The month of October/3

“Nkasiobi, that was a nice poem you recited earlier on” Ken was saying. For some unknown reasons, he had the habit of calling people by their full names. We were standing near the counter of the bar, which is located in a different hall from where I had recited my poem earlier on that evening. The bar is a dingy place with several small tables at which groups of different people were seated and trying to get drunk as more spilled over from the party in the adjacent room and others-mostly gatecrashers-trickled in from the outside.

The official part of the evening had ended just over half an hour ago and the party started immediately. The show was good and it got Ken commenting that he was happy at “the quality of Nigerians that have been sent to the preparatory faculty this year”; after my recitation there was a fashion parade and then Ade sang a very soulful gospel song in Yoruba, which he said is a song of thanksgiving but which came across as very sad; It reminded me of the requiem that we sang at the memorial service of my grandfather 2years earlier.

Ugo and Eddy had later livened up the evening with a performance that got everybody in the dancing mood; it was an impressive variant of the break-dance-the rave of the moment-which was both comical and unique in the way they incorporated some traditional dance steps from the Tiv people of the North Central part of Nigeria into the conventional break dance steps. Ugo said that he learnt the Tiv dance while he was a student at the Federal government college in Gboko.

The sound of Yvonne Chaka Chaka’s Umqombothi is blasting loudly from the dance-hall and it almost completely swallows up the noise in this room, the cadence of which is interrupted by the occasional dry coughs and uproarious laughter of the people sitting at the different tables. The overpowering stench of cigarette smoke hangs in the air, but now and then somebody opens the outside door and a gush of refreshing cold breeze is felt felt blowing in and ventilating the room.

I came into the bar because I saw Adelaide come this way a few minutes ago. She had made her way towards the bar on her own just as her two friends-the fat fellow and the other girl-hit the dance floor to dance to Umqombothi and as I saw them start dancing, I was overcome by a sense of relief; things may not be quite the way they seem with both of them, i thought as I summoned up the courage and started to come after her in the bar area. Though I wasn't quite sure of what I was going to say, I just knew that it was the right thing to do.

But she is not here in the bar at the moment because she walked straight across and through a door, which leads to the toilet area. And I am now waiting for her to come back.

The poor lighting in the bar makes it difficult for me to see those coming through the door, where I am expecting her to walk through and I strain my eyes each time somebody walks in, hoping that she has not already come through and i did not recognise her.

I am standing at the bar with Ken and another fellow whom he has introduced to me as Clements; a second year student of International law from Zimbabwe, who lives in the same hostel as he does at the University. Ken has just ordered a glass of Orange juice for me because I have told him that I don't feel like having any alcoholic drinks; I can't afford to have alcohol smelling in my breath when i will talk to her.

Once she comes through that door, i will call her and greet her in Russian and then i will tell her my name and then tell her the words for "I like you" that Volodya has taught me. And i will tell her that the way Pushkin must have felt when he was writing the beautiful words of that poem, which i have given to her is the way I feel towards her.

“The only problem with the poem that you just recited is in the use of the Russian word plemini which you translated from the English word tribe in your rendition.” Clements was saying interrupting my thoughts. I am not quite sure what he is talking about. And i am wondering when i used the word plemini. What does plemini mean?

I notice Ugo and Eddy come into the bar area accompanied by 3 Russian women. They locate an empty table, a few tables away from where we are standing, and Volodya walks in through the door to join them. Ugo is making his way towards the counter and I recognise two of the women who are sitting at their table to be Marina and Olya; the two women whom they met in the park over a week ago and who have been visiting the hostel ever since to see them.

“I guess it’s that colonial mentality thing of us going along with the white people to describe all non-white ethnic groups as primitive tribes, while its okay for them to use the term nation to describe themselves" Clements was saying." I bet that anthem was written by a white man or a brainwashed African.”
“It was actually written by a British expatriate woman who was living in Nigeria at that time!” Ken said “And I understand what you mean about the choice of the word tribe“

“Kasi, you fit join us later at the table” Ugo said as he walked up to the counter, winking as he places his order for the drinks.

"Ugochukwu, I enjoyed your dancing earlier on!” Ken said.
“Its Ugonna, not Ugochukwu! But wetin man go do!” Ugo responded.
"Sorry, I don’t know why I thought its Ugochukwu. So where did you learn the Tiv moves?"
"At FGC Gboko. I just find the moves to be different and they've helped me win a lot of break-dancing competitions..."

Adelaide has come in through the door and is walking towards the dance-hall. I must catch up with her before she goes back to join her friends, but for some reason I am unable to leave the spot where i am standing. I watch her walk across the room, shaking her hips ever so slightly...ever so seductively...then disappearing through the door and leaving me desiring her even more. She is so beautiful; she is the perfect woman for me; she is that " glimpse of perfect womanhood" that Pushkin has written of in his poem.

"The problem with white people is…” Clements was trying to explain something to Ken, interrupting my chain of thoughts as Ugo walks away to join his group.

I need to go back to the hall and look for another opportunity to accost her after having just blown this opportunity; “I’ll see you guys later” I said and walk away from them as they continue to talk about issues of race and ethnicity.
"But Africans are..." Ken is responding but i don't hear the rest of what he is saying because his voice is swallowed up by the noise in the room.

I pass by the table where Ugo and his group are sitting and I notice that Volodya is saying something, while one of the women start to giggle.
“I dey come” I say, making a sign with my hands to indicate that I will join them later. But I am not sure that they heard me because at that moment Eddy and one of the women start to laugh uproariously.

I walk through the door and into the dance hall, where the DJ is trying to put another song to play. And I stand at the door-scanning the room with my eyes-searching for Adelaide.