Forty-Nine

It is fight night, two months exactly after Mike Crankson knocked out Wailer Vroom to retain his GojuFist Grandmaster title. He is making his eleventh defence against an opponent from Kenya, JACK SHARK.

It is the fifth round.

Crankson has systematically torn Shark apart from the first round, exhibiting an awesome array of skills that his bigger opponent has no answer to. By the beginning of the fifth round, Jack Shark is a shambling, swollen and bleeding man.

The punishment has been cruel, and many of the spectators are even showing signs of pity for the man. Shark throws a powerful haymaker that, had it landed, would have torn Crankson's head off his neck, but the lithe champion dances easily back, and spins with a reverse punch that sinks into Shark's jaw, making the man totter.

Crankson leaps in mid-air and brings a crushing elbow down on Shark's head. Blood spews out of Shark's mouth, and he falls like an uprooted tree.

The crowd erupts!

"Crankboss! Crankboss! Crankboss!"

It is deafening.

Crankson is prancing around the ring with his famous signature jig with his waist. There is an arrogant smirk on his face, and he makes lewd gestures at the cameras. It is another incredible knockout for the Ghanaian champion.

Jack Shark is standing wobbly after the announcement. His face is badly swollen. There is a trace of blood around his shattered lips and nose. His eyes are almost closed. The punishment he received is severe.

The cameras zoom in on him, and the Ring Interviewer thrusts a speaker at him.

"That was quite a terrible time with the champion, wasn't it, Mr. Shark?" the interviewer asks somberly.

"I have only one thing to say. Crankson won, and he thinks because he has eleven championship defenses, that makes him the best," Shark says painfully. "But he will never be in the same class as Bawa. Chris Bawa will always be the best because he has a heart, and he's got the best skills I've ever seen."

There is a scream of fury from Crankson. He jumps from the ring and rushes at Jack Shark, screaming all the time, but his huge bodyguards hold him back.

Shark and his team begin to move away, and still Crankson screams and tries to reach him. The interviewer walks up to Crankson tentatively.

Crankson snatches the microphone angrily.

"Well, Mr. Crankson, you are the toast of your fans today, once again, reaching a historic eleventh defense of your title, one better than the previous Grandmaster, Mr. Chris Bawa. It seems, however, that your opponent today doesn't think much of you, and instead has a lot of respect for Mr. Bawa. What do you say to that?" the interviewer begins.

"I whipped him like I whipped all the other pretenders!" Crankson says furiously. "I'm the best! Everybody knows I'm the best! Eleventh defence of my title, still undefeated. I've asked Chris Bawa to step up if he's man enough, but what does he do? He stays in a kitchen frying chicken because he's chicken, a damn coward who knows he's no match for me. He hasn't got the balls to face me!"

"You've done it all, champion, and proved beyond doubt that you're the best. Why do you think people still hold on to the notion that Mr. Bawa can beat you?"

"Which people? Chris is a coward! A man afraid of his own shadow!" Crankson utters venomously.

He turns to the camera and looks directly into it, his face vicious.

"Chris Coward Chicken Bawa, I know you're watching this! I say you're a coward! I say you have no balls!" he says nastily, his face inflamed by his hatred. "I say you're not a man! Maybe life in prison turned you into a woman! The world wants to see who the best is! Are you going to step into the ring with me, or are you going to lick the floor like a damn worm? Listen, you coward, you're not fit to be called a man! You're a coward, a piece of chicken meat!"

***

Barbara presses the power button on the remote, and the television goes off.

She gets up from the seat and walks to where Chris is standing by the window, drinking a bottle of malt. She faces him and sees the terrible anger in the depths of his eyes.

"He's an asshole, Chris. Don't mind him."

Chris drains the bottle and regards it for a long time.

"That guy is a disgrace to the fine art of GojuFist. He's using it to torment people and punish them. It is sad, but someone needs to take him down, and fast before he kills the sport with his cruelty and stupidity."

"Is that person you, Chris?" she asks gently. "I don't want you fighting him, ever. He's a beast."

Chris moves from her and sits on the arm of the seat.

"No, no. I'm not fighting him, no matter the taunts he throws at me. I promised Junior, and I'm not going to break it."

She comes and stands in front of him. She regards him with her head cocked to one side.

"I'm glad to hear that, Chris. Well, it is late. I better push off. Church tomorrow, work on Monday. See me off?" she says gently.

Chris gets to his feet and smiles down at her.

Since the day in the eatery when Junior had begged for her, she is almost a different woman. It has been more than a month now, but she has not made any play at him. Their relationship has been easy and mutually respectful, and he has not seen that violent side of her again.

