Shutdown

The day was tuesday around 12:30pm,the sun was directly overhead the city,pouring its fiercely stinging and hot rays down on earth's inhabitants so much I figured it was indirectly telling us why we need to make heaven.


Sometimes I wish I lived down south of nigeria as I reckon the sun shinning over there isn't as hot because of their geographical location unlike us who were up north and close to the equator. I puffed and panted tiredly as I fanned myself with a manual hand-fan,nepa or is it phcn had done the usual and the voltage of the inverter was too low to effectively carry all the appliances at home so I settled for watching tv and put off all other appliances to save energy while I fanned myself but unfortunately,the wind that came forth was very hot,I went to open the windows to let in breeze and it was a case of frying pan to fire as a gust of heatwave blew in my face,my throat instantly went dry as I stamped my foot in annoyance,letting out a groan to God to send rain.



It wasn't just the heat that was disturbing me,in fact,the main issue was my writer's block. I had being unable to pen any draft to post on the kuwda blog for some days at a stretch and as a writer who knew he had to read widely, it bothered me so much to see well scripted blog posts of fellow writer friends,deliciously flowing with flowery words,grammatically on point pieces with spot on themes. There wasn't exactly any drama going on at home or within the extended family...it was a moment of unusual calm and peace,I had tried everything I could to snap out of my writer's block,I took long leisurely walks to no avail,I only got home exhausted,got away from my laptop,sang in the shower to the chagrin of Mom,I even tried to break away from my family-oriented drama niche and write a collection of short stories different from my niche to challenge myself to be an all-round professional writer and only managed to write a few lines (which I would still get
back to) but didn't assuage the feeling of gridlock in my head, I watched comedy films thinking afterwards,I would be in a good place to write but the moment I flip open my sleek laptop,I find myself sighing sadly and slowly shutting it back,so I felt it was time I got intervention from fellow writer friends,so I took my phone and tweeted at my friend joe grant,a california based, award-winning writer.

Joe's reply didn't come immediately so I just stripped to my boxers and rolled on the tiled floor on the corridor to chill,I'd already taken my third bath that day and didn't want my body to be totally stripped of it's naturally producing essential oils,leaving one white and dried out. When I saw my phone light indicator beep,I hurriedly went to check and thankfully,it was a tweet...Joe's response had come so I punched on the twitter icon and checked my mentions and he had suggested I took a "relaxingly therapeutic bath", Again? I glared at his response,sighing atrabilously almost immediately,I ruminated quickly over the idea and thought it wouldn't hurt to have one more bath...a therapeutic one,so I set out to getting all the required items needed.

I waltzed into our store and picking a packet of white candles,I tore it open and picked a few and together with a matchbox,I climbed the stairs to my room and barging into my private enclave,I made straight for the bathroom and turned on the shower,plugging the tub drain with its stopper as I shook water off my hands,pretty excited that things were getting in order,I lit and strategically placed the candles around the bathroom,creating a radiance of a bedouin lit up tent in the desert, clapping excitedly, I went back into the room to get my tin of spa items which included amongst other stuffs, essential jojoba oil,dried lavender flower and dried orange peels to sprinkle in my bath water when I heard the running water overflowing the bath tub as I hurriedly went to turn off the tap and mopped off excess water from the bathroom floor. I sprinkled the dried lavender flower and orange peel into the bath water then went back into the room to slowly take off
my clothes which kick starts the whole therapeutic process while the spa items diffuse in the water.


I sashayed anxiously and naked into the bathroom and stepping into the tub one feet at a time as the coolness of the water sizzles my feet on contact,I allowed myself go down slowly into the water,slowly submerging into the enveloping feeling of pure bliss!

Basking in coolness of the water and the calming effect  of pure silence around me,I shut my eyes and allowed my imagination run wild as a means to unclogging my brain of the block and feel free...free to soar...free to rise and shine and tower above my inhibitions.

