Fifty-Eight

It is fight night.

The arena has never been this packed.

It is packed to the rafters!

Every single seat is taken.

It is a sold-out event, hyped by the media, loved by the country. Live-streaming to all major cities in Africa, the fight has been dubbed 'Rumble of the Titans'. The VIP Lounge is full, and Ira, sitting with Rupert, can barely breathe.

Effe is not at the VIP Lounge this time. She is at the ringside with her father, who is beaming from ear to ear. She sat through four under-card fights, two of which had ended early, and two of which had gone the distance.

Her fear is great as she remembers the dream Junior had.

Her father holds her hand and shouts to be heard above the din.

"Relax, dear. Chris is the best," Ken says with a flushed face, obviously enjoying himself greatly. "He's going to whip that arrogant little bastard, you trust my words."

Effe smiles and nods nervously.

The canvas is being dry-cleaned by two attendants using fluffy mops.

Rupert puts a hand under Ira's chin and turns her strained face to his. He bends and kisses her gently. She opens her lips and kisses him back, and then she sits back with a smile.

Rupert leans back and pops a gum into his mouth, and he is happy that she had at least kissed him in public so tenderly.

Ira is very nervous, unknown to Rupert.

Her heart is in a turmoil.

She is aware that Effe and Chris have almost found a way back to each other, and she knows that definitely, after the fight, they would vow and commit to each other once again. Many thoughts have been flying through her mind for almost a week now.

The prime thought is to accept Rupert, marry him, and try her best to love him and get Chris out of her blood forever.

Way up in the VIP Lounge Afful sits with Elaine, and then a man drops into the empty seat by his side, and he turns and looks into Steve's tortured face.

"You were with Micky?" Afful asks.

"Yeah," Steve replies grimly. "Told him to kill Chris."

"Ain't no way Micky can kill Chris, you moron," Afful says with disgust. "You want to fight for Effe, fight like a man. Don't expect anybody to do your dirty work for you."

Elaine turns and looks at them with very angry eyes.

"Effe and Chris are getting back together, aren't they?" she asks fiercely.

"She's your friend, darling. You should know."

"She says nothing to me anymore. She just wants to speak to Steve. She's a great disappointment to me, to say the least," Elaine says with something approaching shock in her voice.

Steve sighs miserably and looks into space morosely.

"I regret ever befriending that bastard in school. But you know what? Effe is the only woman for me," Steve says with a huge sigh. "The only woman. And I know she will eventually come to see that. Chris is a bomb in her life. He will explode again, and she will come running back to me. Just wait and see."

"You pathetic old fool. I wonder why you waited so long anyway," Afful says with a giggle. "You had five years, man, five good years and you couldn't marry or bang her. If you want her, this is the time to fight for her, or she will be gone forever!"

The lights suddenly dim, and then, for the very first time in many years, the sound of Bob Marley's "Crazy Baldheads" bashes through the speakers of the arena, and a mighty roar goes up!

It is the signature tune for Chris "The Darling Boy" Bawa.

The giant television screens around the arena are suddenly filled with the knockout moves of Chris in past fights. And then the blue lights of the Challenger's Entrance light up, and Junior appears, dressed up in all black... black jeans, black combats and a black hoodie with a peaked cap.

On his chest are the words, in gold, "The Darling Team."

Junior is smiling, and then Wailer Vroom comes out too, dressed in a similar style, and then as they begin to walk forward Chris appears in the doorway, and a noise, the sound of the Atlantic Ocean shakes the arena.

That sound decibel has never been heard, and will probably never be heard in the arena again. He is dressed in only black shorts with gold side trimmings, and black fighting shoes. His hands are encased in black and gold GojuFist gloves.

Placards shoot into the sky. Fans yell and applause. Sitting in the VIP and watching, Elaine fumes with anger. It seems that the boy is no longer the Beast.

Suddenly, he has become a hero!

As Chris walks forward, his son takes his hand, and together they walk towards the ring. When he passes the stationed camera beaming his movements on the giant screens, the camera angle swivels, pans and settles on his chest, biceps and spectacular rips.

The hirsute torso is a sexy sight that sends many a female into peals of delight. And then, as he passes, the camera pans again and settles on his back. That is when, one by one, people stop shouting and screaming.

The image of his mutilated back – cut, stripped, whipped, ironed, tortured – filled the screens for every eye to see. The sight shocks even Afful, who does a double-take and lean forward. Elaine gasps and clamps her hands to her face.

"Jesus! Who did that to him?" Elaine asks with genuine horror.

She is not the only one who is horrified.

There is absolute silence in the arena as the agony he might have gone through to have such a tortured back strikes through the hearts of the crowd. Dan Curtis, watching the fight in the Officers' Lounge at the police station, suddenly feels the horrified eyes of the cops coming to rest on him as Bawa's back fills the 21-inch colored television they are watching. He grinds his teeth savagely as it suddenly dawns on him that maybe he had gone too far.

