Welcome to the second of the Original M & D Series Review!
In the first part, we briefly looked at the first 3 major series to precede the creation of the State of Dabar. For this review, we’re looking at two other series also counted under the M & D umbrella, but distinct because they were extended and released on the State.
So whereas the first 3 were simply placed on the site straight away, these two were released at later dates and were more developed than the original series published on M & D.
Alright, so now that I’ve explained it well enough, let’s get into it…
COMPASSION!
So this is a special story that was inspired and written a decade ago. It was a sermon by Pastor Steve Mensah on the occasion of Archbishop Nicholas Duncan-Williams’ birthday. This sermon was about the need to show compassion to others, and how that is what God wants. You know there are some sermons that just stick with you for a long period of time. Yeah, that sermon is one of them, and before I knew it, I was inspired to create this short series on it.
As I mentioned, this was written in 2012. Of course, my blogs vanished after I deleted them, but this managed to find its way into my email. And you have no idea how happy I was to find it in there after seven years! It was originally 3 episodes, but in making it a member of the State, I added two more episodes to make it neater.
So this is about a young lady named Jennifer Gaisie who, in the midst of going for a church meeting, encounters a downtrodden family in urgent need of help. It remains one story very dear to my heart; my very first Christian series.
Favourite moments? Only one, and that’s the end, when the cleaner takes all the executives to the cleaners (see what I did there?) for placing their church programs above human life. That was a proper drilling!
WHERE’S MY LITTLE BOY?
This one kinda goes back to my earlier days when I first started writing stories. Somewhere in 2010, after suffering a sensational heartbreak (don’t ask for the details, please), one of the ways I decided to get over it was to write as many stories as possible. And write I did! I targeted 100 blog posts before the end of the year, and I achieved it!
Now unfortunately, that blog is long gone. But seeing some of my Facebook posts from back in the day reminded me of some of those stories, and for many, like this, I decided to give a facelift.
Honestly, one of these days, I’ll be putting up an article about all the series on the State that are upgrades of earlier stories. Watch out for that one!
So this is an extended version of the original story written in 2010, which was titled ‘Where Is My Son?’. Clearly, not much was changed with the title.
The inspiration? I was trying to get over my heartbreak, yo! I just wanted to write!
Yeah, but seriously, in that moment, I was picking any subject matter. So for me, this was just a chance to improve it and add some excitement to it.
So this revolves around Robert Bart-Plange, father of a little boy that’s gone missing, and four young boys – Stringazy, Johnson, Illiasu and Avah – who find out the boy’s whereabouts and do the needful. In hindsight, I deem this my favourite among the M & D series.
Favourite moments? The first episode really captures the anguish and anxiety Robert is going through. The moment Sergeant Jahara receives the intel from the boys (credit to them, most guys would be too flipping scared to go back to such an intimidating man), and the end, where they all meet Robert and Benji, and are given their due commendation by the sergeant who once wrote them off. It’s a lovely story, as far as I’m concerned.