Fool's Paradise

Chapter Nine

Later that evening, in Lilongwe, a senior girl’s dormitory, Imelda lay on her bed, chin resting on her hands. Juliana walked into the room she shared with her and noticed her staring into space. “What’s wrong with you?” Juliana wanted to know. Imelda just shook her head and Juliana sighed, “It’s obvious that something’s bugging you. Does it have anything to do with Alex?” Imelda turned onto her back, hands behind her head. “Why is it that I’m just about the only girl in the school who doesn’t get any offers from boys? Am I that unattractive?”
“Don’t let it bother you. They’re just a bunch of fools who don’t know a good thing when it’s staring them in the face.”

Imelda turned to look at her roommate. “Why do I get the distinct feeling that that it’s a particular boy we are talking about here? Don’t tell me César rejected you?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Juliana said primly.
“No wonder you sound so bitter.” Imelda sighed and continued, “At least he was yours for a little while.”

Juliana looked at her friend with some concern. “Imelda, don’t let it get you down. Alex is an idiot who doesn’t know a good thing when it’s staring him in the face. Someone will come along who will appreciate you.”
“You’ve got that right; I’m going to make sure of that!” Juliana laughed as she switched off the light. She didn’t realise how serious the situation was going to get.

♣ ♣ ♣

Later still, at about 1:00 am, James Adonnes was shaken awake. “Not a sound,” Anthony Baiga whispered, “Just follow me.” James groaned inwardly, he’d been hoping that Anthony’s surprise wouldn’t materialise. Groggily, he got out of his bed and slipped his feet into his sandals as he stretched luxuriously. “Will you hurry up?” Anthony hissed.
“Okay, okay, hold your horses!” James muttered under his breath. He followed Anthony out of the cubicle, wondering why he didn’t have the strength to say no to his friend’s crazy schemes. The boys made their way to the second courtyard of Nairobi and Anthony knocked on the first door on the right, facing the courtyard door.

James looked around the room and immediately felt a lump in his throat as he swallowed hard. On one of the beds were a couple in varying degrees of undress, necking as if their lives depended on it. On the other sat Maureen Mukasa and Connie Mafabi, giggling at their antics, but they stopped when they noticed the new arrivals. The boy who’d opened the door joined the couple after locking it. James stared in amazement. Anthony wasted no time and joined Connie and they too were as the others on the other bed.

James stood by the door uncomfortably. Maureen grinned at him, “Relax, James. I don’t bite. Come.” James took tentative steps towards her and she patted the bed beside her to encourage him. As he sat on the bed Maureen leaned over him and started to kiss him. He didn’t respond because he was unsure of what to do. The sensation of her lips on his was pleasant to him. James found himself responding. Maureen smiled inwardly; she’d been watching him so that she could gauge his response and so far so good.

As their kiss deepened, Maureen caressed the back of James’ neck. Whereas that part of his body was normally irritatingly ticklish, it didn’t feel so at that moment. In fact, it was an altogether pleasant sensation. All of a sudden, he felt his hormones raging. Although a twinge of guilt was felt, it was quickly pushed aside in the wake of passion.

♣ ♣ ♣

The warm Sunday afternoon found The Dudes in the first courtyard of Ouagadougou. They had just demolished a huge meal of plantain, rice, and chicken that they had bought at the school market. They sat lazily in the sun, too full to do much else. Danston said to César, “So things are heating up with you and Juliana, huh?”
“No.”
“So what was with the chowing last night?”
“It didn’t happen though it almost did.”
Kaye was a little puzzled. He wanted to know what had happened to Laura. “You just chill. Go back to Suzanne and forget about us,” Theo was contemptuous. Kaye was a little taken aback at his vehemence, “What’s your problem?”
“My problem is you spend all your time with your kyana totally ignoring us, and then expect us to keep you abreast with what’s going on in our lives? I don’t think so!”
“That’s not true. I haven’t been ignoring you.”
“Oh yeah, When was the last time you hung out with us?” Kaye was silent a moment. “My point precisely,” Theo continued, “You can’t remember. You’ve erected your wall again and shut us out.”
“Leave the boy alone. Damn, one would think that you’re his mother!”
“That’s unfair, Danston, Kaye’s always shutting us out whenever he feels like it but always wants to know what’s going on in our lives. If he isn’t ready to share then he should mind his own business!”

