The Voice: A game of wins

CHAPTER 1 A good commander is benevolent and unconcerned with fame. No, that was not Wisdom. The young man was very much enthusiastic about fame. He was way too famous that even the denizens of the valley crawl out from their holes at the hearing of the name 'Wisdom'. And the birds of the sky sing and dance to his name. Oh, he was not only famous but also centre of attraction to the other gender. His intelligence is absolutely exquisite and his handsomeness is sexually driven. What a complete being?! Success comes to those who dedicate everything to their passion in life. To be successful, it is also very important to be humble and never let fame or money travel to your head. No, that was not Wisdom too. The fame did not only travel to his head, it also circulated through his bloodstream that he lost his sense of meekness; nothing and nobody matter to him except how to remain on the top seat of win to win contest where knowledge accompanied by fame and money flourish. Nevertheless, flash light from camera reflected on his face and black suit with shinny Italian shoes as he walked briskly on a red carpet to his car where his driver waited with his hand on the back door of a BMW. Just before Wisdom entered, a journalist approached with a microphone. "Sir, what do you have to say about the next win to win competition?" the female journalist positioned the microphone on his mouth. "I always win. That's all I can say about the next contest." Wisdom's voice trailed over the noisy crowd. "Sir, where does your source of inspiration come from?" The question did not only remind Wisdom about the voice which he did not hear anymore, it also reminded him of his cleverness which came from The Voice. So he swallowed hard saying, "The world is an open book of knowledge and wisdom. To know what you know and what you do not know, is true knowledge. I was gratified to be able to use, promptly, any words thrown at me at the contest, but at the end i say to myself that didn’t know because to know, is to know that you know nothing." he smiled. "I know nothing" he concluded then entered into the car which drove away. The journalist turned to the camera. "Wow! I wish I have a glimpse of his response, but Mr. Wisdom was just being Wisdom. He just gave us a tip of an iceberg on how hot the next win to win competition will be. I admit, I know nothing too." she smiled broadly which changed to a cracking laughter after the camera went off. : : The interior of the BMW was as quiet as a mouse. The car engine barely had a trace of sound wave through the air. Wisdom spaced through the tinted glass of the back-seat with a hand on his jaw. Obviously, he was lost in thought. Beside him was his P.A, Arinze, a short old man with gray beards nicknamed Aristotle. The man looked at young Wisdom and said, "He who solves a problem with a problem will always have a problem in waiting. You're getting yourself over worried about the missing Voice, sir. It was just a voice in the air as you claim because I have never heard anything myself." Wisdom turned. "The Voice did not get missing. He left me probably to another person. The voice is a voice of knowledge and wisdom. I am who I am today because of the voice!" "You do not need the voice anymore! You're the most clever person in the world now!" Wisdom stared at the short man, thinking critically. "You're right, Aristotle. I am even more clever than the voice." he boasted. "That's the spirit, young master!" Arinze patted his shoulder and continued. "Even if the voice left, it's just a matter of time for you to find it. The problem with the palace attendant isn't how to steal the king's drums but where to play them from." Wisdom chuckled at the reasonable proverb.. : : She trapped a log of wood with a leg while the other stood firmly on the ground. She lifted an axe to split the wood but her mother's voice restrained her. On a brown bogus gown and tattered hair, she straightened up to see her mother matching closer like a warrior with a paper in her hands. What could ignite such locomotion from a poor old woman? She wondered. "Nessa! Nessa!! Vanessa!!!" the mother shouted, looking at the paper. She nearly stumbled on one of the woods when she approached. "Mama, what is it?" the poor local girl asked her mother enthusiastically. Mrs. Ericka Frank, the mother, flung the paper at her daughter aggressively then began. "Vanessa, what is in your head!? Oh, why am I even asking? I know you have an empty head. This is the third time, three good times you are failing an entrance exam to the higher institution. Look at your result again; fail, fail, fail. Your elder brother took the entrance exam once! Ah, Nessa!! You are an okpoko! You don't know anything!!" She mockingly dramatized her anger and left the daughter in a devastating mood. The axe in Vanessa's hand fell from her. The sound could tell the heaviness of the metal tool when it hit the ground. Already, the poor girl had started shedding tears as she picked the paper up, looking at her F9s. Sadly, she walked to the wall of the house, sat down with her legs well closed and covered by the bogus gown. She wept and wept until the last drop of her tears dried. Suddenly, she heard a young male voice that said, "You weep beautifully and your tears are beautiful too. A drop on the paper is capable of making the failures beautiful failures. Hahaha.." Vanessa actually found the words funny too, so she began to smile, thinking it came from one of her hilarious