She appears to be happy, and she spends a lot of time with him and Junior. Chris puts the malt bottle down and checks on Junior who is sleeping in the bedroom.

Junior now spends Saturdays with him. Chris picks him up on Friday afternoons, sends him to the eatery and then comes home with him. He sends him to Effe early Sunday mornings.

Junior is still sleeping.

Chris follows Barbara outside. She takes his hand and walks in front of him, and once they begin to walk towards her car, she suddenly places his hand on her buttocks and holds it there. Just like that, out of the blue, without warning! It is the first intimate gesture she has made in many weeks, and it disappoints him a bit.

He had been of the view that she has moved on. He does not fight it. It is the one night he does not want her to become violent, not when Junior is around. She unlocks the car with the remote, and he opens the door for her. She begins to get in, and then she stops.

"So, how's it with Effe now?" she asks softly.

Chris looks warily into her eyes, seeking if she is going into one of her mood swings, but she still seems calm and sweet, which is not an assurance in itself because she had always been at her sweetest just before she slipped into that murderous mood.

"We're slowly finding our way back to each other, Barbara. I'm certain that she will make that big decision soon."

"I hope so, Chris. You deserve all the happiness. It is just that sometimes I get so lonely and so jealous, missing you so much. Sometimes I hate it so much when I remember how you made love to me, and now you've ditched me like a squashed pest," she says, and she sounds really sad.

That scares Chris.

It is a bad sign, a dangerous sign that can lead to her violent behavior. Junior is sleeping in there. He cannot afford to let Barbara slip into that mood. Chris forces a sweet loving smile.

"I'm sorry, Barbara. Very sorry," he says with a wry smile.

"You know, I've tried to date other guys, since my promise to you to stay from any sexual advances towards you. But it's not the same thing. I can't imagine myself making love to anybody but you, Chris. That's the truth."

He says nothing to that.

She suddenly draws near to him, stands on tiptoe, and kisses him gently. Her lips are sweet and wet, but he derives no satisfaction from it, no desire.

He holds her, just to make her calm and happy, but his heart bleeds inside, because it is like old times, when no other woman could take the place of Effe. Effe is in him, in his blood, in his very soul, and his love for her is still so strong. He knows that he cannot live without her... ever!

Barbara steps back, and without a word enters her car. She starts up, reverses, spins the car around and heads for the entrance. Suddenly, the brake lights come on, and then she reverses fast, too fast, and brings the car to a screeching halt just inches from his kneecaps. She gets out of the car, and as she begins to walk toward him, Chris' legs suddenly feel weak.

"Dear Lord, no. Her thing has returned!" he says warily.

Barbara is looking fiercely at him. The soft eyes are gone. These are the eyes of the woman who has smashed his head with a piece of rock. And then Chris notices with crippling horror that she is holding a gun in her right hand, and suddenly he looks towards the Boys' Quarters.

Dear Lord... Junior! Chris is gripped with fear and panic he has never felt before.

"You bastard, Chris! You fucking bastard! I kiss you and all I taste is your teeth?" she asks frostily. "What do you take me for, a whore? You better kiss me right, Romeo, before I get nasty, and believe me, you don't want me to get nasty, motherfucker!"

Chris' heart beats with absolute horror.

He looks at the gun in her hand and for a wild moment contemplates attacking her, but he knows that if he tries it and fails, she can harm Junior! Chris feels a numbness spreading through him. His horror is that complete.

He holds out his hands.

"Come on, Barbara, ple-"

"Kiss me right now, Chris! Right now, you piece of smelly anal shit!" she screams.

She is losing it fast, quickly becoming the mad Barbara. And she is waving the gun dangerously in all directions. Chris gathers her in his arms and kisses her passionately, all the while thinking about Junior, terrified for the welfare of his beloved son.

She responds feverishly, passionately, pushing her tongue into his mouth, exploring, frenzied! She steps back panting. Wild, mad-eyed and breathing hard, she unbuttons her shirt with her left hand deftly. She is not wearing a bra, and her breasts stand up petulantly and proudly in the glow of the outside lights.

"Barbara, please. Please don't do this," he says hollowly.

"I'm not raping you, Chris. Lick my nipples, now! Do it, Chris! Now!" she says violently.

She points the gun at his head, and her finger curls around the trigger.

Chris sighs and looks at the porch, wondering if he locked the door when they came out. Unsteadily, he bends and puts one of her nipples in his mouth, licking it hard. She grabs his hand, spreads her legs, and pushes his hand between her thighs. She is wearing no panties, and Chris' fingers nestle in her wet core.

