'Belying Age' by Ahmad Abdullah

If my grandfather had an odometer, I can imagine it somewhere around his belly button, creaking. He is about a century old but his agility belies his age. At eight feet, he was imperious in his youth, now he walks with a tilt that looks much like a swagger. You can never know he is unlettered but when he speaks, it is poetic and full of wisdom. I had heard he was a warrior when he was younger and on this visit, I was eager to squeeze out the juicy gist of rumors I’d heard. We were strolling to his farm under the tepid smile of the sun, a daily routine, when I seized the opportunity.

‘Grandpa, can I be a warrior?’ I asked tactically.

‘Who says you are not a warrior when you can command a pen? He replied with his usual rhetoric that sometimes frustrates me.

‘I heard you were superior amongst your peers,’ I decided to be direct.

He paused and pointed to a wiggling shadow in the distance, ‘see that, that is a python.’

I was alarmed and tugged as his waist. He laughed comically and I could see he was enjoying himself.

‘He who commands the pen can command the mightiest of men,’ he resumed the conversation after a few pace of silence.

I was getting impatient and blurted out, ‘I learnt you have superpowers’

‘Really!’ He probed.

Eager that I got his attention, I dropped the bombshell. ‘I heard you just impregnated a 20 years old graduate!’

Grandpa laughed so hard he almost tripped. ‘That indeed would have required superpowers’; he clutched his belly from the hard cracks of laughter he had embellished. I imagined his imaginary odometer registering a landmark. I must have been close to the truth!

Ahmad Abdullah, AKA Ahmad Holderness is a medic and a writer who is about to be published. He is the director of Home Of Book foundations that seek to help Nigerian youths to read and write better. His writings can be viewed at and you can follow him on instagram at @home_of _books_foundation

RELATED: 'The Flowers and the Charlatans' by Ahmed Abdullah