"ADE'S JOURNAL", 63

    A lone rabbit hopped and wobbled as it nibbled on fresh green chlorophyll filled nutrients. All to propel it, forward and help it grow. Escaping the near end of a beautiful life and propelling and urging it's entire being forward. The challenges continue trying to slow down my progress, creeping and burrowing down this endless barren hole. Children in birthday suits laugh and shove their way towards me and my heart flutters in fear as they inch closer. Brandishing tiny but deadly fangs, these juvenile snakes can't even swallow my tiny paws in their minute mouths. Hungry dry taste bud filled jaws that dislodge after multiple venomous bites.
Their mother birth them in my home, when I was absent. Hoping I would return to it. But I am wide awake and alert and as she did, I felt the earth quake as she introduced the litter of trouble. I immediately run far away and start digging up another home, there was no need to grumble and fight a lost battle. I had my own litter on the way, you know. It didn't bother me the first week or the last, but now I understand it all.
 I didn't before now, Until I notice and see that this snake knew I was pregnant and delivered her babies with the intention of them feeding off us all.
 Such Innocence feigning and wicked intentions exposed as I let my guard down around her.
Consequentially, what goes around comes around. The sky creatures scan below and my many tiny enemies are in for a shocker.    I have stayed too long out here and know this terrain well. I feel and hear her wings in the sky, hovering and honing on the meals dancing about below her. The eagle is diving towards me and the snakes are inching closer. In one swift move, I escape Through the tunnel I built from experience. The one that dodged rodents and critters for many, many years. I intentionally race through hole that leads back to where the snakes all live. I hear the snakes behind me,  hiss and bite the hollow bones of the unaffected eagle as it flies high away from the ground. Unaffected, i continue to dodge and escape my predators and even before me is another one. I spot a mole and turn away briskly. I'm out of harm's way but the snake that followed me down this hole meets with my enemy. It is devoured and ripped to bits, as I hop and wobble away. Smiling I cherish all the painful experience that has thought me to out manoeuver predators that try to slitter into my space and strike. I'm safe, I'm faster, I'm free and alive....

"ADE'S JOURNAL", 62

   A tiny moon hides far behind thick dark clouds, hiding or fighting to get out. I'm not sure, all I know is that the sun will shine again but when. In how hours do I need to be free and unafraid?
Minute liquid droplets encircle the air trapped around a frozen crystal, suspended and defying gravity. All banded together above everyone and everything.
Then wind constantly rises and tried to crash me, but my plan is to be focused and shine. Who's with me?

"ADE'S JOURNAL", 61

  Tiny flakes of wax shoot out from my entitled core like silver bullets. The workers race and grab the crumbs, munching and molding them into beautiful combs. Homes that would house supplies and all our basic needs, through this winter storm. The hexagonal home and storage was a beauty, a marvel to behold and just enjoy. As we walk, run and skid through, we leave footprints. Tracks that darken the cream coloured walls, our battle scars. Banding together, we vibrate and raise the temperature around us. And just like magic, we don't feel the icy winds of winter.
 This is how my life with my friends and family feels like right now. It's actually therapeutic to write down my thoughts. I know my mind feels, sounds and looks like a poetic mess of words. That somehow personifies animals, insects and nature, but that's what life is about. A jumbled up puzzle spread out in front of you as you try to piece together the puzzles.
So back to my life as a busy bee, trying to figure out how to survive all the challenges thrown my way. Or should I say, thrown our way.
  I strive and continue to forgive alliances, build a hive that will protect us from this harsh winter. And vibrating and grouping together has raised the temperature around us. Made us become like steps on a ladder, taking us higher and further away from the cold hard reality of this world. We may bond together for a short while, but our bond is strong and the fragrance of our friendship is fresh and strong. Nature designed us like this, so in this harsh winter conditions we will thrive. Especially in this life threatening situation....

"ADE'S JOURNAL", 60

  Its quarter to midnight and as I peek and stare at the moonbeam caressing the plant life all around .. I can't help but notice one lonely soul. She has vowed under pressure and shifted and almost crawled on the floor. Pushing past thorns and bigger plants. Much more resilient and robust than she is. Blooms of yellow, red and white thrive here. Butterflies, bees and beetles sway above and spread thier sweet nectar and ignore hers.
 Something must be wrong with me, she grumbled and then noticed others shift inches away from her. Maybe it's the wind, she tries to console her aching pride. Then she heard it, the distinctive sound of a pregnant fly. Moving with the wind, the lone flower tries to move away from the compound eye of this unwelcome visitor.
Instead she apologized as she lands on her fresh shoot. And then in an instant, the fly is stuck on the slippery tongue that recoils back into the mouth of the red chameleon.
Blessed is she who celebrates in the gifts of life, the different joys of this majestic world. As everything has its place and purpose. One hatched larva, could mean more and the death of me. But one heavy chameleon, is the unexpected guest I welcome to suck all the nectar in me. For now, until I attract the butterflies, bees and beetles to spread my spores and duplicate me..

