Chapter 2 Meeting His Angel

AS THE PORTER walked on ahead, one of the two boys nudged Fred in the rib and said in a low conversational voice:

I'm Ceecee, and this is Sparko.' He turned briefly and pointed with his mouth over his shoulder at the little fellow bringing up the rear. 'You've already met Mighty Scorpion. So, what's your own name?'

Fred looked daggers at him. Tough as the two boys might look, he was much taller and bigger than both of them. He was an athlete, too. He was not in the least afraid of them.

What's your name?' Ceecee repeated, still keeping his voice low so that it would not carry to the porter at the head of the line.

'Get lost!' Fred told him in an equally low tone.

'Eh-ehh! You still don't seem to know what you're in for,' said Sparko on the other side of him. 'Fighting is strictly forbidden around here, if you don't know. You heard the porter. You're going to get expelled; then this one Jambite will enter the Guinness Book of Records as the student with the shortest stay in the university!'

'God forbid!' was what fell from Fred's lips.

'Okay-o! We shall see. A short while from now, you'll be filling out the form to be taken to the Student Affairs Office, from where you'll be taken to face the Senate. The university Senate does not hear "I beg!" You're surely going to be expelled.'

Fred felt his knees go weak under him, with severe heat around the region of his heart. He breathed in deeply in a bid to steady his nerves.

'But what's wrong with you guys, anyway?' He tried to keep the terror out of his voice. 'What have I done to you? You know very well that you're just trying to frame me up. I didn't touch your... Scorpion - or whatever his name is. He was the one who slapped me and everyone in the Common Room saw it.'

'You're just big and foolish,' Ceecee told him. 'When a wise guy comes to a new place, he asks questions. He must identify with the powers that be. He must pay recognition to the owners of the land, if he wishes to have a smooth stay.'

Fred exhaled noisily, trying to get his breathing back to normal as they came within sight of the porters' lodge.

'If I were you, Jambite, I would take wise counsel,' Ceecee went on.

'Look,' said Sparko, patting his back in a suddenly friendly way. 'No matter how it goes now at the porter's office, I don't want you to be afraid, okay? I think I like you. So, we'll help you. Yeah, that's what we're in this school for - to help our own get out of trouble - any time, any day.'

'Right!' Ceecee took it up. 'Even if you forget everything, remember this: you've come into a jungle where only the big animals survive. We are the Big Ones. Now listen well. I'm in hostel F2. See me in my corner at ten tonight for more briefing, okay? I'll give you our Registration Form when you come. Remember: your successful stay in this school is going to depend on your throwing in your lot with us...'

Fred swallowed hard. He discovered that his throat had gone quite dry. The walk to the porters' lodge had not taken up to five minutes but it seemed to him like five hours. In the muddled state of his mind, he thought of his mother again and offered a short mental prayer.

***

WHEN FINALLY they came to the door of the porters' office, the porter opened the door wide and ushered them in with a wave of his right hand. Standing in the middle of the little office was another man who appeared to be in his late thirties; he was of average height and build, and was undoubtedly a porter himself. The younger porter, fiddling with a portable torch, stepped aside as his older colleague led Fred and the others in and then moved to sit behind one of the two desks.

'Oya, make una siddon,' said the older porter, indicating the two visitor's chairs. He bid Mighty Scorpion take the one on his left hand side and Fred the one on his right.

Ceecee and Sparko stood behind Mighty Scorpion like two very loyal aides-de-camp. Suddenly a female student, dressed in a jean skirt and white pullover, burst into the office.

'Hey, go out first. We're in a meeting,' the porter with the torch addressed the girl.

'We're together, sir,' said the girl, drawing a half circle before her with her right index finger to illustrate her point. 'I'm part of this meeting. I witnessed all that happened.'

'Oh-ho! So you be witness?' asked the illiterate porter. 'E good. Oya, go stand for there. Stand for the back of the person wey you be im witness.'

The girl nodded, and surprised Fred by coming to stand behind him. Now as Fred looked at her, he had a feeling of déjà vu: that he had seen this pretty face in another world, and that everything presently happening had taken place before in this same office and in exactly the same circumstances.

'What's happening?' asked the younger porter at last.

'Dem dey fight,' his colleague told him.

'Fight!' the man exclaimed with eyes and mouth wide open. 'Which of them were fighting?'

'The two wey siddon.'

The younger porter moved his angry assessing eyes from Fred to Mighty Scorpion. Then he turned to look at the 'witnesses'.

'I didn't fight...' Fred began but was cut short with a wave of the hand by the man.

'Shush! You'll speak only when you're asked to.'

'Yes, sir,' said Fred, sighing. He remembered the previous week when he had been fighting to get accommodation in the much-limited hostel space; he had got to meet a number of the porters then. He had noticed that they were made up of an equal mixture of educated and illiterate persons. The uneducated ones did mainly the leg-work, carrying beddings and other stuff to the halls and rooms; whereas the others did the work of writing and keeping record. To the students, however, each of them went by the designation of 'porter' and commanded as much respect as a regular landlord.