Behind Closed Doors

Chapter Eight

LAWRENCE LIVED IN a three-bedroom flat at Lekki phase 1, and he was in his early thirties, a man who had been divorced by his wife; the woman had gotten custody of their two sons and lived with them now in Abuja. Lawrence would never say what had prompted her to divorce him and Phoenix never asked. The man would tell him if he wanted to.

Phoenix spent the remainder of the Christmas holiday with him, and in January 1998, he started to work for Lawrence in his beauty salon which was located at Ikoyi and there he learned everything there was to learn about the beautification of the female form. He learnt everything from tint and dye jobs, to perms and artificial hair extension weaving; he learnt how to plait hair. Lawrence encouraged him to make the much he could from the rich pampered wives and girlfriends of the Lagos elite, and to save what he could for the purpose of his schooling. He worked there full-time for a year, and was always sending money home to his parents whenever he could.

One burning Saturday afternoon, a man came to the salon, accompanying a young woman who wanted to have her hair layered and then dyed a dark brown. The man was tall, dark and lean, and he gave Phoenix a very long probing look as Phoenix set about working on the hair of the young woman as best he could. Later that night, as Phoenix locked up－ Lawrence had already left hours ago to go clubbing at Ikeja－ the man came back into the salon.

‘My name is Ali Hassan,’ the man said succinctly, his voice cool and impersonal. ‘I have a snake farm where I have dozens of the most exotic snakes you’ve ever seen, and I think that my creatures will love you very much. Can you dance?’

Phoenix frowned. ‘You want me to dance for you and your snakes?’ He thought that the man had taken leave of his senses.

‘No. I want you to learn how to handle the snakes, move with them, and dazzle people with them. You have very graceful movements, like a dancer; all very seductive. And you’re also one of the most unarguably beautiful men I have ever seen. I want you to take that beauty and talent out into the streets, where you can add to the money you make for that man you work for here. Are you interested in exotic dancing?’

Phoenix could see the challenge in the dark eyes that was watching him like a side dish, and then he felt something in him responding to the challenge, rising to the bait. This would be the very first step towards his glory. He did not know what made him to think that, but he felt it strongly in his bones. He nodded.

And that was how he found his way into the expensive, exclusive interior of the Drummer Club as a dancer, catering to the tastes of the super-rich fun-chasers of the Lagos elite. It was a club that sold everything conceivable, from marijuana to nubile young women and young boys for the sexual entertainment of its clientele, and that was where the Fates had planted Phoenix. He entered the club through the connections Hassan had, though it was after he’d first shown his gratitude to the man with his body, allowing the man access to every part of his anatomy that he’d kept sacred.

Ali Hassan was the person he lost his virginity to in the real sense of the word, and it was all for the purpose of him getting to the top of the game. It was a painful, body-tearing experience, one never to be forgotten.

When the manager of the Drummer Club asked for his name, he said, ‘Phoenix,’ because that was who he was now; Tochi Okoh was buried somewhere within him.

And then he’d gone on the stage and had made a performance that was jaw-droopingly perfect in the dimmed room, with the red lights aligned in such a way as to shine on him with reptilian spots all over him, making him look like a human reptile. The club really wanted him, and he had to keep on going back to them, and then came the subtle hints from the manager that he was wanted in more ways than he was giving to them, and he was no fool; he knew that there were men there who would want him for sex since he was the physical stereotype of the gay male. Many wanted him, but he was selective and very picky. He wanted to be more than some exotic dancer with the snake and the hot tongue that gave pleasure to rich young men and married men who left their wives at their expansive homes in VI, Ikoyi, Victoria Garden City, and all came there for some sex and fun.

He began to plot, to make plans, a plot that would catapult him into the glare of the big screens, one that would revolutionize his name.

He knew that he wanted to be an actor, and he was working towards it.