Chapter 15: Chapter 15

Chapter Fifteen

Klara’s arrival was a big boost for Imara in her current occupation. Even the girls Idara and Bukky had complemented Imara on the giant she brought home that Saturday night “yes that my girl”, Imara said.“Now we shall see how the foolish people will get away with their foolish acts, Bukky added indeed Klara’s presence was a real blessing to Imara, after seven years under her dogged protection, Imara flourished in her chosen trade. One satisfied expatriate had paid her well and recommended her services to a friend. So it was that her business had grown until she was an established prostitute in Brass city. Imara had regular clients, three fat bank accounts, and a notice on the front door describing her as a public relation consultant and model extraordinaire. In the midst of her good fortune, Imara never forgot her two friends Bukky and Idara who had stood by her during her trying moments.Most times she went into moments of depression, especially when she saw a close friend‘s obituary on news paper and when an occasional letter arrived for her from Thounder who was serving a very stiff jail term in prison for attempted murder. Though sometimes she drank too heavily and became aggressive but overall Imara was happy with her life and her contentment showed in her glowing features and healthy body. But above all, her happiness stemmed from her friendship with Klara, the only person in the world who had always loved her and remained loyal. Although, Imara would never admit it, she valued her friend more than any of the comforts she had earned through her trade Klara’s loyalty was never in doubt, as always she devoted herself to Imara like a body guard watching over a big boss.

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The last five years though tough had not been harsh to Imara, her life was a hard one and as always she was quite prepared to take what life had got to offer. She got drunk very often, smoked considerably and devoured junk food a lot, yet still her figure was perfect her waist was slim and her long legs were well shaped. Her dark eyes were hard and still retained the non-chalant expression with which she stared at the world right from the teenage years. At twenty-eight she no longer prowled the street of Brass city looking for customers, nor did she sit in night bars watching eyes alert for some man to look in her direction. She did not need to go through that anymore. Imara was well known and had the reputation of giving satisfactory services. She was virtually calling the shots in the profession; her clients were young men looking for a good time. There were mostly expatriates with expense accounts earned from working with the state tinapa’s project. They all preferred Imara because she was neat and lived in a tidy environment and was beautiful and in control of herself unlike the other who were always stoned and appeared stupid with foolish grins posted on their stoned faces. Imara made a good living with little or no inconveniences and also protected herself from being infected with disease of any kind. She did not entertain all men; she could pick and choose her customers and also make out time for a well deserved rest.

Klara remained an important factor in her life both as protector and friend. There was no sign that she had aged since she came to live with Imara. Her face was smooth and she still clutched to Imara with a passionate devotion for a savior who removed her from the dull life of the reform centre.

Her huge shape could often be seen walking beside the equally tall, but slim Imara as they walked along Fenton Street on shopping trips. The two friends contrasted each other sharply. While Imara was smartly dressed and swung her body in a sexy manner, Klara dragged herself along, a funny grin on her face. And she was always dressed in a faded jeans pinafore. “Must you always wear this faded pinafore? “Imara would ask frequently. “It always makes you look like an old woman”. Imara herself was always very careful about her appearance for it had been one of the things that had kept her. With a frown Klara would say stiffly, “What I wear shouldn’t be a problem to you”, indeed whenever she went to the market, It was always the same type of dresses and colour. From under her veil of false eyelashes, Imara would often remark. Klara would laugh out loud, ‘You can’t do without me”, she would say in reply, “You need me to protect you from the area boys of Brass city. Thanks to me, you’re making good money and I’m not well paid”.Imara would stop in her track and stare totally at Klara and then start to laugh. While Klara would fondly pat her on the shoulder “oh Imara we’re good friends, let us remain so”, she would beg. “All right, love you’re correct, I know I couldn’t get this far without your support, “Imara would say smiling. With her Business in good shape, Imara had ordered the entire pleasure paradise renovated. Indeed the entire place was wearing a new look which would further position her as the undisputed queen of the trade. Due to her vantage position, Imara had made a lot of money in the last six years. Majority of her customers being expatriates earning their pay in dollars always paid in hard currency and also took her out to expensive restaurants and were very much at ease with this tall beautiful public relations consultant. They remained conscious to the fact that the word prostitute was anathema. One bright Saturday afternoon, while shopping at watt market, they ran into an old friend. It was Klara that spotted him first.”You won’t believe what I’m seeing but don’t look”, she muttered, “He’s not coming this way, one of those past stories you know, one of Bukky’s leftover’’. Imara was wearing dark frames under a wide-brimmed straw hat, but taking off the sunshade, she looked in the direction that Klara had indicated. ‘What the dickens’, “she exclaimed, “its Fela. He looks worn out. I wonder what he’s been up to these past few years”.Klara made a face at her. “Let’s move on, Imara”, she said. “Don’t stop. He looks more like a destitute now”, Klara urged her. “No why not give him a thought?” And contrary to Klara’s appeal, Imara stood still and smiled directly into the old man’s face. Fela walked with a very pronounced limp and wore a faded sailor’s jacket. He had a dark face and some grey stubs of hair on his jaws. “Good afternoon Fela, “Imara greeted. “Quite an age since we saw last”. On realizing who was calling to him, Fela’s face lit up with a smile which displayed two missing lower tooth and black eyes, “My goodness, blast the crows! He cried. “Its Imara, long time no see”, he said holding out his hand to her.. “waoooo how’s the business going?” Imara asked sweetly.

