There lived a married couple who were so happy until they had a quarrel one night. But fortunately for the man, someone had promised him a job opportunity the next morning and will therefore have to wake up very early the next morning to see the one before he left for his current workplace. Because he thought the quarrel was brought about by his wife and therefore could not talk to her and knew that he was a deep sleeper and found it very difficult to wake up early, he took a piece of paper and a pen and wrote down these words "Please wake me up at 5:0'clock in the morning so that I won't miss my job opportunity." The wife found this note on her side of the bed, she took it read it and dropped it under her pillow when she was about to sleep.
It happened that she woke up some few minutes before 5:O'clock in the morning. She took the piece of paper and turned it over and wrote, "It is 5:O'clock so wake up" and carefully placed it beside the man.
This man finally woke up later in the morning to find this note laying beside him and this is how he lost his job opportunity.
Who do you think is to be blamed? Is it the man or his wife?

Tired of Being Cute

Eleanor looked at Ian as he watched her approach knowing that even months after her new look he was sometimes surprised when he saw her. Eleanor couldn't blame him. She had made up and dyed her strawberry blond hair, black -her wild haircut couldn't be overlooked- put away her chic clothes for black leather. The shirts she wore were never without cuts. After her last boyfriend broke up with her, with the same old excuse that with her being cute and all, she wasn't meant for him. She'd finally blown up. Cute, was all boys ever saw her to be. Yeah, she was a genius but it hadn't seemed to draw people except Ian, away from her baby blue eyes, pixyish nose and wide mouth set in a heart shaped face and five-one frame with slight curves at all the right places. She even hated her dad calling her cute and Pixy. So, added to that and all her other emotional turmoil, she decided to give herself a make over. Nobody sure called her cute anymore, certainly not Daddy dearest or any boy.
She stopped when she reached Ian and he gave her a casual hug. "Looking good, Reindeer." She teased using his surname as she opened her locker.
He groaned. "You're insufferable, pixy." He retaliated and she smiled. No one else got off calling her that.
"So, senior prom is a month away. Who are you taking?" She took out books.
"Wanna go with me?"
"That was just so funny, Reindeer." She shut the locker and they both headed for their Chem. class.
"You wouldn't be able to find a black ball gown?" He slid an arm around her shoulders in a friendly gesture.
She removed his arms from her shoulder and faced him walking backwards. Ian was six-one and she felt uncomfortable anytime he did that. If he knew, he would stop but there were times she needed that comradeship between them. He was very athletic, if his being co-captain of the school football team was anything to go by, with his charming good looks and gentle gray eyes.
"I'm certainly full of jokes this morning, huh?" He asked wryly.
She smiled and turned. "So who are you taking?"
"Paris thinks I should take Viola, says she has the hots for me." He told her, holding open the door to the lab.
Eleanor shook her head and entered. She turned to Ian when he took his seat on the high stool beside her. "I think you might not realise this Ian, but every girl in this school has the hots for you. Well, except the very committed ones."
Ian shook his head and she was amazed at his total ignorance about his appearance. "I don't really know her all that well."
"Then you should make an effort to."

Ian and Paris were sitting together talking when Eleanor went over to them, taking the seat to Ian's left.
"Hi, Paris." She set her tray of sandwich, coke and jell-o down and popped the top of her soda.
"Don't I get a hi too?" Ian asked.
"We had all our classes together, silly." She set down her soda and reached for her UCLA brochure in her file.
"What's that?" Ian asked using a finger to lift the cover of the brochure. "You thinking about going to UCLA?"
"I don't know, I haven't made up my mind yet."
"Don't blame you. You got accepted to every one of the colleges you applied."
Paris made an impatient gesture with her perfectly manicured hand and pinched her brother. "We were just talking about Viola, remember? I can't ask her out for you." She glanced at Eleanor. "Sorry, El."
"No prob."
"Why can't you?"
Paris rolled her eyes. "It's just not done. You've been out of the dating game too long, brother dear. I don't remember a time when a guy had to ask a girl out through a friend. Even first graders don't do that."
Ian took a long swig of his milk. "First graders date?" He felt someone hit his head with a book and turned to Eleanor. "Why did you do that?"
"Maybe because the male locker room odour is clogging your brain cells making you unable to think clearly. I thought you said you'd called Viola to set a date."
"Yeah but I didn't actually say I got her when I called and set a date, did I?"
"Oooh, smooth, Reindeer, that was smooth. I can't believe you lied to me." She splayed both hands on her chest. "You've absolutely broken my heart and I don't think I'll ever be complete again." She said dramatically.
