party

The capo then went on to introduce the executive and their function to the new beards. He further informed them that the main objective of the existence of the red beard confraternity was the cultivation of Brotherhood outside the Realms of the natural family he emphasized that just as junior siblings were subject to their older ones, the new beards were to respect and obey the seniors in the confraternity the capo advised the weary boys not to owe anybody grudge for the night ordeal as every beard had pass through the same process and since they they themselves would inflict such punishments on up coming members

of the confraternity.

While the Capo was still speaking, some older

Beards were distributing doped cigarettes and hard

liquor in small cups to the new Beards. It might have

been rum or blood but every new boy was compelled

to taste it as a part of the solemn covenant. Like the

well-mannered cedar waxwings banqueting together,

the cups were passed back and forth from one boy to another until finally, one of the converts graciously

swallowed the rest of its contents. Writhing in pains

that lingered in their systems, the distributed drugs were

the necessary evil that was needed for the boys to forget

themselves for the moment.

After the Capo's brief speech, the drumming

resumed and this time, the new Beards were compelled

to join in the dancing, wriggling their bodies and feet in

whatever manner they thought could resonate the rhythm

of the music, as coffins whose contents they knew not

swayed in their tired clutch. With time, they would leam

the proper dance of the Redbeards but this dark

moming they had to naively partake in the celebrations

probably of their own survival. By 5.00am, the party

was over as dawn prepared to herald in a new day

They stealthily creep out into the highway, heading Home

People who woke up early enough watched them

go. They didn't understand but they were glad to see

them go, these weird youths.

Stroking the concrete pillar of the barbed wire fence

that separated him from the premises of the adjoining

house, Stanley waited tensely for Rita. He had sent for

her. He stared blankly at the sprinkle of beautiful houses

that was a conglomeration of the housing estate skyline.

His back was rigid, his muscles flexing, his whole frame

agitating in anticipation of the other girl's reaction to his

impending proposal. Behind him, Patrick, his kid

cousin, idled on the playing-field that was spread out

like a luxuriant green carpet around the large bungalow.

The sun, now a mass of red ball drowning in the western

horizon, seemed to destabilise his already troubled spirit.

He knew that it all began when he met her in the

afternoon of the day before in the precincts of the New

Art Theatre on the main campus. Billy's girlfriend,

Sandra, was really something else. To Stanley, she was

beautiful beyond description and he had to admit that

the mere sight of her, since the day he met her at Billy's

workshop, was refreshingly delightful That day, she

had been in the company of Rita and two other girls

but she had acknowledged his presence by flashing him

a sizzling smile and moving the whole length of her

fingers in a cilia-movement in the contemporary youthful

wave. There was something about that smile that

disarmed Stanley. The small set of clean white teeth