“Ah my sweet giant still good with blow jobs?’.Fela asked with a mischievous wink of the eye

Klara gave him an evil look as she recalled one of his kinky request when he had insisted after watching an erotic movie that Klara do a fellatio on him. Imara had rolled about on the bed with hysterical laughter at the expression of horror on Klara’s face. Klara had not found it funny then and even disgust still showed on her face.

“Alright ladies, what about a drink to celebrate our meeting “Fela suggested. “Let me get us a cab” “No need for that, my car is parked over there, “Imara said pointing across the road. “You have a car? “Fela asked in amazement. “Oh drop it, what’s the big deal in having a car? “Imara replied with a chuckle. They boarded Imara’s red BMW and went off to “The Eagle”. Fela’s favourite drinking spot in Brass city. Imara was really pleased to see him again looking okay, for she had always had a weakness for old Fela. She had shared him with Bukky just before she made it big. But then she had not actually discarded him, Fela had suddenly vanished without a trace. Rumours had it that he had gone to Malabor in Equatorial Creek for business. His tastes were record high, he was fun to move with but usually he paid well and he was a gentle man with a funny sense of humour. Together they sat in the eagle drinking beer and discussing old times. Klara sat in the corner looking like a statue, stolid and relit; she sipped her Malta Guinness with disapproval written all over her face.“Wait a minute, where did you vanish to?” Imara asked, “My dear times been a bit rough on me, “Fela explained. “went to Malabor to mourn my late wife and child who died in an auto crash, you know and had a very bad case of heart attack which left me paralyzed on this leg, “ He said patting the leg”. “I’m very sorry to hear that you lost your wife. But it’s nice to see you again and I mean every word of it, “Imara said sweetly. “I’d often wondered what happened to you”. She recalled those funny moments when Fela was still strong, his special act was to chase Imara all over the flat stark naked until she surrendered and gave in to his demands. Most times when it really got out of hand he had chased Klara who always fled not out of fear but due to of respect since he was Imara’s customer. Klara had never forgiven him for that. But on the other hand Imara was always grateful to Fela, for he had given her many wonderful moments which many of her other customers didn’t.

“So what’re you doing at the moment?’ Imara asked mischievously.“If it’s what you’re thinking then you got it all wrong. I’ve given up on that score”, Fela admitted. “Now too old for that, better get close to your creator”. “Anyway, don’t mind me. I was only joking”. Imara said kindly. “But we had fun while it lasted”. Klara twisted her nose in disgust and looked away. “sure we did have great fun”, Fela replied sizing her. “I must say you look well and smell nice too”. Imara’s face lit up as a smile crossed her face.

“Anyway things aren’t bad, you know. Making good money now, no more hand to mouth existence, “Imara said.

“Good for you, But remember to save for the rainy day invest a bit into shares and bonds. It’ll come in handy someday”, He advised. “By the way what became of Bukky?” “Well Bukky threw in the towel, Imara replied. “Couldn’t stand the stress of being ravaged every right so she’s gone to Bioko in Equatorial Creek”.

“No qualms”, Fela said. Dipping his hand into his waist coat he produced a card from his pocket. “This is my card it’s a tourist and holiday outfit. Its self catering plenty of money in it.”. “What’s your position? “Imara asked. “Okay, Deputy managing director, my address is on the card and I’ve got a small hotel in Bakka peninsula, You get there by ferry- come down there for a holiday, Easter, Christmas. It’d do you a whole world of good”.

“Let’s go home, Let me cook you lunch”, Imara suggested.“Oh thank you very much sweetheart, “Fela said shaking his head. “I’ve got to catch the 3:30 ferry to the peninsula don’t forget to call me and I’ll be at the jetty to take you home”.

