Chapter 3: Chapter 3

After class on a Friday afternoon, valor’s best friend Richard came to him inviting him for a night party. “This party, you are going to love it. There’s going to be some booming actions, girls, dance, and so on.” “I’m not interested” He turned to leave. “Wait! Why are you acting like this, I’m I not your friend again? calm down, I’m performing tonight, my guitar will be on stage sounding like no other, so if you don’t come for me, at least for my guitar, please for my guitar” “Okay, I will try. Remember the last time I tried sneaking out, our tenant’s dog almost disgraced me.” “I know, you can escape very well, you are an expert at that.” They both giggled.

Gift was about 20 meters walking to meet them. Richard rushed to summarize their discussion. “Make sure she is not aware, because I don’t want her to come.” “Why?” valor asked. “remember you told me not to get too attached to girls” “Yeah, but there’s nothing wrong in letting her come.” Richard replied cunningly, “Other attachments are waiting for you out there” Valor started laughing. “naughty boy,” he said. While Richard left, he exchanged pleasantries with Gift, “fine girl” “Guitar boy” she answered. Valor was expecting the usual warm greeting and cheering from Gift, but today, it was different. “Hi” she greeted first “How are you?” “I’m not fine” “What’s wrong” “Nothing much, severe headache and my temperature is rising” “Oh! Sorry. Have you taken any medicine?” “No, not yet” she replied. He touched her neck and said, “but your temperature is normal.” “I want to go home,” Alright, I will escort you to the gate,” he said. “No, don’t worry, I can make it on my own. I just wanted to let you know about my state of health before you can continue the class” “That’s nice, if you had disappeared, I would have been missing you” “Oh, you won’t be able to sleep” “Of course, I will still sleep” “Valor we will see later, I have to go” “Please, take this money for your transport fare,” said Valor. She collected the money and left.

Valor had waited for his colleagues to come for the tutorial class, the ones that were present felt tired and began to leave one after the other. Valor thought, “what a bad day.” Although he was fine, he decided to go home.

***

Valor had prepared himself; he packed enough clothes into his mattress to look as if he was the one in bed and got ready to move. He waited a little while for his mother to sleep before he sneaked out. However, if he tries to open the door, she will wake up. He always had a technique in confusing her. “Okay! it’s been long I did this” he soliloquized. He unlocked the bolt loudly, waited for a few minutes then closed the door gently and shook the bolt. He did this to make her think that he went out to urinate and he is back.

Valor fixed the door bolt firmly to avoid it from opening when the wind blows. He then tip-toed and left immediately. “That was easy.” Perfumes travel far and capable of waking an allergist from sleep. Valor knew it, on his way, he perfumed himself and hid it behind a flower, took a cab, and dropped at the club. He walked to the door where he was checked by a bouncer if he was with any weapon. Funny enough, he was asked for a gate fee. “Gate fee, but why? We are not at the gate” He tried to force himself in, but the bouncers dragged him out. He stood there looking inside if he was going to see Richard, but the bouncers warned him to leave immediately. He then moved a few steps backwards and waited for something to happen. Several people walked past him to the inside. They had paid their way in. One of Valor’s students at the tutorial class came with his girlfriend and they met him standing outside. “Why are you outside?” he asked. “Those boys won’t let me in” “What did you do?” “Nothing at all, they are asking for a gate fee” “That one should not be a problem, are you not loaded” “Not really, it was not planned,” valor replied in an embarrassing tone. “By the way, how much is it?” “I did not ask” “Don’t worry, I will take care of it,” replied the boy. Effiong talked to the bouncers and they let them in without paying a dime.” In the meantime, Richard was on his way to rescue Valor when he heard Valor was outside. On his way, he met the three laughing as they walked to a table. “Big men!” he called them. Valor replied “Rich man” Richard stretched his hands to shake them, his hands hung on Effiong’s girlfriend, he refused to leave her. Effiong stood up and separated the hands and said, “Her hand is not a string for you to play with, go get a guitar” “Yeah, in that case, let Valor come with me.” Valor stood up and followed Richard, then turned to Effiong “Thanks bro, see you later.”