I must have been drifting to sleep when I thought I saw a blurred caricature of a floating human figure dancing towards me,its mouth slurring through a sentence I couldn't quite figure out,water splashed on my face and flapping my eyelids rapidly,my sight cleared and it was Karl standing before me,

"You keep acting like you wanna get lost in a trance or something with your candle lit baths,you had better not get this house set ablaze when one of your candles burn out while you aren't looking"

He said,turning to leave,he continued,

"Get done fast, and meet me in the room,we have something to discuss"

I swallowed and nodded,standing up from the tub and pulling my towel from the steel line,I patted my body dry and wrapping the towel around my loins,I went into the room to meet a straight-faced Karl who immediately fires,

"You know what Maj,you do know I support kuwda blog and all but see,you need to start editing some parts of our lives out,like the sexual scenes because it's beginning to cause problems"

My brows squeezed into a puzzled look as I calmly demanded he explain to me what happened,he nodded and went,

"It's Ruby,you do remember her right?"

He asked,I nodded in the affirmative then he continued,

"Well,we were speaking on skype earlier  and I was telling her about you and your concept of Keeping up with the Adagiris and she asked me to send her the link for her to read and I did...what I didn't realise was that she was going to read that far into the blog...so she read upheavals and sh..."

I cut in by raising my hand,I already knew where he was going when he mentioned upheavals,my mouth opened in utter shock,I asked if she was upset,quickly realising that came out wrong but I'd already said it,Karl looked at me quite disdainfully and told me I needed to speak and apologise to Ruby,I scoffed,responding,

"Brother,I am indeed sorry that Ruby read all about the dirty dirty on my blog but asking me to apologise to her over that? Not so sure I could do that"

I said firmly,he snapped,demanding to know why I wouldn't want to apologise,

"Do you realise what she means to me?"

He spat,I calmly told him it wasn't my place to apologise as he was the one who told me about it and he knew perfectly well I was going to put it on the blog and how come am the one who is to apologise to Ruby,

"...how am I to even start apologising? That oh sorry Ruby,I admit I went too far in talking about you and Karl's relationship..and you know,Karl actually told me about this but I ought to have used my discretion...bla bla bla"

Karl couldn't believe his ears,his face went red with anger as he made a move to punch me as I swerved intuitively,I couldn't believe  my eyes as his angry gaze held mine,palpable shock apparent on my face,he held me by my neck and told me I would have to apologise and thereafter take down all stories relating to him on the blog....OMG,that's like more than half of the blog posts,I choked and coughed from his tight grip on my neck,scratching and slapping his mulatto hand with which he grabbed my neck cracking with greenish veins as I tried to convince myself I was dreaming as I couldn't believe my sweet and humble eldest brother who always looked out for me and defended me was capable of almost strangling me to death,

Hamz must have heard some sounds of a scuffle in our room and quickly barged in,shocked at seeing Karl angrily pinning my neck against the wall,he charged at him like a bull and pulled him away from me and as he toppled over a wooden bedside stool,Karl pulled Hamz with one arm and he collapsed on the bed,Hamz was dazed,Karl sprang up fast,pointing angrily at Hamz to back off and listen to what happened as I slide down with my back against the wall to the ground and sat there,totally perplexed at his behaviour,

Hamz nodded urging him to speak and Karl narrated everything and to my horror, Hamz seemed to agree with him and sided with Karl. Facing me,Hamz pointedly accused me of humiliating him  by puting it publicly on my blog that he slept with Martha in Lying in state,I was dumbfounded,

"Do you think am overly okay with that? It's wicked of you to put me out like that,what do you want people to think of me? My friends,our mutual friends,relatives,did you see the comments? Everyone thinks am some sort of freak who is addicted to sex and needs help,that is not what a brother does,a brother protects and shields his younger brother,not expose him to the vultures to pick at,"

Totally incensed now,I charged up and clapped back at the both of them,asking why it didn't bother them until now,asking why they commended my work and were ok with what I do until now?both guys said all they wanted was for me to take down the stories or they would force me to stop writing about them on my blog,

"I thought you all bought the idea about the originality of our stories,our lives and saying-it-as-it-is approach,don't I talk about my fears?my insecurities,my low times and highs,my dirty little secrets on my blog? Don't I? If we all start demanding we edit this and that,what story would we have left?what would there be left to tell"

I said with a tear-filled,red eyes,I continued,

"I can't believe you guys after so many years are now pulling out of the project,especially you Hamz...",

Karl cuts in,

"Maybe we don't all have your brazen attitude with talking about our lives the way you freely do with yours,we want out....we should have editorial rights over our own stories shouldn't we?"

