CHAPTER TWENTY TWO

And so plans began for his resumption before the 4th of June on which they were to resume. His father made sure he had gotten the things he would need in school. At the age of 18, he was already a big boy, there was no need for his father to take him to school again. Besides, it had been arranged that he would settle first at his uncle’s place which was at the same town with the university before finding his feet and settling down properly after registration. 

He arrived at the uncle’s place around 4pm and met his uncle who was to be his host, a beneficiary of his father’s good will. He had insisted that Nandem would stay at his place before settling down in school. Nandem’s father had looked out for him while he was younger. He sponsored his education right through polytechnic and so a state government worker now, it was only appropriate for him to look out for the man’s son who had looked out for him in his days of need. He apparently hadn’t forgotten yesterday. 

His room was a one room, a so called “self-contain apartment”. Nandem was happy his uncle’s room had its toilet and bathroom. He had never liked sharing toilet and bathroom with the crowd. It wasn’t his fault, he had grown up like that, in his father’s house, not a rented house. The room was not too big but his uncle had maximized it accordingly. He had a wardrobe that housed all his clothes while his bags were kept on the wardrobe. He had a room divider that accommodated his television and a home theatre sound system. His mattress was kept on the ground, there was no chair, just a little stool and a table. 

He had come to realise that most guys didn’t keep chairs in their rooms for a reason, to easily seduce girls. The logic was that if a girl visits a guy and sees a chair, she would naturally prefer to sit on a chair and trying to get her in the mood would always be difficult, but if she walks into a room without a chair, where will she sit? the bed where seduction would be easier. 

However, some stubborn ones would insist on sitting on the floor, especially if it had linoleum or rug. His uncle who was a bachelor had made appropriate plans for him to enjoy his stay at his place. He had invited his girlfriend, a student already in the university to come and prepare a nice meal for Nandem. It was Nandem’s favorite and she was a good cook. After the meal, they sat and talked about this, about that, about how his dad had looked out for him and many others, how to concentrate on what had brought him and what have you. 

It was almost 9pm and the girl who had prepared the meal was still around. “Will this girl not go back home?” Nandem had begun to think. “I have a long day ahead of me and I need to sleep, please I need to sleep.” But this girl was going nowhere. Nandem’s uncle brought out a student mattress he had folded and kept in his wardrobe and dressed it for Nandem. Nandem dropped on it, before long he had already dozed off. 

He slept peacefully until something woke him up, it was a cry, was it really someone crying? It sounded like it but it wasn’t, people don’t cry like this when they are hurt, and it wasn’t his uncle crying, it definitely wasn’t his uncle. His uncle had a coarse voice, the voice was soft. But he hadn’t heard his uncle beat the girl, the girl who had cooked his favorite. Could it be that he had hurt her with words or done something to her while he was asleep? 

He was fully awake now, and the lady was still making that sound. His uncle began shushing her, “quite, quite baby, don’t wake the boy.” But the boy was awake already, when his uncle talked, he realised his uncle had struggled to make that sentence straight. It was as if his uncle was panting, as if he had eaten pepper. “Faster, faster, faster,” it was the girl saying this now then his uncle responded, “oh baby, oh baby, oh baby, I’m coming, I’m coming,” then his uncle gave a long sigh and got quite. 

“Did we wake him?” the girl had asked. Then his uncle looked to where his bed was. 

“No, no, I don’t think so, he’s sound asleep.”

“Asleep indeed, shameless people, I heard everything.”  Nandem said to himself. He couldn’t sleep again, he didn’t even know what time it was, he had to stay without knowing what time it was. He knew if he switched on the light to know what time it was, his uncle and girlfriend would know he had been awake all this while, that he had heard them, that he had known what had happened, that he had known what they did in the dark, that he had witnessed it happening live. He simply prayed and waited for day to break. 

He was still praying and waiting when sleep visited him. He didn’t even know sleep had visited him. It was his uncle, his uncle who ought to have been tired and still sleeping after what he had done a few hours ago that woke him. He had already taken his bath while his girlfriend was preparing breakfast in the kitchen. “Strong people they must be,” those who worked in the night had already woken up and began the day’s activities while he who didn’t do anything was still sleeping. Surely he had a long way to go if he had any intention of catching up with these people. He hurriedly ate his breakfast; boiled yam and egg stew. They all bid his uncle’s girlfriend farewell and left. 

“I hope you have put everything together.” His uncle asked him. 

“Yes uncle, all my credentials are here.”

“Good, I hope you will finish the registration on time so that you will begin to chill before lectures start.”

His uncle called a bike man and ordered him to take to Nandem to the university permanent site, paid the bike man and wished Nandem all the best.