“I won’t forget, “Imara replied quickly.

“Bye, it’s been nice seeing you again. Take care” Fela said and off he went to the ferry station “What a funny man”, Imara said seconds after Fela had left. Klara maintained a straight face and refused to utter a word throughout their stay in the market; Imara told Klara “about time we went home, Klara intoned. Imara merely laughed at Klara’s displeasure of her meeting with Fela. An hour later after getting home, Imara took a warm both and got ready for her client. He was a young business executive she had not met before who was coming over from Port City that evening with 6:15 flight and would expect a lot of sex. And it was certain his conversation would be on politics and the economic situation in the continent and how some presidents were trying to fight the labour unions. That was all people talked about these days. Imara lay in the scented water thinking. She could not complain. She told herself, the money was very important especially with an extra mouth to feed. Though they did not bother her soft, naïve young men, she would milk them for cash. Her thought drifted and settled on her lover, Thounder who was in jail for shooting politicians. Now that was a real man if not for the ugly incident, Thounder would be with her and she would not need to be prostituting about to earn a living.

With a deep sigh Imara rose from her bath, she put on a gown and went over to her wardrobe and take out an old jewelry box. In it were souvenirs of her moments with Thounder. There was the gold wrist watch, he had given her. Despite the period of hunger and starvation she had hung on to the watch believing that things would change. The watch meant a lot to her. Then there were two letters, both in khaki brown envelope and bore the stamp marks of the Port City postal service. The first letter had been sent when he was finally given a jail sentence. The second letter was posted only last year, and he talked of returning to Port City again and the possibility of his jail term being halved due to his good behavior. He had explained that he was sending letter to the pleasure paradise hoping that someone would forward it to her. “I’m sure you’re doing something decent? I wouldn’t mind if you have sold the house and moved on” He had written. This had seemed like a threat to Imara, for Thounder had warned her against sleeping around. Though he was a vicious criminal, he hated loose women especially with deadly diseases on rampage. Imara had kept the letter safe preferring not to reply. They were very special to her true lover. She had not heard from Fred again but she was pure he would call now that Thounder was about to be released after twelve years in prison. Imara longed to to visit or write to him, but a lot had happened since then and if Thounder ever found out that she had lived a lose life he would certainly strangle her just like he had vowed years back. Lying next to the letter was a stack of bank notes, all earned in the line of duty and some complimentary cards from her numerous customers. On her handset were also text messages from satisfied customers. She put them away to be sorted out in a future date, searching her hand bag, she found the card Fela had given her that afternoon. It displayed Fela’s company. Indeed it would be good to use most of her money in the bank to buy shares in good companies and Fela had told her the dividends were good. When paid up, she would give up prostitution and become a respectable lady with a good residential address. She would also in the process do something about her spiritual life. For indeed there is God and there is judgment day, at least they had taught her that much in school. If she quit with the dividends she would still enjoy her life and who would ever know how she had lived in the past?. “Well that’s it, she muttered to herself. I’ve got to quit this way of life and prepare for Thounder’s home coming. At the mention of Thounder her beat faster out of excitement over the thought of their re-union. The ringing of the door bell interrupted her thoughts, closing the box she returned it back to the wardrobe just as Klara entered to inform her that the gentlemen from Port city had arrived. Oh my gosh, Imara exclaimed “Time to go to work, please take care of him I’ll be there soon. Imara joined her client in the living room shortly and the next ten minutes was spent knowing themselves- his name was Dave Atteeko and he was a business executive attached to the Free Trade Company. “My quite some introduction that was’’, Imara said smiling. Atteeko smiled too. Before going into the bedroom, Atteeko made a down payment of thirty thousand naira and then they got down to business. And true to her fear Atteeko had to go about four rounds before satiating his lustful desire for the moment.

“Baby that was good”, He said breathing heavily. “We’ll do it again some other time won’t we?” he asked tickling a nipple. “Of course why not”, Imara replied “only make sure your wallet is pregnant with naira notes”, she said within her from love making the conservation drifted to business then politics. For the next two hours Atteeko talked about the exploits of the financial crimes commission and how they had dealt with two ministers and a police boss who stole almost five billion naira. Imara politely listened to her client ramble on and on, till she slept off without knowing. The following day she woke up to find a note, an empty bed and ten thousand naira tucked between her legs. “Naught boy” She said playfully as she transferred the money to her hand bag. I think I’ve had enough for now I should take a holiday, she said to herself.