Chapter Five
Salma did not give them her own number; instead, she gave them Tomiwa’s. So, by 8pm the following day, Tomiwa’s phone rings and she jumps at it as she has been expecting it. Tomiwa, a celebrity, never expects any dull moment.
She is beautiful and dresses well to attract any man. Though dark in complexion, compared to Salma who is fair in complexion, she can still beat Salma when it comes to beauty contests.
Her phone rang the second time, she picked it up and put it on loudspeaker for her roommates to hear the conversation. Her roommates are giving her the sign that she is responding well to the caller.
The caller introduced himself as Habib and that they gave her a ride yesterday from Kwangila. Tomiwa paused at this juncture and thought of whether to continue pretending or reveal the truth, but she continued with the conversation. The caller tells her to come out and meet them where they dropped her yesterday.
While Tomiwa hesitates to go, Salma urges her to go so that they wouldn’t eat her and that they may not know the difference between her and Tomiwa. Tomiwa is full of pessimism: “What if they turned out to be some kidnappers or cultists?
Who would come to her rescue if she entered a car with strangers who formed the habit of visiting girls in the hostel only when it was night time?” As she thinks of these in her mind, she picks her bag and walks out to meet the visitors.
The black Mercedes Benz is packed in front of the hostel. She opens the passenger side door and sits. She asks Habib on the driver’s side of his friend. Labaran answers her from the backseat that he deliberately leaves the front seat for her to sit near her lover.
This sitting arrangement makes me more pessimistic. She remembers many thriller stories she has read, particularly Mario Puzo’s Godfather; how enemies’ lives are terminated by somebody sitting on the backseat. Tomiwa just steps out of the front seat and tells Labaran to come to the front seat.
Habib gazes at Tomiwa suspiciously that she is more resolute and confident than the previous girl, Salma. He decides to wait and see so as not to spoil the game plans unfolding.
Habib suggests they drive to a restaurant; Frizzlers. He packs the car near a shop tagged Faculty of Suya. Habib then asks Labaran to go and get fried rice, chicken, milk, tea, beverages, sugar and the necessary things for boarders.
Labaran leaves instantly without even asking for money. It is now clear to Tomiwa who is the boss. This is contrary to what Salma told her about the two men; Habib is the boss. It is also clear to her that Habib is not somebody to be toyed with.
After Labaran leaves the car, Habib tells Tomiwa point black that she is not Tomiwa. This annoys Tomiwa and replies that she doesn’t care who Habib is, that he couldn’t just declare her name as fake. She says it is insulting. She corrects him that he should have said that she was not the girl they picked the previous day.
She continues that she would have gladly said yes. She then tells Habib that her name is Tomiwa and she is not the girl he gave a ride to yesterday.
Habib then tenders his apologies and that picking girls is not his habit as alleged by Tomiwa. He says it was Labaran, his driver’s idea. Tomiwa responds that she does not feel offended by any of them, but only when she is looked down on. Habib apologizes again and requests for clarification from her.
Tomiwa explains that Salma doesn’t like releasing her number to him, she instead gave him her own number. She said she was supposed to reject the call as it entered, but due to her curiosity she received the call and decided to see the person behind the call.
Habib declares his likeness for Tomiwa and expects her to respond. The latter says that she doesn’t just declare likeness for somebody she could hardly recognize in the daytime. Habib says it means Tomiwa wishes to see him in the afternoon the following day. She answers yes.
He asks her again why she told his driver to sit in the front seat the other time. Tomiwa says she feared for her life, what of if he sprang on her and strangled her from the back.
After a long silence, Tomiwa requests to leave and Habib says she doesn’t even ask for his identity. Tomiwa responds that his driver, Labaran has said everything but says she seems not to like politicians.
Tomiwa is a blunt person, who doesn’t give thoughts to what she says, whether it hurts the listeners. Habib asks why she doesn’t like politicians. She responds that politicians are not straight forward and lie a lot. She compares them with a spindle.
She continues that politicians are the problems we have while some think they are solutions to the problems. She nevertheless says she doesn’t judge with somebody’s affiliations but to know the person’s personality before judging.
Habib here says it means there is hope in becoming her friend after all. Tomiwa responds that she wouldn’t be sitting in his car if there is no hope for him. This response makes Habib happy and requests for the number of those in the room with her.
She says they are four. He gives her a bundle of fifty naira and tells her to keep it before Labaran arrives; he doesn’t want him to see it. He says ten thousand each is for the members of her room and twenty thousand for her. The total amount is fifty thousand naira. Tomiwa appreciates him for the kind gesture.
At this juncture, Labaran calls Habib on phone that he is done with the purchase. He is then told to come over with the goods. Labaran then arrives with a lot of provisions and beverages that Tomiwa thinks are for their children in the boarding school.
Habib says they are for her and the roommates. Tomiwa profusely appreciates Habib to the extent that she calls him Alhaji. Habib is also happy with the appreciation; he drives her back to the entrance of the hostel and promises to call her regularly.
…….
