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Now, the protesters were force feed the diet of dialogue, as they dispersed quickly to avoid the choking effect of the tear gas.
They were about to enter her apartment when she heard
‘Pinno! What is that sound? Is that a firecracker?’ Halimah asked him
‘I wouldn’t know,’ he replied. Alas, they both saw some students running towards them, each of them trying to overtake one another, as if they had participated in a Marathon. One of them was Yinka who stopped by, breathing heavily to tell them.
‘The police have shot teargas oo. Everywhere is scattered.’
Finally, they ran inside her apartment as rapidly as possible. The air has been enveloped with the smoke from the tear gas. Now this time, in an almost grisly manner, some section of the students began to throw stones at the policemen. Canisters shot by the police are taken hastily by the protesters and thrown back at them. Sadly, a peaceful protest demonstration has engendered violence.
‘It baffles me that those that should be the purveyors of our security are the ones intimidating us, it is disheartening,’ Said Renshaw
‘Just imagine, we’ve come for peace talks, all they could do is to shoot tear gas and intimidate us with guns. Chai! What kind of country is this?’ Yinka said.
Halimah wriggled on her seat to the frequent sound of gun fires. She was scared.
‘Lima, do you have any food because I am famished,’ Renshaw asked while he flipped through the fashion magazine on her table. But it took her time to discern what he said.
‘Yes, I have some leftover food, you can check the pot.’
The protest became more brutal when Janet came in to tell them a boy has been shot in the eye by a policeman. Renshaw’s mouthful of rice was momentarily swallowed the moment he heard the news.
‘Jesus Christ! Has it gotten to that extent?’ He stared in bewilderment.
‘It’s horrible. They left immediately they shot him,’ Janet said.
Eventually, it was a mass hysteria when they went outside and saw students screaming in pains and tears. They got to the scene where they found the horrendous image and inhuman disfiguration of a young innocent boy lying flat on the ground, drenched in blood. The more she looked the boy on the ground, the more downcast and shocked she was.
After the deed was done, there followed moments of absolute silence, of utter disbelief. The students had not expected such a reaction from the police.
Not long after, in a frenzied manner, there was a revolt, where vehicles parked along the roadside were destroyed and burnt by the protesters, which was also accompanied by setting tyres ablaze on the road; now leaving the thin atmosphere engulfed with thick black smoke, so much for the young innocent boy.

‘Abeg, leave me, what is it you want to explain? So you want to explain that…’
‘Lima, I have been looking all over for you. Here you are,’ Renshaw interrupted.
‘You should have tracked me with call,’ she replied. ‘What were you thinking?’
‘Sorry, it didn’t even come to my mind?’ He said.
‘Hey Tunde! Renshaw yelled. ‘My apology, I didn’t notice you are the one standing. What’s up bro?’
‘Pinno! I am cool. I have just come to say hello to the most beautiful,’ he smiled, in a way that made his pointed Adam’s apple moved up and down, as if he had swallowed a morsel of eba
‘I know you never lack an eye for beauty,’ they both laughed while Tunde puts on his sunglasses and left.
A part of her wanted him back while another part of her could not stand the distrust, unease and stress.
‘So are you two making it up?’ Renshaw asked her.
‘I don’t even know,’ she looked perplexed and stared at the laali across her hand.
‘Lima, it is better you listen to what he has to say than for you to go through these emotional upheavals. You know it’s affecting me also,’ He teased.
‘You are not serious’ she laughed. She likes to have Renshaw around her and enjoys exchanging banter with him.
‘Lest I forget, what is the title of that Dr. Odewale assignment?’ He asked.
‘Hmmn! Bookworm, I hail thee,’ She showed it to him on her phone while he collected paper from the man photocopying by the roadside and writes it out. Renshaw is such a studious young man and has been at the forefront in his class.
Not so long, the policemen arrived at the protest scene with their vans but were blocked by the students from moving further; thereby making them impenetrable.
‘Look at them. Yeye people. Have they come to arrest us? Where were they when the robbers were robbing and harassing our students?’ A boy angrily said. A shout of ‘No, no, no’ went up among the crowd when the commissioner of police came out to persuade the students to speak to one of their representative. He was rebuffed and booed. What they request for is simply: Send us the press to cover our plight as student. If not, no dialogue.
‘I should be going home before this sun dries me up. What about you?’ She asked him
’Let us walk together then.’
Ultimately, after long hours of several persuasions by the police which had proved abortive, tear gas canisters were shot in the air alongside the sharp sound of gun fires.

