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Chapter Ten
- LANGAA RPCIG
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65 The Akroma File Chapter Ten (Thursday 10th May, 1984) T he weather was typical of late April. The sky was clear and cloudless, the sun hot but tempered by a cold breeze that blew gently, so gently that it was only noticeable by the swaying of the branches and leaves of the mango trees. At precisely 12 noon, J-P and Akroma left Reverend Akwa’s residence. Akroma fingered his air ticket as they drove along. He tapped it on the back of his left hand, his mind running riot. He pulled out his passport, stuck the ticket into it and leaned back, his eyes closed. As they crossed the Wuri bridge he thought of opening the car and jumping into it and swimming to freedom, of strangling J-P and seizing the vehicle from him. But how much of the town did he know? He would rather work with J-P as far as it was possible. The journey was doomed to end badly. Mid way into the Wuri Bridge a preposterous taxi-man forced his way out of the long laborious queue and began to overtake the other vehicles . He was virtually driving on the rail lines, (the train passed in the centre of the bridge in a manner which permitted vehicles to pass on either side). As the taxi-man left the queue the other drivers closed up the gap he had created. Then all of a sudden the train appeared. The taximan , finding it impossible to rejoin the queue, opened the 66 Linus T. Asong door and jumped into safely, leaving the train to crush the vehicle with three passengers who were trapped in it. It took a full hour for them to leave the scene and proceed. Akroma’s mind was ticking like a clock. At Rond Point after the bridge Akroma announced: “I have to go to toilet, please. Stop at the nearest bar.” J-P stopped and looked round. “How can you go to toilet here? Where?” “That’s a bar,” he said. “There must be a toilet there.” Most reluctantly for they might surely miss the plane, JP pulled up and halted near the Aviation Sportif bar. Akroma got out, taking along with him his passport and air ticket and his brief case. J-P followed him with his eyes, suspiciously. [44.200.179.138] Project MUSE (2024-03-28 17:23 GMT) 67 The Akroma File 2 L et me go to your toilet,” Akroma begged the bar man. “We have only a latrine here, sa. No toilet.” “No problem, I need just somewhere to empty my bowels.” “And to use the latrine, you must have to buy drinks,” the bar man said. Akroma paid for a bottle of Export which he carried with him into the latrine. The latrine had two sections. The first door was marked VIP’s and the second General. The VIP’s door was locked. The General was open and had a board which the user could drag and place at the entrance to serve as a door. In the latrine he did not stoop. He pulled the large board to the door and leaned on his back against it. After ten minutes JP came out of the car and went into the bar to inquire about him. When he came and knocked at the door Akroma answered, made as if he had just eased himself and walked out. “You think I have escaped?” he joked. “Ah-ah, how escape, oga?” J-P asked. Akroma was still holding the opened but undrunk bottle of beer in his hand. They walked to the veranda. “Sit down, J-P, let me finish my drink.” JP sat down. Akroma took one long drink, swallowed loudly and said in a freezing tone. “I am in trouble, and I want you to help me.” J-P blinked his eyes copiously and ran his hands over his face. 68 Linus T. Asong “I came out here to Cameroon to try my luck and save my family from agony. It looks like I may not, but I am determined to succeed. Only fools suffer, and I am no fool. I have made one mistake with the letter. I cannot afford another mistake.” J-P supported his chin in his right hand, perspiration coursing down his cheek. He seemed to suspect something in the wicked anger that glowed in Akroma’s eyes. “I am not going back to Ghana. I am not continuing...