Paris smiled. "I've got a club meeting to go to. Should I tell Viola to forget about you?"
"No, I'll call her again and set a date. Is that good enough for you two ladies. Excuse me, I mean lady and gentleman." He added with a smile at Eleanor. "Now if you'd both excuse me, I'm going to see what my teammates are up to." He looked at Eleanor. "I'm not deserting you, am I?"
She shook her head. "Julie is going to sit with me. Go ahead." She said vaguely, returning to her brochure.
Ian smiled and kissed her on the cheek and with a little wave at his twin sister, left with his tray after snagging Eleanor's jell-o.
She noticed and smiled with a shake of her head. She looked at Paris and saw that she was watching her in a funny way. "My looks bother you?" She asked.
"I'm used to it. It's a shock sometimes, though." She stood. "Gotta go."
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
"Hey sweetheart, want to tell me what's bothering you?" Eleanor looked at her father from across the table where they dinned. They'd been close ever since her mother died in an accident when she was eight.
"It's silly. I don't see much of Ian, that's all. Paris and I pushed him to date Viola now, they're always together."
"That's not silly." He took a sip of his water. "Have you talked to him about it?"
"I'm just his best friend."
"Just?"
"There's nothing going on between us. I'd really like for someone to believe that. First Paris, then Julie who's also supposed to be my best girlfriend and now you." She forked some salad into her mouth.
"Sweetheart, I wasn't even thinking about that. I was trying to say that being someone's best friend rated more than a 'just'."
"Oh." She blushed. "I think I'll go do some homework now."
"Sure, you'll talk to him about it?"
Eleanor shrugged and left the dining room.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Eleanor rang the doorbell to the Reindeer mansion two days later. It was opened by the butler. "Hello Ronald." She said as he opened the door wider at seeing her.
"Hello, Miss Swanson. Please come in."
"Is Ian there?" She asked, looking at the grand spiral stairs.
"He's in his room."
"Thanks." Eleanor said and started towards the stairs. It was such a workout getting to Ian's room even though she'd been coming here forever. She entered without knocking because of the music blaring from the CD player. He lay on his wide water bed with a book in hand. She hardly glanced at the professionally decorated room that probably made up the whole ground floor of her house. She was standing by the bed before he saw her.
"Eleanor!"
"Remember me?"
"Of course, I do." He got out of bed and turned off the CD player. He wore a black jeans and an unbuttoned black shirt that showed his tanned muscular torso. "You want something to eat or drink?" He asked and she declined.
"Surprised I'm here?" She asked him walking to the corner of the room where a set of furniture stood. She sat and he came to sit by her.
"Can't say I'm not." He took her hand. "I've been ignoring you lately, haven't I? I can't remember the last time we talked."
"I can."
"Don't remind me." He took a sip of his soda. "Any special reason you're here apart from wanting to hate me and failing at it?" He asked and she laughed.
"You think I don't hate you?"
"Darling, you can't." He said confidently, lying back in the chair.
"You're right. So, should I be expecting this from now on?"
"No. I'm appalled at my behaviour. I have something for you. Some things, actually." He went over to a drawer beside his bed. "Viola and I have shopped three times or so and I got you some stuff." He took a small shopping bag and returned to sit by her. "I didn't have the time to give them to you. She seems to be everywhere." He smiled faintly giving her the bag. "Now I know it's not your birthday or anything, but I just thought you'd like them so..."
Eleanor emptied its contents unto the table. She took a white box and opened it. It was a frosted glass figurine of a mare and its foal. She'd wanted to get it for months. She usually went shopping with Ian so he knew.
"No more putting off buying it and if you say you'll pay for it, I'll strangle you."
Eleanor laughed and thanked him.
The second tiny box held a key ring with a small fuzzy rabbit. "Oh, Ian." She said softly. "That's sweet."
"Hey, I just didn't want us spending hours looking for your car key when you lose it anymore." He said awkwardly.
She knew he didn't like being called sweet.
The last box contained a bracelet with her name on it. It bore a likeness to the one she lost last summer at the lake. Her father given it to her one Christmas.
"Oh thank you so much, Ian!" She hugged him and made to kiss him on the cheek but he turned unexpectedly and before they knew it, they were kissing.
They drew apart guiltily when someone tapped on the door and Ian's mother entered with a tray of cookies and fruit juice.
"Mom!" Ian stood and went over to her. "Is that mine?" He reached for a cookie and she slapped his hand away.
"It's Eleanor's. Ronald told me she was here and I thought I'd bring her these."