Richard and Valor sat down to discuss. They discussed it on an empty table, no drinks. They never felt intimidated at all. Richard said to him, “Valor my friend, the perfect time is when I’m called upon to perform, then everyone with their lover will have something not to forget in a hurry” “hmm, is that so, but she is not here,” Valor said mockingly. “Of course, someone else can take her place, for now, remember you told me not to get too attached to girls and you also have to follow that pattern.” “I’m considering it dangerous for my reputation to cheat on Gift or do anything stupid behind her back.” Richard replied, “I thought you dropped the reputation in the house before coming” Valor smiled, then replied, “You will not stop pulling my legs” “No trouble at all,” said Richard, then continues, “that’s the way I’m showing you. Look over there and pick one and flirt with.” “Are we doing this throughout the night?” Valor asked, looking exhausted. “No, when it is time, we will go home,” replied Richard. “You know my condition, my mother” “Ah! I forgot, you never told me how you made it to this place,” Richard enquired. “That one was too simple, as usual, I fooled her with the noise from the door. she will be thinking I’m still there.” “you are becoming an expert in sneaking out, just try and keep it cool,” Richard advised him. “Cool, For what? I wouldn’t have come if you hadn’t persuaded me, but it’s okay to be out occasionally” “now you are making sense, you know how important this youthful age is, you learn to take yourself out, buy yourself a drink, and see things for yourself” While Richard was talking, he was called upon by one of the instrumentalists for the party logistics. He quickly ended the discussion with Valor. “I have to go, it’s important. See you later. make sure you enjoy yourself, and be free,” Richard said to valor.

Just in time, the sound of the music increased, people began to dance. The Party lights kept rotating and glittering with the sound of glass clinking. The girls had their chance to twerk in front of the boys. Meanwhile, Valor was alone, sitting all by himself, looking forward and sideways. He kept on shaking his legs rhythmically to the sound of the music that was played. He was so pleased that he started nodding his head and tapping his fingers on the table to the beats. He was bored, so he stared at the lovers around romancing. He said, “I wish Gift was here. Even if she was here, of what use will she be to me?” he said rhetorically. “Am I crazy? I should not think of her here” He kept on looking around, admiring the people for minutes. Most of them he knew were his colleagues. He spent minutes admiring the two lovers behind him that were kissing for so long. “I think they are my age mates. Anyway, theirs is good. Even though I envy them, I know that I do not want such things,” Valor said to himself. “Even If I am in that position, I will walk away.” He said all these in his mind and decided to stop looking.”

Someone had fixed a chair in front of his table ready to sit. He turned to see who it was, but the poor lighting could not allow him to see clearly. It was a girl with a curly hairstyle. He wondered who she was and gave a relieving breath as she sat down. “Hi” she greeted, and then he replied “Welcome to my table” “Thank you. My name is Alice and you?” “I am Valor” “What a wonderful name, nice to meet you” Valor tried to send her away, but she was too quick and straightforward, he thought her to be nice. He replied, “Yes, nice to meet me.” She raised her head to see Valor again because of the wonderful reply he gave to her. “Do you play card games? I’m with a whot here” She brought it out and placed it on the table. Valor finds it very interesting; he was no longer bored. “Yes, of course, I do play” he picked it up, shuffled it, and shared it. He won the first few rounds. They had a whole lot to discuss because they had the whole time of the night. “So, have we met before,” he asked. “I have been admiring you for a year plus, I always looked forward to talking to you, at least have a time with you like this, playing card and winning you” “Wow! sweet story, but I have been the one winning the game” “Sorry, I didn’t notice, I was just taking it easy on you.” she checks up the game. He became surprised, although it was confusing, was it was luck, or was she going easy on him. “You won by luck, we will see at the end,” Valor said confidently “I’m not in a hurry anyway” “It’s unbelievable that you have been admiring me the whole time. But there are other guys around that you would have paid attention to,” Valor asked curiously. “is it really bad that someone is admiring you” “No, not at all, the thing is you shouldn’t have bothered yourself the whole year till this moment. How did you know that I was here, or I was going to be coming?” “Invitations had already been spread across the faculty, and I saw you and Richard yesterday in front of the ETF block. I knew that you were going to be here, so I could not miss the opportunity to meet you,” Alice replied. Valor had tried to push the girl with so many questions. “What if I didn’t show up and another guy tried to follow you up, what would have been your reaction?” “I’m not that type,” she replied. “Just look, you have been sitting for an hour alone, and I’ve been wondering and also trying to comport myself to talk to you,” she replied. “Can you take care of yourself?” he asked, “Yes of course” “Did you not ask yourself, what if I have a girlfriend?” Immediately, she checked up and stood up angrily, and was about to leave. Valor could feel her disappointment and immediately, he rushed to hold her hand. “No please, sit down, sorry for the questions, please sit down with me let’s continue the game.” She sat back and continued the game. Valor had changed the discussion, it all focused on the game they played. She kept on winning and winning and winning without even looking at Valor. Her wins kept on enticing him to keep on playing. He luckily won a few more rounds that made it a little bit interesting for him to keep playing.

