Must Read: Glitches - Season 1 - Episode 6

Episode 7 years ago

Must Read: Glitches - Season 1 - Episode 6

Jeremy knew it wouldn’t be easy convincing his parents and Michael that he had changed his mind considering the way he flared up when the issue was brought up. He had never seen himself so angry and fed up with life, to the extent that suicide even crossed his mind
‘’God forbid’’ he had quickly rebuked the thought.



He had always told himself that suicide was for cowards and sissies who were scared of facing the real world and would rather take their chances among the dead where there was nothing like death again. It definitely didn’t seem that way a moment ago when the thought had crossed his mind. How would someone even escape death by killing themselves? Sounds a bit awkward having to kill oneself to escape death.

Chukwudi’s words kept replaying in his head.



He trusted chukwudi’s judgement to be of high wisdom and knowledge. Afterall, he was the oldest in their clique and had given life saving advice to him before. He knew he would be in Europe any moment from now so he had to enjoy Nigerian climate to the fullest.


His first place of contact was mama iyabo’s kitchen. In mama iyabo’s kitchen, you get the best of African delicacies at very cheap rate.



Jeremy ordered for ewedu soup and semovita with kpomo to help move the food down. He wasn’t sure what he would have done without kpomo. He loved it so much that he was nicknamed kpomo by some of his friends.


‘’Mama this your food small today o’’ he had complained when served his food.


‘’costumer everything for market don cost o’’ mama iyabo replied him.


Somehow Jeremy didn’t get angry as he usually would when prices of things in the market skyrocket. After all, he would be leaving the country very soon. They can increase the price of every single commodity in the market if they wish, what does he care?

Two men there were arguing about who should be blamed for the high cost of stuffs in the market. The first man thought the government was to blame.


‘’In sane countries, the government regulate prices of things in the market. Such that one low-life wont wake up one day and decide to increase the price of goods.’’


Jeremy imagined how it would be if government should fix prices on all goods in the market.


Although he had heard situations where the government placed cost on some commodities such as cement, rice and some goods of high economic importance, he had never seen the regulations been implemented.


The other man listened with rapt attention as the first man kept listing reasons upon reasons why he thinks the government should be blamed for the high cost of goods in the market. Somehow, Jeremy felt the two men were literates who had come to taste real African food from the stables of mama iyabo.


‘’my friend, what you just said can be obtainable only in a capitalist economy’’ the second man started. ‘’even though we are forced to believe that Nigeria is practicing capitalism, it is not what is really obtainable.


The sellers and the sellers alone have the right to fix prices on their goods. If the sole right to price fixing rests on the shoulder of sellers and their union, then i don’t see any reason why we should blame the government for high cost of stuffs in the market. Rather, the greedy sellers should be blamed.’’


At the end of the argument, Jeremy could boast that he had learnt a thing or two from the men.



After all, it wasn’t everyday you get to learn insightful stuffs from a food seller’s shop. He had wanted to chip in a thing or two – like when the second man had said Nigeria was practicing capitalist economy but had refrained from it so as not to be seen as a disrespectful boy meddling in the affairs of mature men. He was very sure Nigeria was a mixed economy.


‘’Madam come take your money’’ he had rather said when he finished eating.


He paid her and left the place feeling refreshed, it might be the last time he would visit mama iyabo before travelling ¬to Europe. Mama iyabo was definitely going to be one place he would miss by the time he was gone.


He walked home gallantly, not like someone who had left home in anger but like someone who would soon be leaving the shores of the country.


He went into the house and met his mum still begging Michael. He had left the house for close to an hour and Michael was still sitting comfortably on the chair while his mum was begging him like a slave begging the king to spare the life of her son who had been caught stealing from the shrine of Ife. His dad sat separately in his favorite chair with sq££zed face nodding his head like he was enjoying the melody of an unheard song.



Immediately he closed the door, they all looked up with different emotions on their faces.


