The Fire Within

Chapter Eight

88 Chapter Eight t was 10:00 am when Mungeu’ opened her eyes and sighed long and deep. She had overslept, tired from her sudden trip to and from Nju’nki in just two days. It was all a dream. She had been in the arms of that young man for whom she had worried herself so much. She felt those gentle yet penetrating eyes roll over her body soothingly. His touch brought to life many pricking sensations under her flesh. Mungeu’ heard herself moaning, “I love you,” all through when suddenly she jerked into reality and immediately opened her eyes. She felt disappointment surging through her body, coupled with the desire to see Adey again. The talking outside brought a smile to her lips as she heard her friend, Loretta, and her siblings complaining to their mother that she had overslept and that surely, something was the matter. “We shall get the news,” Loretta continued. It was the last statement she made before Mungeu’ came out of her room into the opening between both wings of the Ushaped back yard. “What’s all that talking about?” asked Mungeu”. “Did you hear your name?” questioned Loretta smiling. “I thought I overheard someone complaining of someone having overslept?” “Since when did ‘someone’ become your name?” “Stop that noise behind there,” commanded Pa Ebot from inside his parlour where he was trying unsuccessfully to focus on the weekly newspaper the vendor had just brought. Silence prevailed as they all ran back into their rooms laughing at their father’s occasional display of authority.  The third term holiday was just a week away from the end. In another part of town, Adey sat on his bed with his head weighing in front of him. He wished the holidays were much longer. He felt the pain of having to part from his new girlfriend, whom he had not seen since the day he won her affection. He felt like going to find Mungeu’ but decided against it because he had not been told he could do so. There was an underlying fright which checked Adey’s anxiousness to go in search of Mungeu’ I 89 where he first saw her—the thought of being humiliatingly chased out of a compound. “With what society is today, some parents still cannot bear the thought of their daughters being visited by young men,” thought Adey, “and I do not know whether or not Mungeu’s parents are honorary members of this group.” He finally decided not to risk it. As Adey sat thinking, ideas flashed through his head. He sighed to relieve his anger against this escapist manner of parents who just say “no” to their daughters having male guests without explaining why. “We are classmates,” Adey imagined himself saying humbly to Mungeu’s father. “No, it was Mungeu’s place to make use of this advantage and present me to her parents as a friend who helps her very much in school,” he thought. Four days had gone by and Mungeu’ was nowhere to be found. The holidays were virtually at an end. How he was going to see Mungeu’ remained Adey’s greatest problem. It was just two days more to the end of the holidays when Nsung jumped into Adey’s room, and before Adey could gather his wits about him, he was already being led out of the house like a five-year-old. “What’s it? What’s happening?” asked Adey completely at a loss. “That girl... that girl with the cassettes ...Mungeu’” “What has she done?” Adey cut in, with a troubled look on his face. “She was asking of you, so I told her to wait in the workshop for...” Before Nsung could finish his sentence, Adey had already gone past him. The hot sun was burning up the last hours of the morning. Primary school children could be seen hurrying back to school after a well spent break, some dancing as they hurried along to the tunes from the ever present loudspeakers that blared music into the atmosphere. Their uniforms ranged from green, brown, to sky blue, deep blue, and so on, some clean, some dusty and, worse still, others torn. As they hurried along the main road leading up to Nta’kom and Bari further off, Nsung and Adey were no longer talking. Adey once more could sense the pride of belonging to a higher institution of learning as their calendar required them to return [3.141.244...