Richard observed that they had sat for too long, so he went and presented himself, passed a piece of paper through a handshake that she did not notice. It read, “Don’t be too selfish, go get her something to drink.” “Do you drink beer, or do you drink soft drinks?” Valor asked. “Anyone, get a beer and two glasses, we can share a bottle.” “Are you scared, don’t you know that I can take three bottles at once,” Valor said boastfully. “Lies, I bet you cannot. I know you already. Just get wine for both of us” She sat alone as he went to get the drink. Valor felt the comfort of sitting with her the whole time, and now he is sharing a drink with her, someone he was never close to. He stretched himself as he walked to the counter. On his way, he passed through corridors and rooms filled with people doing their businesses. He asked for Red wine, “also with two glasses.” The lady was on a short skirt as she bent to remove the drink from the refrigerator. Immediately, Valor looked away into the next room. It was unbelievable what he saw. There was Gift! She was already stripped, even in the dim colorful lights, Valor could still recognize her. “Evil!” he said as he rubbed his head. She was with another guy more elderly than Valor, with whom she had some rough friction with. Valor, seeing the two of them this way, felt bad for himself and her.

Richard had noticed the way valor stood beside the counter. He rushed down to him, on his arrival, he saw what Valor was looking at. He tapped him and said “Just forget, things can’t be perfect until you relax your mind. Just get your drink and go.” Valor lamented “so she lied and pretended to be sick when she was not.” Richard answered, “We the party bird know who she is. Just take your drink to the table and forget her.” “And nobody cared to tell me,” valor responded. “I thought the advice you give to people you can give it to yourself,” Richard said to him. Valor collected the drink and the two glasses still starring. The waiter turned to him and said, “I’m here if you need me.” He gave her deaf ears but looked inside again where he now had eye contact with Gift. She was surprised to see him, but not too surprised because she had seen him when the party was about to begin. Immediately, he rushed to leave the place.

With Alice, he opened the drink and poured it into the glasses. They toasted and took some gulps down. Alice asked, “Why are you so quiet sharing a drink with me?” “No, it’s not you, I’m having a slight headache, I saw something,” Valor responded. “What was that?” Alice enquired. “Something, I should not discuss,” he replied, wearing a sad look on his face. “Okay, then I should not bother you, try and roll it away please, just for my sake.” Valor tried to smile, “I’m cool not to worry about, at least your comforting words have reduced the headache.” “That’s nice, so we should continue our discussion.” “Yes, of course,” They drank and discussed gently, all of that was just to while away time.

On the stage, Richard sits with his guitar calling the attention of everybody with the strings of the guitar. “Please, can everyone stand to his or her feet with their partners and clasp fingers, it is time for love, the only magic that will never surprise you but always keep you wondering.” After his intro, he sang a melodious song “You’ll get to know me.” Alice stretched forth her hand to Valor and sang along; he looked away, looked at her, and then accepted the hand. “I have never done this before,” he said, “Me neither, so?” “So what?” “So, it’s normal” He smiled. In the few minutes of a lifetime, Valor learned everything to be slow, he was able to talk to Alice and talk to himself at the same time and he said to himself, “Those things I thought were absurd when I saw other people doing them, but now, I’m happy.” Richard was singing and playing at the same time, other instrumentalists played along. The lyrics of the song were loud and clear following the line that said, “If you love me, look me in the eyes and don’t blink.” Valor could not look at Alice without blinking no matter how they tried. Valor was a bit confused knowing that Richard was doing it on purpose trying to comfort him of the heartbreak he had encountered while watching Gift in that room. That same minute Valor thought of it, Richard changed the beat to makossa giving everybody a quick dance step. Everybody was very happy, dancing upon various styles. Valor joined in the dance and was competing with Alice. She danced, throwing her curly hair right and left also Valor had never been this happy, he danced like never.

After much dancing, the live band was stopped, and the music was played on tape. Everyone had settled down. Valor’s clothes were loosed as well as Alice’s. They needed much air; she started fanning herself and fanning him also. “That was wow!” she said. He replied, “I never believed a woman could dance like this” “I am a star dancer, I could even do better than that, that was just small,” Alice boasted. “If small is like this, then what will the big one look like?” “I will show you another time.” She laughed very loud. Valor was very gentle; he was able to control his excitement while Alice was overwhelmed with excitement as well.

