“I have a wonderful surprise for you” came his father’s melodic voice.

The 19 year old Suleman thought to himself: ’oh, no, here we go again, giving me stuff I don’t want. I hope he just quits already. I wanna do something fun on my own.

He raised his head from his 14S iphone and said in compliance “Sure, Dad. What is it?”

“I got us tickets to see the Titanic under the ocean” and there was obvious glee in his emphasis in the word under.

The boy objected “This is such a bad omen, Dad. Why would I want see that?”

“Well because it’s once in a lifetime opportunity. Think about all the pictures we’ll take, and what stories we’ll have to tell everyone when we come back.”

“I don’t know, Dad. I’d rather stay here and do some fun things with my friends. I don’t want to see the Titanic.”

“But Suleman, you have to widen your horizons a bit. Life isn’t all video games, and WhatsApp chat. There’s a world out there to explore and I’d like you to see more of it”

“Oh, and you think seeing the Titanic under the ocean is the first thing I should do?”

“Well, it’s a start.” Then he said. “You know one day you’ll back at it, after I’m gone, and say what a trip I had with my father.”

“Alright, Dad.” Giving in. “if it makes you happy.”

Suleman and his father got on their flight to join the elite group destined to get on the Titan submersible in its maiden voyage under the ocean. Its first tourist site is the shipwreck of the sunken Titanic. As Suleman got on the port of St. John’s in Newfoundland, he met three other people, including the captain.

They stayed in a lounge waiting to be boarded. A man wearing blue maritime uniform walked in and greeted them. He talked to them and said “I should let you know gentlemen” then looking at Suleman “and our youngest member yet, that the vessel that you are about to board is completely safe. Now, just to let you know, just as you get on an airplane and get affected by the difference in pressure, it is the same when you are under the ocean. The difference being we only have water around us. There isn’t any air. I don’t have to explain to some of our more experienced gentlemen here. However, just be careful of the changes in your body, and know that it is normal to experience some reactions that happened due to the underwater pressure. With that said, I welcome you gentlemen to the Titan’s maiden voyage. It is expected that we leave at around 1:00 pm and return by 4:00 pm.”

Suleman, his father and the three others walked to the Titan that looked like a blue pill, with one window at the nose. Suleman bent his head as he walked into the submersible followed by his father and the other three. As they sat the two of them in one row, and the other three in the opposite raw, the saw that there were glass windows that were sealed shut.

Suleman’s father tapped him on his knee and said “Isn’t this exciting? Make sure that you take lots of pictures.”

“Ok. Dad” said Suleman as he thought ’it’s not that exciting.”

Then they heard a zooming sound as Titan started to move into the ocean. They heard the captain say “gentlemen, before we start diving, we’ll open the windows for a short while, so you can take pictures of the open sea. I’ll let you know when we dive.”

The submersible floated like a cork on the ocean’s surface. The windows slid open and there appeared sights of marine life. As they went further into the ocean the captain announced that they were about to encounter a whale and maneuvers need to be made to avoid any bombardments. From a distance, they could see the group of whales and their water fountains coming up. They all took pictures. Then the captain announced that they had reached the point of the dive. The windows slide closed. Everyone smiled as the Titan went down.

The dive started and they went further down and further down. The surroundings kept getting darker as the ocean engulfed the Titan. It was Titan to Titan. Somewhere, Suleman felt that he began to choke. He looked at his father and saw that his father’s face began to change. He reached out to him but they couldn’t touch. Somewhere, in the depth of the ocean, everything became nothing.

A few hours later, search and rescue was on the way to find them, but find them they couldn’t. A world made of things that make things became a world in which a thing, in seconds, was nothing.

As the search and rescue team were on their helicopter heading back, after affirming the trip of no return, one of them asked “How much did they pay for that?”. The other replied “A lot. More than you and I make.” He looked at the deep blue ocean and said “I’d say they paid a lot more than that.”

So, the penguins went down the frozen water in single file. Then they swam past the seals as they swam frivolously shaking their fins. They swam and returned to land and made jump back into the open waves.

At a distance, the whales were swimming showing off their gray and white backs. Then in a wondrous parade they shot off their water fountains from their snouts. Then as one whale dived it came across a strange species, the one it was used to seeing on land more than open sea. It had one head with two small and two small legs like the ones it sees so many times on boats. It looked at its small body and it seemed that it did not move. The whale realized that it had seen this before. A lot of fish all of a sudden stop moving and are just left to fall to the bottom to the sea. But it had never seen a species like this and it seemed to be floating before it would fall. The whale wondered what it could do to help it. But, it realized that it was beyond help. It wondered what brought that small body that far into the ocean. So, it decided to swim a bit and find out.

