Chapter 28

As they were waiting for the waitress to return with the chilled bottles of beers and pepper-soup, there was a moment of awkward silence between the boys. Martin noticed the misery looks in the new boys’ faces, especially Adrian.

"You guys haven’t been talking,’’ Martin said, trying to cheer them up. "It’s high time you wake up from your slumbers..." he stopped talking as he saw a young boy and a girl of their age grade holding each others in arms akimbo and heading to the swimming pool. He hollered and waved at them, they waved back, he muttered within himself, "Ronald and Sandra,’’ and directly to his companions he said. "You wouldn’t belief that girl is a boarding student of Queens College in Iddo here. That boy too is a first year student in the University of Ibadan. But frequently, he would travel from faraway Ibadan to see her. The girl, you know, her parents based in Lagos. She would lie to her parents that she prefers reading in the school than at home during holidays. She would leave home with pile of books and sneak to club here with his boyfriend. We lived in the same estate in before, three of us. I know them like the back of my hands."

"That is too bad,’’ Adrian said, shaking his head disgustedly. "What if something bad happens to them on the way? For example if they got an accident on their way here and landed in the hospital, what will they tell their parents? Where will they say they’re going?’’

"Adrian, you see, you ought to stop reason like that,’’ Martin countered, slight anger in his voice. "Haven’t you ever heard about someone who slept on his bed, alone in his room and died in his sleep? Going out or staying indoors doesn’t guaranteed a long life or determine good manners. You don’t expect evil on your way to acquire your dreams or heart-desires. You just get to zero your mind and say, well, whatever that wants to happen, let it happen, I must achieve my goals. Those scientists and great men who made the world a better place had this kind of mindsets before they could succeed.’’

"But the days are full of both evil and good, hope you know that too?’’ Adrian questioned. He continued talking without fretting, his voice peppered with slight anger, too. "Perhaps, no one could predict what could happen to him in the nearest seconds of his life.’’

"I disagree with you, Adrian!’’ Martin looked fully angry now, banding his feasts on the table, and facing Adrian squarely. "Only losers expect evil or failure while pursuing his heart desires and goals. You must always look out for the positive sides of adventures and ignore the negative. Stop thinking like a loser, boy. Common, grow up!’’

"Well, that too harsh on Addy,’’ Taj countered, widening his lower lip mischievously in mockery of Adrian. Perhaps, he didn’t want the argument to dull their outing by leading to quarrel or probably a fight, so he tried to wade in and create a little comic relief. ‘’You should’ve said "bright up, man!’’

"What is the difference?’’ Richard asked, chuckling.

"Well, the difference is the courtesy in the tone,’’ Taj opined. "Courtesy is very important when talking to a fellow human, most especially a good friend like Adrian."

"I’m not offended, Taj, perhaps I belief in individual opinion. And the way they express it doesn’t really matter to me,’’ Adrian said in a forgiven tone, having a blank look to corroborate his claim.

"Here comes the waitress now,’’ Martin said anxiously, raising his hands up, "boozing time!’’

"Yeah, boozing and boozing, that’s what real men do,’’ added Taj elatedly.

The waitress dropped the eight bottles of beers out of the large plastic tray in her hands, one after the other, as careful as she could. The four two-palm-sized ceramic plates that were left in the tray contained some watery soup. Inside the watery soup were goat meat pieces, cut into half-of-a-finger sizes.

"Hope the pepper-soup has enough pepper?’’ Martin asked the waitress, sounding as humorous as he could. "In this part of the world we love pepper so much, hope you’re aware of that, too? We could even cook a pot of soup and use a whole bag of dried pepper for it.’’

Taj and Richard chuckled.

"Well, if that be the case, you’ve chosen the right recipe, sir. This soup contains enough of granulated local pepper,’’ The waitress said, smiling patronizingly. She handed a little paper to Martin and added: "here is the bill, sir."

