In a deserted school dormitory, a fourteen-year-old boy is sound asleep. A mysterious old man dressed in a homespun loincloth sneaks in, makes several small cuts on the boy's skin, and disappears. When the boy is woken up by school prefects, he has been changed to an old man.
The school deviates from its main activity of a mid-day football match to a late evening treasure hunt. Although the changed boy is kept away from the school function and is watched over by a shift of three policemen, sometime in the evening, he successfully eludes his police watch and allies with a friendly student, who informs him about the old man who caused his transformation.
The two boys head towards the forest where the old man was last seen, arriving just behind a party led by the school's senior prefect.
Will the boy be forever changed or will he regain his boyish self?
This classic thriller was inspired by incidents from the author's youth. He says, "In the first year I attended secondary school, there were several incidents of students waking up in the dormitories to find mysterious minor cuts, usually on their limbs, back, and faces. Although students would discuss these occurrences, no conclusion could be made, and the matter led to so many unanswered questions."
Born in Lagos, Nigeria, Rolic Oboh received a bachelor's degree in civil engineering from California State University Fresno. He worked for his home government's national oil and gas company for many years before moving to England, where he now resides. This is his first book.
