CHAPTER FOUR

It was a seminar organised for women, they were encouraged to invite others and men were also free to attend. She had invited him and Dennis who had turned her down realised she was angry as she left. She was surprised when she turned and saw him in the audience. 

“Thanks for coming,” she said when they met later in the day.

“No stress, anything to make you happy.”

“Really?” she asked. He didn’t answer, he simply smiled and nodded, she nodded too. “That reminds me, can I ask you something?” she said mischievously.

“Sure, go ahead.”

“Are you sure you? Cos i don’t want to piss you off right now, hope its a good time to say this”

“common sweetie, come on, go ahead, ask me anything.”

“Ok then, the speaker talked about gender violence against women, which is becoming prevalent in most parts of Africa and other developing world, Right,” she paused and saw the effect on his face, he was looking at her intently too, wondering what her question would be. “If eventually we get married will you have any reason whatsoever to raise your hand on me?”

“Nooooo, come on baby, why would you think that? I would never raise my hand on you, I'm not that kind of guy.” She smiled, he drew her close, hugged and kissed her gently,” I would never raise my hand on you,” whispering into her ear. That was almost eleven years ago, Dennis didn’t marry her unfortunately. 

Today, still unmarried, Dennis is sharing a cell with Gabriel, aka ' Disaster.’ He hadn’t planned for it, hadn’t seen it coming, perhaps if he had remembered the seminar he attended several 1years ago, maybe Dennis would have been somewhere else, not in a police cell with Gabriel. 

At the age of thirty-one, Dennis had never been to a police station, well maybe once and that had been off his accord. After his graduation from the university, he had been posted to Newcastle for youth employment program. He and his friend arrived Newcastle at night and the taxi they took charged them twice the amount of the trip, he knew they were strangers and thought he would play a fast one them to make extra cash, not knowing they asked questions before embarking on the journey, and better prepared with regards the cost of the trip. They had politely walked away from the man even when he tried to renegotiate the price with them. Being in a strange land for the first time, and getting dark already, they decided to find a safe place to spend the night which happens to be the nearest police station.’

They walked to the nearest police station, it was a small station with few offices and cells in it. There was a long wood bench for visitors and a counter and chairs behind it for officers on duty. There was a collage with pictures of criminal suspects and the things they had stolen_ TVs, animals, generators, phones, etc. Dennis and his friend explained themselves and situation to the officers on duty. One of the suspects in the cell heard them and had shouted from his cell. “theres space in here if the niggas wants a place to sleep” Dennis and his friend had laughed at the joke, the policemen also added their voices to the laughter.“  It was the police men’s turn to explain things to them. They told them they could not sleep in the station tonight because there's are high profile criminal suspects in the other cell and security is very tight, no one is allowed in the station or around it, an order of the central police department. So the policemen took both of them to a neighbor's house, a young guy who is a well known trader around the neighborhood, and pleaded with him to let them spend the night in his small apartment

The trader in a mix reaction reluctantly agreed, they eventually explained their situation to him, why they couldn't sleep at the station, and how the policemen were kind enough to bring them to his place. The trader told them how popular he is around the neighborhood because he owns the only shop around there. A small shop used in selling petty things, mostly daily needs.

 Discussions continued with laughter on general economic situation in the country and other unfolding events, he served them bread and tea and they continue to share stories until much late at night when the trader noticed they were tired and needed rest, he offered them mat while he slept on his small bed. 

It was the police men who came to check on them in the morning that woke them up. The trader thanked the policemen for checking out on them and their safety considering the risk involved in accommodating total strangers. The trader prepared breakfast for them and eventually they took a taxi to their destination, ' Was this really happening?' Dennis had thought, what an unconditional love’ for strangers,  total strangers for that matter, it's also unusual for policemen to have so much simple courtesy. 'what a night to remember" Dennis exclaimed.

A reverend’s son, he had grown up grounded in the way of the Lord, he had been taught to read and write at an early age and had learnt to open Bible chapters and verses too at an early age. At the end of each day, during their evening prayers, they would all be forced to recite a verse from the Bible, this they did happily and would laugh at any of their siblings who couldn’t recite a verse. But it was not just the Bible they were forced to read, they were forced to read books, history books, novels, theological books, poetry and science, inventors and the things they had invented. Little wonder Dennis grew up as an intelligent young man, his charm was he knew something about almost everything, the things his contemporary ought to know but didn’t, the things most people took for granted.