and customs, details of which I won’t bore you with.”
“Hope you didn’t have any problem finding a taxi...”
“Let’s not talk about the taxi either. Can you believe it? I get into one and ask to be taken to the University of Mimbo. The taxi man has no clue where this is, but insists on taking me, only to drive round and round. Luckily we asked someone who showed him the way at last.”
“Thank God he brought you here in one piece. It could be worse.”
“I’m not complaining.”
“I see you are married,”remarked Dr Wiseman Lovemore, abruptly.
Lilly Loveless looked at the gold ring on her finger and smiled, but said nothing. She didn’t know how to begin to tell him her mother had insisted upon the ring as a way of keeping prying and preying African men at bay.
“I know you must be tired. A quick tour of the department and the faculty, then we go,” said Dr Wiseman Lovemore, picking up his bag and leading the way.
He did a quick round of introductions in the building that housed the Department of Social Work and Faculty of Social Sciences before taking her in his car to drive round the expansive, impressive but very underdeveloped campus of the University of Mimbo.
Again, the fence under construction caught Lilly Loveless’ attention.
“This is a long and expensive fence in the making you’ve got here,” she remarked.
“Yes, and a controversial one too.”
“What do you mean?”
“Opinion is divided and there’s lots of tension in the air,” he whispered. “That’s all I can say for now. More when we are out of here.”
Lilly Loveless nodded. Dustbin hadn’t mentioned a thing about how paranoid Mimbolanders were. Or was Dr Wiseman Lovemore being overly dramatic and mysterious about the fence?
They drove back, packed his car “because petrol is damn expensive, and there is too little of it in the car. I’m just a poor lecturer.”
She smiled knowingly this time. Dustbin and others had already prepared her for this and a lot more.
“Financially, how we survive here at UM is difficult to say,” Dr Wiseman Lovemore unfolded his poverty. “All I know is that we beat Christ when it comes to miracles.”
Lilly Loveless took the cue. She would have to babysit him financially, if they were to socialise.
They both jumped into a taxi, with Lilly Loveless stating upfront that she would pay, which slightly wounded Dr Wiseman Lovemore’s ego, but he didn’t protest. They headed for Mountain View Hotel, where he had reserved a room for her for the first few days of her fieldwork.
The girl at the reception was fair in complexion and youthful. She had a sweet face and her dimples were merry. Lilly Loveless noticed her lips as well, poised gently and firmly, one luscious lip on the other, together they spoke even when no words moved them. Covered in a creamy gloss that let their deep natural glowing brown colour show, the girl’s lips warmed you just by looking. One turned up at an impressive angle and the other sharply down, accentuating the line that separated and brought them together.
The girl herself seemed unaware of the arresting power of those prominent lips proudly protruding. She introduced herself as Britney, part-time receptionist and full-time student, studying during the day and working evenings. “You are welcome to Mountain View.” She handed Lilly Loveless a form. “You can stay as long as you like. We are not expensive and there aren’t many customers in any case.”
Lilly Loveless smiled to herself, wondering if her employer would keep her if he heard her.
Dr Wiseman Lovemore helped Lilly Loveless to her room with her luggage and returned to wait in the dingy reception lounge while she showered.
When she came back downstairs, she looked fresh and had changed into a pair of jeans and a white shirt. She was carrying a sweater.
“I didn’t know it would be this cold in the heart of the tropics,” she told Dr Wiseman Lovemore, as she put on her sweater.
“It must have escaped Dustbin, for Puttkamerstown is generally a cold place, all year round. It used to be worse before the university was created. Since then, there has been a population explosion that has made the town slightly warmer. Lots of people farting into the air…”
“Where did you say we were going?”
“I thought I should welcome you with a drink and something to eat, if that is OK with you.”
“Good idea.”
“Let’s go to Mountain Valley, a place I know well.”
“Mountain Valley?”
“It’s a restaurant, a drinking place, and also …” he laughed.
“What?”
“It is also a resting place.” He was smiling mischievously.
“Resting place?”
“Yes, where men and women go to rest.”
“You mean sugar daddies and sweat mamas… where they bring their catch?”
“I couldn’t have stated it any better.” Dr Wiseman Lovemore thought to himself, this woman is dynamite, much more than meets the eye.
“Interesting, definitely a place worth discovering. The perfect start to my fieldwork.”
Mountain Valley was a walking distance from Mountain View. Rich in vegetation including a healthy abundance of flowers both wild and tended, the landscape attracted Lilly Loveless. If there was one thing in Mimboland to command her resilience and plead for forgiveness for all the sins of Sawang, she was sure it was the scenery of Puttkamerstown. There was the overarching Mount Mimbo, with all its hypnotic majesty, impressive and mystical like the chariot of the gods, to crown it all. Luckily the skies were clear, allowing the mountain to throw off its dark and white blanket of rain clouds and reveal the fullness of its beauty to welcome her eyes, marvel and sense of spectacle. She felt good, like a tropical flower that cannot blossom without the sun. Instinctively, she made the sign of the cross, and thanked the stars, which was significant, for she was neither Christian nor religious. A worshipper of nature maybe, nothing more.
Dr Wiseman Lovemore told her of the mountain race, an international event that takes place every year in the month of February, and that entails running up to the top of the 5000 metres high mountain and back. She was impressed by his lengthy account of how a local female participant who habitually races barefooted and hardly looks her age had been crowned “Mountain Hare” for winning more times than anybody can remember. Lilly Loveless felt tempted to take part in the next race, even if it meant only going as far up as the Upper Eden or Stop One, of what Dr Wiseman Lovemore said was a three-stop-race to the top. The mountain was full of gods, she was told, who needed constant attention, and who were known for showing displeasure once in a blue moon by coughing out red hot fire so vicious it could swallow whole villages.
Lilly Loveless had the feeling Dr Wiseman Lovemore