Bottles we’re broken. The people began to panic. shouting and running to and fro. One shouted from the other end, “He is not the one.” Immediately, the party ended abruptly. Everybody was running for their lives. Valor and Alice followed some persons taking the exit door. They hid behind a flower as they watched. It was too bad to see Gift running with her half nude body. “What’s going on?” Alice asked. He replied, “I’m not sure, I think you should go, I’m going inside.” “Why? It is very dangerous inside” “No, it’s not. The bad guys don’t waste time. they show up and finish their action within a split of seconds. They are all gone.” “I’m coming with you” “No, I want to see Richard” They argued while the crowd had gone leaving the place empty and scattered. Valor could hear somebody shouting, “Help, please help me, he is going to die” He was able to recognize the voice “That’s Effiong’s girlfriend” “Who?” “My colleague, the same faculty, I must help them.” They went to see what happened. Richard was already there; valor and Alice ran to see him. “How bad is it?” Valor asked. Richard replied, “He is bleeding” “What did he do?” “it was a mistake, he is not the one, they didn’t kill him.” one of the guards came and warned them, “You guys have to leave now, the police will soon be here” Valor persuaded Alice to go with the guard while they will take Effiong to the hospital. “Okay, I will go with him, just take this whot, we will rematch” “Yes I know, just go.” Valor tore a piece from Effiong’s sleeves and tied a tourniquet on the arm where he was pierced. Effiong gave a shout of pain when the tourniquet was tied. This made his girlfriend more nervous and scared. Richard patted her to calm down, “My friend, it’s going to be okay” Valor said to him. They persuaded him and helped him on his feet. Richard carried him on his back to a nearby clinic. It was not so easy, but he tried his best. The nurses had rejected him earlier, but due to the pleas and persuasion from his friends, he was accepted.

They had finally attended to him. When Valor saw that he was responding to treatment, he decided to go home. It was almost down. While he walked along the empty palm street, he heard the police siren and immediately jumped into an empty store. He hid behind a table while the police drove past the area. Valor ran with all the energy in him till he reached his compound. His neighbors’ dog was already awake with eyes glowing in the dark. He walked quietly to his house, removed the bolt, and went inside. He removed his trousers, packed the clothes from the bed, and lied on it. Everything that happened that night and morning became a memory. He pondered on them while he was in bed. He stretched his hand wide, unbuttoned his shirt, and tried his best to sleep, but the sleep couldn’t come. After some minutes of lying awake, he finally slept off.

Early in the morning, Valor was nowhere to be found, his mother had wondered where he was. She knocked on his door, “You are still sleeping” she said, “customers are waiting to fetch water, you better go out and attend to them, I don’t know the kind of sleep you are sleeping up till this time” He stood up and checked his time, it was seven o’clock. He felt as if he did not sleep at all. He went back to sleep and finally jumped out of bed the second time. Changed his pajamas and went to the borehole. While he was there, his friends were making jest of him because his eyes were still sleepy. “Were you flying in the night? This kind of face is very terrible for this morning.” Another said, “Don’t mind him; he was busy with their night air-craft instead of sleeping.” They said all sorts of funny things in his presence. He stood there listening to all they said without saying a word. “Sometimes, you will never know how people can talk until you become a topic,” He said to himself. Valor did not have any choice, because it was his mates making fun of him.