As it swam further, it floated over this old boat that was at the bottom of the sea for such a long time, and saw a tiny non-fish body hovering around it. What a strange time, thought the whale, a big as I am I do not like to dive down that deep. It stayed on top of the strange non-fish body then it felt the sea shudder as that disappeared from where it was. The whale got scared as it thought that the small body it saw a few minutes earlier might have come from the tiny non-fish body that just vanished. It continued to swim as many other sea creatures escaped the ripples in the sea.

The whale went on hoping that it would not find any more of the small body’s species lying around, as this used to happen sometimes. As it swam further, it came across a boat. It was not the kind of boat it is used to seeing. The kind of boat it was used to seeing was the boat where people stood and waved. Some of them put something in front of their faces, either really close with two hands on it, or, lately, far away from their face. Then when its water fountain came out, they jumped up and down and some sounds came from them.

This boat was different. It was full of people, more than the usual number it was used to seeing on boats. The boat, unlike other boats it had seen before, seemed to be unbalanced from the number of people on top of it. It seemed to struggle as it moved through the waves, and unlike the open space in the sea that the whale enjoys so much, this species could not have any breathing room as they stood next to each other, with little to no space between them. It did not seem that they were enjoying their time like the people of the other boats do.

The whale thought that they were in trouble as it seemed that this boat’s back was about to be pushed under the weight of the people on it. The whale saw many small bodies like the one it had seen earlier. But, unlike that small body that did not move, these bodies, were making voices that were not pleasant. Then other bigger bodies followed them. The ones with the big bodies put their arms around the small bodies, and then swam. They swam in more than one direction. The whale knew that they had no direction to go, and it could do nothing to help them.

The whale wondered why people would do what they do. It understands that when it has young, not only it, but all the whales in the sea protect them and do not let come into danger. Why is two armed, two legged species letting their young get into danger? Why is it that they are not everything they could to protect them? Why do they leave them in a place like the sea, where only the inhabitants understand how to deal with it? Why are other, older, wiser whales not trying to stop this from happening?

It wanted to find a way to protect them but still could not understand protect them from what? To protect them from each other. All it took was an act of kindness, an act of understanding, and act of recognition that as a species they are the same: one head; one nose; two eyes; two arms; two legs and one heart.

Good evening

Came the voice of the anchor from the worn-out LED hanging in the café.

And now for the news. His highness, blessed be his name, King t'challa, King of all Africa decided to cut off water supplies from zones B and C below Zone A, also known as the Mediterranean region for their insubordination in mining the copper, gold and diamond mines as decreed by his highness in decree number 417. As per decree 417, all miners are to submit 75% of their raw minerals to his highness. This decree was given for the benefit of all residents of Africa, the only remaining continent from the old world.

His image became blurry and his voice broke. The owner of the café approached and smacked the LED on the side. The café customers adjusted their headpieces and continued listening while drinking root beer.

In other news, civil unrest has continued in zones X, Y and Z in the colonies of the remaining inhabitants of the old west. In zone Z, in particular, protests broke out against the apartheid policy taken against European-American ethnic group, preventing them from obtaining their civil rights. It is reported that King t’challa is yet to send forces to this area to help the forces of George Mandela, the former freedom fighter, to curb the unrest.

In other news, renowned writer Naira Aburwajai has passed away in his mansion in Tanzania. He was 84 years old. Aburwajai, of course, is well known for his review of history book ‘How the West was undone’, which caused a lot of controversy on its publication, with many scholars accusing the writer of falsifying a lot of historical events in that book.

As for the weather, it is best for yacht owners to be careful, as high winds are expected which may prevent any trips from smooth sailing.

Have you seen any of them?

You probably don’t

Fully shampooed and perfumed and then

What they will, they won’t

Perfect in hygiene, pearly smile

Toothbrush ready to go

Live with them for a while

And you’ll see the lower beanstalk they grow

For under the red riding hood

There hides the wolf within

Oh what lofty mess of the food

They leave uneaten to the level of sin

Suddenly there, suddenly not

Off looking for the next best deal

And when you’ve figured what rhythm they’ve got

They’ll break tune; Reality’s is just not real

Their message: I can do what I want

Their message: I won’t do what you want

Your message: Leave it and don’t flaunt

Their message: I win and you won’t

There are those who have shoulders

And there are those who have empty hands

The first ones carry the weight of the boulders

The second: frozen fixtures as they just stand

In your home do you see them as they dream?