Theo was still warming up when someone came into the courtyard and announced that he and César had visitors. That silenced Theo but they could tell that he was still smouldering. As they walked out César put a reassuring hand on Kaye’s shoulder.

The boys walked passed the parking lot looking for a car they recognised but couldn’t see any and wondered if someone had been pulling a fast one on them. The teacher on duty confirmed that they did indeed have visitors and issued them their visitation rights passes.

Heading back to the parking lot, Theo and César saw the doors of a maroon Range Rover HSE open. Out stepped Julian Kagimba and their siblings, Thelma Kamali, and Basha and Bria Kamani. The boys beamed and strutted towards the car where they exchanged hugs and pats on the back with the visitors.

César and Theo walked around the Range Rover, touching it admiringly. “Eh! Whose fine set of wheels are these?” There was awe in Theo’s voice. Basha grinned at the boys’ fascination with the car, telling them that it was his. “You’re lying!” César exclaimed, “What happened to the Land Cruiser?”
“I sold it. I wanted something a little more sophisticated,” Basha informed him. César ran his hand the car’s side. “This’ certainly more sophisticated; so, can I drive it when I get home for the holidays?”
“No,” was Basha's curt reply. César turned to look at his brother, offended, “Why not?”

Bria decided to cut in and asked if they could send for Juliana and Cassandra. Theo spotted a girl he knew was in Cassandra’s class and asked her to call the two girls. César suggested that they move to a cluster of trees by the football field. Basha drove his car to the spot as the others followed on foot, talking animatedly, excited to be together.

Cassandra and Juliana ran towards them, screaming excitedly. Juliana hurled herself at her brother, almost knocking him over as Cassandra did the same, first with Bria and then Basha. “Eh! I think we should do more of these surprise visits. No one has ever been this excited to see me before.” Juliana put a hand on her hip, “Try going to boarding school. Trust me you’ll be equally excited to see whoever visits you.”
Basha chuckled, “And here we were thinking that it was our charming selves that were the cause of all this excitement because you missed us.”
“I missed you bro,” César spoke with feeling. Basha patted him on the back and gave him a warm smile, “No, you’re not going to drive my car.” César pretended to look hurt. “Hey,” Bria protested, “What about me?” César grinned, giving her a bear hug, “I missed you too, sis.”

Cassandra rubbed her hands in anticipation, “Now that we have the mushy moments out of the way, can we get to the food?”
“Who said we brought any food?” Julian asked.
“What!” Juliana exclaimed, “No food? Go back and get it! How can you come all this way to see us without any food? Are you people crazy or what?”
“We figured that it being early afternoon you’d all have had lunch,” Basha said.
Theo shook his head as if he pitied them for their lack of understanding, “It’s obvious that it’s been a long time since you were in boarding school, so let me educate you. There’s nothing like home cooked food. Even junk food will do. It doesn’t matter if we’ve eaten already because food from home reaches the craving level; we must have it! So, when you visit us we expect food,” said Theo. Thelma chuckled, “Don’t pay any attention to these two clowns. There’s plenty of food. Why don’t you call your friends to join you?

A short while later, there was bedlam as food was grabbed at greedily by a mob of enthusiastic students. “Hey!” Bria yelled, “Let’s have some order here.” And order there was.

The visitors sat back and observed their siblings and their friends as they listened to their conversation. Theo stood up to make a point, “I’m telling you guys that there’s no way that can happen! Me, to be detoothed by a kyana, never! What kind of fool do you think I am? I can’t let a babe use me for her own financial gain.”
“Wapi, weren’t you the one who bought some kyana stuff from the market because you were hoping to get some but ended up getting none,” Alex countered to the amusement of everyone. Theo pointed a finger at Alex, “First of all you, you shouldn’t be talking; byanas are always detoothing you left, right and centre.”
“Yeah, that’s because I let them, I’m aware of what they’re doing, but you, you think you’re sharp. I’m telling you, all babes detooth.” Imelda looked at Alex in outrage, “What are you talking about! What girls are you talking about here? Let me tell you something, I come to school with my own money, buy my own stuff and don’t rely on any teenie for anything. I’m my own person!”
“Yeah,” Danston chipped in, “but you have to agree that there are some babes who just use guys.”
“The same way some guys just use girls!” Imelda’s glare dared him to disagree.
Juliana raised a brow at Imelda’s outburst. It was more the kind of thing that she herself would have said. Not that she didn’t think that Imelda was an independent girl, but lately she’d been so desperate to have a boy that it would not have surprised her if she allowed some boy to use her. This worried her.

