44 Hotel-2

I called him. He came back still carrying traces of anger on his face. Which ever way you look at it' I said 'this sex deal can only be entered into by people with perverse sexual aesthetics.'

The bar man told me that nobody had ever tried to reform the hotel's taste and that he had secret instructions to report anybody who questioned the wisdom of the hotel's management to the proprietor for disciplinary action.

Who is the proprietor?"

I asked. 'My friend!' said the barman Do not probe into the unknown.'

I requested him to get me a plate of pounded yam which he did. I took it slowly. When I finished the barman came to me again and asked me the type of woman I wanted so that he could 'organise' her for me.

Thank you. I don't need any woman' I said to the amazed barman.

Give me fanta. He went back and returned with a bottle of fanta.

'It seems many people do not patronise this hotel' I observed.

The statement surprised the bar man who asked me why I thought so. I told him I had stayed.

here for quite a long time and that nobody had shown his face in the hotel since i came.

Who do you think parked all those cars outside?' asked the man who went on to inform me that the hotel at that moment was housing about sixty customers.

You can't see any customer because each customer has a bar to himself.

This is your own bar now and no customer will come here until you have gone'

There are certain things we have avoided to write on the card because of the public' said the barman.

The public is full of complaints you know.' I agreed with him that the public is indeed full of complaints and asked to know those things they did not indicate in the card because of the public.

We have beautiful teenage girls here for elopement' I heard. 'If you want to elope with a teenager to a hideout for a year, or forever, you pay $500.

Ten teenagers would be brought for you to choose from.

I told him I had no intention of eloping with any teenager and asked him why the management of the hotel should think that a big man with all his family responsibilities could have the time to elope with a teenager.

It's not really an elopement in the traditional way because nobody has really done that yet' he said.

'Some go to hajj with them and return within a week or two.

Others carry them to a different town and 'camp' them for a month or so. It is not an elopement - I think you see what I mean.

Knowing that I had the urgent business of recruiting people of integrity to Mohammed Ali's Company if I wanted to keep my job,

I told the barman that I wasn't in the mood to 'camp' any teenager yet and so he should save himself the trouble of organi sing' one for me.

Although Mohammed Ali had been lenient on me

for reasons that I was yet to know he sacked workers on the flimsy excuse of noise making and I could fall victim any time.

I was dead sure that he would sack me from my job if I failed to carry out this assignment on schedule.

Having finished, taking the fanta 1 picked up my bunch of keys from the table and waved goodbye to the barman.

I drove past the guards who gave me a military salute: On my way to town. I decided to call at a drinking place called Dogon Nite Club to see if I could find people to recruit.

I strolled casually into the hotel and met many men and women drinking. Directly in front of me

were four women and two men taking suya. I joined them on their table.

'Aka Iyortver, Assistant Managing Director of Ali's Group of Companies'. I said by way of introduction.

One of the women introduced herself as Ai Gana, a business women.

Another woman, Toma, introduced herself as a company director.

The third woman who didn't give her name told me she was the

proprietor of Gaskiya Bottling Company, producers of one of the fast-selling soft drinks in the state.

The fourth woman said she was a dealer in building materials.

The man by my right said he single handedly owned Borno Breweries, while the man by my

left told me he owned the very Nite Club in which I was sitting.

I was thoroughly disappointed: I had thought that they were idle people whom I could recruit into Ali's Group of Companies.

Now I was learning that they were self-sufficient people who were not haunted by the fear of being sacked from the job as I was. I quickly stood up and left them.

I drove to another hotel which was about two poles away 'Mshelia Guest Inn' as it was called; lacked organisation in a complete sense.

People were drinking any how, anywhere. Some

people poured beer on their tables, others poured it on the floor like a ritual performance. I could not identify the barman because nobody looked like one.

Close to the counter a man was drinking a bottle of beer. I guessed he could be a bar man who decided to drink 'on duty. I approached him and asked if he was the bar man.

'Do. I look like a bar man?' I heard. I told him a bar man had no special look. I will break this bottle on your head if you don't leave me alone!'.

he threatened.

I took his threat seriously and left him immediately.

Although I knew that I could swing him to the floor, with only my left hand, I didn't dare do it because he could have drunken friends around who could fall on me and break their

bottles on my head.

I went to another man seated with a bottle of beer.

Who serves customers in this hotel?' I asked. 'I don't know' I heard.

I was about to ask him how he came about his bottle of beer if he was so ignorant but I decided not to cause any trouble. I would not want to go into a fight simply because I wanted to recruit people into Ali's Group of Companies

'I am sorry' I apologized 'I am asking because I want to drink something and I need the bar man to serve me.' The man ignored me and continued to drink. All this time, some drunks were dancing to music supplied by their own imagination.