Tomiwa is welcomed into the room with shouts and ululation from the roommates; the shouts turn to joy when they sight what she brings in. Ngozi instantly stands up and closes the door. This is done to block out any intruder. It is the tradition in the hostels to fence out intruders especially when they are ready to eat.
They all couldn’t believe what they saw when the bags were opened. Even if they didn’t bring anything to the school, what the Alhaji bought for them was enough to last them through another semester. They are happier and appreciate Tomiwa.
After the excitement, Salma tells them that she should be appreciated and not Tomiwa because she was the one that brought the matter to the room. She is then answered that they wouldn’t have had all those gifts if they had followed her advice, that Tomiwa is to be appreciated because her boyfriend bought them the gifts.
Salma is not happy with the turn of the events with her response. They are further surprised when Tomiwa drops the bundle of fifty thousand naira before them. There was total silence in the room after this.
Tomiwa uses the opportunity to divide the money as directed by Habib. Ten thousand naira is given to each of the roommates and she takes twenty thousand naira.
This is unbearable for Salma again that she responds that it is unfair, that she was the one given ride to the previous day and alleged Tomiwa to be a bad friend. She says she showed him a guy and she went ahead to make him her boyfriend. She even compares her to a chameleon.
Ngozi tries to intervene, telling Salma that the comments are unfair. Salma shuts her up calling her money monger. She accuses her for standing for Tomiwa because of the money she brought, and that she was never friendly with Tomiwa until now. She says further that they all are shameless.
Ada, who also tries to calm her down and is shut up also by Salma, says she is not different from others. Ngozi is already burning with anger inside of her. She tells Ada to leave Salma alone to finish disgracing herself and showing her foolishness.
She explains further that it is only a foolish person that would see money by the wayside and would not pick but call somebody else to pick it and afterwards abuse the person that picked the money. She concludes her statements by hissing. She is indirectly calling Salma a foolish person.
Ada then advises that the matter should not be allowed to turn to another thing, that they have been living together in peace in the room before. She reminds them that the essence of education is to unite them. Salma is breathing like someone about to have asthmatic crisis. She couldn’t talk, just looking from one roommate to another.
There is a sudden knock on the door, everybody keeps quiet. The knock continues but none makes any attempt. It is when they hear the footsteps of the knocker leaving that they settle down around the roasted meat and chicken.
Salma then signals and Ada switches off the light. They then use the light of their phones to see what they are eating. It amazes, that they can easily come together after a disagreement a few seconds ago. What the interventions from some of them couldn’t solve is solved by ordinary knock on the door.
They couldn’t finish the meat and the chicken, Ada is then told to keep the remaining in her fridge till the following day for them to use it in their cooking. Ngozi later switches the light on after the meats are cleared.
She then advises the other girls that there is no need to hold any grudges with anybody because of what just happened. She said they all enjoy themselves “as a result of the recklessness of some foolish old men who could not resist dropping their purse at the sight of a bra.”
Tomiwa also comments that, “that is hardly the way to show gratitude to people who just fed us without asking for anything in return.” Ngozi then corrects her that no man spends his money on her without asking for something in return. She tells her to wait and see, the man would soon ask for something in return.
Tomiwa also thought the same way. She considers her gains on the first day, she says if it continues, she needs to appreciate Salma. In response to Ngozi’s statements, she says she is ready to give fifty pounds in return if requested. That they are not getting anything from Ngozi’s campus boyfriends who always ask for a pound of flesh.
Tomiwa is deep in thought over this and doesn’t hear what other girls are saying for some time.
Salma asks strangely when the men said they were coming back. This surprises Tomiwa and she asks Salma what comes over her. The other girls burst into laughter.
Salma has developed a game plan and she is desperate to carry it out. She has been hypnotized by the gifts and the money Tomiwa came in with. She resolves to go out with Labaran who to her surprise is Habib’s driver.
Habib the Honourable and Labaran his driver are childhood friends. Habib went to university and Labaran went to driving school and was later employed in a local government.
Labaran does give out of his meagre salary to his friend. When Habib joined politics and got elected to the State House of Assembly, Habib called upon his friend to be his driver. Despite the difference in their status, their friendship remained tight. That’s why the two of them met Salma that evening.
The roommates put the disagreement behind and they are more united than before. They continue with their school activities. Before they know it, they are in their final year. It is on record that they remain roommates till the last semester of the final year and they all perform well in their various courses.
They are B students and are expected to graduate with a second-class upper degree. Their relationship with men never affects their performances in their academic programme. Nearly every girl in the school envies them for this. They are determined to graduate with a very good grade.
When the exam came, they all read fervently and the papers became too simple for them and they hoped for a high grade. Students get apprehension when writing the last paper. Their last paper is Moral Philosophy which is a General Studies paper that involves all of them.
At this juncture, Ummi their mother sees Bint whispering into Omar’s ear and then pauses the narratives. She looks at him quizzically, Omar then explains that Bint was telling him that she did not see how Salma’s relationship with men or her roommates led to her leaving the school.
Ummi smiles and tells Bint to exercise patience that they are almost there. She also admonishes Jamila to pay attention