Christmas to the child

When I was young Christmas meant decorations

Clearly the unending joyful firecracker celebrations

Big lacy dresses with the wildest colour combinations

Plus mum's massive cooking that can feed 10 nations

Oh I can't forget the presents I got from relations

The gifts would flow, it didn't matter their occupations

Ah the carols night with the choir's amazing singing sensations 

I miss Christmas as a child because I never worried about my pocket's limitations

My passion

My mother is so annoying sometimes. When I spoke to her over the phone some days ago I told her I was coming home for the weekend to rest after my stressful mid semester week. She was so excited and said the house had been boring without me. I knew she missed me. Hannah, my older sister had moved out of the house when she got married. Being a single parent we were all my mum had. Well sort of. On Saturday morning my mum came into my room at about 6am! She tapped me and asked "oh are you awake?" I was so close to saying no. "Oh Frank. Wake up." She said when I didn't mind her. I turned around and looked at her with my eyes squinted. "Sweety, I need you to pick some roses from Mrs. Quaye's place for me." She said pulling my cover cloth off me. "Oh Ma, at this time?" I complained. She made her usual surprised face and nodded. "I have a client coming to pick up some orders this morning." She said, looking through the magazines I had on my bedside table. I stretched and took them from her. "Ok, I will go. Give me some minutes to get dressed." I quickly said. She smiled and rushed out. She was so close to opening my magazines! They weren't even mine like that. I was just, you know...keeping ...them for..ermm..whatever! I think my mother just manipulated me.

I dressed up fast and went to the dining table. My mum usually did her hamper arrangements there. She works as a teacher for a junior high school but she makes hampers and gift items as a side business to substitute her income. When my father left us she realized her lean salary couldn't take care of us so she turned her hobby into a business. She makes so much money from it too oh, purely because she has very satisfied clients and knows how to bargain. Eii, that woman can bargain! "Mum, I'm ready oh." I said with music plugged into my ears. "Ei Frank isn't your music too loud? I can even hear the lyrics." She said. I giggled and reduced the volume. She leaned over and pulled the phones out of my ears. "Oh." I said. She giggled and replied. "Oh sen? Because you are in the university you want to do things by heart eh?" I rolled up the phones and put the ipod in my pocket. I laughed aloud. "Sorry oh but you know I love music. It's my passion." I said playing with one of her ribbons. "Just like how making hampers and gifts is yours." I added. Then something super funny happened. My mum shook her head and said. "Me my passion saved me financially oh. Yours will make you deaf. That's the money. Please hurry up eh?" I picked up the money and walked out. Just before I got out I heard hear shout. I turned around. A needle had pricked her finger. "Aha! Your passion has hurt you." I teased. "Herr! Go away." She said pretending to throw something at me. I rushed out laughing.

I walked to the junction and waited for a trotro. The woman's shop wasn't far from ours at all. In less than 6 minutes I was at her shop. She already had the roses ready. I paid her and collected them. And left immediately. I hopped into another trotro and was about a minute to my junction when I realized that I hadn't listened to my music at all. Ahh, this woman made me forget. I plugged in nicely and increased the volume to the max...just for shege sakes. Lol. I didn't like the song that was playing so I took the ipod out to change it but it slipped out of my hand and fell. It was a big trotro too so I had to bend real low for it. Just when I grabbed it I heard an odd sound. It was a bit piercing. Then I felt the bus move sharply to the left. I hit my head on the lower metallic part of the seat in front of me and everything went black.

The next thing I heard was a beeping sound. I woke up and realized I was in a hospital. A doctor was standing beside me and talking to a nurse. I heard him say "his mother can see him now. Oh we can discharge him too." The nurse left and a few seconds later my mum was here. She was smiling but I could tell she had been crying. The doctor spoke to her and she came to me. "I'm so sorry Frank. I should have let you rest." She said. "Oh mum its not your fault. If I had not been listening to loud music I wouldn't be here." I said feeling bad. She laughed out loud. "You must have passed out pretty soon." She said and took my ipod from her bag. She took a deep breath and said. "The bus run into a crane...you were the only one who survived. Looks like your passion saved your life." She waved the ipod at me. DON'T LET ANYONE STEAL YOUR PASSION! 