It so happens quickly that Halimah, who just left home for market in the early morning came back to meet a protest demonstration on the road; which was caused by a spate of robberies at the students hostels not far from the campus.
The last robbery has caused the protest when a boy was machete on the head and a girl gang raped to death with the former later declared dead. It has now become a climate of fear in those hostels. Sleep was out of the question. They are watchful and insecure.
Halimah stopped by to hear the conversations among some students.
‘Countless times, we have reported these robbery incidents to the school authority but they have turned deaf ears.’
‘I even heard the vice chancellor said there is nothing he could do because the robbery is outside the campus. Just imagine the rubbish talk.’ A boy said angrily
In reply to the latter
‘There is callousness about him with no feeling of human understanding. It is his duty to protect us whether living on or off campus; I hope he is also feeling the heat in this gridlock. Maybe he will do something about it.’
‘The man is not even around. He is in the FCC custody.’
‘It is better he remained in the FCC than come back to start talking rubbish.’
Meanwhile, the vice chancellor has been invited by the Financial Crimes Commission (FCC) a day before the protest to quiz him on misappropriation and mismanagement of the university funds.
On the contrary, they remained in combative form, constantly exchanging messages through their phones on tactical suggestion, with more students joining the massive protest. They were also giving voice to the usual chorus of derision at the vice chancellor.
While the demonstration is going on; Halimah received the message via her phone
Lima where are you? I am at your house but the door is locked It was Renshaw, Her biracial course’s mate. Father is a British and mother is a Nigerian. He is usually called the Pinnochio among his friend because of his long and pointed nose.
Pinno, I am at the protest. Don’t tell me you don’t know about the protest? She replied his text.
Of course, I know. Just that I am concerned about Dr. Odewale’s assignment. But I’ll join you soon He closed the text. However, Tunde saw Halimah amidst the crowd and pushed his way through to meet her but she had already sighted him.
‘Here come the idiot,’ she nudged and whispered to Janet who stood beside her. ‘Hello girls! How are you doing?’ He greeted them, they both answered in a faint murmur.
‘I have been calling your number but you are not picking up. What’s up?’ He said. She didn’t answer until Janet left both of them.
‘I can’t believe you’d still have the audacity to call me. It’s just Hilarious.’
‘Babe, it is not what you think. You are imagining things. I can explain,’ He tried to grip her hand

He demanded. She was struck by the incongruity of his demand. She had wanted to say: Mr Man, we are meeting for the first time and you are asking for my phone number. What is wrong with you? Just because you helped me saw my pass, you now wanted to take advantage of it, abi. But she chose to be polite
‘Hmmn…No! I can’t’ she replied.
‘Why’
‘I have a boyfriend’ she said. Even though she had none, she had said it deliberately, thinking it should clear his thought of getting hook up with her.
‘Wow! Really My apology, I hadn’t imagined that’ he teased
‘Is it funny?’ did he know it was a lie? She didn’t think he did. He smiled so wide she saw his pink gums, and noticed that his teeth are covered in braces.
‘Not really. I am not asking for your number to be your boyfriend. We can just be friends. Don’t you like meeting new people?’
‘Ok, just friends.’
They brought out their phones and exchanged numbers.
‘Are you on any social networking site?’ He asked.
‘Yes of course.’
It was a cold night, it had rained heavily. Halimah reached home, fatigued, suffering a mild headache of the stressful journey from the rowdy Lagos down to her home but was later reinvigorated after she had a shower. While on the bed, she was going through the contacts on her phone when she received the message via Whatsapp.
Good evening. I hope you are not catching cold sha. And I also hope you didn’t forget my bottle of Coke. . It was Tunde. She smiled faintly and replied the text: not at all. Thanks for today. She continued to reply some messages until she slept off leaving incoming messages unread.