‘’where do you think you are coming from’’ Mr. Bassey was the first to speak. ‘’

better leave this house now before I strike you with this walking stick’’. He stood up to hit him but was held by his wife.


‘’leave him’’ she said, ‘’he is just a little boy, he’ll come around’’
‘’Actually mum, I have seen the mistake in what I did and I came to apologize’’
She looked at her husband who kept a straight face. Michael had a mischievous smile on his face, the type that said ‘I knew he was only bluffing, nobody can reject the prospect of travelling abroad’.


Jeremy went down on his knees. It felt like an unseen force was pushing him down. He didn’t plan to kneel down, atleast not in front of Michael.


‘’please forgive me ma, for all the things I said and did’’. He turned to his dad, ‘’daddy please forgive me. I’ve learnt my lessons. I promise to be a good boy and never talk back at you.


He stood up and said, ‘’I’ve decided to travel with Michael.’’


He wasn’t feeling any remorse at his decision of going abroad at all. It didn’t feel like he made the wrong choice. He had decided he was going to journey and that was his final answer. He didn’t know it was a journey that would change his life forever.


His father stood up and held him in a warm embrace, something he hadn’t done in a very long time. He looked at his wife and spoke.


‘’we have forgiven you my son. You have our blessing.’’

When he woke up, he was in the rehabilitation room. Dr. Falcon so named it because it served to refurbish the subject any time he overcame the glitches. It was just a compartment created in the cave just some few metres away from where he slept last night. Where he had witnessed what had now become a daily routine – fall, change into a monster, sleep and wake up to find himself Unclad. It was an experience he wouldn’t even wish his enemy.


His eyes were still foggy as he couldn’t make a clear picture of the images he was seeing. Dr. Falcon’s oblong head was what aided in his identification. He was standing in front of what he thought looked like those computer-like machines found in hospitals. Besides Dr. Falcon was Newton, he was wearing his ever present smile which was always a pleasing sight to behold.


‘’How is his pulse’’ Dr. Falcon asked.

‘’it’s a bit low’’ Newton replied, ‘’but it’s expected considering we administered epinephrine to revive him’’
‘’When have you become a doctor’’ Dr. Falcon asked. ‘’epinephrine does not reduce pulse, it only reduces heartbeat.’’


‘’what’s the difference?’’

‘’This is not a medical class, Newton.’’ Dr. Falcon answered and quickly changed the topic. ‘’Check his heartbeat’’
Newton placed the stethoscope on the chest of the subject and fixed it in his ears. He could hear the heart beating slowly. He checked the computer to get the exact value.


‘’1bps’’ he replied. Somehow, he was enjoying himself. He felt like he had spent five years in college studying medicine.


‘’Are you sure?’’
‘’Very’’
Newton withdrew instinctively and started thinking as if he was having second thoughts.


‘’doc, do you think this procedure will work?’’
‘’I wish I could tell you that for sure Newton, but it is just an experiment and it has as much probability to succeed as it has to fail.’’


The subject sneezed, as if to tell them he heard what they were saying. He was still lying on the bed with some wires connected to his chest and head. The scenario had somehow gotten used to him and he didn’t think it was kidnap as he had thought the first day he woke up to find himself in such condition. It took quite a lot of reassuring from Dr. Falcon to calm him down that day.

‘’Raise your right hand if you can hear me’’ Dr. Falcon instructed.


He lifted his hand rather weakly. It was the greatest strength he could muster but the effort didn’t translate to adequate work done.



His hand was as heavy as someone who had been struck with elephantiasis. Dr. Falcon raised his eyelid and flashed a ray of light to study his eyes. There were dark brown, a bit scary but Dr. Falcon knew he wouldn’t do him any harm as long as he was in the cave.


The subject mumbled something inaudibly.


Dr. Falcon thought he heard something that sounded like ’kill’ in the sentence. He grew goose bumps at the thought.
‘’Get me the elixir’’ Dr. Falcon instructed.