You don't know jack

It’s funny how you say “I knew you would do that”

Or when you shout “the real you would have said nothing!”

Acting like you were present when God was creating me

Giving Him tips on where to put which button and how it’ll be

But honestly, you don’t know jack about me!

For 10 years we lived in the same boring neighborhood

So because you have seen me for a decade you know everything about me?

But maybe for just a second out of those years I refused to repeat the things I do best

It may not be good to think I could do anything or that I’m a mystery

But really, you don’t know jack about me!

You believe I am capable or incapable of the worst things

And that you know when I’m lying because I blink fast and my voice sings

Maybe I want you to believe I am lying so I blink and you get the wrong picture

The right picture for me because I painted it and you are on my canvas because you saw my trend

A trend I planted just for you knowing you would get caught in it purely because

YOU DON’T KNOW JACK ABOUT ME!

Alice 12

The man seemed to enjoy talking. "You see my lab was set on fire by one of the workers there, the lady who was keeping her all this while. She felt we were being inhumane so we lost all our data and she made away with the only surviving baby, Alice. I even named her myself you know. She is really special. You see when we put her together we realized she had even more amazing abilities. Like super sharp memory, telepathy and even psychic activity. Who knows what else she can do?" He went on, stroking her hair. "I have come back to take what is rightfully mine. It's so unfortunate that you two had to be entangled in this. You see, I can fry you like I did the man who delivered her to me just now or I could let you go if you swear to be silent." He offered. Rodney paused a while and said, "We will go with the latter." The man giggled. "Good choice. Now this is how we are going to do it. You will wait for me to leave before you leave. Is that clear?" He asked. Rodney nodded. "What about Alice? Are we just going to leave her with him?" I asked hitting Rodney in the back. "What do you want us to do?" He asked. I couldn't say anything.

We watched the men disappear into the darkness. "You made him take her away!" I cried and hit Rodney again. I was still shivering with tears in my eyes. "Hey stop crying. Let's get out of here. We are lucky to be alive." He said holding me close. We turned around to go into our car and heard a very loud sound. It was Alice. She was screaming. "Alice!" I called but Rodney held me back. I was completely helpless. Then we heard a man scream even louder, followed by two gun shots. Rodney loosened his grip of me and I managed to run in the direction of the sound. I wasn’t thinking. What could I possibly have done? “Doreen, are you crazy?!” Rodney yelled and rushed after me. He caught me just when I was at the mouth of the tunnel. He didn’t have to hold me. What I saw was enough to keep me frozen forever. The assassin was had been torn apart. There was blood all over the place. His left arm was closest to us with his gun close to it. His head was lying right next to Alice and the rest of his body was oozing blood across her. The loud man was standing some meters away from her, holding what looked like a flashlight.

“Oh wow, I see you really love my specimen. You keep coming back. I will warn you not to get too friendly though. She does like tearing things apart. I need not explain.” He said, looking around at the remains of the assassin. I could literally feel Rodney shivering now. “My man here wanted too much money from me. It’s really silly to think you can’t be killed just because you are an assassin. Life is cheap like that.” He said and giggled. “We were, just, ermm leaving.” Rodney stammered. The man laughed again. “It’s a little too late for that. This is fun. Just watch.” He said. He turned on his odd looking flashlight and shined the light on us. Alice’s hair turned deep purple immediately and she rushed to us, running with her mouth wide open. “Doreen run!” Rodney yelled and pushed me out of the way. He reached for his gun but before he could aim, Alice pounced on him. She was like an angry grizzly bear. I watched as she tore my husband apart. “Nooooo!” I cried. She literally pulled off his right arm. Rodney screamed at the top of his voice. "Stop!" I shouted.

I knew I wasn't half as strong as this little girl but I run to her and tried to pull her off him. I couldn't just lie there and watch my husband die. Then the strangest thing happened. Immediately I got hold of her, and we struggled a little, my phone fell out of my pocket. Alice cried out immediately and moved back. For some reason she didn't like the light. It was so bizarre. "White light! My goodness, this will reverse her emotions. Alice, come here." The man said. Alice's hair turned to normal and she looked at the man. "Daddy?" She said, walking away from him. "Yes it's me Alice. We need to go home. Come." He replied. Alice didn't seem very amused. She turned to look around. "Oh, I have been a bad girl." She said. I didn't know what to think. Then I remembered: Rodney! I rushed to him. He was bleeding so much. She cut him in the chest, really deep. I picked up my phone to call an ambulance. "Doreen. I...I love you." He said and fell. "Rodney! Hey, don't do this to me. Please don't. I beg you." I said with tears all over my face. I dropped the phone and held him close to me, with his blood soaking into my clothes. "I love you too Rodney. I love you too." I cried.

