It was a Saturday morning. Gabriel awoke but did not even try to get up from his bed. With his hands, he dragged the blanket over his head and entered wonderland. He began to wonder how his day would be. He thought to himself, “What will I do today?” He thought there was nothing to do since he had just finished writing his Common Entrance exam.
Gabriel!!! His mother shouted.
Gabriel!
In a heavy tone, “I am coming,” he mumbled and went back to sleep.
After a while, his mum came knocking at the door. “Gabriel, wake up and take your bath. Today is Tominsin’s birthday.”
Tominsin’s birthday. I am not going.
Gabriel’s mum persuaded him, as it wouldn’t be right not to attend a neighbour’s birthday.
Soon he staggeringly crawled out of bed as he threw away his bed sheet.
His mum arranged his recently flung bedspread and his scattered shoes. She also noticed that he had peed and advised him to always urinate before bedtime.
Gabriel’s breakfast had been served, and after taking his bath and brushing his teeth, he went to the dining table to eat.
Hmmm! Gabriel had always been a rude boy, and he was so eloquent in speech that he threw his weight around. He always had a ready-made answer to every question.
However, he had his own weaknesses that he hated to admit or chose not to admit.
At the party, he participated in various activities, including truth or dare. During the truth or dare session, a bottle was placed at the center of the participants. In a clockwise manner, the bottle was spun. Gabriel said he would go first. Every other kid there was surprised by the tone in which he spoke.
However, the girl, Toyin, was holding the bottle with the clear intention of spinning first. She was kind and observant, and not wanting to be vindictive, she decided to give the bottle to Gabriel. With a phony smile, she clapped for him as he began the truth or dare session.
After the bottle rotated, gbam, it landed with the top pointing to Bisola. "Why me!!!" she said, anxious to hear what the big boss wanted to say. She watched ponderously as he spoke. "I dare you to eat the raw spicy pepper."
Bisola was a bit annoyed but decided to eat it. Though she gave a grotesque facial expression.
"Now the next person can spin the bottle; the wizard has spoken…” Gabriel shouted with a demure smile addressng hiself as the wizard.
Voilà, it was Faruq, another funny participant. He said, as he spun, "I wished it was Toyin." As the bottle rotated, as if it heard their voice of the prophet, the bottle landed its tip at Toyin.
Its tip landed in front of Toyin... Tominsin said!!!
Toyin, also a demure young lady but a secretive demagogue who knows how to play her games when the ball is in her court, silently awaited the moment as she chose “dare” when asked by Faruq.
“I dare you to gently hug the birthday celebrant, read to him your heartfelt letter, and wish him a happy birthday.”
Toyin smiled, as it was a task she was up to.
She hugged him and read the letter to him.
During her reading of the letter, it was briefly emotional until Gabriel almost made an annoying noise.
Toyin paused and then continued. “Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you,” as they all sang to the celebrant.
Tominsin was grateful and could not think of words to express how happy he was. By reflex, he stood up.
Gabriel again said to Tominsin, the celebrant, “If you don’t have anything to say, sit down.”
Toyin was already boiling as she said to him, “If you have nothing to offer but nuisance and barking like a dog seeking whom to devour, shut your mouth. If you can’t respect him on his birthday, how much more others?”
Gabriel responded, “Your words are words of confusion. Please spin the bottle.”
Toyin tried not to create more of a scene and spun the bottle.
After a brief moment of rotation, the bottle’s tip landed in front of Gabriel.
Toyin, as if waiting for the moment, asked him, “Truth or dare?”
Gabriel, not wanting to answer truthfully, chose dare.
She created a plan in her mind as she saw Tominsin's pet snake.
"Hmmm! I dare you to touch Tominsin's pet snake."
Gabriel: "Snake? There is no snake here."
Toyin, facing him: "There is. Look at your back."
Gabriel, thinking that it was not real, suddenly opened his mouth and screamed, "It is a snake! It is a snake!"
Toyin did not know when Gabriel teleported to the ceiling, grabbing a rope like a baby monkey. Tominsin said, "You don't mean it..."
Tominsin, Faruq, Toyin, and the others burst out laughing.
"Gabriel, how can you fall my hand like this? You should be crushing the snake with your bare fingers."
Gabriel, after the adrenaline rush, was shivering; he could not even walk well.
"Toyin, you are very wicked. How could you have done this to me?" Gabriel said.
Toyin said, "So you can only throw your grammar weights all around. Funny you. I thought you were heavily confident that you would overcome this easily."
Gabriel spoke up! "I am scared of reptiles. How do you expect me to react to the snake?"
Tominsin replied, "Very funny. Don't you know this is my pet?"
Gabriel screamed as Tominsin carried the pet snake and placed it on his neck.
"It is just a toy!" Faruq added.
Gabriel started crying to the extent that Tominsin's caregiver noticed.
"What happened, my dear?"
He was not able to articulate because of his anxiousness. To add insult to injury, Tominsin said, "It was a tear of joy!"
Gabriel intensified the tears as if they were in gears.
Faruq added, "That was only the first gear."
He intensified further.
Soon the caregiver showered him with love and told his friends to forgive him, as Toyin and Faruq explained the nitty-gritty as well as the how and why of Gabriel's predicament to her.
Gabriel regretted his actions and promised to change. Though he regretted commenting and receiving such an embarrassing moment, however, it was highly needed.
To him, it was his last normal day beforet the change.
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Images were all sourced sorced from chat gtp.