CHAPTER FOUR

******

Again..I saw her in my dreams but this time it was different .

She wore a white dress. No not the kind of white dresses one wears to a wedding. No!!

It was a different kind of white dress that I could not even explain. But she was beautiful in it. Maybe because I saw her perkiness right through it.

Maybe because I could touch her bellybutton without wondering where it is.

Maybe because she looked fairer than all the ladies in the land..

Maybe because my other self had risen to its full height to say hello to its queen.. I don't know.

But I couldn't move.

My throat had suddenly become try. My body ached. .not from pains but from yearnings .

From desire ...for a feel..a taste... a savour. ..

Like one wanting the taste of blood palpating through the veins from an unsuspecting woman's neck.

Like a lion waiting to devour ..its prey while it is unaware...

Like a man..craving the desires from her bosom..within her thighs..and drink from her fountain...

But yet I didn't move..not even when she came to me

Not even when she kissed me..

Not even when she went on her knees...

The warmth..the wetness...the volcanic rupture..then...

********

I woke up.

I didnt need anyone to tell me.

"Damn"!! I muttered as I got up and went to the toilet, passing the mirror and noticed the wet patch on my shorts..

"Bruno..get it together man. !! I chided myself. I knew only a cold shower would bring me back my sanity..

********

Two nights ago I already made up my mind to go back to Amara ' s place to tell them I had changed my mind.

As I stood in the middle of my room I wondered what I was going to say to them. I hit my head and wondered why I wasn't thinking with my head.

My phone buzzed.. I picked on the second ring..

"Hello my son?? ' why does that voice sound familiar

"Helo ..Good morning? '" curious tone

"Ehen my son, I just wanted to tell you that Amara has just bought the jamb form and submitted it. ".

"Haaaa!!! When....how...ha!!" I sank to the chair and held my head.

"Hain...she just came back not to long ago. It's 10 am na. She had to go earlier..because of the crowd. So she has finished and came.home. They said they will let them know about their centers later. I just wanted to inform you. God bless you my son". .. line went dead. But I still held the phone to my ear..hands in my head still.

"Bruno..what have you done? ?" I asked myself.

*********

"Guy. ..!!" Junior laughed in my face as he sipped his beer

"You high. No...you craze. No infact. .your head no correct. No!! You stupid. .No...oohhhhm....I no even sabi wetin to tell you sef again' He laughed some more

I had left my house and gone to his, we went to a bar behind his place. I took water. He liked his beer.

"See junior. ...Infact. ..' I trailed off.

'How can you offer to train a girl you don't even know. No!! Let me.rephrase. how can you offer to train a girl when you don't have shit to your name..per se. Is it from your meagre salary you want to do so?? From your one room you want to do so?? Dude that's pretty messed up.

Abi she jazz you??"

"Or you were looking at her goodies and lost it up there and then down there' He demostratated and laughed again

"Guy no de talk like that.

It's nothing like that "

"See if you liked her that much...a little toasting would have sufficed. Buy her one or two things..get her in your bed..and out of the door the next. Guy. ..have you lost your thunder? ? You alone be badt -guys now. You aren't called the hammer for nothing. Bruno the hammer. What happened to you bro???

I scratched my head.

'It's nothing like that. For the first time...even if she caught my eyes...no doubt..even if that would have being my first thought... but for the first time....I didn't want to just hit that and run.

I wanted to protect her and shield her from all that. ..from bad boys..from me.

Hide that part of me away from her. I couldn't even boast about my bad boy tendencies hundreds of feets close to her...

I just ..I just ..wanted to talk..to get to know her...and next thing am offering her a life's opportunity. I don't know what to do!!

"Ehen go back and tell them you got hit in the head' He offered.

" Dude it's not that easy "

'Erm make I do am for you? ? Guy she na just orange seller. What's so special about it. Spin her..toast her. .taste her...and say bye to her. Opkari! !! Charlie why you de dull? ?

I shook my head. No one understands

"Dude. ..you gatto handle it man. She has already taken the first step. You better pray she flunks it. Else....you got a charity case on your door step. My advice...eat her. Then bye-bye!!! He whistles.

I suddenly felt irritated.

"Is everything about you sex related? ?"

"See this manchie! ! A few days ago you were spewing eroticas about that girl from the club. Today you are playing Pope. Mbok!! Park well. You know that's the point to this whole thing. You sha want a taste to her cookie jar..that's why you stupidly open your mouth "whooahhh ' to say ' I Will take care of your university education' He mimicked Bruno ' s voice " and burst-ed out laughing.

"Guy no de yarn dust. I came came to you to help me find a solution to this but you prefer to yab me and talk nonsense. Where the love na???

He snorted ' I have already given you free advice. Take it or leave it. That would be a thousand naira and 500 naira extra for wasting my time. After with shit APC got going around and Buhari making things times two of their price...the economy is hard...money is hard to come by and time is money and you just wasted my precious time. So pay up! !!

"You no well"!! I eyed him

"No bro. You need help. Orange girl getting you thinking like jesus. That's side" he laughed again... but I wasn't smiling. ..I wasn't smiling at all.

"How the fudge was I going to get out of this mess"!!??

Even the water tasted bad in my mouth.

"Shit'!!!