***

During class the following week. Listening to their lecturer, Gift was having her eyes on Valor. She was frowning while Valor was smiling and paying attention to the lecturer. “These diseases are communicable and there are various ways which they could be transferred, as you were taught in the previous year, so mention them.” John was the first to answer, “Through Vectors,” followed by Valor, “Kissing” and some choruses, “Food” “Water” “Airborne droplets.” The lecturer was pleased with their chorus answers. “Thank you very much, this is good evidence that you have a good memory of what you were taught. Well, I heard a student said kissing. We can replace that word with horizontal contact, kissing or sexual intercourse, it shows how medical and technical we are, except when talking to a lame man.” John lifted his hands. “Is it for a question?” he replied, “Yes sir, if we have horizontal contact, then what of vertical contact?” The whole class burst into laughter. Valor said, “This Boy is very funny, what kind of question is that?” After some seconds, the lecturer raised his hands, and the class became calm again. “Let me start this way, don’t allow your arrogance, your happiness, your joy, sentiment, your fear as well as your feelings to prevent you from thinking clearly. Someone asked a question and the whole place busted into laughter while some people were even angry at the question. This is to say that your diverse feelings prevented you from thinking clearly. That question was very good. Yes, we have vertical contact or transmission which is the transmission of pathogens from an infected mother to an unborn child, am I clear?” “Yes sir” they answered. Valor was of the surety of what the man had said, “Your diverse feelings prevent you from thinking clear” That’s very true. “Now class, take out your bags, it’s time to write my test. Your name and your registration number should be on this paper. You score 85% on this test and you will be qualified for the best student examination. So, good luck is all you need. No discussion or use of materials contrary to this test. The supervisors are already here. The test will be very strict. Do your best, adhere to instructions.” For the test, the spacing was too much, Five persons per row. The hall had the usual long academic desk, although it was filled up and some students were transferred to the next hall. The test had started for more than an hour, Valor was doing fine, but Gift was somehow doing her best as well. Their relationship had automatically ended. There was no way Valor would help her. The test condition was even stricter than before. Other students kept submitting their test scripts. Valor was through, but he sat back to observe how Gift was fairing with the test. Valor felt pity for her, he wanted her to submit her script before him, but he couldn’t wait that long.

Later that afternoon, Valor had located Richard and they went to see Effiong. Already, he was in school. He wore a long sleeve shirt to cover the wound to avoid too many questions from his friends. They met him on his way to his lecture hall. “Effiong,” Richard called him. He turned and embraced them. Valor asked immediately, “How are you recuperating?” he replied “please, bring it low, I don’t want anybody to know about it” he continued, “The wound is healing. I thank God for you guys. Those boys would have sent me to my early grave if I didn’t block with my hand.” Valor asked, “But you can still use it?” “Yes of course but it hurts a little.” He asked again, “What of the girl?” “She just left; she brought food for me this afternoon. She did a good job because I was afraid of my family members about the situation, but she did the needful.” Richard responded, “You see, a good woman is always a good woman.” They had a little conversation before they went their ways. Richard was still with Valor discussing his relationship. “You mean she gave you the whot to take back to remind you of her?” “I don’t know, I think she was pulling my legs.” “It’s not bad for a girl to ask a guy out.” “But I don’t like her” “How? Why?” “She is not that beautiful” “oh, I see” Richard was optimistic when Valor said that Alice was not beautiful enough for him. He began to think of what to say. “At first, you never loved Gift, she was just good for your image with her social life, but she is not intelligent. Psychology says that most beautiful girls are not always intelligent, therefore, the intelligent ones are not all that beautiful at a tender age but as time goes on their beauty will reveal itself.” “Is that so? I did not want to carry this craziness along. Alice had mixed a heart joker card in the middle of the card she gave me. She wrote the letter “I” and “U” before and after the heart. And I don’t want to see her today, for even a week or even a while.” “That does not mean you should call it quits with Gift for what happened or call off Alice for her efforts to win you over. You might not know people unless you get to know them.” “That’s very wise. I just want to free myself from these things. I don’t know why Gift was frowning at me in class. I think her conscience is blaming her.” Richard cuts in “She’s coming towards us” “Let’s change our direction.” They changed direction as if they did not notice her. “Why is she coming?” Valor asked. “I don’t know, maybe, we should walk faster.” Their speed increased, she ran after them and held their shirt from behind. Valor reacted, “Who is that? Do you want to tear my clothing?” she replied with anger “Whatever, we must talk now. You, Richard, excuse us.” “In that case Valor, see you tomorrow.” She dragged him to a corner and started talking angrily. “Because of that night, you gossip about me with your friend, you judge me, you smile at me mockingly, saying all sorts of nonsense. You embarrassed me in the test hall. You wrote your test and submitted it early to show that you are very intelligent. Now you and Richard are together talking about me. You guys saw me coming and decided to walk faster. I held your shirt, and you were like, who is that, do you want to tear my shirt, is this how you are?” Her words were like bombs in his heart. However, he managed not to say a word. She kept on talking “I have been talking and you never dared to say a word, you cannot say anything because all I’m saying is true and your conscience is blaming you.” Valor rubbed his eyes and then answered her “You know when things happen like this, it gives you the room to think about so many things, ideas upon ideas, knowledge upon knowledge, you end up imagining the things that I am not even thinking about you.