The second week of the camping exercise was in full
swing and Kenny and Adamma were now inseperable. They became one of the
prominent camp couples, always seen together; from the parade ground to the
mammy market to the lecture halls for nysc lectures, back to mammy market and
then to the evening shows..
Adamma was from an extremely wealthy home, so she
had full access to money and she didn’t hesitate to splash money on kenny.
Thanks to her he no longer had to stand in the long queues at the camp
cafeteria waiting for tea which was essentially coloured water and a small
crusty bread for breakfast, or the dry beans they gave as lunch or the sorry
looking jollof rice with a stiff piece of meat they served as dinner. Now he
was eating choice meals at mammy market with Adamma his love. This was coming
at a time when almost everyone on camp was broke and the big boys who had
turned up their noses at the kitchen food in week 1 were now joining the long
queues with their food flasks.
The guys in room 4 were in a festive mood, they had
caught a grasscutter at the clump of bush behind the hostel and were currently
roasting it with the help of madam Joy who sold provisions at one end of the
hostel. Chairman was busy supervising the roasting.
“Guys when dem go pay this bicycle allowance sef?,
N1500 no be small money i am broke already, Kunle complained
E suppose drop tomorrow sha, kenny responded.
Kenny how far with that ur babe? You dey enjoy o.
Na so my brother, wetin I go do… i no get any choice
o.
Obinna do you think Arsenal will win the league this
year?
For where! when man utd and chelsea dey?
They will take their usual 4th place!
Kenny why you have stopped attending our Nccf
(Nigerian christians corpers fellowship) prayer meetings? Pastor queried.
Pastor its just that there’s no time and im always
streessed up and exhausted.
But you have time to be walking up and down with
Adamma abi? God is watching you o.
Pastor i will try to attend tomorrow.
You’d better do so, forsake not the lord in the days
of your youth.
Adamma’s birthday was on Saturday, the last day of
week 2. Kenny arranged a rendezvous to celebrate that evening but to his dismay
the finals of Miss bold & beautiful competiton & Mr macho competition
was brought forward from Sunday to Saturday night. It was billed to start by 6
pm - 9pm and it was noised around that Dbanj will be performing. Attendance
will be mandatory at the event as always. They had to find a way to sneak out
unnoticed.
They enlisted the help of Madam Cass, the owner of a
restaurant where they were regular patrons. According to the plan, they were to
walk into the shop in their usual white attire, change into mufti inside there
and stay there when the soldiers came chasing corp members out of the market,
with the mufti they won’t be recognized as corp members. Then they will change
back into white and leave for their hostels when the show ended. It was a crazy
idea that attracted grave punishment if they were caught but they didn’t care,
they were in love and that was all that mattered, everything else paled into
insignificance.
Every thing went according to plan that night. There
was a cool romantic ambience to the entire setup as they sat at a table; just
the two of them in the room.
The smooth silky voice of Rod stewart floated around
the room from the music stereo player.
“Have I told you lately that i love you
have I told you there’s no one else above you
fill my heart with gladness
take away all my sadness
ease my troubles that’s what you do”.
On the table
was a cake, bottle of red wine and some small chops that Kenny bought earlier
in the day.
“Adamma i used to believe that love was a fairytale
until i met you here, you’ve changed my perception of love….You are the girl
Flavour sang about in “Ada ada’ and ‘baby oku’ songs, you are my omalicha nwa.
Awwh…that’s so sweet Adamma replied, i like those
songs, i like the way flavour sings in igbo fusing it with cool highlife beats.
Me too. Adamma i really mean it when I say i love
you! Kenny said.
Ken you are making me blush.
They gazed into each other eyes for a few seconds,
then instinctively moved closer, their lips met and she melted like candle wax
in his arms.
The 3rd and final week of camping came and the camp
rules were relaxed a bit. It was a week of competitions in various sporting
activities and groups. Kenny was a member of the football team, Adamma had
joined the volleyball team and the cultural dance group of platoon 3.
Unfortunately she developed a sprain on her knees during a military drill and
had to be confined to the camp clinic for 3 days for treatment.
Kenny had tried discussing the issue of their future
each time he went to visit her in the clinic but each time a distant look will
creep into her eyes and she will change the topic, maybe she’s scared of
commitment, he reasoned in his mind. He was willing to go at her own pace. She
was a a beautiful lady, well mannered and from a rich home, he would be a fool
to let this relationship end after this camp. The issue of the place of primary
assignment posting worried him, it would be fine if both of them were posted to
serve in the same local government area so that the flow could continue.
“I have fought in Rhodesia, Germany, Congo, Egypt
and South africa!” Seargent mustapha boasted as he addressed a group of corpers
at Ruby’s joint in mammy market, he was in high spirits and was swinging a
bottle of beer in his hands.
Was there any war in South Africa? someone asked.
The Apartheid struggle! I fought the racist boers in
the trenches alongside with Nelson mandela! Infact Nelson Mandela is a close
friend of mine!
The corpers laughed at this obvious lie.
“I am a Pan africanist and a black revolutionary!”
Old soldja!! old soldja!! Old soldja!! the corpers
chanted his nickname and ordered more beer for him.
The final day of camping came and there was palpable
tension in the air. It was the day the posting letters to the places of primary
assignment were to be issued to each corp member. As he joined the queue Kenny
silently prayed that he won’t be flung into a remote village, at worst he
expected to be posted to a small town.
Kenny opened up his posting letter and saw the name
of a secondary school in Buruntum local government area! The dreaded Buruntum
that they used to joke about in the room, where the only access was by boats
and canoes.
I am not going to serve there! He couldn’t envision
himself living in a riverine area.
Twenty minutes later he was in a group discussing
with other corpers when he saw Adamma coming towards him.
Where have they given you? She asked.
They gave me burukutum, can you imagine that!?
Eiya sorry….maybe that place is not as bad as they
say it is.
I don’t care, i will ask them to reject me!
What about you? Any luck?
She paused for some seconds and said “I redeployed
to my husband’s state”
Your what??
Sorry Ken, Adamma said as she moved a few steps
backwards. I have not been entirely honest with you.
I am married. She raised up her hand and he saw a
glittering ring. He had never seen it before.
He was too shocked to speak. He had been having an
affair with a married woman!.
When i noticed you staring at me two weeks ago i
decided to encourage you because i needed companionship and protection and to
stave off advances from other men.
You used me!! Kenny found his voice as he shouted.
And didn’t you enjoy it when i was splashing money
on you? She retorted.
My husband is in Abuja. I tried to influence my
posting there but i was late as all the spaces were filled up, so i was asked
to choose any other state of my choice for the 3 weeks camping period after
which i will be redeployed as all married woman are entitled to.
But..but i thought you loved me
Nope i only liked you.
You kissed me!
It was just an act of the moment and it served its
purpose of dispelling any doubt you had about my sincerity.
Sorry, i have to leave now, pls don’t try to contact
me again. My husband is already aware of everything, don’t try to blackmail me,
he’s a dangerous man.
You were too lovestricken to notice some of the
obvious signs that i wasn’t single.
Goodbye mr Lover boy.
He watched her walk away.
His plans and dreams came crashing down, he had been
building castles in the air.
He remembered when he was told to be wary of the
antics of married woman in camp who disguised themselves as single ladies.
I never knew this could happen to me, I have been
played for a fool.
As he pulled his luggage around looking for a bus
conveying corpers to Burunkum lga, the lyrics of a song by Roxette
“it must have been love but its over now
It must have been good but i lost it somehow”
kept on playing in his head while a small rivulet of
tears trickled down the corner of his eyes.
THE END.
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