Madrid, 2020
The lights were turned off as Blackwheel reentered the motel. It was the fifth night he was spending in the same room, in the same pair of clothes, far away from his mission to find Man. Less than three minutes ago, he would have confirmed he was mentally deranged when he saw a car moving speedily towards his direction in a way that made him imagine he was lost in one of his common dreams about Alberto. But he was totally wrong. It took the sharp response of an incoming teenager who saw him staring blankly at the driver of the car that would have hit him to pull him an inch away from death. Yet, Blackwheel knew within his heart that his time to die had not come. He knew within his heart that the car wouldn't have killed him even if it had hit him. Still, he wished the boy had asked before deeming it fit to rescue him from a fate he had personally decided. Less pain. Less thoughts. Less people. Less Alberto! He s
Owerri, 2020Ifenna fanned through the pages quickly as he searched for the missing necklace his friend had told him about. Over seven hundred in all and yet, he was unable to make sense of it. The author of the book he was looking at must have been a busy man throughout his career and the entries he had apparently written were joined together in no chronologically order, one by one, they all told stories of different civilization that had been buried during mankind's quest for power.As Ifenna stared at the book again, feeling confused and tired, another disheartening thought occurred to him. It was one of the pages of the book that had been written with the title of a man who shared the surname with a woman he met about two years ago. The title of the page he was looking at was written in bold capital letters.JAMES BLACKWHEELHe attempted to look deeper when his partner, Kainene entered his room and t
Owerri, 2020An iciness raked Ifenna's flesh as he looked at the list of items he had bought from the supermarket. The day before he had read the story about James Blackwheel and then he had thought about Maria Blackwheel. Thoughts he couldn't explain to anyone but himself. Now, as he looked at the cashier in the supermarket, rechecking if the money he had given to her was correct, all he could think about was his meeting with Maria."Is it complete?" He asked."Yes, it is! You can take your package and leave. Thank you, sir!""You are welcome!" Ifenna said.
Madrid, 2020Blackwheel seemed to read Matthew's mind as he drove quietly to a busy marketplace in Madrid."Your help was really appreciated yesterday," Matthew said, turning to Blackwheel. He smiled. "Someday, I will be ready to pay you back for what you did for me and my kids. In my family, giving is like forgiveness. It was created to be shared and not selfishly stored. There are some people who will be placed in your position and still do otherwise.""It is just a car," Blackwheel said, trying to prevent himself from smiling. "Anyone could have helped you if they had seen your kids inside your car.""I doubt!" Matthew said with confidence. "Human nature has grown from bad to worse. People are only interested in what you can give them and not what they can give you. I would love to thank God for placing you in that position yesterday but I don't believe in him. So, I am at the middle of deciding if I should thank him or stay the same.""Yo
Owerri, 2020Two days had passed since Ifenna read a part of a book that talked about James Blackwheel and all he could think about, buried within the very deepest parts of his mind was Maria Blackwheel.In his short life, he had been blessed to meet people who were able to expose him to puzzles of life, difficult situation that he couldn't comprehend. And all he could do was respond with a faint nod to show that he was listening, that he was understanding even though he wasn't."Dinner is ready," Kainene said, folding a newspaper underneath her armpit covered with small curly black hairs."I will soon be there," Ifenna responded, rubbing his face with his hard palm. He couldn't get the thoughts of Maria out of his head neither could he accept the fact that there was a strong connection between her and James Blackwheel.As he sat for another ten seconds, his mind shut down, trying very hard to resist travelling a little bit back in time when
Madrid, 2020As Blackwheel drew closer to the statue that had made Matthew's daughter shake, he saw something that was quite familiar to him. He saw the biblical figure, David in it.He stared at the naked man who appeared to be pointing towards the sky for a while and frowned. Then, slowly, he stepped back as he trembled with a new idea that had flooded his mind."I looked it up in the Internet, Dad," Martha continued. "It wasn't in this shape. The naked man was pointing east and not towards the sky.""It doesn't matter," Matthew comforted his daughter. "Statues undergo renovation sometimes. Maybe that is what happened to your friendly naked man.""Your dad is right about the statue, Martha," Blackwheel said. He strained; the muscles of his shoulders and legs quivered with effort. He faced Matthew. "I will have to go now while you sort out things with your daughter. If you ever need me Matthew, you can call the number I am going to g
Madrid, 2020Even with the sound of the music in the room buzzing his ears, Blackwheel seemed to not notice that he had been sitting quietly for almost half an hour, thinking about a ball that rocketed across an old bridge in England and landed inside the heart of an old tomb that was once the dwelling place of an important earl.All the traffic that was going on his mind was moving in the other direction, in the opposite direction that he couldn't notice, towards the negativity of his mind, as if he had suddenly become the hottest man on earth."God bless my soul," he said as he brought out a rosary that was lying on top of the drawer."God bless my soul and the soul of all those who has died carelessly in an effort to return sanity to mankind," he said again as he kissed the rosary gently.Ten hours later and he was sitting in the backseat of an already filled bus, different questions whipping through his mind as he tried to find the nearest chur
Mumbai, 2020"You may read everything you see in the great book but you must not read from the parts that talks deeply about our roots and traditions. Do you understand me?" An old man with a white beard named Dev said."We understand you as much as we respect your wisdom, sir," Five men dressed in white replied."You must be careful when you say each words because they contain meanings that shape the very existence of this world.""We understand you very much, sir.""Do you understand me?""Yes, sir!""Now, tell me the most important aspect of life?""Discipline!""And what follows it?""Courage!""And how do we achieve both?""By finding the missing necklace."
Madrid, 2020The phone in Blackwheel's pocket rang as he stepped down from the bus and raised a hand towards Xavi to tell him goodbye. Xavi answered, feeling sad as it dawned on him that he was not going to see the man who had the guts to tell him that Jesus was a black man."God bless you, sir," Xavi said to Blackwheel."God bless you too, son," Blackwheel replied and watched as the bus disappeared into another section of the road.Even from a few feet away, Blackwheel could easily recognize the cross on top of the church that was close to him. The symbol of Christ proudly warming the sky."Can I help you with something?" A short man with a Spanish accent asked. He was much shorter than the last unfamiliar man that had approached Blackwheel. Fortunately, the man talking to Blackwheel was also a pastor."Not really," Blackwheel said. "I was just hoping I could spend some quiet time with God before leaving.""Some quiet time, you say.