chapter 1

It was early April. Alright Wednesday afternoon. His stomach had got a little bigger than it was before and so, he adjusted his belt accordingly. He moved towards the letter -box in his hostel!, humming to himself a favorite tune With the air of a man pregnant with hope.

Half -way to the letter -box mike kukume suddenly brought his leg to a halt. His eyes had been arrested by a conspicuously-place poster. He moved closer to it by mere curiosity. On top of the poster, in bold capitals, was the heading. SUMMER FLIGHT! .

Mike kukume was thrilled. He read on eagerly. Then he broke into happy ejaculations: 'My! What good news is here,! Marvelous! So, one could travel to any of the famous world capitals such as London, Paris, New York, etc. with only £70 to and fro! And what's more, vacation jobs Will be ready for students who want to fill their pockets with raw cash. This is certainly a life opportunity never to be missed. And of course, I must be in London. Perhaps I may come back with the girl of my dreams a beautiful English girl. That would be great! Simply marvelous!'

From that day on Mike kukume could hardly sleep properly due to over excitement. All his thoughts were focused on the forth-coming fabulous trip to the U.K. In almost every night when he slept he dreamt of nothing but the summer flight. He always saw himself in his dreams, flying inside an aeroplane and landing in famous cities. In a strange beautiful city by name, Amsterdam. Everything around him looked so strange, so beautiful and so romantic. Most of the people could not speak English very well. But they were quite warm and friendly. He enjoyed staying with them for so many weeks to Nigeria the people flocked around him at the airport in Amsterdam crying and weeping entreating him not to go back to Nigeria but to spend more time with them. Mike was greatly moved by the people's deep love for him. And so, to please them he postponed his departure. His box was immediately removed into a waiting car. And, as the car was about to take them back to the town, he woke up from his sleep. He was surprised to note that it was all a dream. Everything had appeared so real to him that he thought he was in a real city in a real world. But wait, why was he in that strange city Amsterdam instead of being in London? He couldn't explain that. The surprising thing was that he had never thought of going to such a place. Indeed, he did not even know in which country Amsterdam was. His knowledge of goegraphy was getting weak. And the most surprising part of the dream was that the people were weeping for him and because of them he cancelled his flight back to Nigeria. What could that mean?he asked himself.

But how wonderful dreams are! he mused. Dreams can turn paupers into millionaires, cowards into heroes and they can even solve knotty problems with magical ease'.

That was true. He had already traveled abroad on a summer flight in his dream. But in the harsh world of reality he know that he hadn't even a penny in his pocket to make the trip. He had not even fully paid his university fees for the second academic year.

And yet, in spite of the odds against him, he was fanatically determined to travel abroad that year. That he was so strongly determined to travel abroad wasn't a surprise. It was part of his boyish day-dreams, a long cherished ambition namely, to travel to London by air and to come back to Nigeria with a beautiful English girl by his side like Dr. Nweze. It was while mike was in a Teacher Training college that Dr. Nweze visited their school. The principal introduced him to the staff and students as Dr. M.C. Nweze, ph.D. Mathematics. Dr. Nweze was a Nigerian. After his education at the university of Ibadan, he proceeded overseas for further studies. He studied at the university of Ibadan where he obtained his master 's degree and then finally at the famous Harvard university in America where he was duly awarded the ph.D degree after producing a Worthy thesis.