Chapter 34
"There's nothing but uncooked food in this house." Stephen answered and it's too late to prepare anything. "But if you are that hungry, there's a loaf of sliced bread in the fridge and a container of blueband."
She yawned into her fist now and said: "Fine, that will do." Glancing around, she informed him. "Hey, so you know, I sleep naked, so I'll not have you wandering in here while I'm asleep."
Stephen scoffed now. "And do I look like a pervert to you?"
"And do perverts have a specific identity? Or perhaps I should have been warier of your deceiving looks. Should have known better than to take a total stranger to my room."
"Could you just stop?! How long are you going to haunt me with that single mistake?! I'll apologize a thousand times if you want me to but stop haunting me with the past! Just name what you want and let's put this behind us already!" He said in frustration.
"Will you be able to give me back my virginity?" She asked.
He gave her a ‘are you nuts’ look. "You and I know that that is impossible!"
"Then stop being such a jerk!"
"Whatever...I don't think you should be getting so comfortable sleeping naked in a stranger's living room, Violet." He said.
"Well, I get comfortable wherever I wish to get comfortable. And besides, you've already seen it all, so what's there to hide? Good night, Stephen." She said and started to untie the strings of her costume behind her as she was about to push it off her chest, she looked up and realized that he was still standing there, staring down at her. "What? If you want to see my tits, you'll have to pay for them, Stephen. Nothing is free in the world I live in."
"I'm not interested in seeing your tits, Violet. I just want you to know that I want you gone by dawn as we agreed." He told her flatly.
She gave him a defiant look but said nothing. When she finally removed her costume, he quickly turned his face away and pointed to a door as he said without looking at her: "And the bathroom is that way if you need to use one."
"I'll try to remember that." She answered and he walked into his bedroom, closing the door after him.
★★★
When Stephen woke up the next morning, he expected his unwanted guest to be gone, but much to his chagrin, she was still around and he found her brushing her teeth in the bathroom. When he saw the toothbrush that she was using, he frowned now in disgust. "Hey, is that my toothbrush you are using?"
"Good morning to you too." She said after spitting the accumulated toothpaste foam into the sink.
"That doesn't answer my question, Violet!" He said coolly.
"Yes, it's your toothbrush, Stephen. I really needed to brush and there was no other toothbrush besides yours so I decided to use it." She answered and resumed brushing.
"Don't you know that it's very unhygienic to share a toothbrush?"
"And don't you know that it's very improper to go around with a morning erection?" She retorted and he quickly glanced down to find his erection causing a tent in his shorts and pointing towards her.
Quickly covering it with his hands, he said lividly: "Just hurry up, I need to make use of the bathroom!" He turned and quickly walked away, probably still embarrassed about his erection.
Soon, she appeared in the living room all wet and clad in his towel. "Do you have a body cream?" She asked.
He looked away from the television and asked when he saw her in his towel that barely reached her thighs, "You really do know how to feel at home, don't you?"
"Guy, just answer the question abeg." She stated.
He gave her a mean look at the tone she had used with him then he answered: "It's in the bedroom."
After she turned and walked away to the bedroom, he decided to go use the bathroom. After brushing his teeth and having his bath, he came out wet in an extra white towel tied around his waist. But when he walked into his room, he was surprised to see her going through his clothes in his wardrobe.
"You are still around?!" He asked in chagrin. "What are you doing?"
"I need something to wear." She answered without stopping what she was doing, then she smiled when she finally found a big T-shirt. "Perfect." She uttered to herself and slipped the shirt on over her head then removed her towel from under the shirt which reached her thighs.
"Hey, you have no right going through my stuff or wearing my clothes!" He said sternly.
She gave him a look now with a side of her nose pulled up in a quirky manner. "Na wetin dey do this one? (What is wrong with you?)"
Unable to tolerate her any longer, he advanced towards her, clasped a firm hand around her upper arm and dragged her out to the living room. Snatching her costume off the couch and her shoes off the floor, he shoved them against her chest.
Violet quickly held them against her chest to prevent them from falling, while he said now as he dragged her to the door and opened it. "You have overstayed your welcome, Violet and I think that I've been generous enough to let you spend the night in my place, now get out!" Before she could say anything, he roughly shoved her out and she staggered onto the old interlocked ground that had little grass growing in between the cracks in a few places then he slammed his door shut.
Stephen was upset. Why did women think that they could just do anything they wanted and get away with it?! He was considerate enough to let her spend the night in his apartment but she was already acting like she owned the place and was the boss of him, besides, she had promised that she would leave at dawn! After what Susan had done to him, all he wanted was to keep a wide berth between himself and the opposite sex. They were a deceitful lot no matter how sweet they may seem and he was better off without them!
Examining his living room and making sure that nothing of hers had been left behind, he started to walk back into his bedroom when he realized that he had forgotten to collect his t-shirt from her, then it also dawned on him that the only thing Violet had on was the t-shirt and nothing else underneath.
How would she walk in public that way? How would she even walk out of the barrack dressed like that? He asked himself in concern, but steeling his mind, he concluded that he was sure that she wouldn't mind; after all, she was a stripper and stripper didn't really have any shame about covering up their bodies and besides, since she was a smart girl, he figured that she'd be able to talk her way out of the barrack with the soldiers at the gate.
Soon, he heard a distant rumble of thunder and the howling of the wind outside his window ruffling the branches of the trees that surrounded the block of flats, and he knew that there was an impending rain. He quickly fetched a pair of clean shorts, slipped it on and went into the kitchen to get what to eat for breakfast and after much contemplation, he settled for bread and sardine.
