bounty

workers but they still banked on him to do the basic

designs and take important decisions in the workshop.

In spite of the load of work and commitment, Billy still

missed Sandra. There remained the gnawing emptiness

which he knew only Sandra could fill with her love.

His only temporary antidote for the misery that

engulfed him each passing day was in the consumption

of alcohol and marijuana. During such moments of

drunken revelry with his fraters, Sandra was just any

other Malabress that he had had fun with, for in one of

his drunken stupors, he had intimated them on how he

had slept with Sandra, with the aid of cocaine. Most

of his cultist friends had regretted their absence for they

wished to have shared in the bounty if Billy was willing.

But when the chattering party was over and everybody

had retired to his abode, including the "high feelings",

Billy mourned Sandra who walked out of his life.

The usual spot for such get together were the open

restaurants, across the highway from the smaller

university gate. Here, boys sat in groups, sipping beer,

smoking cigarette and staring out into the street as if

the world belonged to them. For those students who

knew better, groups of boys who clustered together

had more in common than the amicable spirit knitted

by alcohol. These units of boys were persistent picture

of this environment, especially in the afternoon and

evenings, that other students who did not belong shunned these restaurants.

In one of those afternoons, Billy had a free period

on his time-table. In a bid to forget his romantic woes,

he followed Mouse across the road to cool off. There,

they met some of their cultist friends such as Bash,

Ghost eye, Kanga and Big Sam, already occupying a

large table. Billy and Mouse joined them, shaking hands

in the customary manner before taking a seat amongst

them and ordering their drinks. Ghost eye took charge

of the bills on behalf of the two boys. The small party's

conversation lingered on everything but academic work.

They must have sat there for about an hour, sipping and

sucking, surreptitiously observing other tables that were

made up of members of other confraternities and

weighing their capabilities against themselves when a

narrow-faced boy walked into the premises with a girl.

It was obvious that they were students for he was with

file and she a bag. Anyway, non-students were seldom

found here. The girl was a beauty in her own right.

Small, gorgeous and beautiful; the sort of portable type.

It was most likely that the two were here for a drink for

the boy's eyes scanned the terrace for a free table. Billy

and his friends were closely watching them and Big Sam

who had a penchant for ruthlessness called out to the

pair. The way he called out to them, on a serious note,

made the boy to think that the caller knew him before

or wanted to pass a vital message to him.