She combed through her bag vigorously because she vividly remember that the pass was the first thing she took while leaving her abode. She felt she was unwittingly betrayed, her motion appeared dense and she shook her head pitifully at her present predicament.
‘I am finished,’ she said. All her efforts to persuade the invigilator to explain to him her predicament was futile. She grew sad and morose.
Halimah who was panic- stricken got encountered by a boy, who came in sight at that moment to ask her,
‘Hello! Excuse me. Do you own this? I think you dropped it in the bus,’ it was the young man who hissed in the bus.
Hurriedly, she snatched it from him to check and seemed about to burst in tears. It was her exam pass.
‘Yes! Yes!! It is mine. She said. ‘Thank you! Thank you!! God bless you,’ she jumped ecstatically
‘I tried calling you the moment you got down from the bus, but you were just as fast as the whirlwind,’ He said.
‘Have you also come for this exam?’ Halimah asked him.
‘Yes.’
‘I think you should be careful with things like that next time,’ He urged.
‘I will’ she stuttered a few words of thanks.
‘You are welcome,’ He said. But she is still confused of how it was possible for her to have carelessly dropped the pass in the bus.
‘So what is…?’
A roar suddenly went up from a distance with a raged voice.
‘You all have five minutes more to be checked in for this exam,’ the invigilator said to the candidates still hanging around.
‘We should go in before it is too late,’ she said. They joined the queue and were both checked in.
Eventually, the exam was over. Candidates swarmed out en masse from the hall with some of them clustering around to gist about the just concluded exam. Halimah quickly went to a nearby shop for she was famished and it didn’t take long for her to identify the boy from a distance and moved towards him.
‘Hello!’ She tapped him from behind
He turned to her
‘Hi’ oh! It’s you. So how was the exam?’
‘Fine’ Halimah said. ‘And yours?’
‘Good’
‘I just wanted to thank you once again. I am grateful. Had it not been you, I don’t know what could have happened. God will reward you abundantly.’
‘Oh! It is alright’. The tall, dark complexioned boy tried to shrug it off.
‘Maybe you should buy me a bottle of Coke in order for you to reciprocate. Or what do you think?’ He said jokingly.
She beamed, as the dimple on her cheek sank comfortably.
‘Anyway, Tunde is my name but you can call me T boy. What is your name?’
‘Halimah’
‘Can I have your phone number if you don’t mind

