The Dog & the Vomit

The Dog & the Vomit

The veranda, blurred out

The dog is not barking.

I walk out into the corridor. Dead cat. Dead piglet. Dead chicken. But I find none from its night hunt. It is always the same spot on the veranda, just before the stairs.

Downstairs, the landlord is barking. But the dog is nowhere to be found, and neither is its owner’s laptop. Either way, I can step out for school today without having to rush. As I walk down the stairs, I see footsteps in the sand piled against the west wall.

I walk past majestically and mutter a “thank you.” No one will be playing ‘fastest to the gate with Caesar’ today.

THE END

I hoped to finish and publish the story before February ended. However, it’s that short because I got stuck; my brain wouldn’t settle on a single idea to build on.

So, I’ll just share some happenings from my February instead:

The Dog

Starting with the dog story: I called two ‘brothers’ I met in Ìbàdàn recently. Our conversations reminded me of how much one decision can shape our lives, and what life was like in the building where one of them and I used to live.

That dog was so annoying: it would kill useless things and scare innocent people, but go MIA the moment thieves actually showed up.

The Gap

Fresh into February, I was still seeing engagement on Part II of *On Feminism*. A friend mentioned they didn’t quite understand it, and at first, I didn’t see why.

It took the “false rape-Simi” saga for me to revisit the piece and realise what was missing. I simply wanted to make it clear that my values of fairness, equality, and justice take root first in my faith, before feminism.

However, in making my case, I realised I had unconsciously assumed my readers would buy Bisola Badejo’s “When God Met A Feminist” — a 244-page book — just to understand my three-minute article. This left a gap. While an article from the same author has since filled it, I’ll summarise my own observations here so I don’t repeat the mistake. I realised that:

On BB’s article

• People often struggle to accept contradictory truths about a person simultaneously. For example, a wife-beating philanthropist. One trait does not cancel out the other.
• People who stand for just causes can err in other areas or even perpetrate the same evils they fight against to justify their cause (e.g., reading last year that Martin Luther was allegedly unfaithful to his wife and complicit in rape).

The conclusion: There is no perfect fairness or justice outside of God.

The Vomit

I attended PowerElec 2026 and the Sub-Saharan Africa International Petroleum Exhibition and Conference (SAIPEC), and I wrote an article on the new Nigeria Industrial Policy. For Valentine’s Day, I shared the love of Christ alongside my church family. Afterward, I returned to push out communications for “Love & Business,” a feature my workplace uses to celebrate Valentine’s Day externally.

Internally, however, I underestimated my low sugar threshold. I ended up quietly vomiting cake and ice cream at work while everyone else watched Yoh! Bestie.

Finally, a senior colleague told me they’d be resigning, and I got emotional. I didn’t see the announcement or my emotions coming.

The Grace

I spent my last two Saturdays with people I love, and the time reminded me that some foolishness simply has to end.

So, let us share the grace…

THE END (Seriously, this time).