Ever since his breakup with Susan, he had not had any decent meal. Not that he used to any while his relationship was still intact with Susan because she was as bad a cook as he is, so they mostly ate out. Taking a plate and a spoon, a tin of sardine, then bringing out the bread from the fridge, he walked to the living room, set everything down on a small table, changed the channel on the tv with the remote then pulled and peeled the top of the sardine off.
Just as he turned the three pieces of fish and oil into his plate, he heard another rumble of thunder and a cool breeze fluttered his curtains and seeped into the living room, filling his nostril with the smell of an oncoming rain and ventilating the atmosphere.
★★★
Colonel Anthony walked into the D.P.O's office and the man who had a paunch that strained the front of his uniform shirt stood up to shake hands with him before offering him a seat and sitting down again.
"Good to see you again, D.P.O. Good to see you after such a long time" Colonel Anthony said.
"Ever since you made me falsely arrest that sales girl you had your eyes on, you never came by again. We should hang out more often you know. If we are going to continue to do this scratch-my-back-I-scratch-yours business." The DPO said with a smile.
"Of course, but I've been very busy. The military has really been demanding these days especially with the Boko Haram terrorism."
"I don't envy you people one bit." The DPO said. "I think if I'm to choose between the military and my job right now, I'll still gladly choose to be a police officer. I can't risk my life the way you lot do; I've got a family to feed."
"Of course, we all do but we prefer the battlefront where we can bring victory to our nation. We are patriots and are ready to lay down our lives anytime our country demands it." Colonel Anthony said cockily. "Oh well, while we are lucky to be the one to give out the orders and watch from a safe post, the less privileged ones are the sacrificial lambs... enough grieving widows to comfort and cold beds to warm on behalf of the fallen, if you know what I mean..." He said with a knowing look and both men had a good laugh.
"I wish you could send some of the pretty young ones my way." The DPO grinned.
"Nah...we don't share with outsiders. The spoils of the war are divided amongst us only." Colonel Anthony answered then grew sober again and suddenly asked: "So, did everything go as planned?"
"Yes..." The D.P.O. gave his friend a knowing smile. "We raided the club as we planned and arrested over thirty people after you called."
"And the strippers, hope you got every one of them?" He asked in anticipation.
"Yes, we did...we left no stone unturned."
"Can I see them? There's a particular one I'm interested in." Colonel Anthony eagerly said, tapping her fingers on the desk.
The D.P.O. gave him a knowing smile now and praised him. "Tony-Tony, you still haven't changed! Tony the whipper! The man who can test the flexibility of narrow waists! You and slim girls ehnnnn, may God forgive you!" He shook a finger at him.
"You understand how this thing works na...No one says no to me. When these little girls tend to prove difficult, we simply show them that there are many ways to catch a fish..." Anthony boasted, flinching a knowing brow at the D.P.O. "And with your help, a lot of fishing has been successful."
"You can always count on me, my friend." The D.P.O. laughed.
"Anyway, let me show you to the cell so that you can show me who the damsel is that could make you get a whole club raided just to get her." The D.P.O. rose now and walked around his desk to the door and Colonel Anthony followed him. When they got to the front desk where Nosa was waiting for his boss, then the D.P.O. said aloud to one of the policemen: "Corporal Demola, bring out those strippers, five at a time?"
"Yes, sir." The Corporal said and walked to the cell and with the assistance of an average-height female police officer, they began to select and order the strippers to file out of the cell in a group of fives. Whenever five strippers stepped out and stood in a line, Colonel Anthony and Nosa would examine them then when Nosa shook his head, Colonel Anthony would gesture with two fingers, asking that the set should be taken back to the cell and this went on and on. After the last set of strippers came out and returned to the cell, Colonel Anthony looked disappointed now.
"She's not here." He said to the D.P.O. in dismay. "Are you sure that that was all the strippers in the cell?" He was skeptical.
"Yes, Colonel..." Said the D.P.O. "My boys arrested every stripper last night, if she was still in that club when we arrived, then she couldn't have escaped, it's impossible."
"Well, she's not here!" Anthony stated, a bit agitated now. He had been hoping to bail Violet out then coerce her into going home with him but all his hopes had just been dashed by the police.
"Tony, are you really sure that this girl you are after isn't among those brought out?" The D.P.O. asked, confused. "If I remember well, you yourself told me that she was wearing a mask. How can you recognize her when you didn't even get to see her face."
"Yes, I didn't see her face but I'll recognize her by her body if I see her anywhere. If I had missed her, my boy here Nosa wouldn't have because he even had a conversation with the girl. She must have slipped past your men and they didn't notice. Anyways, thank you for your effort, but my boys will take it up from here. They will keep an eye out for her. If she's still in this town then I'm bound to find her sooner than later." He said in a determined tone, ready to exit the police station
"But what do we do with the others?" The D.P.O. gestured towards the cell with a hand as Colonel Anthony turned towards the open entrance now. "They are just too many and we need the space for serious offenders and hardened criminals. What am I supposed to do with the strippers and the staff of the strip club?"
"Well, you decide on that. Since my quarry is not here, this whole arrest is pointless. Just release them on bail or something and let them go... You can make your own money off the Manager by charging him for each of his staff's bail and his own release." Anthony stated, slipped on his dark sunglasses and walked out of the police station, livid that his plans had fallen through. The other two soldiers whom he had come with immediately stood at attention when they saw him coming and one of the soldiers quickly opened the door of the backseat for him to get in.
After Colonel Anthony got in, Nosa got in next to the colonel while the soldiers occupied the front seats. As the other soldier started the car and started to drive out of the station, Colonel Anthony lit a cigarette in the back seat to calm his nerves. The D.P.O. had really disappointed him and his boys had been incompetent this time so he began to plot how to find Violet at all cost.