Chapter 4 Getting Introduced

The older porter looked daggers at his colleague. He opened his mouth but closed it again, biting back whatever abuse he would have liked to voice against the other man, no doubt conscious of the fact that even though he was the man's senior in natural age, the man was his superior at work.

'Na who you dey laugh?' the older porter turned sharply on Fred, and the latter discovered too late that his face had been wearing a grin.

'I'm sorry, sir.' He passed a hand over his face and sobered up.

'Sorry for yaself!'

Fred stifled a sigh. He wondered whether the illiterate porter was normally this waspish or something had happened on this particular day to put him in a sour mood.

'The luck wey you get be say dis girl come do witness for you. You for see Oba today! Nonsense! You think say university na place wey you go come dey practise agbero work, dey come show say you get muscle. Make God help you make I no come catch you one day say you true-true fight for this school, na dat day you go know say khaki no be leather. Dat day you must to reach Student Affairs Office make dem go expel you; make you go ya papa house go dey fight like animal.'

Fred took the man's admonition with head bowed.

'You're a Jambite,' said the younger porter. It was a statement.

Fred turned to look at him. There again! When, oh Lord, would he move up to 200 Level and begin to command some respect? He felt like ignoring the man but the stern look on that other's face did not encourage him to do so.

'Yes sir,' he said.

'Well, that's another reason why we've decided to forgive you,' said the man. 'There will be Orientation Course throughout this week for all new students. Tomorrow, Monday, you'll all be addressed by the VC in the main auditorium. Check the notice boards for the time and the other programmes for each day. If I were you, I wouldn't miss any of it at all. At the end of the Orientation Course, we shall take it that every new student knows all the do's and don'ts of this school, and we won't take nonsense from any of you from then onwards. You're lucky today, but another day you won't be. Fighting here is a big abomination - punishable with expulsion. No "I beg".'

Fred nodded meekly. It appeared now that neither of the two porters wanted to remember what both he and the girl had said about Mighty Scorpion being the one who had slapped him. He felt it was unfair that the little fellow who had slapped him without justification should go scot-free, while he, the unhappy victim, should get rudely reprimanded.

'Make sure you attend the Orientation Course,' the man told him, 'in your best interest.'

'Yes sir. Thank you.'

'Oya, make una dey go.' The older porter positively shooed him and the girl out of the office and shut the door after them.

'I'm sorry,' Fred said as the girl began to move in the opposite direction of the Common Room. He walked beside her, supposing that she was heading for her hostel block.

'What are you sorry about?'

'I'm apologizing on that porter's behalf. I mean, for the way he practically pushed us out of their office. The old guy, I must say, is not a gentleman at all.'

She shrugged and said:

'I don't think the porters' job is for gentlemen - at least, not in this school. Most of the characters I know in this place, who call themselves students, are far from being gentlemen and ladies themselves.'

Fred looked sideways at her, trying to assess her by the gentle light from the white electric bulbs lining the passage. For a female, she was a little above average in height, slender and with the kind of complexion now generally known as 'chocolate' - midway between light and dark. Her hair was in long perm but her pretty face was devoid of makeup. Although she had the fresh loveliness of a teenager, Fred felt she had the cocky self-assurance of a Headmistress.

'Thank you.'

'What for?'

'For stepping forward to be my witness,' said Fred. 'I appreciate it very much, even though I can't understand why you had to stick out your neck for someone you don't know from Adam.'

'I did it because I noticed you were a Catholic...' she broke off and gave a short laugh, adding: 'Maybe I would have done it anyway - irrespective of whether you were a Catholic or not - but I kind of felt more inclined to speak out in your defence when I saw that scapular around your neck.'

Fred lifted his right hand to his neck, feeling the soft string of the scapular. His mother had got a Priest to bless it and had extracted a promise from Fred to wear it all the time, telling him: 'It's Mother Mary's garment of love'. Fred's mother, Nkem, was a deeply religious person. Being her only child, he had practically grown up inside the church, being dragged every day, willy-nilly, to the gathering of almost all the lay societies in their Parish, including the Legion of Mary... Now he felt thankful that it was his scapular that had prompted the girl to speak out for him, smiling inwardly as he thought that his mother would surely have chalked that incident down as a 'miracle'.

'I'm a Catholic, too,' the girl said, waking him from his reverie.

'Yeah! I'd be shocked if you weren't. What's your name?'

'Angela.'

'How apt,' said he, trying to give her his most charming smile, but somewhere at the back of his mind still rang Ceecee's ominous words, so that the smile was anything but charming. 'Angela. What a beautiful name! Please, can I call you "Angel"?'

'Why?'

'You've truly been my angel tonight.' He said and paused for an answer. When none came, he pressed: 'So, may I?'

'Suit yourself. And you're Frederick.'

'Yes, Frederick Amayo. Nice meeting you.' He reached out for a handshake, but she pretended not to notice his proffered hand. So he let it drop to his side. He still felt shaky inside and it made him want to talk: 'Wow! Do you know that this is actually my very first evening on campus? I moved in this afternoon. I must confess, Angel, I was badly shaken in there. But why did those guys pick on me of all people... and on my first day, too? Do you think it's a bad omen?'

Angela gave a short laugh.

'I hope you're not superstitious,' she said. 'The reason they picked on you is clear: you kind of stand out.'

'How do you mean?' He spread out his hands like a male model, running his eyes down his simple getup of T-shirt, jean and sneakers. 'How do I stand out? Please, tell me.'

She did not answer immediately. She led the way and he followed her to a little park at the fringe of the hostel blocks. There were low flower beds and brick benches scattered around the park. A handful of students were lounging in the place, reading. Fred followed Angela to a vacant bench. She brought out a hankie and dusted the bench from end to end.

'Thanks,' he said, and waited for her to sit before doing likewise. Pulling up his right leg over the left one, he placed his folder on his lap, repeating his question: 'How do I stand out?'