I was in the village for the holiday. Most of my friends hadn’t come down for the holiday so the holiday was boring. I spent all my days helping my mother at the farm and browsing on my phone in the night. There was no electricity in the village. Hence, every now and then, I had to go to the mission compound to get my phone charged. The mission compound had a generator that ran from 6:00 PM to 10:00 PM every day. Sometimes, when I was not able to go to the mission compound, I went to town and got it charged using a generator.

I had been online all day. It was nearing evening when my phone ran down. At about 6:30 PM, I told my mum I would be going to town to charge my phone. She asked me to take hers too. She was using a “choronko” and her battery was still pretty full. However, she insisted that I take hers along so that I would be compelled to come back early. I couldn’t take the risk of coming back home when she was already asleep. I would be in big trouble.

I was in town now and I had already connected the phones. I could not go home until they were charged, so I decided to move around town while I waited. I came down to a bar called Travellers, bought a bottle of drink and sipped slowly. I couldn’t hurry. Hurrying would mean finishing the drink early and the bartender would immediately ask me to live. No one was allowed there who was not drinking.

It was 10:00 PM now. I had had finished my drink, collected my phones and was about to head home when I noticed a female sitting just outside Travellers. Holiday usually brings people of all sorts to the village, especially girls. I was in the university and it was normal for university students to flex their muscles when they were in the village. I couldn’t remember haven seen that particular face before so I decided to go talk to her. I adjusted my dress, changed my gait and swaggered towards her.

“Hello” I said.

“Hi” she responded, raising her eyes that had been deeply buried in her phone. “How may I be of help to you?”

“Won’t you allow me make the necessary introductions first?” I asked, my head tilted to one side.

She didn’t respond.

“My name is Luther. I just blew into town a few days ago. What’s your name?” I asked.

“Annie”

“Nice name”

“Thanks”

“What are you doing in the village? I asked. Are you here on holiday?”

“No, I live here.”

“Wow! I am here almost every holiday but have never met you before.”

“You haven’t been looking hard enough.” She said, smiling.

“I guess so. Your beauty is too flagrant to pass unnoticed.” I said

She smiled.

I actually wasn’t flattering her. She was beautiful for real. I had had a lot of experiences with beautiful girls. Bad experiences to be precise; I had therefore made up my mind to avoid sharply beautiful girls and go for the normal ones. Nevertheless, I was in the village and life was boring so I decided to take another risk. Annie was slim; too slim, light skinned, average height and long hair that rested on her shoulders. She also had cat eyes.

“Well, what are you doing in town at this time?” I asked. “Children your age should be sleeping.

She laughed.

“I am not a child for your information.” She said, smiling. “However, since you want to know, my mum sells food here and I am here to help her."

“That’s cool. I will be going home now. It’s late already. It was a pleasure meeting you. Please, make sure you go home soon.” I said.

“Ok, thanks. I wish we were going the same direction. My neighbourhood is really dark at night. I would have made use of your company.”

“Where do you live?”

“Betock Staff.”

“I live around that area too. I could wait for you to pack your stuff and we can live together.”

“Ok, as long as it is convenient to you. I don’t want to be a bore to you.” She said.

“No! You are not a bore. For a girl as beautiful as you are, a man can do anything. I will gladly wait."

Some ten minutes later, we were walking home; her and me. It was very dark but the light of my phone helped us to see our way.

“What will you be doing tomorrow?” I asked, suddenly.

“Nothing really.” she said. I won’t be selling tomorrow, but I have some house chores to do."

“When will you be done with your house chores?”

“By 2 PM.”

“OK”

We had now reached where I was supposed to take a side road that led to my house. I didn’t take the road yet. I continued walking with her because I had to make sure she got home safely. We walked silently for a while then we got to her house.

“Good night.” I said.

“Good night.”

“Wish I could stay longer with you.”

“Hmm!”

“Can I see you tomorrow?”

“Depends.”

Silence

“Good night.”

“Good night.”

She got into their house and I turned around and ran back home. If I got there and my mum was asleep already, I would be sure of receiving free legal advice early the next morning.

TO BE CONTINUED
https://storymack.com.ng/my-village-love-chapter-2/