Masterpiece

'I'm travelling from Nigeria to Egypt. It becomes dark. I need a place to stay till morning.' The man said.

'It's alright, you can stay with us till morning.' A monk said.

He stayed there in the night but kept fiddling with his phone instead of sleeping. Then, around eleven o'clock; he heard a sound coming from somewhere in the house. A sound that should have been a lullaby to the stubborn crying infant. It was as if the angels were singing in chorus from heaven. 

Oh! What a lovely sound. He wondered where this lovely sound might be coming from. He decided to trace where the sound was coming from but was not able to get the origin of the sound. He went back to the room he was given after his futile effort, still hearing this strange melodious sound. He soon dozed off and didn't wake up till morning. 

In the morning, one of the monks woke him up. Curiously, he asked about the sound.

'It is only a monk that can know the origin of that sound.' The monk said. 'It cannot be revealed to any ordinary person.'

'Oh!' The man exclaimed.

Throughout his journey, the man kept thinking about the sound. He wondered if done angels had come to one of the rooms to sing."

"I wondered too." Maverick cut in. "This will be my next write-up, I will publish this story."

"It's a short story na." Victor said,  "How will you be able to publish a short story?"

""I will know how to extend it and make it seems like a long story." Maverick replied. 

"Continue with the story, please." Jacob interrupted. 

"Hmm." John sighed. "After five months, he went back to this house of the monks. 

'I want to become a monk.' He said to a Father after he had greeted everyone. 

'Are you sure?' The father was surprised. 'Why do you want to become a monk?"

'I learnt that you people are the purest people on earth, I wish to become one of you.' He replied"

"Hmm! Wisdom!" Victor exclaimed. "I'm sure he actually went their because he wants to find out about the sound. 

"Sure." Maverick said. "He wants to become a monk so that he can gain free acess to the source of the sound.

John continued;

'To become a monk, you have to answer this particular question.' The Father said

'What is the question sir?' He asked 

'How many grasses in total are on this earth?' The Father asked. 'You can go and find that out and come back when you get the answer.

So, the man went away. He came back to that house again after three months. 

'I got the answer, Sir.' He said 

'And what is it?' asked, the Father.

'No one can tell the total number of God's creatures.' The man replied. 'The only one that can tell the total number of his creatures is The Creator Himself."

'Now, you are a monk." The Father said.

Curiously, he asked about the sound,  and he was taken to the source of the sound. He was amazed and dumbstruck seeing the source of the sound."

'And what was the source of the sound?' I asked from where I'd been seated in my depressed mood.

"But I won't tell you the source of the sound." John said. "Because you are not a monk."

"Father, please make me a monk!" Maverick cried out.

"Even the one who narrated the story does not know the source of the sound." Jacob said "Because, he is not a monk."

We all laughed out loud and I forgot my sorrow at that moment. It is nice to always be with friends while in depression, they know how to cheer you up. Not all friends, anyway. 

"I have a show tonight, Bayo." Victor said. "I've been invited to a show and I will like you to come along."

"Why not?" I said. "We will all go together."

"No, Bayo." Victor said. "I was only invited to come and rap, no chorus is needed. I just want you to come drop some hits on my rap."

"So, you mean we guys are useful only in terms of giving chorus, right?" Maverick asked. 

"I didn't mean..." Victor tried to mend his mistake. 

"No problem," I said. "We are all going together. Whether chorus is needed or not, they should accompany us to the show."

"No problem." Victor said after he had kept quiet for a while. 

"Hey, we are not forcing ourselves on you o" Jacob said. "You are free to go alone if you don't want us there o."

"No... Nothing of such." Victor stammered with a smile. 

We attended the show together as usual. Though, Maverick, John and Jacob's presence were not needed there, we made them go there with us. They had to get their tickets for the show as they were not invited. Probably that was why Victor was reluctant to allow them follow us. Victor soon climbed the stage without my notice and started dropping his rap lines;

"The one we hit

Or the one we beat

call us rogues but damn their feeling

We tolerate no shit

And we give no shit

You call is rowdies but mind your thinking!

Tell your feelings

Don't be boring

Stop your thinking and flex with some shillings

Shey you get money

Or hope is all you need

Don't mess with me or face some shit"

I made my stunts to the stage and started singing;

"Attention, please!

We're the masterpiece 

We take no shit!

But damn, we give some shit

Attention, Please! 

We're the masterpiece 

We will make peace!

As long as you come in peace"

We sang for hours and got the attention of the rowdies that were present at the pub. They jumped to the stage and started dancing, making noises and spraying money in air.

Well, after the show I started searching all around the pub. Guess what I was looking for, I was looking for Joygiver. Since my first meeting with her was in a show, I was expecting to see her at this show as well.

I was still in search of her when I heard a girl shouting on top of her voice for help.

"Help! Help! Help!"

I guessed she was on a run, being pursued by someone or by some people. 

"Something is wrong." I said to my self. I started running after the source of the voice. Soon, I caught up with her and discovered that she was being pursued by five guys. I could recognise them instantly as some of the rowdies that came to dance on the stage while I was singing. 

Angrily, I held the girl's hand to stop her from running. Then, I faced the guys.

"Leave me!" The girl shouted at me, trying to free herself from me.

"You will ruin your health if you continue running at this speed in fear." I said. "Let's stop this guys from chasing you." 

She looked at me with both feelings of surprise and suspicion. The guys that were after her arrived the scene and saw me holding her.

"Thanks, Bayo." A guy said "We never knew we will be able to get her."

"Tell me why you were chasing her first," I said. "Then I will think of handling her over to you."

"Does that matter to you?" One of the guys said. "Just hand her over to us."

"Rather than handling her over to you," I said. "I will trash you and make sure you are not able to chase any girl again in your life. Are you human beings or animals? Why will you be chasing a girl at night? Are you planning to molest her?"

One of the guys laughed sarcastically for a while and said;

"What do you think of yourself, huh? So, because you mentioned it in a song of yours that you are a masterpiece, you think you are a masterpiece for real. Guys, thrash him and bring the girl."

The girl started shivering in fear and tried to free herself from me.  One of the guys approached me and tried to punch my nose, I dodged his punch and kicked his groin. He felt unconscious immediately and collapsed to the floor. I looked at him for a while and left the girl's hand. 

"You are free to run away if you want to." I said to her. She smiled at me and folded her hands like a schoolkid.

"Hey!" She shouted at them. "You want to abduct me, don't you? Come and pick me up if you were really born to your father."

"Hey, Bayo." One of the guys said to me. "You are just a mere artist. Don't get yourself into trouble, you know nothing about our background."

"Everyone say this before getting bashed by me." I said. "You fool, we are standing on a ground and you are talking about a background. Anyway, I don't like this dialogue; Come and take her if you dare."

"Shey dem born you well!" The girl shouted at the guys.

Two guys ran towards me, I distributed two blows each to the both of them and they fell flatly on the floor. That was when the two other guys approached me and we fought for a while before I later took them down.

"Thanks." The girl said to me.

"It's okay." I said and turned back to go.

"My name is Rachel." I heard her say. I turned to her and exchanged an handshake with her.

"I'm Bayo." I replied. Then I noticed that someone had been standing all this while behind a car, peeking at the whole scene. It was a lady. Immediately she found out that I've seen her, she turned back and started walking away. I recognised the stature immediately. 

"Joygiver!!!" I shouted.

She increased her pace and started running as fast as she could. I ran after her

To be continued.....