The Thorny Path to Europe - Episode 8

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Tunde wanted to talk and lecture Lizzy about the way he was way out of her league. But he kept his anger in check till it was the most appropriate time to explode. He marched out of the path and went to the front of the house, where the number of travellers had increased.

Every one of them had bags of different sizes. Some looked haggard while others made it a duty to impress people . The ladies wore dresses that were aimed at seducing others. He just couldn’t go out of his way. No matter how hard it was, he would abstain from s*x until he met a woman that really wanted it. From experience, women always felt that once a man began to desire to have s*x with them, they now had power over such man. He would be different and would make sure he found a reason to be desired by women. Even if any woman wanted to control him with his desire for s*x, such woman must be the one he would marry.

 In a few minutes, Jude rushed out to his car and returned to call names. Tunde, Ade and Lizzy were the last.

 After Jude had called their names, he asked them to take numbers. Tunde got the number 27 and still and got eight people following him. Jude brought out his phone, dialled a number and said, ' how far? We're ready'.

The travellers all took their seat. Tired from reading and alone, Tunde scouted his surroundings

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. His eyes rested on a fair lady who found it hard to deal with her padlock. She couldn’t get it to open; thus, she tried various keys on it but the padlock refused to budge. However, after much trial, she smiled and looked around to see if anyone was watching her. Tunde looked away and glanced at her immediately. She caught his movement. Her beauty mesmerized him and he couldn’t take his eyes off her, making him smile sheepishly. She smiled and winked. Realizing he was staring at her, he grinned and looked away.

Jude rushed to the gate and welcomed two men to their midst. One was tall and wore his glasses straight, while the other one was chubby and kept chewing something as Jude stood near them. They both dressed formally and had boxes with them.

'What's this?' asked the lady he was stared at.

'This is the part we return some people's money to them'.

'As if you people are recycling bin', the lady said again and that piqued Tunde's interest towards her. Lizzy inhaled loudly and glanced at Ade. For whatever reason she did so, Ade nodded with a sense of awe. He rose and saluted the lady, who giggled. Ade wasn't one that did stupid things, but Tunde had seen him do many crazy things within the few times he was Lizzy and he hoped they got separated as early as possible.

'I told you this man is a scam. We can't get to Europe', Tunde said.

'I know. I always knew', commented a woman whose child hung on to her as if she was the cover of a book.

'This will help you. Don't you know that there would be cold in the field and on the sea?' Jude replied offhandedly.

'What do you mean on the field? Aren't we going to be inside the ship', someone else said.

'See... This life is as simple and as short as possible. Don't let me waste it on talks. Senseless ones at that'. Jude looked frustrated.

'My talk is not senseless', the girl said. 'We need to know what we're facing. Why do we have to bother about the cold? We're not turkeys. We’re human'.

Some people defended her notion and began to murmur things, to Jude’s chagrin. He coughed and raised his hands. The others refused to stop talking and that infuriated him that he shouted. 'Shut up. You people are ungrateful. What do you mean? I'm not blind'.

'Ah! He has pressed P', someone said.

'Your father will press P'.

'Please, be careful what you say about my father, you might look fat but you're not his mate. You're not even up to the age of my father's first son, my elder brother'.

'Let your father take you to Italy and Germany'.

'Please, it's okay', A man shouted. The man looked like someone that was dressed up for a job interview. The rambling reduced.

'Oga, over to you', Ade said lackadaisically.

'Yes. Yes. We need to check your health statuses.

'To....'

'The bus that will take you was the one I called the other time. To? Did you just ask me 'to'? To water. Haven't I explained enough? There are things that will warrant that we take healthy people. I'm not called the grand commandeer, IGWE1 for nothing'.

'Just do the test and let's face this business'.

'What do we do?' Asked the man that called for calm the other time.

One lady that looked as if she was made from wafer biscuit sat at a corner and silently chew gums. Tunde wondered if she would get the chance to follow them. If the wind hit her, Tunde was very sure that she would break into pieces. However, his attention drifted to her bag, which was different from those of the other ladies around that were filled as if their fathers had sent them parking.

‘File… Arrange yourselves like humans’, Jude replied.

The travellers filed to take the test and were done within a few minutes. Tunde returned to his seat and absentmindedly watched the remaining seven people go for theirs. Time crawled and he wanted to complain about their idleness, but he stopped when he caught Lizzy's eyes, which held contempt.

Around 9:30 am a big coaster bus parked in front of the house to take them away. Tunde fought to pick a seat that was very far from Lizzy but she ended near him. She seemed to understand his plight because she glared at him, shook her head and turned to Ade. In another few minutes, they were teasing one another. Tunde felt left out as he had always been and his mind reverted to the way he always found a confidant in Emeka, how Emeka would have been with there with them.