His words cut deep into me as I lashed out at him,demanding he shuts his mouth and pack his stuff and go back to wherever he came from,

"Shut the fuck up and get the hell out of our lives,we were perfectly okay before you came and now,you want to ruin everything? Huh? Karl Adagiri,you lie....you lie,you should go away"

He smirked devilishly and cupping his fists preparedly,told me he was going to deal with me and he wasn't going anywhere as he was in his father's house,

"And I have just about every right you have in this house as an Adagiri"

I wanted to scream but at that moment,Mom's car horn blared at the gate as Garuba the gateman opened the gate and she drove in,seeing as she always have my back,I rushed out of the room, forcing my tear out to run down my cheeks and hurriedly went to approach her but her face was cold and angry as she stepped out of the car,slamming the door close,she said to me,

"Maj,what did you post about Kabir on some blog I learnt you operate? Huh?, tell me the truth because his mother called me,complaining bitterly that you called his son unprintable names and called him a freshman at life ,whatever that means"

By now,Hamz and Karl were downstairs and welcomed Mom,she raised her hand swiftly to acknowledge them and turned to face me,I couldn't say anything,she continued,

"I know you love writing but never to write ridiculous posts about your family,what sort of nonsense is that? Ain't you silly? You would only make yourself and us in general look like a fool"

She snapped,Hamz then chipped in telling her it wasn't only about Kabir I wrote about but that I had a blog where I write about happenings in our family,Mom's handbag dropped in utter shock as I turned to face Hamz,my eyes squinted in a look of incredulity,at that moment,I wanted to kill Hamz so bad,Mom's screams zapped me back to reality,she fished out her phone and navigating through,she asked for the link of the blog from Hamz who hesitatingly read it out and Mom punched the send button and in an instant,she was going through my blog and after reading through a few blog posts, her countenance changed into a look of horror,she  jumped up and down,saying she was in trouble as she dealt me with slaps all over,demanding I shut it down immediately,

"It is a command,if you know I am your mother and pushed you into this world and fed from my breasts,Ah! Abdulmajeed,I want you to shut down this blog right away,Ah,Ah,Ah,you this boy,what have I ever done to you"

I walked off her presence and to my room,angrily threw out Karl's things from my room into the corridor and some of it flew over d balcony downstairs to the sitting room then I went in and locked myself in the room where i cried my eyes out,Mom punched at the door but I didn't answer,while crying,a text came in from Hamz,saying he was so sorry,that only infuriated me the more,what does he mean by he is sorry,I screamed and told Hamz I hated him with all of my heart,

"I HATE YOU HAMZAAAAA,I HATE YOU"

I cried harder and when I was tired of crying,I picked my phone and sent a text to Alh hassan in lagos Grande sortie since he claimed to be a fan of my write ups  and explained all that happened and what Mom was demanding of me,he called me back and asked to know where I was,sniffing,I told him I had locked myself in my room,he promised to call her immediately and he did,they talked at length and I never knew what happened again as I slept off.

When I awoke, I met surrounded around me,Mom,QT,Karl and Hamz,smiling down at me,I sat up instantly,wondering what was going on and how they gained access into the room,

"I let us in by using the spare key in the store"

Mom started,looking lovingly into my eyes while I gave them the suspicious look,I sat up properly on the bed and folded my arms across my chest in case anyone wants to slap me,so I can quickly block with my arms,she continued,

"I guess I overreacted earlier,Alhaji Hassan spoke to me and I realised how right he was,your brothers here are equally sorry and I hope you understand why we reacted the way we did,we are sorry ok darling"

Mom apologised on their behalf while my brothers nodded,still not convinced,I asked them what changed between then and now,

"We realised how hugely talented you are and how through us,people find your work entertaining,your brothers might not fully be on board yet by agreeing for you to use their pictures,it's baby steps...besides I've always wanted to support you guys in whatever you all do,I sometimes watch the kardashians and even though I don't exactly love them,I see through your works how you not only created a means through which people could learn through your grammar and real life lessons from an average nigerian family but also how much impact you've made and I got bowled over learning that since 2010,you've kept writing,it melted my heart and I just want you to know,I loved reading the first five episodes,we all just had a momentarily error in judgement regarding your work and am sure you can understand why we were initially alarmed, your brothers love your blog and in me,you just got yourself,a new amazeball"

I just bursted out crying as they all let out an "awwwww" and we all hugged and laughed,


Keeping up with the Adagiris is going nowhere! Lol

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