village friends. Therefore she said, "I'm not in the mood, Chike." she turned to the direction of the voice but didn't see anybody. Stunned, she stood up, looking around like a rat under a criminal mission. "Chike!" she called and called, yet no response neither did she see anyone. Hurriedly, she entered into their living room where a television was replaying the last win to win competition. Oh, she was drawn to Wisdom's face and intelligence. Suddenly, the voice came again, "Do you like him? I do too, just that he doesn't know anything." "Jesus! Mama!!" Vanessa exclaimed frighteningly. She tried to run out from the room but stumbled on a stool. Not only did she fall with her stomach, her breast felt the texture of the floor too. Only her hips vibrated rigorously on the bogus gown when she succumbed to the force of gravity. "Please, don't be afraid. I will not harm you!" the voice said again. Vanessa turned on the ground, roaming her eyes once more all over the living room. "Who are you?!" she shrieked, but there was no response. "Tell me who you are! Or don't you know who you are?!" she was still frighteningly inquisitive. "People without the knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots." the voice replied. The poor girl stood up, still looking around as the voice continued, "I am the voice of knowledge and wisdom." "An Angel?!" Vanessa grinned. "Oh, my God! I've been visited by angel Gabriel! Thank God I'm still a virgin. Am I going to be impregnated by the holy spirit and give birth to the savior of the world?" "Hahahaha" the voice laughed. "Impregnate by the holy spirit? Hahahaha." he laughed again. "First, I'm not an angel, not even close. I may not be here to put my thing into your gazanana, but..." "Gazana what?" she interrupted. "Gazanana" the voice chuckled. "Actually, I may impregnate you but I will impregnate you with knowledge and wisdom to beat Wisdom Derick on the next win to win competition." he added. Hearing that, Vanessa glanced at the television. "I'm not smart enough to be on that competition. I can't even pass my entrance exam into the university. My mama is right, I do not know anything." she sounded sadly. "Your mama is wrong. For not knowing anything, you know everything." "I don't understand." Vanessa walked to the center of the local living room. "To know, is to know that you know nothing." "If I know by knowing nothing, my knowledge is useless." "There is much pleasure to be gained from useless knowledge. Any fool can know. The point is to understand." Vanessa looked around the living room again. "Wait, am i dreaming?" she asked. "Hold fast to dreams, for if dreams die, life becomes a broken-winged bird that cannot fly?" the voice replied. "You speak with much wisdom.. wait!" Vanessa stretched her hand in the air. "We are literally having the win to win competition! You turn every words I say into a wise deep motivation!" "Yes, Vanessa, and if I waist five seconds to do that, I'll lose." the voice clarified. "Yeah, I know the rules. And you want me to compete with Mr Wisdom Derick?" Venessa giggled and sat down on a local couch. "First, I don't have money to register. Secondly, i don't have the brain. I can't even pass an entrance examination." The voice exhaled. "You only read to pass the exam. Therefore, reading furnishes the mind only with materials of knowledge; it is thinking that makes what we read ours. Wisdom is not a product of schooling but of the lifelong attempt to acquire it. To attain knowledge, add things everyday. To attain wisdom, remove things everyday." "Wow!" Vanessa stood up. "Teach me!" she requested. "I cannot teach anybody anything. I can only make them think" "Make me think!" "Hahaha.. okay, what do you say we rob Wisdom's knowledge and win the competition?" Vanessa mope at the wall of the living room after the statement which she needed to turn into a wise deep motivational quote within five seconds. But she had spent more than a minute in the quiet room, thinking of what to say. Oh, the voice gave up after a long waiting. "Aah, Nessa!" he exclaimed disappointedly. "Actually, I'm beginning to believe your mother. You're an okpoko. You do not know anything." "I told you!" the girl spread her hands. "But I thought knowing nothing is knowing everything." "Not until you make something out of nothing! That's what the competition is all about!" "It's way too difficult!" she sat down on the couch hopelessly again but suddenly stood up. "Okay, what would you have said if you were me when I say 'we rob Wisdom's knowledge and win the competition'?" "No thief, however skillful, can rob one of knowledge, and that is why knowledge is the best and safest treasure to acquire." The voice replied immediately. "Wow!" Vanessa exclaimed. "What if I just say robbery is a crime?" "Can that response actually make someone think? No! Because it's not deep and more motivating!" "This is harder than I thought." she totally laid on the long couch then slept off. “Wisdom is not like money to be tied up and hidden. Wisdom is like a baobab tree; no one individual can embrace..." Vanessa's snoring voice interested the voice. He exhaled. She stretched awake by the voice of her mother which shouted, "Oh, my goodness! Nessa!! Nessa!!" the woman's painful hands tapped her shoulder. "Nessa, what's wrong with you again? Have you become lazy too? Look at the woods, you've not finished them. Please, go take your bath and go to the market!" she dropped a bunch of money on a wooden centre table.