About three kegs of petrol sat at the far end of the back seat, not far from them.

'That's kegs of petrol near us', he complained and the lady he was staring at the other time turned. She was sitting adjacent him.

 'I hate what is happening to us here. This wasn't the way Jude told us things would happen. Now, we're knocking head to head with Petrol kegs'.

'The man is just too ludicrous. He is shady'.

'Indeed, I paid seven hundred thousand naira for just an adventure'.

'What's an adventure?'

'I'm just travelling, exploring the world'.

The frail lady glanced at them as if they were disturbing her silent muse. Seeing that the lady paid more than he, he knew he couldn't try to appease her because she had paid two hundred thousand than his uncompleted original payment. So, he decided to change the discussion.

'I'm Tunde'.

'Cecilia'.

'Nice to meet you'.

'You too. This one that we will be on the sea together, I hope it will really be nice'.

Lizzy laughed loudly. Tunde glanced at her and wondered when she would learn to be courteous, that they were on a bus that contained a lot of people.

'So, why are you leaving Nigeria?' Cecilia asked as she fiddled with her fingernails. The nails were well trimmed except the index fingers. The remaining fingernails were dotted with different

colours.

'I was retrenched for the second time. I'm bad at doing business. Everything seemed to work against me in this country'.

'Except the sun I guess. That guy knows how to come out to greet everyone'.

'I think it's the mosquitoes. Battling with them in the night might make you work your butt hard'.

'Oh! That might be true too'.

'It's true'.

'Now, we have two things that work for us in Nigeria'.

'Then, something is wrong with the two of us. We need to have our brain examined if we think that the sun is working in our favour'.

'Oh! That's because you are not looking at it from that angle...'

She proceeded to tell him stories of great men and how they were able to make it in life because they hustled enough. She claimed it wasn't easy. Yet, they were one of those that had their ways cut out for them because they were propelled by these things. They stopped talking and Cecilia wanted to see the pictures of his phone.

She was too forward and he shouldn't trust her, but there wasn't a thing he could do since she was the only warming up to him at that time. He gave her his phone and proceeded to tell her something about the pictures. When they saw pictures that Emeka featured, Tunde called him 'just a friend' to avoid telling his story.

She too brought hers and flipped through as she made jokes about each of them. Just when the awkward moment came between them, when Cecilia stopped talking and he had no topic to raise for discussion, the bus stopped.

'What happening?' Cecilia said.

'I don't kn... Ade, what's happening at your side?'

Ade turned to the window and peeped. Lizzy stretched her neck to also peep.

'Nothing'.

'Seriously?' Cecilia said and looked at her side.

Upfront, people have begun to murmur. Then, the door opened and Jude walked in.

'This is where you people will be till it's time to go. Enter the hotel. It's free for all'.

Tunde swallowed hard as if he had just been punched in the stomach.

'I thought we are going towards Libya', Tunde exclaimed after finding his voice. The frail lady looked at him and he understood that he just spoke her fear.

'Go to Libya on legs. You're still lucky that I'm too tired to engage your insolence'.

'You're just jam-talking. Was this the plan?' Cecilia said.

'There was never a plan'.

The travellers began to make noise and Jude shouted at the top of his voice till they kept quiet.

Then, the guy with the suit said, 'but to be candid, he never told us any plan in the real sense. We were just made aware that we are leaving the place'.

Tunde wasn't up for being cheated. He rose from his seat.' This is really uncalled for, you never told us there would be a stop-over'.

'Shut up'. Jude shouted. 'I'm not like every other control-man. I'll tell you, people, a plan. This is the place you'll be staying until I give you the plan. I'm not just any type of control man. I will push your van into the desert only when I want to push it, not when you tell me to push it'

'Forget that side', Cecilia snapped.

'Leave him, he has seen fools', Tunde added.

'What do you mean? In fact, file out. Follow me'. Jude marched out.

Immediately, the bus was infested with a lot of mumbling. Ade glanced at Tunde and shook his head. Tunde returned his glance and they stared at each other for a while and Tunde shrugged, agreeing that they were helpless and that was because they haven't trashed out the issue before they set out to follow him. If they had done the right thing by asking him for the plan, he wouldn't have dared made them stop like that.

When they had all gotten down, Jude asked them to pick a room of their choice from the hotel because it had been booked for them. However, two people, regardless of their genders, would be in the same room.

Everyone began to pick partners, especially the ones they've tried to connect with before they got there. As expected, Ade and Lizzy picked each other. Tunde stood aloof alongside Cecilia, he wanted to pick her but he didn't want to give her strange ideas.