Thelma turned to her friends and said, “It’s amazing how nothing much has changed.” Bria nodded her head in agreement, “I know; they act more or less the same way we did.”
“Yeah, but you know what’s truly amazing,” Thelma added, “Is that each generation feels they invented the teens. They create fashion styles and slang words out of the old, and feel that they have the monopoly on individualism.”
“The funny thing though, is that they fight to conform to their peers. The notion of individualism probably extends just to the adults,” Bria mused. Thelma laughed, “That’s the truth; we did it!”
Basha stared at a young man that was paying a little too much attention to his sister. He leaned towards Bria and asked, “Who’s that teenie that’s sniffing around Cassandra?” Bria rolled her eyes and said, “Leave it alone, Basha.”
“No, I just want to know.”
“When you ‘just want to know’, it means that you’re pulling your big brother act. This time I’m not going to let you meddle in Cassandra’s business. And for starters, the guy you’re complaining about used to be our neighbour in Bugolobi; that’s Kamal Latif.”
“No way! That guy’s the skinny little kid that used to follow me about? What happened? He’s so big now!”
“Uh, there’s this phenomenon called growing up. It’s been going on for awhile now.”
“Ha, ha, very funny.”
“Besides, my thinking is if he can show interest so openly in front of César – who might I add is more Dudesssive than you – then everything must be okay.” That seemed to mollify Basha, slightly.

Kamal felt Basha’s eyes on him and moved to join Maureen. She raised inquiring brows as he settled beside her. “Man, Basha doesn’t seem happy about me being with Cassandra. The guy’s been glaring at me.”
“Chill,” Maureen soothed, “He’ll be gone soon. The one you really should be worried about doesn’t mind you being with his sis, so be cool.”
Julian noticed that Laura Kempuga was not in the vicinity. He asked Juliana about it, “I thought you guys were inseparable.” Juliana narrated most of what had taken place the past few days. “What a pity. She seemed like a nice girl.”
“She is,” continued Juliana, “It’s just that she’s so insecure, that’s why she’s so reckless. To be honest, I’m also to blame for the breakdown of our friendship and her relationship with César. I did and said some things I shouldn’t have.”
“What things?”
“That’s not important, but what is, what Imelda has been urging me to do, is that I make up with her, which I shall try to do before the day is over.”

Julian still wanted to know the specifics of her words and deeds but decided to leave it at that, though he was a little uncomfortable with what he suspected they were. When she was much younger, she always sought his advice, telling him what was on her mind. But since the death of their parents and him taking over their role, she’d pulled away from him. She rarely confided in him so he didn’t want to alienate her now, these rare sessions were the only way he had of knowing what was going on in her life.

Eventually, the visitors had to leave though their hosts were reluctant to see them go. There were hugs and handshakes all round laced with advice to study hard.

César said to his brother, “Seriously, Bash, can I drive your car in the holidays?” Basha grinned at his younger brother, “You can but you may not.” César made a wry face, “Very funny. But really–”
“César, I already said no.” César made an exasperated gesture, “But why?” Patiently, as if he were talking to a three-year-old, Basha explained, that it was because he was only seventeen. “So?”
“So it’s illegal for you to drive. You have to be eighteen.”
“Then why did you teach me how to drive? Besides, everyone my age drives, you did the same when you were my age.” Basha started laughing as he got into the car, “Okay, we’ll see.”
César had a complacent expression on his face as he watched the car drive away; he knew that he was going to drive that car. They all went to their respective dorms to get ready for evening prep.