Kelvin, is there anything youd like us to talk about? Amina is asking me. Me? Theres nothing. Or should there be? I reply. I know you read it, she says. And if youre wondering if what you read really happened, its true. It happened to me, she says. I do not want to believe it. I know its true, but I do not want to believe it. There is a pain in my heart for her, a burning wish that I could take all of her pain and add to mine. Walk with it like the hunched back of Notre Dam. So I tell her that shes lying. I tell her it couldnt have happened to her; even when I verily well know that it did. Amina and I are like recovering drug addicts. We are learning to love ourselves again. Earlier today, in class, Amina is drawing a heart shape on my palms with her blue biro. She is asking me not to look until she is finished. Ok, you can look now, she releases my hand. I Love Me, I pronounce what Amina has written. I take out my own pen, I create a gap in-between the M_E, and it now reads: I Love Mister Kelvin. Amina is laughing. She says Na so. She asks me to remind her to tell me something after class, and as usual I cant wait. I am having an anxiety attack. So I beg her to please tell me now. She tears out a piece of paper, and writes: Will You Marry Me? I reply No! She writes, Why? And I write, Because you like talking about your ex-boyfriend everytime. You are still in-love with him. She writes, But its you I want to spend the rest of my life with. And I write, Well, you should have thought about that a long time ago. Its too late now. There are other suitors. When you were busy singing his name into my ears all that time you didnt know abi. I am playing hard to get with Amina. She is the Man, and I am the woman. I tell her I want a 20carract diamond ring from Dubai. Pure diamond, not all those fake fake ones. Amina is drawing a wedding invitation. She says that this is the I.V for our wedding day. I tell her shes wasting her time. I tell her if she doesnt want to get stranded on the alter she better tear that I.V to shreds now. Later in the day, I tell Amina that it is surprising to me that she and I have never kissed before. Let us kiss, I say. Ah ah, see me see trouble o. You want us to kiss so that later anytime you see me youd loose your balance, she says. How did you know? I say. If we kiss today, tomorrow when I see you in class I will not be able to look into your eyes, because Id want to be touching your hands, and rubbing you. You know my love language is touch, I say. Na so, she says. Kelvin, have you smoked weed before? She asks me. Yes, once, I say. And you? Yes, once too, she replies. Youre lying, youve smoked it more than once. Tell me the truth, I say. Just once now. Believe me, she is laughing. Amina says that when she smoked the weed she felt like she was floating on her toes. She says that she kept trying to convince her friends that she was in her right senses, that she knew what she was doing, but apparently they could see that she was high. I tell Amina that when I smoked my own weed I kept rolling on the floor like I was rolling to Berlin. I tell her I kept screaming Dont Leave me Genevieve. Please, dont leave me! Amina is asking me why I kept screaming Dont Leave Me Genevieve, and I tell her its because I have a crush on Genevieve and I always dreamed of marrying her. Amina says Na so. I am trying to draw a heart shape on Aminas palms. I tell her to open her fingers, and as I unfold her fingers one by one, stretching them lean and long, I want to write the same thing she wrote on my palm: I Love Me. I am opening Aminas five fingers, and now that everything is open I want to start writing. Amina closes all of her fingers, and the third finger is the only one sticking out. Aaaah, Amina isnt that f**k you Im seeing? I thought you were a born again, I say. Where is the F**k you? Please, dont be lying on-top my head like that, she says. Mr Chima in my class is always giving Amina and I sweets. Whenever he sees me he says: Take this tom tom. Give it to Amina. And whenever he sees Amina, he says: Take this tom tom. Give it to Kelvin. I am beginning to sense that even though he pretends to like my relationship with Amina, deep down, he likes Amina too. Mr Chima is a married man, and I am a jealous boy. He should not try me. Michael Ogah.
Posted on: Mon, 10 Nov 2014 22:09:55 +0000
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