Taye's thots

Taye sighed as he got down from the cab and handed two five hundred naira notes to the driver. It was his first day in school and indeed in the area as a whole.

Everyone passing by looked at him strangely. Apparently it was quite easy to spot a new guy in this school. Not necessarily because everyone knew everyone’s face but mainly because of the way the new guys always stared at the beautiful Princess Moremi statue that was just after the school gate.

He decided to brace himself and move on. It was not the first time he was ever receiving stares from all centres. All he had to do was deal with them as he had always done before- lock up.
 
Armed with his only companion-his school bag, he started walking towards the one-storey building that was most likely to be the admissions office. He did not want to ask any questions that would confirm what everyone else was thinking. But did it matter anyway? They were still going to find out when he started asking other stupid questions that new students are somewhat compelled to ask.

He went straight to the first table he sighted from the door of the building without looking left or right. He was feeling odd enough for one day already. The young lady in a pink shirt and smartly packed hair looked up at him with an expressionless face.
“May I help you?”
 It sounded like a line she recited to about a hundred people every day.
“Good afternoon. I’m actually new. I was told to report here on arrival.”
“A new what? Cleaner or gardener?”
Now, that was below the belt but he decided to play cool.
“I’m a new student.”
“Learn to be more specific next time.”
“Alright BRAT!”,Taye said within himself.
“Where’s your admission slip?”
“It’s right here.” He dipped his hand into the back pocket of his trousers and handed it over to her.”

She held the slip up like it had been retrieved from a dunghill.
“Next time you learn to keep things where other people who end up handling them would not be embarrassed to know where they have been okay?”

Now this lady was becoming a real jerk. But he still had to be calm.
“Sorry about that”, he managed to mutter.

She pushed her seat backwards and got up to open the file cabinet that was behind her revealing the white skirt she had on. Taye’s eyes opened wide.
“Eh, excuse me”
“Yes?” she replied without facing him.
“Your em, you are em,”
“Make it snappy I don’t have all day.”
“You are stained.”

He could almost see her air of arrogance visibly evaporate. She was rooted to the ground and gripping the cabinet like she was holding the last piece of reed at the edge of a rocky mountain. A nasty statement that would suit the scenario cropped up in his head but suddenly all the disgust he had grown for this girl in the last few minutes transformed to pity.

He turned around to know the number of people that were witnessing this embarrassing event. That was when he realised that they had been the only two people in the office except for an elderly man who appeared to be engrossed in a newspaper which totally blocked his view of the helpless damsel’s table. He went to the other side of the table and stood right behind her.

“Okay, I think I can help you. Are you ready to cooperate?”

She nodded helplessly almost whimpering.

“Good. I have a black scarf in my bag.”
He considered explaining what he was doing with a scarf then it occurred to him that this girl was now one hundred percent desperate and zero percent curious.

“I’ll lend it to you on one condition.”
“Anything please!”
“You wash it thoroughly, iron and empty your best bottle of perfume on it. That is not to say that can undo the sacrilege that would be done to it but it’s the best I can do. Deal?”

She nodded frantically. Taye unzipped his bag and gave the scarf to her rather; she grabbed it and tied it across her waist with the speed of lightning.
“Thank you very much!” she said as she grabbed her handbag to escape.    
“Hold it, hold it.”
 She paused like an obedient pupil.
“How about my clearance? You do realise you have to do that before you leave.”
“Please my place is not far from here. I promise to be back soon.”
“Soon isn’t good enough. I have quite a lot of places to go to.”
“An hour.”
“What?”
“Okay, forty minutes!”
“Thirty.”
“Please!”

Now he was beginning to enjoy this. The high and lofty one being brought down on her nose pleading for mercy but he decided to let it go.
“Alright.”
“Thanks!” and she sped of like Mary Onyali’s life depended on it

Written by Chioma Diru