CHAPTER FIVE

the things most people took for granted, things like: "struggle against apartheid’ what Mandela stands for' how apartheid regime eventually collapse' how the first animal in space was Rhesus, a monkey; how the popular hymn ' Amazing Grace’ was composed by a repentant slave trader named John Newton based on his near death experience in Calabar; how Ethiopia and Liberia were the only countries that were not colonised in Africa, how aliens are referred to as EBES, extraterrestrial biological entities, how no one could travel through or over the Bermuda Triangle because of the mysterious disappearances occurring there, about Greek mythology, with Zeus, Achilles, Poseidon, Sisyphus and  it’s daily punishment of rolling a stone for eternity, Medusa and how she turns people who gaze at her into stones, Trojan horse and the rest. In African literature, he had read Soyinka's ' King Baabu', ' Lion and the Jewel,' Rotimi's 'The gods are not to blame,' Achebe's ' Anthills of the Savannah' and ' Things fall apart,' Armah's ' The beautiful ones are not yet born' and 'Trials of Dedan Kimathi by Thiongo and Mugo' among others. In European literature, he had read Orwell’s 'Animal Farm,’ Shakespeare’s ‘Macbeth’ and others. He had also read Defoe’s ‘Robinson Crusoe,’ Golding’s ‘Lord of the flies,’ and Goldsmith’s ‘She stoops to conquer.’

He had gone to a boarding house for his senior secondary school, his father taking his time to provide him with the necessary things needed in a boarding house. Sending Dennis to boarding school turned out to be a mistake, his father describing it as ' the beginning of Dennis’s departure from the right track.’ His brilliance and simplicity endeared many to him, both good and evil but these were part of a boarding school, these were part of all schools, in fact these were part of every society, at the end of the day it all goes down to ' be or not to be.’ 

 “Guy come join us to this party, you won't regret,” Felix, Dennis’s close friend had said. Felix and Dennis had resumed school the same day, his father who was a military officer had gotten tired of Felix’s excesses and hearkened when he was advised to send Felix to a boarding school. Felix and Dennis had resumed the same day and had become close while waiting for the principal. They had been put in the same hostel but different rooms but the friendship that began  in the principal’s office grew non the less. They would visit each other and share provisions together, sometimes sleeping at each other’s place. Felix who was a ' know how guy' adapted to boarding life immediately and before long had begun  roaming with corrupt seniors. He would run errands for them, secretly buying weed and booze for them. They would occasionally sneak out of school with Felix to attend parties and beer parlours. Felix would occasionally use his money to buy booze for these seniors, seniors who would always look out for him and protect him from other seniors. He had been tagged ' man of the moment' when he advised the seniors against smoking weed, his argument was that the odour would easily give them up, beside there was slight wastage in smoking weed, after all not all of it is consumed. The curious seniors asked for the way forward and he advised cooking. He had presented his case articulately they were forced to oblige, ' since we do secret cooking in the hostel, why not just put the whole weed into the food? It will be like, ehm, thyme or dried curry, that way we eat everything and get the inspiration we need. And the interesting thing is this; no odour, we can cook a bag of weed in this room and no one would know.’

 They had tried it on a Friday night, the hunger that followed the following morning was on another level, but the ' joy, happiness and inspiration' they felt they got was worth it. One had walked to the pigsty and sat there the whole day, another had walked to the FCS president and requested for prayers, he had believed ' witches and wizards' were trying to kill him, yet another had eaten full pot of yam poridge, that Saturday had been infamously named ' Happy Saturday'.  So when Felix invited Dennis  to this party, he knew very well about what he spoke. Dennis wanted to but the whole idea was strange to him, he had never been to a party, well, maybe birthday parties where they would eat rice and cake, drinks and songs of ' happy birthday.

“Are you sure it’s a good idea?” Dennis had asked. 

“Yes bro, it's gonna be funfull. I'm only inviting you because you're my Gee”

Dennis still feeling reluctant and uncomfortable said I'm having a bad feeling about this. Also leaving the hostel unauthorized or without permission is great risk. 

“dont tell me you're scared bro, come-on bro, stop talking like a baby. We have our routes out of the school strengthened out, wake up man and know what time is it. Let's go catch some fun, and we will be back before we get caught.

Dennis noticed the irritation in his friend’s voice, he knew he wanted to but had to weigh his options, what would happen if they were caught? Would they be suspended? How would his parents feel? What would the people in his father’s church say about it? He thought about all these but that was the problem with doing something wrong, especially when it had to do with pleasure, once one’s mind was made, turning back was always difficult. 

“Ok, I’ll go, I’ll go! I hope you guys got this shit together'cos nigga don't wanna get caught.”

“That’s my nigga,” his friend began to hug him, “ that’s my Gee, I knew it. You can't afford to miss this jamz, it's gonna be a wild jam tonight. Cheer up bro. You need to get to know what's up. Put on your boogie shoes let go catch some fun.

It was a loud party with lots of jam, the celebrant was a University student and the sponsor was her boyfriend, or one of her boyfriends. There was food and drinks to go round and Dennis ate that well, his friend too. The food they ate in school was nothing compared to this. Dennis whispered into his friend’s ear ' thank you for bringing me here’ after he had eaten to his fill. Dennis was surprised to see the way Felix related with people at the party, they were people older than them but Felix had no problem settling in