The hunt has been on all night.
The boys and I are lurking at Oronigbe Junction observing how some rookies do their runs. They are making jest of them, but I am thinking how to make a point to the boys.
Virginia appears like an answer to prayers. Her piercing smile tears through the darkness around, her cheap rubber braids sparkle like a nested crown upon her head. Her frame sashays nonchalantly along the hilly paths.
I warm up to her. ‘Excuse me’
She looks back, but stuttering holds my tongue in check, and she turns to leave.
‘Erm, I think we have met before’
‘Yes, I think so’
On our way going she explains how she hasn’t met me.
‘I am not that kind of girl who talks to strangers loafing around at nights, I only want to save the embarrassment among your friends’
‘Who looks like that kind of guy anyway?’
She looks at me for the first time. I am wearing Lux underwear, black spotted boxers and a pair of bathroom slippers.
I giggle at her innocence observing her flowery bridal gown all the while.
We get to a bicycle resting on a tree. She mounts and laughs at a silly thing I must have said.
‘What did your father tell you about talking to men at nights?’
I look back to see an elderly woman supported by a walking stick.
‘That’s my grandmother. We can met at the first place you met me, if we have really met before’
The smile on my face spread like jam on a loaf of bread.
‘But, mama he is just a boy’
‘Who is asking your opinion in this matter’ the elder woman scolds
Both women mount the bicycle and ride away.
Like a dream, I met the dreams of my nights and beyond.
Fingerprints 