"Oh no, this is too much, too outrageous!’’ Martin thundered, looking like someone who was surprised as he glanced through the paper, spreading himself on the chair, acting like a rich adult. He gazed from the paper to the waitress’s face as if searching for a letter that would spell ‘cheat’. "Four thousand, four hundred naira! How come? This bill is too much, too outrageous! It’s more than what we ordered for, yes, I’m very sure."

"Not so, sir,’’ the waitress insisted. She knew Martin was a customer, even if not a very regular one. His face much looked familiar but wanted to pull her legs. "We cherish our customers so much and can’t rip them of their hard earned money. Perhaps, we have our integrity to protect, sir. In all honesty, that is the amount of what you ordered."

"Break it down please. Break it down," Taj added mischievously, dropping the paper on the table. He could read Martin’s face. He knew he was pulling her legs and wanted to take part in the leg pulling. "Or else we’ll have none of these drinks and pepper soup."Y"

Yes thank you boy,’’ Martin said to Taj with the air of a boss to his servant, "now, my lady, just break it down for us one-by-one. How much are the beers and pepper-soup plates?’’

"Alright, sir,’’ replied the waiter enthusiastically. "If the beers are three hundred naira each; eighty bottles would be equal to two thousand, four naira. The peppers soup plates, each of them cost five hundred naira; that equaled to two thousand naira. Therefore, the total amount would be two thousand, four hundred naira plus two thousand naira which equals to four thousand, four hundred naira only, sir."

"Wonderful! ’’ Martin hailed flatteringly. "I love it when a lady combines a striking beauty with an articulate brain. Such ladies are rare commodities in the relationship market,"

"Yeah, you’ve got a perfect, calculative mind,’’ Taj extolled the waitress, too.

"Come for your money when we’re through,’’ said Martin. "Or perhaps, if we don’t see you when leaving we would pay it to the front desk."

"Yes,’’ added Taj, "we might also buy some bottles of whisky along when going."

"Thank you sir,’’ the lady smiled; exposing her sparkling white set of teeth as she left the boys.

With big opener on the table, Martin opened one of the beer bottles and poured it into his glass cup, up to the brink. He sipped it repeatedly. And then, something suddenly came across his mind—cigarette! If he sees the waitress again he would order for it, he thought. To him, smoking and drinking must go hand-in-hand like a new couple walking to the altar on their wedding day.

Like Martin, Taj had served himself some drink too. Accidentally, Richard and Adrian’s eyes met. They started looking at each other like two sheep taking to an abattoir. Or two kidnapped victims, just being freed into a forest they knew nothing of its beginning or end. They were lost on what to do next.

"Common boys,’’ Martin thundered in an irritating voice towards Adrian and Richard, "don’t keep staring like that when we’re having fun. Join up men, common! Pop-out your beers!’’

"We wish we could but…‘’ said Richard in an unsure voice, his eyes fixed on the ground like a shy girl. He was locking and unlocking his fingers as he spoke, ‘’…but, you know, we haven’t tasted it before."

"You’ll have to give it a trial tonight then,’’ Martin said, gassing from his mouth loudly. He beat his chest slightly to calm it down. "It taste so good and you would love it. A trial will surely convince you to keep drinking more and more, even after this night,’’ Taj said, sipping down some beers into his throat. "Nobody commences the drinking alcohol from his mother’s womb. You can learn it like us too. It’s almost a year in this same club, Black-scorpion thought me how to drink. I was a novice like you before but today I’m an expert drinker and I love that so much."

"That’s brave of you,’’ Richard said, turning to face Adrian. "Addy, should we give it a shot?’’

Adrian kept mum but the looks on his face was full of anger mixed with fear and disappointment. Richard needed not to be told to stop asking him further questions. Adrian jacked up suddenly and started taking long strides towards the club’s exit gate. Lights from an incoming vehicle pierced into his red owlish eyes. He hissed in frustration before looking away quickly. He stopped to let the vehicle passed first before continuing his brisk walk. His parents’ warnings against keeping bad peers or going against the school rules started ringing bell in his head.