"ADE'S JOURNAL", 59

  Forged in the earth, millions of years ago. Gray black and silver, the thick carbon mass danced and merged with natural elements. I carefully filed and shaped it into a cylindrical stick that would find a home inside a wooden home with a hollow core. As it rests, it is shives hard into place and waits to find its use in this strange world.
  Just like me, I wait and pause as if waiting for my purpose. Then it hits me, the image of this modern dragon. I see the creature and jump upright from my tired position. The words from the television set speaks, but I hear nothing. I just watch the Seven hundred tonnes of wonder, float and sway. It opens its mouth and flicks sideways eyes that glow like a serpent sizing up its prey. In this instance, I grab the pencil with graphite in it and begin to sketch. Nothing else mattered, not the twins fighting and jabbing for space inside me. Or the bills that have quadrupled in this time they claim that we are out of recession. Passionate about the pencil drawing taking shape, I scribble and draw until my soul lights up. And just as I start to emphasize the strokes on the jagged edges horizon of fangs. I hear a knock on the door...

"ADE'S JOURNAL", 58

    Tiny drizzles of acid rain slapped my tough short coat, my aching muscles shake and shove off the balls of mismatched elements stinging at my delicate skin. Awkward looking beings run and walk all around me and away from the waters from the sky. I do not like the pressure exerted by the rain or the splash of water from beasts they ride that coughs up smoke. This new world is something made out of nightmares.
  Yes, this ram staggered onwards, unsure of what was going to happen. Worried about how this rain would affect my skin and fur, would it discolour it? I'm not sure but , I know something isn't right. Suddenly, the hunger pangs yank at the four corners of my stomach, distracting me so much that I begin to search. So much so, that I ignore the good flogging the rain is giving me and pause and find it. I begin to swirl and swim in the glory of the chlorophyll rich grass sprouting from the earth. The grass tasted different, maybe, because of the plastic bag decaying underneath the roots. It's mixed up and merged with my food. I try to get rid of the thick blue bag my grass tore and grew out of. This strange meal I used my powerful, youthful jaws to uproot out from the earthworm filled g all around me.
 It tastes like a mix of chemicals at first and makes me gag. And then my entire body kind of relaxes. Maybe because I am now focusing on how relieved I am. Hunger will make you eat anything and not just hunger for food. It's the need to fulfill a need. And today, I will do just that.....

"ADE'S JOURNAL", 57

  The unusual cool winds smack hard at all living creatures far and near as the afternoon inched further into evening. Upright and fit, the young doe strayed from the herd to find greener pasture. It helped that her older and wiser friend, struts with her, side by side into the wilderness. This fast and furious city called Lagos, where demand and supply fist fight, face to face everyday. The aim of this perilous journey is to buy a phone and the specifications were crystal clear in my mind and head. And as we roamed round the stores in computer village, we did not find my dream phone. I swayed and waned and seethed deep in my own disappointment in this annoying crowded streets. A sharp guy spotted me and asked me what I want.      What do I want?
Stupid question, I want the best of the best or at least what I could afford to buy. Then he flashed the phone, an iPhone. My eyes lit as the greener pastures this would attract filled me with renewed hope. I tried to hide my excitement and told this fast man that I could never afford such a phone. After all all, all I had in my pocket was forty thousand Naira and the phone cost one hundred and twenty thousand Naira only He tells me that for me, the phone would cost only eighty thousand Naira. I signal to my young buck friend with locks that spelled experience and packs and muscles all over his body, that stated he had toiled hard in this life and a past one. My friend adds that if they could reduce it to fifty, we may be able to afford it. Not that we have the ten thousand extra but to check if it was possible. Two other hustlers appear and tell us to take this deal going once, twice....
And I announce that if only they can take forty, then it's a deal. My friend takes the phone and walks away as I count forty thousand and give it to him. I am a happy doe with my first iPhone, my friends could die of envy and I'd be the Belle of the ball.
  Instead he says it's too small and hustlers have been watching us. Anything could happen, does he mean I could be robbed? Or that my friends pocket could be picked?
They are not selling anymore and want their phone, My dumb buck friend gives them back the phone.
I want my money. They hand it back as a Crowd closes in. I hold on to the money and try not to get robbed. Something is not right, I stop to check the bundle of money and gasp. They did it, Swapped Paper Dreams For Thrills. The thrill of the iPhone made me get rid of my intuition and guts. I have been duped and my forty thousand Naira is down to one fake thousand Naira note. Nothing. This lesson I will never forget, this would never happen to me again....