But you might be the only thing that’s their reality

As they appear, how superhero like they seem

But they walk the tightrope that binds us all: fidelity.

Dark molars falling out of my mouth? Have I lost something precious, and it was time to move on? There’s a strange hand touching mine. I don’t what hand that it is or why it is approaching me. I have to run to escape a barrage of words from an anti-depressant, over-the-counter drug induced person sleeping next to me who related unrelated events, telling stories of what could’ve been but never should’ve happened. I have to escape a barrage of bullets because unkind times are following me everywhere and every things that falls in every place I go is a scare. I wake up sweating from a night’s half-baked sleep wondering where I am when I am faced by a reality that doesn’t fit me, and I try to change the fit but it doesn’t work because life isn’t a shop where fits are fitted. So, I run adapting to what the faithful tell me to adapt to because if I can’t change then I adapt. I feel like everyone is setting me in a trap trying to unravel my vulnerabilities. Their smiles are missiles, their gazes are blames, and their eyes’ avoidance is their guilt and my shame. So, I know that tomorrow I will reach for the unattainable, but it doesn’t matter because I’ve done it before. I know some people say that I can’t have it because I’m not cut out for it and it’s not the man who fits the cloth but the cloth that fits the man. But I know someone who is willing to sign the contract that I am so willing to escape. I tell myself not to sign, but my idle hand is moving inevitably toward the deal with Mephistopheles look-alike, smirk on the outside, brimstone on the inside, both of us wishing things had never come to be. I search for the exit, there’s light at the end of my sleep. I wake and I never escape.

Twins, are we?

Destined to be apart?

Can we catch our last breath

Tied up as one heart?

You’ll be there, I’ll be here

No matter where

You’ll know that I’ll hear

What words for me you have to spare

We lived apart, it had to be

Life dictates and we submit

But the heart is mystic mystery

No one can control it

For yes, it was love denied

And I hope it sees the light of death

After I never got satisfied

I hope I get it with my ousted breath

I have the stamp of your lips on mine

Not a kiss but a word together said

In a lifetime, I failed to make you mine

In one exit, one moment instead

farther death

no further

wonder weather

wander whether

c.l.o.s.e.r - l.o.s.e.r

winner sinner

wither thinner

A word used in the military to connotate respect and reverence of rank. It is also used as a reference to a knighthood of a person bestowed by the royalty for achievements of a person in their lifetime. In some parts of the world, it is used to refer to the teacher who teaches various ages. In all aspects of the name, it is given to those who deserve the most respect in comparison to others. Such was my math teacher, whom I had I known at the tender age of 12. I was lost in this subject, always seeking to find out its intricate mysteries. And there is nothing more respectable in this world than when a teacher comes along, not only to unpack the mysteries of a subject, but a lot of the mysteries of life, and help your mind sort them all out. The more respect is that this teacher does not only stay in my life at the level of a teacher but to be elevated to mentor, friend and brother.

It is incredible to believe that my math teacher stayed my life’s journey with me and became part of raising my children. No matter the problem, the issue and the odds, he was there with a smiling face, willing to face them head on no matter what they might be. I guess few would believe that he had lost his wife at the early age of 27 when he was newly married in a terrible domestic accident leaving him to raise two small children on his own. He then assailed life in every and any way that he could moving from job to job, and place of residence to another, till he got and settled, of all places, in an administrative position in my kids’ school. This man re-married, raised his own children, the children of another woman, and raised a special needs child. In my life, he helped me with my math, helped me be in the career that I am in now, and supported my children as they finished their formal education in their school. He was the person to rely on, to find in a time of need, and to know that he will be there whenever the need arrives.

After wishing he would rest in peace, and be rewarded for his good deeds, there is only one thing left to do. I stand up and salute you! Sir!

In April, I found love, twice

And I paid the price

One was a crush

The other not so much

In April, I knew sunlight

And I also knew night

One made life beautiful

The other made it dutiful

In April, I knew flowers

I also knew power

As I left March to April's scent

I also left it to find what life meant

In April, I saw life bloom

And I read Eliot dress it in doom

It is out of this womb

That I saw a day loom

April's day is a difference

Between closeness and distance

Where a heart hurries a distant memory

And close memories are not a remedy

Because one April day my love was born

Another April day my love was sworn

I didn't find my love among the touched

And I touched that which I didn't care for much

So, can the next April be the same

Where I see a face that doesn't have the name

And tell myself some other time

I'll split the stale from the sublime

In April, I learned a lesson few learn

It's possible to yearn

But the clock has no hands to turn

This April: Change is everyone's cocooned concern