Newton brought a bottle with red label and blue lid. Some scientific jargons were written on it that Newton couldn’t fathom. He handed it over to Dr. Falcon who pierced a syringe through the lid and drew from its content. He tapped the syringe gently with his middle finger and pierced it through the skin on the subject’s arm.


‘’We’ve been administering this elixir for the past one month without any improvement’’ Newton reminded the doctor.


‘’patience is a very important virtue in science. Some of these procedures take time, and like I said, it is just an experiment, there is no guarantee that it will be successful…’’ Dr. Falcon gave his regular sermon.


‘’…even at that, modifications are been made on this drug on a daily basis. We are hopeful that very soon, we will get there.’’


Newton thought the drug shouldn’t then be called an elixir since, for starters, it isn’t magical and secondly, it is not yet known to cure the ailment.


‘’do you believe in magic, doc?’’ Newton asked.



‘’we are in the land of magic and voodoo, only a fool wouldn’t believe in it’’
‘’then you believe this is magical, and that’s why you called the drug an elixir right?’’
Dr. Falcon sighed. He wasn’t supposed to reveal too much, this was supposed to be a top secret operation, a secret that should be guarded with one’s life. But on the other hand, he had to give Newton a reply, to at least make him feel like he was part of the team and not a lamp holding errand boy.



‘’magic and science are one and the same.



We do our science, the blacks don’t understand it and they call it magic. They do theirs, we don’t understand it and we also call it magic.’’ Dr. Falcon explained.


‘’So you are saying that this is magic as much as it is science?’’


‘’I’m saying,’’ he paused. ‘’ we shouldn’t jump into conclusions just yet.’’


In situations like this, Dr. Falcon always had cause to re-evaluate his choice of career. If he had gone for the simpler sciences, perhaps he wouldn’t be in a far away Country, looking over something he wasn’t sure would be successful. He had studied medicine in his college but had digressed to study mythology as a second degree. But what if it were feasible? What if he got this right? He was very sure he would get a national honour back in his country. A Nobel price was far from it.


A Nobel price could only be given for scientific inventions which doesn’t have evil as it bedrock. This one though, had evil as its origin, its sponsors were evil, and Dr. Falcon was very sure the end would also be evil, perhaps the obliteration of an entire Country. He wasn’t feeling guilty, he was feeling loyal. Loyal to a right cause. Sometimes in order to prevent a great evil, one must commit a smaller evil. Yes! He had some moral justification. After all, he was just a scientist. He wasn’t the one who put the entire plan in motion.


‘’I’ll like to get some air’’ he told Newton, ‘’stay with the subject.’’


He went out of the cave, into the beautiful green environment of the hill. They called it Ogbanike hills. What a bad name to give to an environment this beautiful and serene. He brought out his cell phone. One thing he liked about the hill was that, unlike most rural areas in the country, this one had a very good network reception. He dialed a number and put the phone on the ear.


The voice of an answering machine asking for his access code was what came out of the earpiece.


Ne svoboden, kak ptitsa, ne khishchnik v pole zreniya. He said.


‘’welcome, doc, you’ll be connected shortly’’
Before long, he heard a beep and then the unmistakable coarse voice he had been waiting for came through.


‘’Tell me you have good news.’’ the voice spoke with a tone of power.


‘’Stage three failed’’ Dr. Falcon went straight to the point.


There was a brief silence before the person at the other end spoke. ‘’perhaps doc, you are getting a glimmer of belief that you are the one most suitable for this job.’’ There was another silence, this time, short-lived.

‘’perhaps we should bring in more capable hands’’
‘’There won’t be any need for that, I’ll deliver results’’ Dr. Falcon assured. As much as the job was a herculean one, there was a handsome reward at the end for which ever scientist saw it through.


‘’you better do, don’t let me lose faith in you.’’ The line went dead.


Dr. Falcon turned, heading back to t he cave but he immediately met the prying eyes of Newton.


‘’Who was that?’’ he asked.


‘’nobody you should be concerned about.’’ Dr, falcon replied and walked in.