Eleanor went over to the woman. "Oh, that's very kind of you, Denise." She looked down at the tray. "Those are very lovely looking…cookies but unfortunately, I have to rush. I just passed by to say hi and… I'll take some though." She grabbed a handful of cookies and tasted one. "Very delicious…Mmm." She sipped the juice and made her way to the door while commending her. When she reached the door she waved and slipped out.
Denise turned to her son with a puzzled look. "Is she alright?"
Ian looked away with a shrug.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
A week after avoiding Ian and not returning his calls, she opened her locker to find the things he bought her. She wasn't surprised he knew her locker combination, she knew his.
Julie came up to her. "Want to tell me now?" She asked.
"What are you talking about?"
"I haven't seen you and Ian hanging around."
Eleanor shrugged and shut her locker leaning against it. "I can't talk about it."
"It isn't about Viola, is it? I haven't seen them together either." Julie bent her knees a bit to look into her friend's eyes. "We're still best friends, aren't we?"
She raised her head to speak but saw Ian approach, she turned to leave but he caught up with her and gently turned her by the arm.
"You can't ignore me forever, Eleanor. We have to talk about it."
"I don't want to, okay?"
"Because you felt something?"
Eleanor couldn't look at him. "It was a stupid kiss that shouldn't have happened."
"You said the same in tenth grade, only this kiss was much better than that."
Eleanor almost smiled but realised there was nothing amusing about their situation. "We're best friends. That's what we've been for years!" She reasoned.
"No, that's what I lived with for years."
She looked at him. "What are you saying?"
"I've been attracted to you for a long time, Eleanor." He said with a sigh. "And I've been so afraid of you finding out, I'm not anymore."
"And you expect me to believe that and especially after one kiss?"
"Well… how many kisses after would you start to believe me?" He asked, puzzled and felt someone to hit his head with a book. "Ow!" He turned to find Julie shaking her head.
"You can be so dumb sometimes, Ian." He turned back to Eleanor but she was gone. When he turned, Julie had gone.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
"I want you to go to the prom with me." Ian said slipping into the seat across from her at the Pizza Hut. It was a popular hang out.
"No."
"Why?"
"You think you're attracted to me but in truth, you're not."
"And how do you know that?" She shrugged and sipped her shake "You never saw me as a girl before, Ian."
"Oh please! Even in these clothes and hairdo, I think you're-" He stopped when he saw her look.
"Cute?" She supplied acidly.
"What's wrong with being cute anyway?" He asked in frustration.
"Wrong answer, Ian." She slipped from the booth and headed for the exit.
Ian sighed and went after her. "Why are you being so difficult?"
"I hate being cute, I'm tired of being cute."
"Oh, pixy-" He saw her glare.
"What, now I can't call you that either? You call me Reindeer."
"Newsflash, Ian. It's your name."
Ian drew her into his arms. "Listen, I care about you. I'm infatuated, I'm head over heels, and I don't want to hide these feelings anymore and I want us to do something about it. I think going to the prom together would be the best first step."
"Infatuation and caring don't go together, Ian. It'll pass." She turned and walked towards her jeep.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Eleanor sat in front of her computer days later, pondering over Ian's strange behaviour the last couple of days. After the incident at the Pizza Hut, he'd gone back to treating her like he did at first and she found that strangely disconcerting. She found herself constantly wondering what it would be like to go on a real date with him, to feel more of that wonderful… She shook her head and went on-line to check her mail. She was surprised to find a mail from Ian and decided to read it.
I walked into a third grade class and saw a girl that held me spellbound the second I looked into her soft blue eyes. I thought she was the cutest girl ever and gave my heart to her.
Years later, I surprised her with a kiss, thinking she might give me her heart but she didn't. She wanted to be friends.
Two weeks ago, we surprised ourselves with a kiss and she downplayed my affection. I've been longing for so long and she's tired of being cute.
I think she's cute, I think she's funny, I think she's genius, I think I'm in love with her and she's tired of being cute. Truth is she'll always be cute, funny and genius and I'll always care for her but she's tired of being cute.
Eleanor read over the message several times and went to stand in front of the mirror in the bathroom. She peered closer at herself and was disgusted. Who was she kidding? She was cute, nothing was going to change that, she couldn't run away from herself. She stepped back and with a determined set of her lips, decided what to do.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
"Morning, Dad. Last day of high school. Couldn't be happier." She poured herself a glass of juice.
"Yeah, you've done-" He looked up from the newspaper. "me proud." He finished. "Well, good morning, pixy. My cute girl is back."
