Purple Bougainvillea

Fifteen

The sound of footsteps woke them up, it was morning and people were already at the beach to start their day. They both stood up and packed up the blankets, walking back to their lodge. They dropped the blankets there and went in search of what they'd eat for breakfast, they were leaving soon, they needed something to eat since they'd be spending half the day on the road due to traffic. They walked into an eatery and ordered for rice. As they ate they poked jokes at a particular waiter with the widest gap teeth any of them had ever seen. Their table was the noisiest and they were the youngest set of people there too. Other families kept looking at them from time to time and countless waiters came to tell them to reduce their noise. But they didn't care, they kept talking till they were done. They walked back to the room and took turns to take their bath. They packed their bags and moved out, dropping the keys with a lifeguard.
They walked the long distance to the car, just like the day before. They got in and Kelly drove them away from the beach.
"What's next on your list?" Jumoke asked and Kelly reached into his pocket and passed it to her, since his eyes were on the road.
"Why don't we do the first one? Get chased by Police officers" She suggested and Kelly smiled, nodding his head.
"Why do you want to get chased by police officers in the first place?" Jumoke asked
"I want to test my running ability" he said, smirking at Jumoke and she hissed. She couldn't run, one of them would definitely end up in police custody due to this.
"Don't worry, if you're slow I'll just carry you with my left hand. You don't weigh that much"
"Ah!" Jumoke exclaimed and Kelly burst into laughter
"How dare you? Geez" she said and he kept laughing, his dimples were on full display.
"Don't worry, I'll do my own back" she said pouting as Kelly kept laughing at her.
"You're too small, do you even eat at all?"
"No oh, I don't eat. I just put food in my mouth and spit it out" she replied sarcastically and glared at him. He stopped laughing but his smile was still stuck on his face.
"There's a police checkpoint somewhere there, stop the car so that we can get this over with" Jumoke said and Kelly parked by the corner.
"So we'll go there and offend them, make them chase us until we get back here and drive off. Agreed?"
"I wanted something more dramatic like bullets flying and stuff like that" Kelly said, teasingly
"God forbid, it's not me and you that'll die" she said and Kelly chuckled, staring at her making an effort to be serious.
When they were done planning, they stepped out of the car and walked to the checkpoint. The officers were standing beside a story pavement by the side of the road. They were dressed in their black uniforms, they weren't carrying guns. The first officer was pot bellied, he looked like he couldn't even carry himself. Kelly smirked and stared at Jumoke as they both walked up to the him.
"Hello Sir" Jumoke called and he turned to her "We came to appreciate you guys for all the effort you put into protecting the people of this community. Here's a token of appreciation from us" she said and stretched an envelope out to him. They had found it in the car.
The officer smiled and collected it, thinking there was a cheque inside. Since the envelope was flat, he reasoned that it couldn't be money. They walked away slowly after he thanked them, knowing that he'll open it when they turned their backs on him.
The officer opened the envelope to see a note that read "token of appreciation" and no cheque or money even. He flared up and shouted after them, calling his associates to run after them.
Nobody told Kelly and Jumoke to run, they ran like their lives depended on it. The officers were close behind them as they ran through different houses. Some people came out to watch as they ran, shouting at the officers to let them be. But the officers weren't budging, especially the one they had pulled the prank on directly. They could see the car in a distance, so they picked up their pace. As soon as they got to the car, they got in and Kelly drove off taking the opposite direction. They looked through the side mirror to see that the officers had stopped chasing after them.
"Okay that was crazy" Jumoke said and Kelly nodded. He was looking for something, his inhaler. He couldn't remember taking it when he was packing his bag in the lodge. She handed it to him and he collected it with his left hand, hastily. He put the end in his mouth and dispensed it twice, his breathing was back to normal again.
"What would you do without me?" she said smirking at Kelly who just rolled his eyes
"Thank you" he said and she nodded
"Try and remember to carry it next time, before pulling a stunt like this. Before you just die for nothing"
"I've heard you, mom" he said dryly and she glared at him
"I should have not given you sef, I should have just let you suffocate. Goat" she said hissing, making Kelly laugh
"You know you can't live without me" he said
"Yen yen yen, continue talking rubbish" she said and he stayed quiet. They were already close to their house. Jumoke turned on the radio to listen to music, there was one already playing.
"...who go dey listen to my voice, who go dey give me ginger? Who go sing my song oh, all night long oh..." Victony's voice filled the car as Jumoke rested her head on the seat and slept off.
....
"Wake up, we're home" Kelly called as he tapped Jumoke. She opened her eyes and sat up as Kelly came down from his side. He opened the door for her and she stepped out. He handed her bag to her and she walked to her door.
"Goodbye" she said and he waved before entering back into the car and driving off.