From the look in his eyes, one could tell what went on in it, what was boldly written in correct grammatical structures: he was not so pleased. He took his bag and walked out of the sitting room, outside, across the not-so-high but creatively-designed-balcony. Dad had spent so much on this building alone and he had purposely refused, he thought, to give him a huge amount for his pocket money.
He gave him otherwise a very flat sum. He entered the old fashioned Mercedes Benz car, shouted at Adamu to roll open the gate and zoomed out before the count of three. He drove without pride that would have been written all over his face, if he were to be in good moods.
Even at the gate, Mallam Muri the chief security officer, who would purposely await some naira notes from him every day was perplexed to see Ade drive pass the school gate into the teachers’ driveway without a word, not even a greeting. He uncaps a bottle of dry gin and gulps it to the middle leaving his face rumpled then he swallowed all his thoughts along but one of it had refused to go, probably stuck to his throat, ‘this boy must be an ingrate’, he thought, almost aloud, receding back in a slow pensive stroll, predominantly.
Yes he must. Muri had succeeded in covering some severe cases that would have sent Ade Cocker’s butt out of the school a very long time ago. Ade had not offered him a bribe, mallam cannot be bribed, not when the sum in question could pay his three son’s school fees all at once, he doesn’t collect it, he jumps at it, giving such an action a more responsible and prestigious name. ‘He must be an ingrate’ the thought came back again as he watched Ade from a distance close the car’s door with his bag hung over his shoulder.
Mallam walked into his office like a man on pilgrimage and remained there for a long time. On a final note trying to process the thought that had refused to go, that has become so stubborn, that seemed indigestible no matter how hard he tried to swallow.
Ade Coker, son of a disciplined politician got to his hostel without saying a word; he lands on his bed and then supports his gut with his chin as if both had suddenly recognized the usefulness of each other. It was Palm Sunday, many students had not fully returned from their weekend break although the hostel blocks had been fully crowded with guys trying to get the Sunday in a more decorative fiesta.
Tunde was the first to notice the moody framework of Ade, next were his other hostel mates according to their nicknames; Sorcerer, Sparrow, Bone collector and Six-feet who had seen him enter the hostel and had come to collect their own cake, as they have always done. He could not respond to their thirst and so they went away however Tunde being the closest of them all came back to loosen the hard shell that has held stiff to his friend’s cassock.
“I caught a fish in Babylon on Friday” Ade sits up. ‘Babylon’ was the ladies’ hostel and the ‘fish’ he had caught was a new fresher lady that just agreed to his sugar-coated offer.
“I promised to take her out for dinner at Drumstix this week.” He continues, wiping a dot of sweat that stood on his nose “but imagine Dad giving me this…” he flings four thousand naira in crisp notes before Tunde “as my p-money for the whole week!”
Tunde was speechless, a pauper like him, when last had he touched such an amount, a sum as huge as the alps, not when he gets his own allowance from Ade. He pats his back and gave him some sweet lines that partially settles Ade’s mind but that thought still clung to him like a rat caught in the web of a gum trap. Soon, Sparrow and Six-feet, the two best students in their department came back to equally admit and attest to his moodiness.
“The man has purposely refused to release his money to me lately” Ade concluded. “Well, it’s your fault nah” sparrow says removing the tooth pick in his mouth and sitting beside him “look man, we gave you freedom” he points at six-feet “we came to you personally, but you refused” six-feet added
“It’s not like that six-feet” Ade protested “you know too well who my dad is”…“A well-known politician. Yes? Six-feet reminded him rocking his dreadlock with one hand.
“You know what that means” he shrugged “and…and I don’t want to be another public figure”
“Okay then, kill yourself before you die.” Sparrow said. “Look here! I own the money you need, whenever you are ready to have it, you know where to find me!” he added.
Ade could not believe this, he looked up, his face shone with need but they rolled out the way they came through the exit leaving him soaked in the dilemma of his thought, in the face of a confused fate.
****************************************************
The noise spurred everyone out of their different reveries and before anyone could blink twice, two gunshot sounds were heard, a Logistics student was lying on the tiled floor and everywhere became clear within another blink. Everyone got displaced, scattered, confused and perplexed as they struggled for their own survival running out of the classroom. The security officers were quickly alerted and before the next minute, the whole scene had been crowded. The ‘dare-devils’ had killed yet another student. The rumor within a while had been circulated: Shola, as the deceased was been called, had wooed a girl that a cult guy had been attempting to get but had not been successful, he was warned but instead he chose to join his own cult; ‘the killers’ and both had ever since become rivals only that the ‘dare-devils’ had stamped the time of his death some weeks ago and had likewise carried it out after so many confrontations. Shola’s body was evacuated from the class to the school clinic located some meters away behind the school field but not sooner had he gotten there had is time of death been announced. A fast vast of cold ran across every vein as they hear the detailed report. Everyone received it with silence.
