more, I miss you terribly, I’ve borne too much and I suffer from your absence. Darling, remember one thing, I don’t want to lose you so soon, you’ve left your mark on me, I have a good impression of you; because every time we talked, you always came down to my level. Thus the chemistry was good between us. Let me leave you, and I think we’ve still got a long road to travel together. Till soon, I kiss you. Bye.’”
“She sounds sweet, but seems rather old fashioned, or is it her lover who doesn’t know how to send an email?” remarked Lilly Loveless.
“Perhaps the man didn’t give her an email address, or prefers letters that take time to compose and that are well thought out, to the easy and shabby emails people click to and fro without as much as reading over for spelling, grammar and structure.”
“Sorry, I didn’t think of that. Please continue.”
“In the second, she is even more desperate,” Britney went on: “‘Darling, I write to you one more time to remind you that I am alive. This is the second time I am writing to you and twice I have called to leave a message for you. I’m already tired, don’t you think? Do you remember what you told me one day that I couldn’t alone decide to end our relationship, as this was a matter for the two of us to decide? You would realise with me that you have done what you said I should never do. I would like you to keep your word. What I want now is for you to call me for a meeting. Let’s meet face to face, so you tell me that it is all over, that you’ve already found another girl, a girl better than me. Don’t you see that you would have freed me and perhaps you would have rendered me a great service? I also believe that it is important to be clear in life. To tell you the truth, you are making me do what I vowed never to do. To tell the truth, I’m ashamed of myself. I count on your understanding. I would like you to telephone in the evening, around six o’clock every day at the téléboutique where my sister works; as she would already be there, she assumes duty at this time every day except Fridays and Sundays. If you have forgotten the number, it is 77980674. Let me leave you, I count on you for the next meeting to say farewell the proper way.’”
“I notice that she doesn’t even have a cell phone of her own. Isn’t that odd?”
“New technology is a bit like Heaven,” replied Britney.
“In what way?”
“Many are called but few are chosen.”
“I like that.”
“Thanks.”
“Did she say how the guy reacted?” asked Lilly Loveless.
“That, I still have to find out,” replied Britney. “She was not in a mood to be interviewed, so she sort of wanted to chase me away by sharing her letters with me.”
“Do please follow up with her when she is in a better mood, as it seems you have quite some story to tell on this relationship,” recommended Lilly Loveless. “And remember to find out why letters and téléboutiques in this day and age when the email and cell phone are widely available.”
“I will,” Britney promised, noting the recommendation in her notebook.
“In the second case, what starts with a little light fun can lead up roads you didn’t imagine,” she started.
“I’m all ears,” said Lilly Loveless.
***
“Lionel, you see, is now 24 and a third year student here at Mimbo. In high school he dated Comfort, his classmate. At high school, junior students are called freshers. When school reopens in September, there is usually a rush by boys to pick up girl freshers, hence the name September Rush. No boy wants to be left out, for fear of being termed ‘chickless guy’ by peers. Lionel was thus lucky to have Comfort, whom he greatly admired and loved to show off amongst his friends and mates.”
“Sounds promising,” remarked Lilly Loveless, wetting her lips with some of the juice.
“Lionel had one thing in mind: how to convince Comfort to have sex with him as soon as possible. At school he would do everything, including visiting her room and staying late into the night, until Comfort would tell him to leave so she could sleep. One Friday night, he proposed an outing to a popular bar-cum-nightclub, where they stayed till 4am. Despite his efforts, he could only lay a kiss on her cheek. The next day he proposed going to a video projection hall with Comfort, where he managed to convince her to watch a pornographic film. His intentions were the same, to weaken her defences. He succeeded. As the film played, soon they were holding hands. Soon Comfort’s head was on his shoulder. Soon she was pressing hard on his arm. She moved closer to him. He pretended he didn’t know what was going on, but his body was telling its own story. When he spoke to her his voice was slower each time, taking longer pauses between sentences. He stared at her lips each time he spoke, oblivious of what exactly it was he was saying, or that the film was running. Without knowing it, he was getting closer and closer to Comfort. Slowly, he moved his eyes from Comfort’s mouth to her eyes and back again. Then, he placed his hand on her hip and brought her closer. Their lips met.
“After the film, Lionel feigned saying good night, but Comfort almost burst into tears, wouldn’t let him go and begged him to accompany her to her hostel which was off campus. Lionel went along, and spent the night with her. When he returned to his hostel the next day, his friends were teasing and hailing him at the same time: ‘Lionel don nang mboko eh’, ‘he don take baptism’, ‘Pa you strong’…
“Then Lionel’s relationship with Comfort intensified.”
“How so?” asked Lilly Loveless as Britney paused to sip her juice.
“He spent most of his time with her. She would prepare food at times and visit him at his hostel, where they would eat and study together.
Lionel’s feelings were centred on Comfort, and he saw no need to look at any other girl.
“On the other hand, little did he know she also had a relationship with a business tycoon. When she left school and went to town to see her tycoon, she would lie to Lionel that she was going to see her parents. Things came into the open one day when on her 18th birthday a terrible thing happened.”
“I hope nothing too serious,” Lilly Loveless interjected.
“You’ll find out if you let me continue.”
“Please proceed,” Lilly Loveless got the message.
“A party was organised in a bar owned by one of the discipline masters of the high school. The party took off at 4pm. There was the cutting of the cake, wishes by friends, and then dancing. The MC was a friend of Comfort, and had drawn up a list of who was to open the floor with whom. Naturally, Lionel was slated to have the opening dance with Comfort.
“What they didn’t know was that Comfort had invited what came to be known as her ‘illiterate business tycoon’ as well. As the couples went to the floor as programmed, there the tycoon walked in and saw his bloomy Comfort dancing with Lionel; and he was not amused. He stormed his way towards them, pushed Comfort down and removed the shoes she was wearing. He had bought her the shoes and would not let her use them to please a mere student, a ‘flying-shirt’ with no pockets and no wallet. He was terribly disappointed in Comfort, whom he had already introduced to his fellow traders at the Zintgraffstown main market, where he was highly regarded for going out with a high school girl. A rumour later surfaced that a medicine man had given him the task of impregnating a virgin school