This is the most terrible advert ever of his misdeeds and extreme atrocities. He knows the Commander will see it, and many other people in high places will see the scars. Bawa had not gone to prison with such a back. Dan Curtis knows that an investigation will surely come up over this.

The Commander of JAMES FORT PRISON, MR. DANIEL MIMAOSE, is almost asleep when his wife, sitting on the bed and trying to read and watch the fight on the small bedroom television, suddenly shakes him awake.

"Danny, Danny, wake up, wake up!"

The Commander sits up groggily.

"What, what? Has the fight started?"

"Look at his back! Look at Chris' back!" his wife cries in an unstable voice. "What did you people do to him?"

The Commander squints at the television, and his heart almost jumps out of his chest.

"My good gracious!" he breathes with shock.

He is shivering with shock as he fumbles for his phone and dials.

"Hello, sir?" Jon Fii answers.

"My good gracious! Fii, are you watching the fight?"

"Yes, Danny, I am."

"What is this I'm seeing? What happened to Bawa? Was it in my prison?"

"Yes, Danny. I spoke to you once, about my suspicions that the resident police officer, Dan Curtis, and some prison officers are torturing him. I think Curtis denied it," Jon Fii says softly.

"My good gracious! I want a report first thing Monday. I'm setting up a committee to investigate this. You're the Chairman. Report to me in a week!"

"Yes, sir. It will be done," Jon replies somberly.

Inside the arena the red lights of the 'Champion's Entrance' lights up, and the screens are filled with images of Mike 'The Crankboss' Crankson. His entourage comes out, all of them dressed in white.

Then a huge rapper comes out rapping the signature tune of The Cranksboss, Kicking Butt. He is followed by four women wearing only tiny white skirts and halter tops and knee-length white boots. Crankson emerges, as usual, in white shorts, white fighting shoes, white gloves and a white hoodie. He is gyrating and prancing around with his eyes wild and his tongue out, his usual style, but today there are no ecstatic applause and screams from the crowd.

There are mainly boos and a few scattered applauses.

Nana Bosomtwum is walking rapidly behind his boy. Once they enter the ring Crankson executes a beautiful mid-air flip and lands in a fighting stance, drawing cursory applause from his fans.

Chris' dark eyes are riveted on Crankson. He is standing still, and barely moves as the Ghana National Anthem is played. He barely hears anything else until the ring announcer calls the credits.

"And now, introducing the Challenger, fighting for the first time in more than a decade, the former undefeated Grandmaster of GojuFist, forty-three fights, no loss, no draw, thirty-nine knockouts, undefeated champion in five different weight classes, ten successful defences of the ultimate Grandmaster belt....the fearsome, the handsome, the one and only Chris, the Daaaaaaaaarling Boooooooy Bawa!" the Ring Announcer bellows.

The noise levels almost lift the rooftops, the screams continue, the placards wave.

The Ring Announcer preens, lifts the microphone, and continues.

"And now, the Champion, the current Grandmaster of GojuFist, the finest, the coolest, the undisputed master, fighting out of the red corner, proud record of fifty-fights, forty knockouts, no loss, no draw, the most terrible of bosses, eleven defences of the Grandmaster belt, Mike, the boss of bosses, the Crankboooossss Craaaaaaaannnksoooon!"

This time there is much more appreciable screaming, applauding and shouting!

"Now, Ladies and Gentleman, prepare your eyes, don't twitch, don't blink, this is the Rumble of the Titans, the Capo de tutti Capi, boss of bosses, who is who, the amaga of amagas, who reigns supreme today when two gods clash? Let's get ready to cruuuuuushh some heaaaaaaaads!"

Crazy sounds! Trumpets, screams, applause, yells!

"And now, your able referee, Laryea Odamten!"

Referee Odamten calls the fighters to the center of the ring.

The two fighters stand face to face. Crankson is tall, but a breadth shorter than Chris, but Chris is a bigger man, his muscles and rips finer developed.

"I want a clean fight, trust," the referee says with a bland expression. "Engage when I say, break when I say, trust. Defend yourselves at all times, trust. Don't let me come and get you, trust. Mr. Bawa, Mr. Crankson, bump gloves...we're set to roll, trust."

Chris holds up his gloved fists, and Crankson crashes his fists on them.

People leave the ring now, and very soon the two men are alone, and the referee is in the middle. Wailer Vroom stands outside the ring and speaks to Chris.

"Go get him, Tiger."

Junior reaches inside the ropes and hugs his father's thigh tightly.

There are tears in his eyes.

"I'm very scared, Daddy. I don't want you to die," he wails pitifully.

Chris looks down at his son and smiles tenderly.

"Champ, I'll finish this quickly and we can all go home, okay?" he says calmly.

Junior nods, and then he goes and sits down at the Trainer's Rest with Wailer Vroom.