His mind has almost ceased working as he licks her nipple and caresses her jade gate, and when she puts the gun against his temple, he knows then that he will never ever allow Barbara anywhere near him again, even if he has to take a restraining order against her.

"Yes, yes, yes! Touch me, Chris, do it, do it, do it, do it! My other nipples, yes, now! Kiss it! Lick it!" she moans lustfully.

Chris takes her other nipple in his mouth, and she moans louder, rubbing hard against his hand.

She traps his hand between her legs with her thighs, pulls up his head, and kisses him hard, moaning at the same time, groaning, moving his hand...and she keeps the tip of the pistol firmly against his temple all the time. Suddenly, she gasps and trembles, holding him tightly as her orgasm tears through her.

She bucks and gyrates fiercely, scissoring her legs so that his hand is trapped between her thighs. And Chris' heart stops beating because the gun is waving quite dangerously in the space around his face as she loses control and succumbs to the violent orgasm thrashing her body.

Suddenly, she pushes his face away and steps back. Without warning, she transfers the gun to her left hand, and swings her right fist straight into his nose, so hard that he bites the inside of his cheek and traces of blood drip down his nose as a flaring pain rips through his face.

"Craaaaaaaaazzzzyyyy! You crazy dog, Chris!" she screams. "Next time if you kiss me with your teeth locked again I'll murder your fucking stupid stinking mouth!"

She giggles then, quite insanely.

Chris is silent and still, and he is not even breathing. She turns and walks, still with her shirt open, to the car. She throws the pistol into the car, gets in, and this time she speeds away fast.

Chris still feels the pain of her fist. He stares long after she is gone, quite perplexed, expecting her to zoom right back and shoot him.

He walks with a heavy heart to the door, enters and locks it.

He feels so sad. Barbara had been the perfect lady for a while now, so sweet and dependable, so cool, and he had thought her moments of abrasive mood swings were over. He feels dirty, used and abused. He had not derived any physical joy from her passionate adventure.

He strips down and enters the shower. He takes a long cool bath, slips into pyjamas, and goes to the bedroom.

Junior is lying on his side and Chris slips silently into bed beside him, and a moment later Junior reaches out and holds his middle left finger.

"I heard the Transformer Barbara screaming," he says sleepily.

Chris is suddenly alert, and confused.

"The what?" he asks, puzzled.

"Oh, you haven't watched the Transformers before?"

"No, Champ, what is it?"

"They're cartoons. Well, there are Transformers movies too, but Mom says I should be thirteen years before I can watch the movies, so I watch the cartoons. The Transformers are these cars that can change into these really cool, huge metal robots that can do hero stuff. Auntie Barbara is like that. Sometimes she transforms into a very bad woman!"

Chris' blood runs cold.

He sits up in bed and switches on the light, and Junior winces. He takes Junior's arm and draws him up. He is very, very shocked. His blood runs cold.

"Barbara? She behaves strangely when she's with you?"

"Sometimes yes, but only when she changes into Transformer Barbara. Daddy, Auntie Barbara is fun to be with, but when she becomes Transformer Barbara she is awful! But don't worry, I've learnt how to change her back to Auntie Barbara when she transforms into Transformer Barbara," Junior says with a giggle.

Chris looks intently at his son.

He is very angry all of a sudden, and he feels like killing Barbara. It had never occurred to him that Barbara's strange mood swings could happen around his dear son. Chris is angry with himself for exposing Junior to something like that.

"Champ, has she ever hit you, or done anything mean when she... when she transforms?"

"No, no, Daddy. I told you I can make her change from Transformer Barbara to Cool Barbara. It's always fun!"

"Listen, Champ!" Chris says in a serious voice. "It is not fun, do you understand? I'm going to keep her away from you, and I want you to promise me you'll never ever be alone with her again."

"But Daddy…" Junior begins, his voice sad.

"Promise me, Champ! Now!" Chris says, his voice brooking no room for argument.

Junior is shaken up. He throws his arms around his father.

"Don't be angry, Daddy. I promise! Don't be angry at me! It makes me sad."

Chris pats his back lovingly. He switches off the light and lies down, keeping his son on his chest.

"I'm not angry with you, Champ. It's just that when Auntie Barbara is in that mood, she does very bad things. I don't want anything bad to happen to you, okay?"

"Okay, Daddy. I love you," the boy says in a relieved voice.

"I love you too, Champ. I love you very much."