WEDLOCK OF THE SPIRITS AND OTHER STORIES

THE FOLLY OF FALLING IN LOVE

THE FOLLY OF FALLING IN LOVE

Adam Okafor walked out of the class, he was done for the day, it was almost 4pm and he had not had a decent meal since the break of dawn, he yawned often and even fell asleep while the lecturer delivered his lecture, the lecture no longer made any sense to him after such a long time in class, diminishing returns had begun to set in, he thought. Today wasn't one of those days when he ventured into the library to read, he was really famished, so he decided on going home.

Sandra Oputa, a very beautiful young lady was a Law student of the University of Benin, she had been one of the most admired young girls in the faculty and to a large extent, she proved to be a disciplined lady, she wasn't much of a bookworm but her grades were average, she attended one of the popular campus fellowships and seemed overtly devout that so many boys steered clear off her. She remained single for a long time until she met Chukwuma Williams, a Pharmacy student, a seemingly self effacing young man, but those who were really close to him attested to the fact that he was arrogant and proud, his father was a business mogul, so Chukwuma had all the money to throw around and the ladies always flocked around him, he drove a Lexus around campus and was never to be seen without a female companion sitting at the front of his car, it was this young man who walked into a mall one day and met Sandra Oputa, she readily made an impression on him and he paid for everything she bought, she thanked him but politely declined a dinner date with him later in the day, they had exchanged numbers though.
He called her several times and even sent her some money every weekend, she didn't really like him but after sometime she began to return his calls and even offered to pay him a visit once.
Sandra, where are you going today that you're smiling so radiantly? Ogechi asked.
I'm going to see Chukwuma, she answered.
Ooohh, that guy? Ogechi asked with a sneer.
Yeah, that one with the Lexus car, Sandra replied dabbing her face with well scented talcum powder.
Ogechi looked at her and said in a more relaxed but warning tone; be careful of this guy, he's a heartbreaker, a rapist and a woman beater.
The cheerful mien disappeared from Sandra's face and was replaced with a cold and mean countenance.
Why are you so jealous? She asked. I have not even dated him or spread my legs for him and you're already trying to discourage me.
Ahhh, I'm sorry ooohh, I thought we were friends and I thought it wise to warn you, I don't want your man, I'm content with my Cletus.
Sandra laughed in a sarcastic tone and said; your Cletus that cannot clothe himself, your impecunious Cletus, a man who cannot say boo to a goose.
Ogechi was vexed now, she stood to her feet and walked menacingly towards Sandra, pointing her fingers directly in her face, if you ever say that nonsense again, I'd pluck your eyes out.
Sandra didn't want any more troubles, so she picked up her handbag and left the room.

Adam Okafor had just finished reading his books this afternoon, he tried to remember the presumptions he read about in the Law Of Evidence and he found out that they had stuck to his memory, he smiled to himself and walked into his kitchen, he opened the soup pot, the soup hadn't turned sour, he put on the little gas cylinder and placed the pot on it waiting for it to be heated up, when he thought it was warm enough, he pulled down a big spoon from a rickety shelf and ladled a little soup into a small deep ceramic plate, he placed the pot on the cylinder and carried the plate of soup to a table in the room, he had put off the cylinder by now, as he sat on a chair to eat his food, he heard a knock on the door, he grumbled to himself and opened the door, it was Kola, one of his closest friends.
Welcome man, come and join me, Adam said letting him in.
Thanks man, he replied sitting on the mattress in the room, I ate at Ben's place, he prepared rice and stew.
Oooh, no problem then, Adam said sitting at the table and cutting huge balls of fufu and submerging it in the leafy egusi soup before sending it down his gullet.
Kola had been his friend since freshman year and had given him invaluable pieces of advice every now and then, he wasn't from a very rich family, but they were very comfortable, his father was a lecturer while his mother worked with the State ministry of transport, unlike Adam whose parents were dead and his elder brother who worked with an oil company catered for him. Despite the fact that his brother received a huge salary every month, he didn't receive the care that a young man would have received from his parents because his brother gave him the basics and nothing more, there was no room for pleasure or luxury.
He and Kola talked about many things after his meal, they always talked and laughed hysterically, they talked about the professor who had been so lascivious that one day, he met a marine goddess and he had ended up in a psychiatric home, they talked about the girl who had done so many abortions to the extent that she lost her womb on one occasion or the female lecturer who had worn a tight fitted skirt to class and had to bend down to pick up her handbag when the skirt ripped off at the rear and exposed her equally torn panties or the students that were caught behind the SUG common room having sex or the laundry student boy who pressed the breasts of two girls in the SUG common room or the girl caught in the law complex kissing her fellowship papa or the student leader of the Catholic fellowship who wore a condom to class and was found bending a girl over and ramming in from behind by the schools bookshop. They talked and laughed and didn't even know when nightfall crept in on them.