Eleanor smiled and brushed a hand through her strawberry blond hair, feeling no resentment. She had had a haircut to her chin. She wore a wine knee length dress with mid-thigh high slit at both sides with an oversized gold belt and gold loop earrings. She had applied some light make up and had a gold and wine sandals at her feet. She loved the way the dress clung flatteringly to her curves. For the first time in a long while, she loved herself.
She was still feeling that way and aware of the surprise and murmurs that flowed from the students as she walked towards her locker, a few boys whistled. Ian was standing with his back to her, talking to some teammates when she approached him. He turned and saw his mouth drop open in surprise. "Eleanor?"
"Hello, Ian." She stopped beside him and smiled. "Hey guys, can I have a moment alone with him?"
"What happened to you?" He asked, the disbelief apparent in his voice after his companions had left.
"I got your mail."
"Oh." He looked away.
"I loved it. Thanks."
"You're welcome." He looked anywhere but at her.
"Ian? Look at me." He did.
"Will you go to the prom with me?" She'd shocked him again.
"Why?" She hooked a hand through his as they started down the hallway.
"Because I've been secretly longing too."
He smiled and put his arms around her. "I'll be happy to go to the prom with you."
She smiled.
"Eleanor?"
"Yeah?"
"You look…"
"Cute?"
"And beautiful and breathtaking."
Eleanor laughed and he came to a realisation and voiced it with an amount of surprise and pleasure. "You're no longer…"
"Tired of being cute." She finished and entered through the door he held open for her, finally at peace with herself.

" Why can't everyone just leave me alone?" Prue screamed at Mike as he tried to control her after a horrible between she and her fiancé that had led to their sudden break up. She ran away from her ex-fiancé's office grounds and got into her car and sped off at an alarming speed.
Mike was so worried about her that he also got into his car and followed the lady who had done so much for him; the lady who made him see life as it was but not as cruel as it seemed to him. The lady who had gotten him a good shape after his fiancée dumped him. Now, there was, hurting because his best friend who happened to be her fiancé had believed in some stupid lie and blinded by jealousy had decided to call it quits.
Mike liked and respected Prue very much and he wasn't about to listen to a lie about her having an affair with another guy. The thought of it disgusted him. As he remembered her face full of shock and tears falling down her beautiful face, he couldn't bear it. It had been bad enough to be present in the room when Andy broke the news, but seeing the shock and hurt made it even more unbearable.
It all happened so suddenly that he thought he was imagining it. Lying straight ahead of him was Prue's car which had been badly crushed into a tree. He hurried to her car and got her limp body into his car and sped off to the hospital. At the hospital, she was sent to the ICU. It seemed like ages before a doctor came out and said as if ignorant to Mike's anguish that Prue was in a coma.
He mastered up courage and went to the ICU ward to see her. Just seeing her lying so lifeless with a lot of machines holding her life, tore his heart. He felt tears falling down his cheeks.
He remembered all those good times when he had me Prue at a friend's party. They had taken to each other right from the start. They never thought of going into a relationship because, to them, the brotherly and sisterly love was enough. It was at Mike's birthday party that Andy and Prue had met and started dating. They had been so much in love until BB, a guy who was obsessed with Prue's beauty lied to Andy that Prue was seeing another man. What really shocked and annoyed him was that, Andy had really believed that lie.
Just then, he was brought back to the present when a nurse told him that he had to leave. He gave Prue a peck and left without a backwards glance.
He got to Andy's office without knowing how he did it. He walked in without knocking and the last thing he had expected to see. There was Andy 'doing his thing' with his secretary. Disgusted by his behavior, he yelled " Look at what you are doing while at this moment, your fiancée, ex-fiancée or whatever is in the ICU fighting for her life, just because of you! You bastard". He stormed out of the office, got home and cried like he had never done before; he felt so guilty for what had happened to Prue. He should have seen it coming.
Five days after Prue had been in coma, he was called at his office to get to the hospital as soon as possible. When he got there, he saw Prue's lovely face in a smile as she spoke to a handsome young man who he assumed was the doctor. When Prue's gaze finally drifted from the doctor, she saw Mike and stretched out her hands to him. They hugged each other and said nothing although everything was said in their silence and their tears. When they finally drifted apart, she introduced the doctor as George, her doctor. With a polite handshake and an "I'll see you later", George left and Mike knew that something just wasn't right.
His suspicions were made obvious six months after Prue had been discharged, she went to visit Mike and told him that she and George had been going out with George. Mike just laughed and hugged her raising her high in the air and twirling her round.