By the time everyone got a partner, Tunde, Cecilia, the slim lady and another man were left behind. The other lady tried to pick Cecilia, claiming they were both ladies.

‘Tah! I’m not lesbo…’ Cecilia replied.

 The other man smiled and edged near Cecilia. ‘Can I go with you then?’

She gave him an iced glare and turned to Tunde, who had been trying hard not to laugh at them.

'I know you were being careful about picking me. You're probably the type that makes people feel loved and then step back'.

He smiled as she picked her bag, turned to the remaining two and declared, 'we are together'. Indeed, they went off together and he had to find a way to avoid being emotionally attached to her.  Turning towards the hotel gave the chance to analyze it well. Nothing about the hotel was spectacular. Jude’s frugality might be their undoing. Despite the miniature effort, the owner tried to make the hotel look presentable, it still had a touch of mediocrity about. They clambered up the stairs, with him dragging his bag as well as hers. She walked off after she had berated him for not being gentlemanly and not helping her. Everything about him screamed that he shouldn’t allow her to make him cheap, but she was marching away before he couldn’t think up something to say.

After several attempts to get an empty room, they got one at the end of the passage. Upon entering the room, Tunde couldn’t get his mind off her curvy body. The tweaked from side to side and he couldn’t say if her actions were deliberate or she just that effect. Her presence made the room look small. If he had the intention of resisting her body, he had to move on.

They dropped their bags by the side of the bed and she grabbed a towel off the bed.

'Be a gentleman and try not to do anything that would make me shout', Cecilia said and marched off to the bathroom. She turned to him, 'or I cut off your powerhouse'.

If it was to be a gentleman, he could do that. He had enough trouble at hand than to have her shouting to the others about him. He would do just as she had wanted, to stay put. As much as they couldn’t stand each other, Lizzy still had the respect for him that he didn’t r*pe her. The news would blow off the shred of respect remaining for him.

When Cecilia stepped out, he hurried to the bathroom. Her sky-blue tower had a negative effect on him. When he returned, she gave him a dismissive look, probably because he was half-dressed. The only thing he needed to wear was a Polo shirt.

‘I’m out. Hold the key’, he muttered.

Not very from their room, the slim lady had rested again the wall, smoking cigarette in the corridor. He stared at her, shook his head, hissed and returned to his room. He wanted to complain there but refused to talk. If he talked, he would tell her revolting her behaviour was and how he wouldn’t rush to her aid if she wanted to die.

He jumped into bed. Cecilia continued making up in front of the mirror. He slept off and woke five hours later, making wonder how he had slept off without being aware of her movement.

Dragging himself off the bed, he entered the empty corridor. Nothing moved within the upper part of the house and he could guess why. The bass of the music from the lower floor rocked the house and he couldn’t help hurrying off. But to his utter dismay, none of the action below excited him. He drank some bottles of beer and even took part in eating fish. Cecilia kept rocking to the music on her own while Ade and Lizzy couldn’t stop smooching one another. Their action irked him that he had to return to the emptiness of the room. The effect of the emptiness could dry his longing for Cecilia.

Her hair flipped in the hair again and various men clawed their ways to dance with her. But she seemed too loosed to look to give them a minute’s attention. Engrossed in the dance, she kept rocking and would wink at him whenever she caught his attention. Immediately, he rose to leave, she blocked his path. The bottle of Legend in her hand dangled and she didn’t seem to care. The stench of alcohol on her could sink anyone.

‘Dance with me?’ She urged.

He shook his head. Nothing would make him grow closer to her. ‘ When we get to Libya’.

‘I want you now. This floor… Now…’ She slurred. He shook her off him and hurried off her. He had a knack for walking without making any noise. Despite the noise, he wouldn’t expect any noise from his walk. At that point, he noticed a small room by the door of the stairs.

Read " Grabbing The Hot Gate " by the same author ( Akíntayo Akinjide )

. Someone had left it ajar. He stopped in his track and scanned everywhere to see that no one could see him. 

Suddenly, someone shouted. 'Don't tell me that. It's traceable'.

'No. Not traceable. She has really disguised herself', a guy’s voice replied. The first one belonged to a lady.

'She didn't. I'm very sure she is that lady that is always making snide comments. I can feel it in my guts and my guts don't deceive me'.

‘Well, your gut could have made you pick that guy when she rejected your offer’, the guy said again.

‘That one… He looked like a r*pist. I just hope she doesn’t…’

His cough came again at the oddest of time.

'Who is that?' She called. Tunde sneaked away hurriedly.

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