I didn't even notice Alice walk to me. I was too busy trying to convince myself that my husband wasn't dead. "Teacher, I am sorry." She said in a very angelic voice. It was almost like I couldn't see her. My mind was clouded. "It is all my fault. I am sorry." She said again. "Auntie taught me how to make things better." She added. The man walked to us and put his arm on Alice. "Alice let's go now!" He commanded. "You killed my husband." I said out of rage. I grabbed Rodney's gun and pointed it at Alice. "What are you doing?" David asked in shock. Alice was equally afraid and she started crying. I didn't expect this. I lowered the gun immediately and fell to my knees. "Kill me too. Tear me apart too. I can’t live with the guilt." I said in tears. Alice run to me and hugged me. She was still crying. "Teacher, please hold me." She said. Her hair was turning purple again. I did as she said. I guessed it was my time to die then. I felt extremely cold and her hair was almost violet now. It was flying all over the place as usual and there was a very bright light. It was so strong I closed my eyes. I could hear the man shouting in the background but his voice just disappeared. 

All of a sudden, I heard the sound of children playing and opened my eyes immediately. I looked around. I was in our school. It was break time and the children were playing around. It felt like a déjà vu until I turned and saw Alice crying next to me. Was this real? Could we have actually traveled back in time? "Alice, is this a dream?" I asked her. She wiped her tears and said, "No, I brought us back, but I don't want Daddy to find me." I nodded in agreement and hugged her tightly. We were going to get through this!

End of season one.

10 regions

Upper East region is graced with pretty women, I'm a living testimony, bragging!

Upper West region is nice too with friendly crocodiles who leave their mouths hanging

Northern region has some good waakye and chao fruits eh, my goodness it's amazing

Brong Ahafo region has Kintampo water falls, just the perfect place to go gazing

Ashanti region, siano haven, graced with the Asantehene and intense money searching

Eastern region, has some sweet weather, nice vegetation and the biggest Easter merry making

Western region, there you would find a whole village on water, Nzulezu, fascinating

Central region, education hub for Senior High schools, young minds given the power of creating

Volta region, land of few cats and beautiful roads, with naturally acquired bilingual (French/English) speaking

Greater Accra region, the capital city with the newest cars, where all of Ghana calls home enjoying city living

I love my country!

One 'two' love

I'm a girl. No two ways about it. I missed Kwame so much. I couldn't deny it. It had been seven months since we broke up and I knew thinking about him wouldn't help but was it my fault? Eh, was it my fault that they were playing his favourite song on the radio? "Forget him, if he really loved you he would have come after you." I said to myself. Well then again he did, once. I should have taken him back eh? No but what if he lied to me again? Ah but people lie all the time. Maybe I was harsh but maybe too we were just not meant to be together. Ahhhh, too much talk. I was almost at my junction now. The taxi driver stopped and I got out of the car. I pulled out my earphone. I wasn't going to keep listening to that song. 

I opened the gate and it felt like my house gave me a big hug. My niece yelled out my name and rushed to me. I felt a bit more cheerful. "Hello, you have missed me eh? When did you get here Kabuki?" I asked, lifting her up. "Just now. Auntie some boy bi is looking for you." She replied playing with my earring. "Eh, which boy is that?" I asked smiling. I put her down and she dragged me. This energetic little girl. "He is nice papa, and he gave me this." She said and brought out a piece of a key holder. My heart missed a beat. It was Kwame's.