"You know what your face looked like after you made your little confession. It was as if you had committed a crime." He said. " You're really naughty. After been in love with a guy for six months, you're now telling me . I could spank you for that you know".
"I wasn't really sure until he proposed to me yester…now wait a minute. How did you know I was in love with the guy. I hardly mentioned him" she said. " That's the main reason why I knew you were in love with him. You know what, that first day I saw you with him after your coma, I knew there was something bound to happen between you two" he continued. "I'm really happy for you my dearie? Now go and get yourself engaged, he really is a great guy, extremely better than Andy. I didn't want to tell you this but I guess I have to. Yesterday, Andy came to see me and pleaded with to put you two back together, that rat. I gave him a strong warning and he began to prove stubborn so I .…….."
"So you hit him" she supplied for him. " You shouldn't have, because he is partly to thank for my meeting George. If it hadn't been for George, who knows, I would still have been crying over love that never was and never would have been. I really owe him at least an invitation to the wedding" Prue said. "See you later dearie" she said then left him wondering.
Mike couldn't bring himself to imagine that there was such a woman who had such a big, loving and kind heart. He hoped that someday, he would also meet a lady like her.

My lost half brother

It was a little after midnight and the rainstorm had finally ended when the phone started ringing. It rang for about three times before my mum picked it up. To her surprise, it was my lost half brother who we thought was really lost, but now he wasn't and the good news was that he was returning home on the coming Friday after all these years abroad. The day the incidence occurred was a Tuesday. All these happened when I was asleep.
The next morning, I woke up very late and rushed to the bathhouse to brush my teeth since it was time for breakfast. As I approached the dinning table, the whole family was so happy chatting and making so much noise. Immediately I got to the table, everyone kept quiet. My daddy broke the silence and told me about the good news. I was so excited that I spun round and round until my sides almost split with joy, and my head reeled with dizziness. Now I was thinking of how to interact with him and things he would buy for me. My mum told me he was typical of my daddy; 'he is handsome, thick tall, well built and any good thing you can think of a young man,' she said.
To me, Friday, which was in three days time, was like three years. By the time I got to school and back, I had already broadcast the news to my friends about my brother's home coming.
At long last, Friday came. That morning, as we were arranging and decorating the things in the house, there was a news flash on the television about the crush of two airplanes. To our surprise, Frank, my half brother was involved in the accident. In the speed of light, the whole family hurriedly rushed to the scene of the crush since it was near the airport.
We searched for Frank's body for long time of about four to six hours without success. We went round the hospital, clinics and mortuaries in search of his body, but it all proved futile.
My long awaited half brother Frank is last again this time forever. May his soul rest in peace. I really wept. He was one person I never got to talk to so much because I remember seeing him when I was only about two years old.
I got my agony off the next day; I will miss him a great deal

THE SECRET OF SUCCESS

Atia sat at his doorstep with his chin in his palm. He soliloquized bitterly in blame of himself. But what was the cause of all these traumatic moments and dilemmas? When did it all start and was it too late to back up? Is there still any opportunity for a rebound? If there's any, then by what process?
Atia lost both parents whiles a toddler; but for his big brother, he wouldn't have survived in the wiles of life in the small village of Wariyanga. Atia big brother, Yaro took the role of parenting and provided all that was necessary for the up-keeping of his younger brother. Months came, years passed and soon Atia could think for himself.
But you see it is the most difficult things to convince a young man at eighteen that his mother ever bathed, not even talking of the fact that he ever sat on his mother's potty.
If the above statement is true then, it probably into being when was eighteen. He never helped his brother in days anything. Anytime he was given something to do, he did it as though he would never be an individual of his own. By the next seven years, Atia had to live in own house as was the custom of his people and hence, this problem.
He was still on the door-step when it dawned on him that a jujuman could help. So, his next initiative was to see a jujuman. By the following day Atia was a very happy man. Why? He had been given "the simplest method to get rich," all he needed to do was to get one litre of his own sweat and present it to the jujuman. By the next one hour, Atia had turned the one hundred metre square virgin forest near the house into bare land with the aim of getting the sweat. Un fortunately, the bottle never got full as each days sweat dried up by the next day. He could not fill the one litre bottle in a day.
He therefore planted a variety of crops on the cleared land, and worked very hard each day with the aim of still getting the sweat. But all to no avail. However, by the six month, Atia was very amazed at what he saw on his farm, for his crops had grown very well and had given very good yield. It was exaggerated that, a finger of plantain from his farm was enough for a family of six Atia therefore continued to work on the farm and so, became one of the richest when in his village - he did not go back to the jujuman.