Chapter 3 THE TRIAL

'Now, you,' the younger porter addressed himself to Mighty Scorpion, twirling the torch between his palms, as if it were some kind of weapon. 'What's your name?'

'Mighty Scorpion.'

'No be ya guy-name. Tell us the name wey ya papa give you,' the older porter told him sternly.

'That's it: "Mighty Scorpion",' he insisted.

The younger porter hissed and shook his head.

'So, what happened?' he asked Mighty Scorpion.

'This Jambite took over my reading space as soon as I left to ease myself. When I got back and asked him to shift for me to sit beside him, he started slapping me and calling me names. In fact, he called me a "runt".'

'Na im be wetin?' asked the illiterate porter.

'R-u-n-t,' Ceecee drawled, as if he believed that by calling the word slowly its meaning would show itself.

'Yes, na im I dey ask. Wetin e mean?'

Sparko chuckled and asked the tiny fellow: 'Sincerely, Mighty Scorpion, what does "runt" mean?'

'Don't be daft!' Mighty Scorpion told him with authority in his piping voice.

'Eh-he! If you no know wetin the thing mean, why e come vex you so tey you come go dey fight?'

'"Runt" means...,' Ceecee began haltingly, appearing to choose his words with care. 'It means... well, it means... someone who's like he is.'

'How?' asked the younger porter.

'Why you dey ask that kin' question?' his colleague scolded lightly. 'You dey look am, come still dey ask how e be like! You no see as e chakere for ground?'

Fred stifled a smile. He felt momentarily relieved, and although he could not tell the role the girl meant to play in the whole business, he felt somewhat comfortable having her stand behind him.

'Dat name wey e call am so mean "dwarf", no be so?'

'No!' Mighty Scorpion surprised them by saying. 'What it means is not just a "dwarf": it means a "guinea pig". The Jambite dared to call me a guinea pig!'

Fred's eyebrows lifted; although the word 'runt' had come from him, he could not now tell whether it also meant a 'guinea pig', as Mighty Scorpion had alleged. He noticed that the younger porter was trying hard to suppress the urge to laugh, coughing loudly in the process.

'Una wey be student, una wahala too much,' said the illiterate porter. 'Sake of say e call you "guinea pig" na him you dey fight am. Pig and scorpion, which one better? You no like make dem call you guinea pig, but na you use ya own mouth dey call yaself "Mighty Scorpion" now-now.'

'Ah-ah, Porter, is that the way you guys judge cases in this hall?' Sparko protested. 'We reported to you that this huge Jambite descended on this poor little guy, slapping and kicking him, and here you are making light of the matter. Are you telling us that the Jambite was right to fight?'

'Who talk say e right? Now you,' he turned to Fred. 'Wetin be ya name?'

'Frederick Amayo.'

'You be Jambite?'

Fred demurred. He felt like denying it.

'You deaf? I say, you be Jambite?'

He nodded, humbled to see the trio of Ceecee, Mighty Scorpion and Sparko sniggering.

'So which motor-park you for do ya agbero work wey come make you think say dis university na where you go come dey slap and dey kick people?'

'I didn't slap him, sir. He's lying. He was the one who slapped me,' Fred defended. Now that he finally had the chance to state his side of the story, what he had to say sounded hollow and untrue even to his own ears. He heard the man voice what he feared:

'I no believe you. So na dis chakere small thing fit slap man-mountain like you? Which ladder e take climb reach ya face go slap am?'

'It's true, sir,' the girl spoke up. 'We all saw Mighty Scorpion slap him.'

'Abeg no dey call am dat thing!' the man told her, frowning. 'Person name no be "Scorpion".'

'All right, sir.' She nodded. 'But it was he who slapped the Jambite and not the other way round. The Jambite was seated quietly on his own...'

Fred felt a cold sensation at the base of his stomach. It was embarrassment. He could stand the others referring to him as a 'Jambite', but coming from this girl, it made him feel somewhat like a criminal. He knew she meant well coming in to defend him; nevertheless, he could not help feeling patronized.

'This Scorpion boy first threw the Jambite's books and folder off the table and all over the floor. Then he slapped him in addition. We all saw it. I'm sure that if you go back to the Common Room you'll find people who'll confirm what I'm saying, sir.'

Fred sighed and involuntarily covered his face with both hands. Now he did not know which was worse: the girl's innocent testimony which made him feel so small, or the possibility of being booked for expulsion on the charge of beating up the runt, Mighty Scorpion.

'You're mad!' Mighty Scorpion yelled, jumping to his feet and thrusting his tiny right forefinger at the girl. 'I'll make you pay for this, you idiot!'

'Shut up! Do you realize where you are?' the younger porter shouted him down, pushing forward so that he had his chin well over Mighty Scorpion's small head.

'Hey, why are you harassing him now?' shouted Ceecee, fearlessly. 'What kind of porters are you? We've brought you a complaint that this Jambite boy was caught fighting, which is against the school regulations. Now, instead of booking him for expulsion, you're here further oppressing his poor victim. Is that the way you guys work in this hall?'

'And you, shut up! Who do you think is your boy that you're talking to in that tone of voice?' the younger porter turned on him.

Ceecee winced, as if the man had dealt him a physical blow. Then, rising like a lump of dough with yeast in it, he turned fully to face the man. It was clear he was not used to being addressed in that tone of voice, either. He pushed his chest forward, glowering at the porter, like some kind of viper ready to strike.

'And don't look at me like that!' commanded the porter.

'Blast you!' Ceecee told him, putting into the two words all the venom of a true viper. Then he stormed out of the office.

The older porter hissed.

'Busybody!' Sparko threw at the girl. 'See what you've caused. Who even invited you into this matter in the first place?'

'You should ask yourself the same question,' said the girl to him. 'If I'm a busybody, then so are you.'

'I'll make you pay for this,' Mighty Scorpion told her again, moving towards the door.

'Get lost!' was her rejoinder.

'You don't know whose toes you've stepped on,' Sparko said, shaking his head as if he pitied the girl. 'You don't know Mighty Scorpion.'

'I don't care! What the hell is there to know about him? As far as I'm concerned, he's a pipsqueak. And so are you!' she threw at him as, in a huff, Sparko made to follow Mighty Scorpion out of the porters' office.

'Hey, Smallie, come back here! Who say make you begin go?' the older porter shouted after them. 'Okay-o! You think say you don run, no be so? If you like make ya name be "Scorpion" plus "Snake", if I mean to report you to Student Affairs, ya true name go comot by force. Nonsense!'

The man returned his attention to the people in the office with him. He exchanged a meaningful glance with his colleague and said to him:

'Na bad boys-o.'

When the other man nodded agreement, he added:

'School don start again, dem don carry their trouble come back.' He hissed. 'Pikin wey mama born na im open im eye dey call himself Mighty Scorpion. Yeye boy! Na only him nature cheat so tay e no tall lef ground, na only him come still go carry nonsense name gif himself, come dey waka dey ferment trouble.'

'"Foment",' the younger porter corrected him.

'Wetin?'

'They don't "ferment" trouble, they "foment" it,' he told him, looking away with amusement in his eyes.