrespectful" she would say. "The devil in me fears hi...

HOW FAR SHOULD WE GO? I've been on a thinking mood lately; the how and when running through my mind like a merry ride. You see I'm  almost on a completion of a phase I've dreamed about for years. The first time I entered a university institution, I was amazed. Everything looks so wonderful to me. I saw people going and coming back from classes. I wanted a part of it. In fact, that moment I thought of asking my dad if I could just write my SSCE exams from year one in senior class.I did and was denied the chance. That didn't still stop me from having thought  of it. When I finished secondary school, I had to wait for two years to get my chance and when I did, I didn't really feel it anymore. Don't get me wrong, I wanted to make it but i had lost the previous drive I had. So it was kind of challenging  for me at first until I had to redefine myself again. This phase is almost over and now I'm bringing myself to the drawing board to write another chapter....