There Was A Guy

Rehearsal Night

That evening, at about 6:15 pm, Emeka's Infiniti FX 35 SUV pulled into Kola's front yard.

Kola was taking a cool dip in his bean-shaped pool out back (Yes, it was still hot) when his phone beeped. He picked it up to read the message.

Emeka: Gee, just drove in with Dave & Timi. We're Headed for the studio.....meet us there.

Kola: But I just got in the pool....u guys have such perfect timing. I'm omw.

Kola got out of the pool, wiped his body dry, put on a robe and walked across the lawn into the rear entrance of the house. He made his way to the studio.

"Kola, how far. Where's Holly" Emeka & Dave Chorused in perfect unison.

"She's upstairs sleeping. Why?"

"I heard that her name is on Campus security wanted list" Emeka replied

"For real? She probably bashed someone's car again"

"No wahala sha. I was just a bit worried. So what are we doing for Bashaki?"

"I called DJ Cuppy and she agreed to play along side our performance. First, I'm going to do stripped down acoustic versions of 'Booty Bounce' and 'Friend Zone'. I'm in a chilled mood" Kola Concluded.

"I'm not going to perform sha" Emeka echoed. "I'm on my period"

"Bitch!" Timi mocked. "I could just do a freestyle rap to usher Kola in then"

Kola called in the full band and they all rehearsed together for about 5 hours before they finally perfected their sequence.

When they were done, they all went out back to the poolside to relax. Emeka brought the weed tray with him and began his self-assigned job of rolling joints for everyone. Kola already had his Martini poured into a small shot glass.

"So you guys want to Jolly without me" Holly's tiny voice squeaked from her balcony which overlooked the back yard.

"You know we can never do such" Timi replied with a hint of Sarcasm.

Before long, Holly had joined in the Frenzy. The poolside looked like there was a small party going on. The moonlight and the dim purple lights in and around the pool set the mood perfectly.

"How are we getting to Lagos though?" Holly inquired breaking a long silence.

"We'd swim" Emeka replied.

"Don't mind the fool, you, Dave, Emeka, Timi and I could rent a jet. The rest of the crew would go ahead of us in a convoy" kola concluded.

Kwame, their stage manager took the opportunity to ask Kola what equipment they'd be hauling from Accra to Lagos.

Just then there was a loud bang from the front yard. Everybody ducked in shock. They heard some voices shouting from the front of the house.

Emeka, Kwame and Greg, the keyboardist went to investigate what was going on while Kola led the rest of the band to the safe zone at the back of the house.

"What the fuck is going on Kola" Timi asked trembling with terror.

"I don't know but it sounds like a robbery"

Once they were inside the safe zone, Kola got out and closed the door. He carefully tiptoed around the side of the house towards the front of the building. On getting to the corner of the porch, he hid behind the thick hedges. From there, he could see eight men dressed in all black holding what seemed to be guns of different sizes. Three of them were trying to get access to the front door. Another three were trying to break into his cars and two others were watching the gate.

Kola crawled away from the hedges and went into the house through the rear entrance and as he was crawling past the studio, he saw Emeka and Greg inside making a call.

"Where's Kwame?" he asked almost inaudibly.

"in the parlour watching the men" Greg whispered back.

The men at the front door had given up on trying to break through and were now concerned with starting the cars.

At last, after hours of calling constantly, the police arrived but the robbers were long gone along with Emeka's SUV, 2 of Kola's cars and all the rest severely damaged.

*******

*******

The police were outside interrogating Kola & Emeka while the rest of them were sitting on the front porch.

"I told Kola about these his cars" Holly started. "They attract the wrong kind of crowd"

Timi looked at her with a funny expression and inquired,

"I thought the gate was intruder-proof. How did they even get in? "

After the Police had gone, they all went upstairs and smoked all of the weed they had left & it was a quiet night until everyone got tired and went to bed.

Once Kola & Holly were alone in his room, Holly sat on the bed reminiscing about what had just happened. Kola, noticing that she was quite shaken, sat beside her, stretched his arm across her shoulder and pulled her closer to himself.

"It's okay hun, they're gone now."

"I told you about these cars. You never listen"

"Holly, it's okay. They're gone"

"You could have been hurt.....or even killed"

He put a finger on her lips and hugged her, successfully shutting her up.

She just sobbed on his shoulder for a few more minutes before falling asleep.