An Excerpt from my new book: 'Dear Big Brother'

Lemuel Irabor

Here is an excerpt from my soon-to-be-released book:'Dear Big Brother'
Enjoy..and let me know what you think.

Lemuel Irabor.

I still have the scar.

    Where the doctor stitched the skin after re-setting my broken arm.Where the B+  blood bled out unto the turqouise Persian rug Mom had Dad buy as a tenth marriage anniversary gift.

   I remember how Dad hated the colour but Mom adored it.I remember how,at age four,I'd drive my Lightning Mcqueen Cars set on the soft surface,driving fast so that I could fall and land in its soft mush.

   I remember how you hated that rug.Because you had to sweep it every morning and its furry hairs made it so hard for the crumbs of biscuits I eaten there to be brushed off.

    Who would've thought that barely seven years after,I'd be lying again on that rug,only this time with my neck at a grotesque angle and the shaft of my ulna protruding through my left arm;with red B+  blood spurting out of my severed arteries and veins.

    You know why I'm making an emphasis on my blood type.

Because you're O-,just like Mom while Dad is A+.

    I remember when Dad found out.

I was in the ICU then.I was awake.I could hear the buzz of the machines connected to me,feel the cool air on my face as it came in waves from the air-conditioning set,taste the tanginess in my my mouth,smell the sickening odour of antiseptics—maybe,even see.But I could just find the energy to open my lids.

   I remember Mom holding my right hand 'cause the other one was in a cast (I'm left-handed,remember?).

She was singing my favourite childhood tune to me: a radio jingle version of a song by Elvis Presley (you know it too well so no need to expatiate).

   I was humming along;or I was trying to.I didn't quite make it because all I could hear myself make was a guttural croaking noise once in a while that would send an already worked-up Mom on a beeline to the nurses station,forgetting there was a buzzer on the wall just beside my head.

   I remember hearing Dad walk in that evening—or was it morning?

He'd just been given the lab test results and I heard him walk softly until he stood on the opposite side of my bed.I remember how his Hummer perfume hung heavily in the air.

    “Florence,is he awake?”,I heard him ask.

Mom must have affirmed to the negative because he went ahead to drop the bombshell.

   “Benedict is not my son.”

I remember the deathly silence that followed the pronouncement.I remember thinking at that moment:

  Maybe Mom left the tv on too loud.Maybe it's a man on tv telling his wife in a tv drama all this.Maybe..please God,just maybe..

   “Answer me,Florence!Who owns Benedict?”

I remember thinking about the word ‘own’.I remember using it to win right-to arguments when you'd use my things and I didn't want to share.

   I remember Mom flaring up at the word that day.

   “How dare you,Aaron?First,you come in wearing that look like you just got demoted at work.Next,you tell me OUR son is not YOURS;and then you accuse me of infidelity!HOW DARE YOU?”

Dad snickered then.

“Oh,cut out the drama,woman.You go behind my back to cheat on me.Then there you are,playing the doting mother—”

I heard the smack then.Kinda like that ‘pop’ sound you loved to make using spent plastic bag baloons.

“Florence..you..you..slapped me?”

The second smack.Heavier than the first.

I remember how my bed rocked in the schuffle.I remember the shuffling sound of uniforms and rubber-shod feet as the orderlies separated a punched-up Mom and a scratched-up Dad.

  I could tell because,just like a trick of nature,at that moment,I opened my eyes.Their faces showed their shame,and Mom even burst into tears as I opened my mouth to say;

   “Mom.Dad.Who owns me?”

Let me know what you think;fellas!

PK47

It's really good and a very unique Cliffhanger.

Lemuel Irabor

PK47 17-10-2017 05:00 PM
It's really good and a very unique Cliffhanger.

Hello PK47,thanks for sharing your thoughts.

Pedro_P

It's interesting, it seems to be a very dramatic and intense story... I'll be waiting for the whole book.

nishant

Interesting , waiting for the book.

Lemuel Irabor

Much appreciated,Pedro and Nishant.
You will not have long to wait..

somi

Wow ! nicely written.

Lemuel Irabor

somi 18-10-2017 08:50 AM
Wow ! nicely written.

You have been an ardent follower of my work.I'm humbled.

Thank you,Somi!

somi

Lemuel Irabor 18-10-2017 01:42 PM
You have been an ardent follower of my work.I'm humbled.

Thank you,Somi!

Indeed I am.