Tunde was reading a book titled ‘Doctor Faustus’ by Christopher Marlowe on his own side of the bunk when Ade Coker suddenly walked in smiling, his face gorgeously highlighting the full figure of handsomeness. Tunde became aghast, he turned over the book, facing Ade who now performs an acrobatic dance-style moving here and there and finally concluding it with a Michael Jackson kind of dance, holding his head with one hand and moving his leg in a cyclic manner, and with his other hand rocking his Chinos trouser.
“I gorrit…Yeah!” he shouted sitting beside Tunde.
“You got what?” Tunde demanded lifting up his fallen blanket
“The cash….I got the cash!” he exclaimed delightedly “now it’s time for the Babylonian girl to have a good time with her guy.” Are you serious? Tunde asked “whoa! How cool…I thought you said that…”
“Oh that uhn?” he cuts in “that was meant to keep me in bondage, but it wasn’t meant to last too long….never say never”
“Okay then, does that mean I own my share now?” Tunde asked walking towards Ade’s freezer
Ade laughed removing his jacket and throwing it on his scattered bed. Not long his phone begins to ring, he took it up and ran out across the corridor
“Hello sir” he waited and listened
“What!?” he exclaimed “when! where! How!? He asked pacing up and down the corridor of his hostel with curiosity. He finally walked in, in a more remorseful state. He sat on his bed again and his gut was already there, waiting patiently.
*************************************************
After a first, second and third date, Ade Coker and Patience Duke became the newest couple on campus within the lapse of a week. They were seen in different occasions, functions, and meetings; together and everyone applauded Patience for dating the most famous dude on campus. She blushed and snapped at ease to say some things, frankly insulting, that everyone concerned understood well without it been said. Ade became more famous and Tunde is always at the other end, patting his back with sweet words.
Although Ade had not been fully absorbed in books like Tunde who clears his exams at ease, he had always tried to maintain his grade, not increasing and not reducing. And this according to his own philosophy best defines a man; His ability to regulate his lifestyle without any infringement.
****
It’s the exam period and everyone could be seen talking, walking, eating, and sometimes sleeping in the blue shades of reading. Students are seen under trees, on top of trees and unroofed building hostels, condensed in their books. In the class, one could read the faces of everyone, on this one could read fear, on that, anxiety and on that too, disappointment; but it does portray the general feeling of what is frequently felt during exam periods. It was at this time that Ade was no longer seen, no one knew where he went, not even Tunde, for to him, Ade had solemnly disappeared. He informed the school’s security officer after a third day who also contacted his parent but did not return his feedback. He was afraid yet he still prepared for his exam but he was not fully settled. After a week and a day before the commencement of the exam, Tunde increased his study time and vowed to visit Ade’s parents because he knew that only sickness could keep Ade away from school for a whole full week. He was arranging his clothes when a knock came on the door, he stood up and opened it only to see Patience wearing a drab gown and tying a silk scarf with a strand of tear flowing across her cheeks.
“I want to see Ade” she finally spoke out
Tunde released the door, allowing her in to see for herself that Ade had been missing in school for some time now, Ade had disappeared.
“He got me pregnant and thinks he can run away right?” she blurted out blowing the catarrh in her nose “he shall meet me here on this campus”.
Patience walked out still in tears that now flows more freely as Tunde tries to absorb the sudden shock he just received. He wore his shirt and was about to get his shoes when another knock came. He opened it quickly only to see two men, wild eyed in a tucked in shirt. Before he could continue his conversation after they had introduced themselves as the state’s security agents, his waist was gripped, and he was handcuffed and was led away before a hundred eyes if it were to be counted, into a vehicle. Tunde could not just understand anything, he felt it as a dream, but no, after so many attempts to return to reality, he realized that it is the reality, the one he had never bargained. He succumbed. He believes that it must be a very silly mistake and vowed to take them to court for violating his right to life.
Tunde was dumbstruck when he saw Ade’s parents at the station, Ade’s mother, as well to do as she was, crying on the counter bare-footed and was far more filled with awe when he saw Ade, Sorcerer, Six feet and the likes sitting side by side, chained from hand to feet. Tunde was asking the questions with his eyes, he really wanted to know what was happening, what went wrong, how it went and where it went, but he could not, his eyes were surely asking it, Ade’s eyes had only stared without waiting, it did not answer, maybe it could not answer. Tunde was not chained, his handcuff was removed his clothes were removed too and he was locked in the cold-dirty-dark-ridiculous-smell of the cell.
The exam commenced with sadness as every student could not still believe the news that had suddenly circulated in the school, the sad news that now mixed with their reading producing something that looks unfamiliar, something distant and something that cannot be explained. Ade had joined a cult; ‘The Green Snakes’. He had conspired with them to rob his father so that he could get enough money. Indeed he got it. He was happy but the police during their investigation had discovered an identity card belonging to one of the supposed robbers, they were traced and Ade was eventually captured after an attempt to fly out of the country. Tunde was included in the arrest with the conspiracy that he impregnated Patience but was later cleared of the allegations.
The DPO drove into the school during the exam on Monday morning, everyone in all the classes looked out through the window with fear; he came down, accessed a few classes, a few students, a few hostels, without a word, he walked up to the Dean’s office.
Composed and Written by: Samuel_Doves
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