She pulled off the embroidered Mickey Mouse pink towel from the door and dashed into the bathroom.
***
Perturbed by the governor’s convoy, that is followed by myriads of people dancing and singing chorus of praises to the governor in the black Toyota car resulting to hold up along the tarred road, a young man seated beside Halimah in the bus just let out a deliberately prolonged hiss, ‘mtcheeew! What is all this Rubbish? I don’t know why campaign should be done today. Do they want me to get late?’ He said in an angry tone and continued to let out hisses at intervals.
The word ‘late’ rang periodically in her ears; sweat covered her profusely, her heart beats faster at a rate almost than the speed of light. She cannot afford to miss this examination.
‘I think the governor deserves a second term. He has performed tremendously virtually in all sectors in the state. Indeed, one good term deserves another,’ a man seated behind her said.
‘It is only a politically blinded person would not vote for him. We all know the hardships his predecessors had made the masses go through and he has been able to construct tarred roads that now enables easy movement of vehicles,’ another man in dashiki uttered.
Suddenly, a woman in Ankara with face frowned burst out of the people in the bus in oppose to the latter.
‘Abeg! Make we hear word jare. What has he done sef? The people are trying to combat hunger and you are here talking about tarred roads. Is the tarred roads something we can put in the mouth and eat like food?’
It was an atmosphere of conversations in the bus as argument ensued. For the moment however, Halimah appeared indifferent to the waves of conversations and arguments. Her mind was preoccupied with the thought of not arriving late for the examination.
Finally, she alighted from the bus. She swerved swiftly to push her way through the crowd along the busy market. The smell of raw meats from the butchers by the roadside engulfed the thin air; the Hausa men stood with their sizeable calculator in their hand trying to persuade passers-by to come and exchange currencies.
The time is 9:15am. She was elated to see candidates were still outside waiting to be summoned into the hall for the exam the moment she got to the center. ‘Thank God!’ She heaved a sigh of relief.
‘Please let all candidates maintain a perfect straight line,’ A queue was summoned.
‘I hope you are all equipped with the necessary documents required to sit for this exam. If any of you refuse to present any of these documents, such candidate won’t be allowed into the hall. I reiterate- candidates will be denied access into the hall if the required documents are not presented. Am I clear?’ The invigilator said and the candidates chorused in unison ‘yes sir.’
As candidates were checked into the examination hall; just like the violent shaking movement that is caused by an explosion, Halimah was momentarily in a state of shock. She could not find the exam pass in her bag.

please, moderators you can help my matter by pushing to the FP .

The protracted chirps from the tireless concerts of weaverbirds on the tropical almond tree climaxes with the raucous voice emerging from the hordes of children gallivanting around in the premises. Inside the fenced chief Gbajabiamila’s compound was¬¬¬- the almond tree. It is too tall, the clustering of leaves with thick shade branches extending over the fence into the other compound, while the children savors the moment by plucking the fruits from the tree.
Every morning before she woke up, her father has gone to work. It is habitual of Tade to surreptitiously move into Halimah’s room occasionally while she is still asleep.
Halimah almost had her heart in her mouth the moment her eyes met with Tade half covered face soapsuds when she woke up from sleep. ’yee!’ She screamed and shouted at the top of her voice.
‘Ahh! Tade, what is wrong with you? Do you want to kill me?’ She had her left hand on her chest and started panting like a racing horse.
Tade a four year old boy, headstrong, standing reluctantly just being scolded by her elder sister bursts into tears. She looked at him for a moment, drew him closer and wiped the tears off his face along with the soapsuds with her wrapper. She just consoled him.
And at that moment came the voice of the mother.
‘Look at this boy o! Here you are. Won’t you come and have your bathe? Abi won’t you go to school?’ The mother moved closer to Tade and carried him. School is what the mother says, as she just got him enrolled to a crèche down the town not far from the ceremonial hall.
‘Mama, ekaroo ma,’ she greeted her mother while she stood up from her half feathery bed, stretched and yawned.
‘How are you my daughter? Did you sleep well? I hope you didn’t forget today is your exam,’ She walked towards the kerosene stove and turned it off, then settled herself to watch it until the flame in the pot died out.
Her eyes fell on the wall clock that is hung just beside the frame of her beautiful artwork portrait. The portrait was presented to her from her uncle Banji on her penultimate birthday. Halimah could not believe her eyes, the crease around her face got thicker. She quickly went straight ahead to check the time on her phone, as if checking it would contradict the hour on the wall clock. It is no amusement. The time is 8:30am.
‘Ehh mogbe!’ she exclaimed. The JAMB examination is scheduled for 9:00am. Her head was pounding more from fright than from exertion for the thought of her getting from the town’s suburbs to the examination center somewhere in Lagos metropolis before the scheduled time, especially for a Lagos that is infamous for its traffic congestion.
Finally, she took the wrapper off her hour glassy body leaving the white pants on her moderately sized lobes of buttocks which is perfectly proportional to her bare turgid breasts.

THE PROTEST is a story that portrays the transition of a young damsel to the University. There, she met with another side of life. This is a story that cuts across Love,sex and politics. You can download now at Okadabooks.com/user/ajala22