I looked up and froze. It was him. It was really him. Wow and my niece was right. He was a nice boy papa. "Uncle Kwame I showed her the thing you gave me." Kabuki said and broke the silence. He smiled, I missed that smile. "I'm going to show it to Grandma and Grandpa." She said again and run off. There were a thousand things I wanted to ask him. "You have a very interesting niece. She actually taught me some things." He said. His voice hadn't changed; neither had his funny accent. I smiled and nodded. "So we did a lot of talking..." He started. "Who is we?" I asked. He paused. "Me and Kabuki." he replied. I giggled and signaled that he go on. "I wanted to talk to you but I want to hear you talk first. This time I don't want us to fight so we will do it in a nursery rhyme." He continued. "Huh? I said giggling. Was he serious? To be honest it sounded like fun. "We are using 'one two buckle my shoe'. Let the words represent what you feel about us. Ok? Please just give it a try." He said. I could see genuineness in his eyes. I can't explain it, I could just see it.

 "Ok, here we go." I said and recited....

One two, who are you?
Three four, what are you looking for?
Five six, what can you fix?
Seven eight, don’t you think you are late?
Nine ten, why are you here again?

Kwame took a deep breath and moved closer to me. He looked at me right in the eyes and recited his verse.

One two, a man in love with you
Three four, to keep your heart secure
Five six, us, this time with no tricks
Seven eight, yes I believe u are my soul mate
Nine ten, to love you now more than I did then

Call it cheesy, call it silly, call it whatever you like but that was the day I fell in love with Kwame. Maybe I was in love with him the whole time but I just needed that little spark of magic to put it all together. Love is in the air....

You didn't exist

Why did I let you in at all?

Why do you always make me fall?

I miss the days I lived without you

Those days were amazing and perfect too

You didn't exist

Sometimes it feels like you control me

I am not the strong person I used to be

I hate you, leave me alone!

Get out of my zone!

You didn't exist

Who am I kidding, you will be back

But this time I will fight to keep myself on track

It's amazing how you get bigger as I get older

I wish I could go back in time coz you, Fear, didn't exist when I was younger.

Alice 10

I really wanted to scream but I couldn't. It was as if my voice was lost. The assassin held a gun two inches away from my face. His finger was on the trigger. With the slightest bit of effort my life would be gone! He signaled for me to move inside. It happened so fast I almost couldn't believe it. Just when I turned to move I heard a loud gun shot. I fell flat on the floor with my eyes closed. I felt no pain. I opened my eyes immediately and saw the assassin bleeding in the arm. Rodney was standing close to the road with a fired gun in his hand. "Doreen, stay down!" He yelled and fired again at the assassin. This time he missed. The man crawled behind one of the huge pillars.

 Rodney shot his right hand so he found it hard putting the gun in his hand. He managed to switch the gun into his left hand and fired at Rodney and missed badly. I was now lying on the floor almost in between them. I wasn't far from Rodney but I was just too afraid to do anything. "Doreen, crawl to me." Rodney said in a low tone. I tried but my arms were shaking like jelly. I tried the first time and fell on my face. I tried again immediately and crawled towards him.  I froze when I heard Alice scream. I turned around and noticed that the assassin had moved a bit further, away from the pillar he was behind. I gathered courage to stand up but Rodney yelled at me to get down. Another man was coming out of the shadows with Alice in his hand and a gun pointing to her head. He wore glasses and looked very decent. Alice's eyes were closed. Her face was expressionless. 

 The scene was horrifying. I was next to Rodney now. He pushed me behind him and I just stood there shivering. "What do you want?!" Rodney yelled, taking a few steps back with his gun aimed at the man. "One more shot from you and I kill the girl." He replied in a very funny accent. Then the assassin also came out, holding his gun feebly in his left hand. He had tied his wound with one sleeve of his shirt. "Look, the girl you are trying to kidnap is far more dangerous than you think." Rodney said. The man laughed quite genuinely and said. "Thank you for the information but I created her myself." I felt Rodney twitch, or was it me?

 "Yes, she is a very successful experiment, well almost. I spent years trying to figure out how to control her rage issues. You see, she is a splice. We had DNA of 7 animals to make her. Clearly you didn't think she was just blessed with these abilities did you? Oh you laymen, you have no scientific bone in you at all." He said shaking his head. "You do know what DNA is right?" he teased, rolling his eyes. Rodney and I were too shocked to say a thing. "Let me give you a simple idea of what this pretty child is. We carefully selected the strongest animals, each for a specific purpose, put them together to produce the ultimate human being. I am sure you have seen her display already" he said. Alice was just standing there with her eyes closed. 

To be continued...